Andrew Tobias'  Managing Your Money



Author: A. G. Daulton

Date: June, 1993

Keywords: financial tax money management program application software
review

Text:
'Managing Your Money' version 5.0 by Meca Software is System 6 and 7
compatible. It can be obtained by mailorder for $32 plus a shipping
charge. The program has been around for several years, (MacUser 5 mouse
rating) and instructions are provided for updating programs you may
have generated in earlier versions. 
This program has some similarities to Quicken; however, the approach to
money management is quite different. Though you may question the
sophistication of some of the  'Managing Your Money' features, the
programs constitute a much fuller picture of your overall financial
status than Quicken provides. All of the options are linked together: a
good example is a 'Net Worth' button in the money navigator, which
provides a net worth summary that changes with each entry into any part
of the money program. Also  a 'Report' feature similar to Quicken
prints out various types of reports, pie charts and bar graphs.
''Managing Your Money'' provides  'navigators' which allow you to
access all features of your financial picture. This is a compact
program providing access through pull down menu's or from the
navigator. The compactness and ease of use through normal Macintosh
operating procedures make this an interesting and helpful software
program for many people. I set up the program for my personal finances
but it also has setups for business applications which might prove
useful for small business operations. It is up to the individual user
to tailor the program to his particular needs. There are five
navigators available:     1) REMIND, 2) MONEY, 3) TAX, 4) INVEST, and
5) PLAN.
The five options are available from the left side of the Navigator
window; clicking the button on any of the five will bring up the
navigator for that function. 
Setting up your file for MYM does require some review of the excellent
manual provided with the software.  It also requires that you dig out
all your financial data for entry into the various sections of the
program. I still prefer to use the checkbooks from my Quicken files
which I was able to  easily 'import' to the accounts section of the MYM
program. 
''REMIND''- with this option important dates can be entered into the
program and notices are provided as many days in advance as you may
specify.
''MONEY'' - this is the real meat of the program. With this option you
can: set up bookeeping categories, budgets, checking accounts, and
recurring transactions; write checks(using Checkfree) reconcile
checking accounts, transfer money, review income/expense, analyze
budgets vs actuals, and check net worth. There are several layers to
each of these functions enabling you to go down to the level needed.
Moving around in the program requires a little Macintosh savy; but
after reading the manual directions and gaining a little working
experience, the program soon pays off.
''TAX'' - Tax estimator forms for 1040, Schedule A, Schedule B, etc.
are provided  to allow you to assimilate data for your Federal Income
Tax return. These are not the actual forms but a convenient way to
gather the  data which will be needed for your taxes.
''INVEST'' - the navigator for this option is designed to allow stock,
bond, and/or mutual fund investments to be documented. Portfolios can
be set up and flowed into a securities analysis program. Various other
data can be documented and linked to the securities information.
''PLAN'' - this option is designed to allow you to look at insurance,
retirement planning, IRA's, and insurance policies. Computations
regarding Loans, Mortgage's, Bond Yields, College Planning and etc. are
available in the navigator for this option. This part of the program is
obviously better suited to the younger user.  Older users will not find
this feature particularly useful.
I would emphasize again that the user would have to tailor the program
to his own finances. The features available will cover most peoples
financial arrangements and link things together to provide  a picture
of ones financial situation.  However, it is not claimed that this will
replace a good financial consultant, but could provide help in defining
where help is required. 
Managing Your Money' by Meca Software is available for about $32.

Copyright © june, 1993 by A. G. Daulton