A survival guide for investors who use Microsoft Money
— -- Q: I've been using Microsoft Money to track my personal finances, including stocks and investments. What should I do now that it's being discontinued?
A: Microsoft stunned many investors who have come to rely on its personal finance software.
After promoting it for nearly 18 years to anyone who wanted to get control of their finances, Microsoft on June 10 said it will stop selling the software and end online services by Jan. 31, 2011 or earlier for some customers. You can read more from our Technology Live blog here
It's an especially big blow to investors. Microsoft Money's ability to track large and complicated stock and mutual fund portfolios is outstanding. In fact, I just recommended the software in May as a great way to track the cost basis of your inestments.
So, what do you do if you've been using Microsoft Money? First, don't panic, even if you have years of financial data stored in the software. Microsoft Money Plus currently lets you activate the software four times and that will be increased to six starting in July, Microsoft says. The activation servers will be available until January 2011.
This means you don't really have to do anything until your copy of Money "expires." You can check this by going into the Help>About Microsoft Money menu option. Even if you get a new PC, you will be able to reactivate Microsoft Money and use the software.
Also, the software will work even after the online functions expire. You'll be able to read your old transactions and export them. But you probably won't want to bother. Why? Because the software will no longer download live stock quotes; you will have to enter them by hand. Kind of defeats the purpose.
The good news is that there are options. First, if you're just interested in tracking your stocks, funds and ETFs, I urge you to check out USATODAY.com's Portfolio feature. It lets you enter your stock holdings and cost basis for different lots of shares. While it's not as interactive as Microsoft Money's Capital Gains Estimator, it's free. To start, just click on this link to start creating your free portfolio.
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