Personal finance software Microsoft Money was discontinued as of mid-2009, but Microsoft recently released Money Plus Sunset Deluxe and Money Plus Sunset Home and Business available for free download.
Why?…
The stated reason for these editions is to avoid any ongoing online activation/re-activation issues with old software. Do be aware that the online abilities are disabled (no online quotes, no bill payment, no statement downloads initiated by Money, no data sync with MSN Money online services). There will not be any additional support available from Microsoft, only online self-help and through other users.
Money Plus Sunset Deluxe is designed to be a replacement for expired versions of Money Plus Essentials, Money Plus Deluxe, and Money Plus Premium versions. Money Plus Sunset Home and Business is designed to be a replacement for expired versions of Money Plus Home and Business.
Worth a download?
If you’re okay with staying offline, this version of MS Money might serve as an adequate free personal accounting and tracking software for a while longer. You can still manually import MS Money OFX files from your bank or other financial institutions. The Business versions allow to you print invoices. If you have an older version of Money, this is basically a free upgrade to the last edition sold.
Otherwise, it’s probably time to take another look at Intuit Quicken if you still want a full-featured desktop solution, which starts at about $40.
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Transition is painful because the importer is no good. And then your stuck with Quicken – full of bugs and now the only choice.
I’ve enjoyed using MS Money for the past few years and will for sure download this – thanks. I have tried Mint and Yodlee and can’t seem to really let go. Plus they don’t’ seem to want to interface with my credit union – which makes keeping track of my checking account difficult.
Time to upgrade my Money 2001 software. I have been happy with it and never saw a need to pay for an upgrade or to fiddle with a free after rebate deal just to get it. Thanks!
Mint.com + excel spread sheets (balance sheet and income statement) is good for me. Too much time gets spent with reconciliation with desktop software.
Sweet! This will tide me over nicely for at least a few more years. Maybe by then there will be something else on the market that will be worth looking into. Granted – I’ve used Quicken, but I’m not in the mood to go pay for it when Microsoft is giving out a free upgrade. Besides, I’ve been manually downloading my OFX statements for years. Thanks for the post!
It would be nice if MS released the file format for the MS Money versions so people could move on to open source alternatives with less hassle.
It seems like Home and Business is the “more expensive” product. Is there any reason to use Deluxe over Home and Business?
I like to use quicken online (it’s free), but it doesn’t seem like it’s offered anymore for new members, it directs you to mint.com (which is also free from quicken).
Here’s an article on when it became free:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10065050-2.html
@christine – Nope, Intuit bought Mint and has shut down further development of Quicken Online. No new users are even allowed as you say, so that’s why I don’t mention it anymore.
Home & Business would be more confusing to the user that doesn’t have a small business, as many business related Income and Expense categories are created for the user that may never get used.
For those that want to use the Sunset editions of Money as if they still had Online capabilities, check out my Blog:
http://microsoftmoneyoffline.wordpress.com/
Does anyone know if this would work for files currently in Money 98 (yeah I know — just never saw much benefit in updating). I actually just recently loaded the 98 software on my new Windows 7 computer, surprisingly with no difficulties.
Am I missing something here or what? Where is the link to download it?
The links are in the first sentence, but perhaps your browser settings are preventing the link from working. Here’s the actual link:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=60302e1e-207e-4710-ac80-d19c22e47488
Hi Joey, yes, you missed the links in the first paragraph, just click on the product name that you want.
i’m a little confused here. i use money 2003 (just put it on my updated windows 7 machine as well) to enter and track my data, using as a system to verify my data online. i do not use it update any of my accounts….but, i do use the “update prices” online option to simply get updated prices for my portfolio.
so….microsoft is going to eliminate that?
Unfortunately, Quicken is a piece of krap comparing with latest editions of MsMoney.
I went on with the general recommendation and I lost almost one week in correcting importing errors. I’m using MsMoney for 12 years and I have the information for the all 12 yers. Obviously I didn’t go correcting errors prior to 2010; I just checked that the numbers were ok.
I have canadian accounts and US accounts. Quicken doesn’t work that way. You’re either canadian or you’re US. If you buy the canadian version you have to enter the US account statement manually.
When you call them, technical support is $15 per call; one issue only. Obviously, I refused to pay for this type of problem. I’m an advanced user and I didn’t call them to tell me where’s the slot to inser the CD…
E-mailing them is free, though.
I tryed to send them an e-mail and there was a message like : because of high level of messages, you should expect an answer in 3 working days. And the message didn’t go trough. There was a Java script error…
I have Stocks porfolio. Quicken has lost all of my US stocks when importing from MsMoney. I had to enter them manually, but then, it had a hard time with the currency conversion.
When you have registered investment accounts (like RRSP in Canada or 401k in US), Quicken is treating the Cash part of the account as a completely different account. So you end up having a Cash balance and an Investment balance.
Right now, I’m using MsMoney 2007 fully operational. There is no canadian verision of it, but I have no problem to work with canadian banks and investments. I thought that going to Quicken is going to help me with my taxes; besides is supposed to be a supported software.
My advise is: stay with MsMoney for as long as you can. I red here that someone is using the ’98 version. That’s a great proof of good, reliable tool in my mind.
Unfortunately for me, the Sunset edition doesn’t seem to have the online quoting option for stocks. So, I’d have to update my portfolio manually. Again, 2007 was a very good year! (maybe even the wine was good that year; we’ll see that) …..:)
Adrian
Adrian,
click on my name and I think you’ll be very pleased to find a means of obtaining your quotes (as well as your financial institution statement downloads). Sunset edition should live for quite a while, unless Quicken pulls the plug…
Tried Money plus Sunset….but there doesn’t seem to be an option of entering deposits in the Bills Summary as there was in the earlier versions. Without that it is quite useless.
Tried them all and MS Money does it for me. Unfortunately Wachovia bank is announcing that it will discontinue download button for OFX downloads due to non-support by Microsoft. I even received a note from one of my credit unions that they too will be eliminating OFX down loads. That will certainly limit the ability to download manually. Am I stuck with Quicken?
I work in IT/Software and I cannot see any valid reason to remove OFX downloads. LOTS of people use a good product that is suddenly no longer supported. Who cares? I have version 2001 and I never have issues! This makes no sense.
Microsoft should have turned over the source code and made this an open source project. That would have been awesome!
Sorry Christian….I checked the Wachovia site again and in the support section for MS Money it is quite clear that as of Jan 31 2011, the download option will be removed for all Money downloads. that makes Sunset somewhat useless,unless there is a file conversion between a Quicken download and Money. Quicken will be the only download available at Wachovia. Wells Fargo has already disabled Money downloads from its Credit accounts (they own Wachovia).
Microsoft should send some sort of courtesy notice to the banks that Sunset exits and that downloads can be completed manually.
Are we out of luck if there is a bug in the sunset version?
I’ve been using Money for many years. I upgraded to the sunset version as I just bought a new computer. I had many Favorite reports in my old version. When I first started using the new version, it errored whenever I looked at a saved report. It said something about an invalid format. So, I deleted them and figured I would recreate them. But, when I go to save a Favorite report, it seems like it does it, but it is not actually saved.
It will be a pain if I have to recreate my customized reports every time.
Mary – My favorite reports imported just fine from Money 2005 to the Sunset version. I’ve even saved new favorite reports since the transition. I wonder if the problems you’re experiencing are due to a corrupt data file. Do you have the same problems when opening a new MNY file?
George…re Wachovia site account downloads
I’ve been using 2002 Money Deluxe for many years (never a reason to upgrade) and have always downloaded Money account files manually from the website.
I found that my version of Money will File|Import Wachovia’s Quicken QFX files flawlessly. I download the oldest version Quicken files.
I’m not sure if earlier or later versions of Money have this import capability. Should anybody want to try it, MAKE A COPY OF YOUR MONEY FILE FIRST in case there are problems.
What I don’t understand is if you are directly connecting to your bank for act. transactions (checking / savings), why would this fail after 1/1/2011 ? I can see if you are using Microsoft as a third party provider, but if not, it should continue as normal. Does anyone know why ? Also, does anyone know whom is the provider for portfolio updates ? If you simply use the update menue selection (2007 ver), who is providing the price update for each portfolio act. / investment act. ? Is this a consolidator or does the software contact each institutuion with ticker symbols and retrieve a recent price ?
Jason & Millie,
I don’t know why you think that Statement Imports won’t work with new versions of Money (including Sunset). This capability will continue – it’s the automatic Online updates that will no longer function. All of the stocks and funds that are part of the Statement updates (OFX and QIF imports) will have the updated quotes shown in the Portfolio views. The Python scripts allow importing these statements without going to the individual websites, logging on, and initiating the download. In some instances, the capabilty to download your data doesn’t even exist on some of the websites.
The MSN servers did much more than grab just these statement downloads though: independent stock and fund quotes (for ALL your investments, pass through third-party web-scrapes of your data, investment news, tax and exchange rates, etc. and that is all coming to a halt, if it hasn’t already.
I ONLY USE MONEY PLUS TO ENTER IN THE REGISTER. I DO NOT GO ONLINE AS MY HUSBAND HAS A FIT. I LIKE THE CATERAGORIES SECTION, INCOME & EXPENSES. IS THIS GOING TO EFFECT THOSE FITURES? AS WELL AS A RUNNING BALANCE INCLUDING DEPOSITS.
what else do you require
Microsoft said to save the downloaded Money Sunset and install from that copy, but uninstall oklder versions of Money first. How do I transfer my files? Your advice will be much appreciated.
HOW DO I TRANSFER MY OLD INFORMATION TO THE NEW DOWNLOADED MONEY PLUS SUNSET DELUXE VERSION. EVERYTIME I TRY TO OPEN IT HAS A NOTICE FROM MICROSOFT THAT REQUIRES REOPENING AN ACCOUNT. ALSO I CAN’T SEEM TO GET IT TO OPEN FROM MY DESKTOP. ANYONE KNOWS WHAT TO DO?
HELP PLEASE
To update quotes: http://code.google.com/p/hle-ofx-quotes/
On-going project that can help “free” your *.mny data http://sunriise.sourceforge.net/
Has anybody figured out how to update the tax rates in the Sunset version? Mine are grayed out.
Although, it’s not the perfect solution, I talk about that in my blogpage http://microsoftmoneyoffline.wordpress.com/2010/02/21/updating-tax-rates-manually/ I wouldn’t be surprised if hleofxquotes hasn’t figured out an alternate solution with his sunriise package too (link above).
I recently downloaded Money Sunset Edition. I’m giving up on Quicken after many years. I am primarily interested in Money to track my spending. I make frequent use of reports for spending, categories, comparison, taxes etc. I use the memo field extensively. My impression so far is that the reports in Money are more “rigid” than Quicken. Do you agree? Also can the data be downloaded to Excel for added sorting and manipulation? This would help a lot at tax time.
I know your website is involved with security downloads, but I’m just trying to get started. If you cannot help, can you direct me to a source of Money information.
Thanks, Marty
I’ve been using this for a couple of years now, and it is great. I think it will meet my needs for many years to come. I actually like it better than the paid version of Money it replaced. I never used all the online features that they disabled anyway.
hI, I have been using MS Money 2002 home and small businss in the uk for 10 years for a small sports club. Never used the online statements till recently, but as we finally got online banking i tried it. It put the statement into the bank account on money fine and even associated with the manual inputs I had alredy put in but where there was a transaction that wasnt already input, it assinged a number to the payee and i am unable to assign that to a an invoice, it looks like i have to input everything manually, use the statement download to verify, if i find something on the statement that say i dont have an invoice for, i think have to delete it and input manually. Is this rght or am i just way off the mark. I tried sunset but its terminology is different and it wouldnt use my old money files so it was a total rebuild which i dont have time to do really.
Hi RobL, I was using MS Money 2001 (since 2001) and I had no trouble upgrading to Money Plus Sunset Deluxe. It works great for me running on the Windows 7 64-bit operating system. I recommend you try again to get it to use a back-up of your Money 2002 files; however, I acknowledge that the “small business” edition might have issues that I haven’t seen in the personal one.
I have been using Money Plus Deluxe. I never used the online features. Now I have a new laptop with Windows8. When I try to activate, I get an error message. Will it shut down in 60 days? Will this Sunset edition work with Windows8?
Hi Debbie,
I just got a new desktop that came with Win8 (64bit). I couldn’t run Ms Money 2007 so I installed Sunset Deluxe. It works fine; no problem at all. I didn’t have any problem with the activation.
I have used Money extensively in a number of businesses and have account files going back to 1996, I have gone thru several versions of Money and am now using Money Plus although I don’t know which year. I have just purchased a high end IMAC27 as I became too frustrated with the slower HP desktop. I additionally have a MacBook Pro (but I don’t run Money on it). I was under the understanding that using Fusion 5, I could run Money on the IMAC as if it is a Microsoft system. I don’t use the online features in Money but have more than 800 Payee names and over 600 subcategories. I’ve tried to delete some but to no avail. Any recommendations as to what Money version to try to install on the IMAC which will accept my Money files from the HP.
In case anyone stumbles upon this blog post, I wanted to mention there’s a new tool out there that will restore Microsoft Money’s ability to get online quote data.
Check it out here: http://gaiersoftware.com/money/
I have been using MS Money for several years and have downloaded the sunset home and small business version last year. Today I ran into a perplexing problem with a CD account that did not surface in earlier versions. We had two CD’s mature this year so we closed one and the other one we took out some money and rolled the remainder over to a new CD. Here is the problem: the software no longer allows me to withdraw shares or withdraw all shares and close the account. When you try to withdrawn a smaller amount than the total value it just ignores the command to enter. If you withdraw all the shares it gives you a warning message that this transaction may cause the account to go negative at some future time, then ignores the command to enter. So how does one take out shares and also close down a CD account?
I know this post is very old.
But the link to the Sunset version no longer works.
Are there any more recent options for me to move my MS Money files over to?