Microsoft Money features are easy to set up and can help to automate your financial management and planning. To get started, try these features:

Manage your accounts. Set up Money to track your checking, savings, and credit card accounts, as well as your loans and investments. If it's supported by your bank or brokerage, you can have your account information updated automatically every day. Money will categorize your transactions automatically. To view the Account List, click Banking, and then click Account List.

Pay bills online. With an online bill pay service, you can save time and postage by paying all your bills online. Online bill pay allows you to pay all of your monthly bills with just a few clicks. To view the Bills summary, click Bills at the top of the page.

Create a budget. Ever wonder where all of your cash goes each month? Money can look at accounts and bill pay transactions and show you where your money is going. You can track spending in just a few favorite categories, or set up a more detailed budget that tracks and compares both your income and your spending. Click Budget, and then click Budget Summary.

After you're set up to do these basic tasks, you can use Money to create reports, track your investments, create financial plans, and manage your taxes.