Moneydance Investment Tracking
The investment transaction register includes all types of investment transactions including short sales, transfers, dividends and more. There are three views for investments accounts in Moneydance: portfolio reveals all securities held in the account, register shows transactions and securities details shows specific information about individual securities and a performance graph for the security.
Data Security in Moneydance
Moneydance includes a backup utility so you can set automatic backups and archive old data. Additionally, Moneydance lets you encrypt data for ultimate security (but you must remember your password or data is unrecoverable).Getting Help for Moneydance
User Guide Support options for Moneydance include an in-program help file with a User Guide, however the User Guide was for Moneydance 2005 in the Moneydance 2007 that I downloaded. The most recent User guide is available online.Online Forums There are very helpful user forums on the Moneydance web site or in Yahoo Groups.
Email Support You can email support for help and they will try to answer within 24 hours. Moneydance support has a good reputation for responding to customers.
Moneydance is Unique
Support for multiple currencies, multiple languages and multiple operating systems set Moneydance apart from other personal finance software packages and make it useful to a wide population of international customers.
Double-Entry Accounting
Accounting purists will be happy with the double-entry accounting used in Moneydance, but there is no need to understand this accounting method to use Moneydance. Because Moneydance uses double-entry accounting, there is no differentiation between categories and accounts as found in other personal finance software.
Search and Addresses
Moneydance provides an excellent search function to find transactions. Search by account, category, date ranges, description, check number and more, then go to transaction directly from search the screen. Moneydance also provides an address book so you can easily reference payee information such as email addresses and phone numbers.
Improvements Needed
Moneydance lacks retirement, college planning and other financial planning tools, but includes a loan calculator and some extensions for light financial planning. Many people do not use the advanced planning features in their financial software, and these tools can be found on financial planning and brokerage web sites for those who want to use them as well as Moneydance.Lumping categories and accounts together as Moneydance does is confusing. Traditionally, categories describe what your money is spent on and accounts describe where that money came from, but Moneydance doesn't differentiate categories and accounts due to the use of double-entry accounting. I do not think this should stop anyone from giving Moneydance a try. Those who are new to financial software will likely not have a problem and those who are looking to replace their current financial software will likely find Moneydance to be very usable. Any confusion caused by Moneydance combining accounts and categories can be overcome by not over-thinking the software and letting it do the work for you.
Moneydance's interface seems a bit dated compared to Money or Quicken, but Moneydance looks uncluttered, making it easy to find the feature or account you are looking for.
Moneydance: Opinion and Recommendation
I was especially impressed with how easliy Moneydance imported QIF data from Quicken, and data import from Money 2007 was also flawless. The ability to encrypt data files and create automatic data back ups is reassuring from a security standpoint, and the customizable home page puts the financial details that matter most to you up front. Moneydance Extensions help to round out features, and extensions are audited and signed by Moneydance so you can download them securely.You will not find all the features for planning and financial analysis that Microsoft Money or Quicken have in Moneydance, but you will not find the advertising - some unintrusive and some very bothersome - that you find in Money and Quicken either. Many people find too many "whistles and bells" get in the way of using financial software, and Moneydance definitely provides a solid set of tools for managing your money successfully.
Moneydance has a generous free trial, and costs a reasonable $29.99 US Dollars, and payment is accepted in Euros or British Pounds as well. Those who purchased a previous Moneydance version on or after January 1, 2004 are eligible for a free upgrade to Moneydance 2007. Anyone who paid for Moneydance before January 1, 2004 can receive a discounted upgrade price of $14.99 USD.
I recommend downloading the free trial to see if Moneydance will meet your personal finance management needs.
