Microsoft Money

Le_Kirk

I use the above on a weekly basis (it is version 11.0 2002) and don't normally have a problem. However, on an investment account, where I have holdings AND cash, I have an issue in dealing with Service Fees. The investment company sells some of my holdings to account for the fees and when I first set up the account in Money, I just accounted for the fees by "selling" the relevant amount and splitting the cost over all my holdings.

Gradually, as I have "sold" more stock, an error has crept in to the valuation. This is accounted for exactly by the amount of fees deducted. I cannot find any method of accounting for fees that doesn't cause this error.

Anybody out there that uses M$ Money with an investment account and if so, how do you account for fees?

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

My fees are charged monthly and I just use a sell to get this. My portfolio decides which ones to sell, and I use my ISA and Pension provider to do the calcs for me!


I will look into later today or this week, as there is a later version, free, of Money that is available. I will provide a link later.

Le_Kirk

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth wrote: »

My fees are charged monthly and I just use a sell to get this.

Yes, I do the same. What do you do when Money asks how you want to distribute the fees?

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth wrote: »

My portfolio decides which ones to sell, and I use my ISA and Pension provider to do the calcs for me!

Do you mean the portfolio on Money or via your investment company? My investment company sells a portion of the best performing holding for that month.

agrinnall

I don't know when that version is from (unless the 2002 in the number is a clue) but it sounds as if it may be quite old, mine is 17.0.120.3817 from 2010. It may not fix your problem but I'd consider updating to the most recent available version.


https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/download/details.aspx?id=20738

Le_Kirk

Thanks for your interest agrinnall. I did look into that version - the sunset - some years ago. My version is actually 2004 and has worked across XP and Windows 7. I don't think it is an issue of the programme not working correctly, more that I am not using it correctly. I am doing something wrong when accounting for holdings (or partial holdings) being sold to cover service fees.

The "Requirements" seems to say that it is an update/replacement for Money Plus, whereas mine is just Money.

agrinnall

You're probably right that it won't be the solution, although I've used Money in various versions for many years (and as far as I know the .mny files are compatible between versions) I've always felt the investment part of it was too complex for my simple investment needs so I've never activated that function.

Linton

The stock is sold for cash which is paid into your cash holdings. You then pay the fee from the cash holdings. That is the way it has worked for me without any problems since I started using MS Money 20 years ago. I dont understand what you are doing that is making such a simple couple of transactions difficult.

Le_Kirk

Linton wrote: »

The stock is sold for cash which is paid into your cash holdings. You then pay the fee from the cash holdings. That is the way it has worked for me without any problems since I started using MS Money 20 years ago.

That might just do it. I shall try that and report back but it won't be until next time I get a service fee (in August), although I guess I could test it by reversing one of MY transactions and doing it the way you suggest.

Linton wrote: »

I don't understand what you are doing that is making such a simple couple of transactions difficult.

Neither do I and that is why I asked. Unlike you, I have only been using Money for 18 years but only in the last couple of years used it for investment accounts. Much obliged for your (likely) solution.

Le_Kirk

I have carried out a test using another copy of Money (on my laptop) and successfully sold part of an investment and this time added it to Cash. What I can't seem to find is how to pay fees. Any help gratefully received.

Le_Kirk

Seems it wasn't all down to me and/or my interpretation of how Money works. There is a technical glitch on the Fidelity website so it was not reporting the figures correctly and I was therefore never going to be able to reconcile their figures against my recordings on Money. They have corrected part of the glitch but I am still waiting for the second part of the fix, i.e. not reporting the "book cost" properly. Will report back when they fix it.

Linton

Le_Kirk wrote: »

I have carried out a test using another copy of Money (on my laptop) and successfully sold part of an investment and this time added it to Cash. What I can't seem to find is how to pay fees. Any help gratefully received.

For dealing charges there is a "Commission" field on the buy and sell pop-up menus. It is included in the Total cost. I also include stamp duty where appropriate in this.

Ongoing fees can be paid as a Withdrawal from the "Cash" line - just double click on Cash. Similarly refunds and cash interest can be recorded as Deposits in Cash.