Video:Track Your Spending

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Transcript:Track Your Spending

Hi, I'm Don Schechter for About.com Money. Today I'll show you how to assess your spending and investments in Microsoft Money.

First open up Money. One way to help you assess your spending is to use the spending tracker. This helps you, with minimal effort, to see where the money you spend is going.

Categorize Your Transactions

But before we check that out, let's make sure our transactions are categorized. Click 'account register.'

When you enter transactions manually, or when your bank updates your information, it's always a good idea to add categories.

Click on a transaction. Then in the category box, choose a category from the drop-down menu. There are categories for both expenses and income. Click 'save.'

Note that you can only categorize transactions in your register, not adjustments in your register.

View Reports of Your Spending

Now after your transactions are categorized, go back to your Money homepage. There's a pie graph with your spending categories to make it easy to see where you spend money. To further assess your account click the 'reports' tab at the top.

Here, you can view reports of spending by category, by payee, and many other choices. Now you can see why it's important to categorize your transactions.

There are graphs to help you visualize your finances. If you have an investment account, you can check your portfolio here, too.

Thanks for watching. For more information please visit us online at money.about.com.