dorner@pequod.cso.uiuc.edu (Steve Dorner) (05/29/91)
I asked about Managing Your Money 4.0; I received three responses, all quite positive. The fact that it seemingly cannot import data is a drawback for me (especially five months into the year), but I may buy it anyway. Here is the promised summary, and thanks all. ========================================== From: scott j bury <sjbury@marsh.rice.edu> (There was a summary on MYM in misc.invest) I use MYM 4.0 and have been a MYM user since version 2.0 (about 2 years ago). It's a really nice personal accounting package. What it does: (In brief) 1) Tracks your asset and liability accounts. These can be about anything, even your MAC. 2) Sets up expense and income categories, i.e. budgets. 3) Handles your investment portfolios 4) Has some useful financial tools such as loan analysis 5) Prints checks 6) Direct link with CheckFree What it doesn't do: It does not tell you where or how to invest. It is not a data base or financial advisor. But it does do what if calculations for IRA/401(k)'s, mortgage refinancing and loans. My $0.02: I use it every day and can't fathom how I managed my money without it. :-) Try it out. I believe that the mail-order firms have a 30-day money-back policy. ========================================== From: Dan Pleasant <dan@hpnmdla.sr.hp.com> I have used MYM since release 1.0, and now I couldn't survive without it. It does virtually everything you could want -- although not necessarily in the way you want to do it. I use it to balance bank accounts, estimate my taxes, track stocks (I own 2 different stocks, totalling 300 shares. Big Deal.) and mutual funds, and print checks (a big time-saver, for me). Essentially, I use MYM for all of my financial records. (God help me if I ever lose my data files!) MYM version 4 has a great many improvements over version 3. It was late, but for once I think my upgrade money was well-spent. It takes some time to get used to the way the program does things, but I don't think it is hard to use. You will find some features that you wish were implemented differently, and I have a list of features that I wish were added (like automatic dividend reinvestment for mutual funds). Overall, though, the main problem is that you have to sit down and type in all those checks you wrote and all the credit card purchases you made. That's a pain, but it isn't MYM's fault. You don't say what you want to use MYM for, so I won't comment any more on specific features. Feel free to ask me if you have more questions. Hope this helps! Dan Pleasant [No relationship to MECA except as a customer.] > > Which does bring up a question--can it import from a file? I'll wait til > January to buy it if I'd have to retype five months of checks... > Hmmm... I haven't ever tried, but I can't think of any way to get MYM to import from a file. It will export, but I don't think it will import. And now that you mention it, I originally bought MYM in November, fooled with it for a while, and started using it seriously in January. Good luck! Dan Pleasant ========================================== From: duncan@smogland.janet.ucla.edu (Phil Duncan) In response to your question in comp.sys.mac.apps: I have been using an older version (2.x) of MYM for several years. I evaluated several similar products then and determined that MYM was the best of the lot. Recently I obtained the MYM 4.0 demo and have decided to upgrade. A few minor complaints are as follows: 1) Searching on transaction memos is not supported. 2) Requires switching off color in control panel to print pie charts. 3) Upgrade plan is rather expensive ($50 per year) considering the list price. -- Steve Dorner, U of Illinois Computing Services Office Internet: s-dorner@uiuc.edu UUCP: uunet!uiucuxc!uiuc.edu!s-dorner