Microsoft has discontinued Money. No, Gates' mates haven't abandoned the concept altogether, which is unsurprising considering the company has, y'know, most of it. But the boys at Redmond have decided to stop selling personal-finance program Microsoft Money.
Money will no longer be available to buy after the end of June, and will only be supported up to January 2011. You'll still be able to use it on your PC after that, but will lose the crucial function of getting automated data feeds from your bank, credit card shylocks, and other chisellers, sorry, financial service providers.
So what's the alternative to Money? Stealing? Bartering? Oh we can't be bothered keeping that gag going. If you currently use Money, or like the idea of software to organise your money, here's some of the other options, both online and on your desktop. You may have heard of Mint and Quicken, but as they don't work for anyone whose native currency is Her Majesty's English Pounds we'll get to them in a jiffy.
Unless noted, all these programs are free and support the major UK banks and finance providers. Each program or Web service allows you to link accounts and track transactions and budgets to keep you on top of your finance, with secure encryption to keep your data safe. Right, let's put our mouth where our Money was.
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Anonymous 18 September, 2010 08:22
Banktree is a poorly made piece of software. Tried the demo out for about 20 minutes and came across numerous glitches and annoyances. Don't bother.
Anonymous 21 October, 2010 23:36
Do a surf for Bank Genie - a UK product, but equally happy in any country.
Simple to use, and a new edition due for release developed as an alternative to Quicken and Money.
Anonymous 16 December, 2010 16:57
i need a replacement for microsft money that tracks the prgress of my shares. i am not interested in online banking. can you recommend anything?
Anonymous 6 February, 2011 15:20
Bank Tree is pants. Trialled it and thought it might be ok - right up to the point when it deleted half of the transactions I had entered! Also lots of niggling bits that didn't quite gel.
Anonymous 10 February, 2011 21:00
Yodlee users can expect their NatWest and RBS online banking to be terminated for breach of T&C sooner or later when the automated log-ins are detected. You really should never put your online banking info into unknown software: it's like putting a note on the front door saying "Key under the mat".
Anonymous 8 April, 2011 22:16
I tried BankTree, its quite good. It imported all my Quicken data all at once. I can do invesments and it was on £26.00
anonymous 25 December, 2011 17:21
Relative to MS Money, to use Banktree for investment and financial management you need the brains of Einstein, the patience of Socraties and a love of stone-age programming.
Considerning the importance of the tasks that MS could and have been put to in the UK by moderately sophisticated investors - particularly since the withdrawal of Quicken from the UK market - Microsoft's failue to ensure 'Money's' compatibility with Windows 7 is little short of criminal. For that reason alone, if I could reasonably walk away from Microsoft, I would.
pr0se 1 February, 2012 17:40
Completely agree with negative comments about Bank Tree. Sadly I could not find another alternative for Quicken so wasted money on purchasing it. I believe Quicken is available and supported in USA. How about reintroducing it to the UK, Intuit?
anonymous 2 February, 2012 01:27
i actually paid for Bank Tree and it is so buggy. I coulnt download stock prices correctly and support told me it was my fault and that I was doing things wrong. I have unistalled it. There should be standards by law before software can be sold . As its around £25 I should ask for a refund but cant be bothered. Bank Tree doesnt link to any banks and is really amateurish compared to MS money which I still use.
anonymous 3 February, 2012 16:34
I find it very unwholesome that MS Money and Intuit have pulled the rug from under us in the UK. This is a typical The world stops at NY Harbour!!!If they want to make money why not charge a yearly licence fee as my anti virus software does?
I have since tried AccountZ and that is as bad as BankTree. I have ordered a copy os US Quicken to mess around with. There is absolutly nothing out there for us here in the UK.
As an MS Money fan why dont microsoft bundle it with MS Office Home Premium UK - upgrade the software and sell it that way with options to link to UK banks as it used to?
I have emailled Intuit as prOse has suggested.
anonymous 8 February, 2012 14:43
Considering BankTree is only £25 and they offer free updates and support what's with all the moaning. Accountz is closer to £35.00 and support is limited to 30 days with no support for investments. Quicken and Microsoft Money were around £50.00 per year, limited to 30 days support. Idon't think BankTree claim there software is the same as Quicken or MS Money but good enough for your day to day finances.
anonymous 15 February, 2012 11:41
Microsoft released 'Sunset' versions of Money Plus Deluxe and Money Plus Home & Business. This version will allow you to keep your Money files and transactional history (on current and future machines) but will not allow access to online services or premium services.
However BankTree seems to be the only UK Company that continues to provide free online services such as share price updates and exchange rates. You have to rate them for that :)
lizbar 27 February, 2012 12:06
I found Banktree to be an awful program. Entering information is a horrendous process, there is no smart entry such as you get with Quicken. When I realised it was also deleting entries, I asked for a refund and described the problem. The support team simply replied that they didn't find any problem so no refund. I politely explained that just because they didn't have a problem didn't address the issues I have having and asked again for a refund. This time they said, oh yes, they had found a problem, here is a patch, no chance of a refund.
I will stick to my 12 year old Quicken program which is better written, easier and quicker to use and at least I can rely on it to keep entries I make.
My advice is to avoid this product. I sincerely regret spending £26, which turns out to be plus VAT bringing it up to nearer £30.
anonymous 22 March, 2012 15:07
Well done Banktree - I think we call that damn good support!
lizbar - get a life!
anonymous 22 April, 2012 18:28
After being abandoned by Quicken and then MS Money I searched around for some finance software and noticed that Banktree was recommended by Which. So I gave it a go. Goodness knows why Which recommended it as it was dreadful- clunky, poorly designed and full of bugs. Adding transactions is slow as you have no choice except to fill in every box even though some of them are of no interest to me and reconciling an account is a nightmare as they use a weird non-intuitive method. Fortunately, I then came across Moneydance which is streets ahead of Banktree- quick and simple to use and an interface that looks professionally designed.
anonymous 25 April, 2012 14:29
Seems as though BankTree has had a lot of negatives on this site. I am a dedicated MS Money & Quicken fan, One thing in its favour is that Bank Tree is UK based. Having had a tinker around it reminds me of a DOS based program trying to run on Windows. i have to agree the interface is primitive and not as good as others. I guess it does the job but these days everything is a beauty contest ! Maybe it would be good if the team could take apart the guts of MS Money ( which would be allowed) merge it with Bank Tree and come up with a super slick Version 3 that knocks the spots off Quicken and IBank4 .
anonymous 5 May, 2012 00:51
I agree bank tree is a uk product. It has a decent enough review by which an independent organisation its not as good as ms money but better than any other offering. Id give it a go at 25 quid not too shaby.
anonymous 13 May, 2012 00:49
I found Moneydance An unacceptable, difficult to use convoluted program. Difficult to add/edit securities. Poor handling of split transaction. Can't add/edit default security actions. Enters duplicate buy/sell transactions & wrong number of securities. Transfer funds actions & auto deposits never worked. IMHO Anyone looking for a personal finance program should avoid Moneydance & look elsewhere.
anonymous 13 May, 2012 15:51
I agree with the negative comments about moneydance 2010 - Online BillPay compatibility with financial institutions; not every bank/credit union will work with MD2010 and you can’t find out which ones do or don’t until you shell out the $40 for the license. Don’t confuse the online banking capabilities listings with online BillPay.
The Reconciliation Tool, used to balance your accounts, requires you to have a *paper* copy of your bank statement. My Quicken 2007 (PC version) downloads all my cleared transactions (whenever I want) so I can compare and clear them without the need for a bank statement. Needing a bank statement to reconcile seems pretty lame in this day and age.
The included Help manual in MD2010 is for the 2008 version of the software; you need to go to a separate site to download the .pdf for the manual ….which then is not integral with MD2010.
Overall I have not been too impressed with MD2010 …especially not compared to my 2007 PC version of Quicken. If this is considered good software, the bad stuff must be truly awful.
anonymous 19 May, 2012 04:55
As an avid fan of MS Money and having looked at Quicken we find neither support us here in the UK. It is refreshing to see BankTree is a UK based product. It is easy to use once you get used to the layout seamlessly does what it is supposed to and tracks my portfolio. Support is first rate as queries and question are answered in minutes. How many of us can say that of US software companies? I hope that the developers go from strength to strength and continue to evolve this superb product. I am sure they will as there is a niche market here in the UK. Apparently we don`t use finance software products here according to our US friends!