This is a continuation of the series Modern Money Managers. See the first post by Cody here.

For me, a new year means a renewal of my promise to keep better track of my money. When January 1st rolled around I decided to start with a familiar friend. My last computer came with Money 2000 (yes, it was that long ago), and when I needed to draft my first budget, it was the obvious place to start. So when looking for something to help me in 2009, I chose my old friend Microsoft Money.

Unlike Buxfer, Geezeo, and many others, Microsoft Money isn't free. It is, however, available as a free trial--I'm not going to pay for software until I know it works and, more importantly, that I'll use it.

After comparing the features of different levels of the new Money software, I went with the Plus over the bare-bones Essentials edition. I liked the extra features like receiving alerts to remind me when bills are due, attaching files to transactions (like statements or images) to keep everything in one place, and help maintaining my savings goals.

After everything was set up, it automatically downloaded all my transactions, and it was up to me to categorize everything as I saw fit. The wizards make putting everything together very simple. There's a wizard for budgeting, debt-reduction, and savings goals. They walk you through adding all the information Money needs in order to help you keep tabs on your money and your goals. It even tracks investment accounts, so I can see how my IRA is doing without logging on to my financial institution's website. I have most of my bills deducted automatically, so having a program that keeps an eye on everything is very nice.

There are a few quirks in Money that kind of bug me. For example, you have to be connected to the Internet to start the program. If I've paid for a program rather than using something online, I'd like to be able to work on my budget if my Internet is down--particularly if it's because my Internet bill hasn't been paid. Also, one feature I really liked in the old version was splitting a transaction, like a trip to the grocery store, into different categories in your budget. I have a habit of getting cash at the grocery store, so I'd like to be able to put that in my cash category, rather than padding my grocery category. And lastly, there are a lot of menu options--and I mean a lot. The learning curve on those functions, from help with your taxes to planning your retirement, are a bit steep.  I think that if I had more to manage, all the gizmos would be worth trying out. As it is, I think I'm going to downshift to Essentials or another simpler manager.

I'm going to play with a few other managers over the next few weeks. I'll let you know how it goes.

-Jennie