Manage Finances Using Convenient Basics:
If you don't need all the features Microsoft Money provides, you can still have the tools to manage personal finance basics such as paying bills, tracking account balances and cash flow and monitoring spending with Microsoft Money Essentials. Note that at this time you cannot import data files into Money Essentials from any versions of Microsoft Money or from Quicken. This is because Money Essentials was designed for those who haven't used personal finance software before.
Create a Budget:
Use Microsoft Money Essentials to create a simple budget with preset categories for regular expenses such as groceries and auto maintenance. Assign categories to your transactions and use the Spending Tracker to watch a few key budget areas you like to monitor. Money Essential's budget is less detailed than budgeting with other versions of Microsoft Money, but provides a good, basic budget.
Merge Duplicate Accounts:
Duplicate accounts can occur when an account number changes or you start an account with manually entering transactions and you later switch to online updates. The ability to merge duplicate accounts lets you have all your account data in one place in Microsoft Money Essentials.
Automatic Online Updates:
Connect directly to most financial institutions such as banks and brokerages to download and track account balances, download transactions and account statements, and pay bills. Download credit card transactions. Keep all your account details in one place with Microsoft Money Essentials.
Pay Bills:
Schedule and pay bills automatically with Microsoft Money Essentials Bills. Edit and pay multiple bills at once, see how scheduled bills will effect your account balances so you never have an overdraft fee, view your payments history whether payments were made online or manually.
Back Up Microsoft Money Essentials Data:
Disasters happen and backing up your financial data is crucial. You can do manual backups of your Money Essentials data as well as automatic backups. Back up your data to a CD, DVD or other media and have your data file in the event of technical problems.
Use Spending Reports:
Money Essentials lets you generate reports to analyze your personal finances. Microsoft Money Essentials includes budget reports, spending by category or payee, net worth, credit card debt and investment portfolio reports.
Windows Live ID:
Money Essentials will automatically update your account transactions and balances using background banking. This convenience is complimented with added security using Windows Live ID to create one account and password to access many accounts in Money Essentials.
Microsoft Money Essentials Purchase Details:
Money Essentials retails for $19.99, which includes downloads from financial institutions for one year. There will be an annual fee for continued downloading capability when a year of use is up. Remember that Money Essentials won't import data from any other other personal finance software. You can download a free trial of Microsoft Money Essentials to see if Money Essentials features will work for you.