I use Microsoft Money 2003 to manage household finances. Yes, it's old, but it gets the job done. I didn't upgrade to later versions since there was no compelling reason to do so. However, Microsoft announced earlier this summer that they will no longer sell or support the product. Microsoft had posted the following at: Important notice: Microsoft Money Plus is no longer available for purchase.

All purchased Money Plus products must be activated prior to Jan. With banks, brokerage firms and Web sites now providing a range of options for managing personal finances, the consumer need for Microsoft Money Plus has changed. After suspending annual updates of Money Plus in 2008, Microsoft ended sales of Money Plus on June 30, 2009.

We would like to thank the many dedicated users who have been enthusiastic supporters of Microsoft Money over the years, as well as our partner financial institutions who helped pioneer a digital vision of financial management. Quicken for mac reviews cnet. While my Money 2003 is still working well -- even on Windows 7! -- there may come a time when it simply doesn't work any more (Windows 8? 9?) So, what are the other options available? I'd like to investigate and wean myself off MS Money, eventually. I'm specifically interested in personal finance desktop software. That is, I'm loathe to trust my personal financial information to an online service.

Identifying the best personal finance software for you based on which platform you use the most (desktop, online, Mac, iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, etc.) can be a daunting undertaking, especially due to the hundreds of budgeting, personal finance, money management, and savings software sectors. If you're looking for a full-featured commercial application with statement downloads, etc., I would suggest Quicken. Quicken 2006 will convert Money 2005 and earlier. If you are using Money 2006, you'll have to wait for Quicken 2007. Historically, Quicken seems to be released every August.

What has worked well for you? I've been budgeting with MS Money since 2004 and was pretty disappointed to hear it's being discontinued.

Budgeting is actually a stress-relieving hobby for me, and I can be a bit of a control-freak when it comes to finances, so I decided to start early looking for a replacement rather than waiting until MS Money can no longer download transactions. Here are the pros and cons of the ones I've tried (updated 10/2010): - Based on the old, YNAB has you allot money from each paycheck to a specific budget category (envelope). It encourages you to live on last money's income, and if you have trouble with overspending, that can be a great plan. Personally, I'm a big believer in the envelope concept, so that's the biggest pro I found. Also, it's a downloaded software, so once I've bought it (for about $50) it's mine, without forced upgrades as far as I've seen.

The big con for me was that it does not automatically download transactions. I would have to sign on to each institution's website and manually download to the program.

Also, coming from Money, I'm used to having features that YNAB doesn't offer, like the ability to store information about my accounts. Overall, it's forward-thinking and a good budgeting system, but will take some extra time to download transactions and isn't really a comprehensive management tool for all my financial needs. You can try it out with their free trial. - This is a free online program. The free part was a major pro. It also looks pretty, if that's important to you.