CNET Editors' review
Money Decoder promises to help users sort out their complex mixture of income, bills, and debt for a clear financial status. With all the variables involved, this program makes organizing the user's future relatively easy, with one catch.
From the very start this program makes organizing assets, incomes, and liabilities very simple. The Help menu instantly advises users not to waste time searching for bills, but to take educated guesses and correct the work once monthly bills arrive. In addition, when the user scrolls over any of the boxes that need data, a screen at the top tells what is needed and often gives definitions of difficult terms. After entering heads of household, dependents, income, housing, travel, debt, and all the other conceivable expenses people have, Money Decoder has an easy-to-identify results key. Here you will see how much money is needed each month to survive, how long until you can afford to retire, how your savings will grow, and other important items.
Overall, this is a superb tool for organizing the often confusing world of personal finance. However, Money Decoder backs the user into a corner, because it plainly states it will be 30 days until the user has the system perfected, thanks to incoming bills. However, the program only comes as a 7-day free trial, so users will have to purchase the program before finding out if they can perfect their finances.
Publisher's Description
From Money Decoder:
Finally, an all-in-one, personal financial program. Simple, complete & visually pleasing--Money Decoder is your financial planner, organizer, professor, motivator, & calculator. Eliminate filing statements & calling salesmen. In no time at all you will be just "2-clicks" or less from any summation, calculation, definition, option, projection & estimation on your personal--real estate, mortgages, debts, credit, investments, insurance, budget. It's a consultant right by your side to enhance & simplify everything you do financially. Plan goals for college, retirement, investments, career. It provides a no-maintenance budget, requiring no downloading or data entry for spending. Get market values & quotes for homes, autos, insurance, credit scores, financing, investments. "Knowledge" guides you verbally & w/indicator lights, explanations, solutions. Toss out your calculator & spreadsheet. For consumers rich or poor, use what the pro's use & know what the pro's know.
Version 1.1.5 may include unspecified updates, enhancements, or bug fixes.
What's new in this version: You need a plan and this is it! Try it free buy for only $19.95. Try this before going to a financial planner/advisor and paying hundreds only to be talked into commissionable financial products.
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All versions:
3.0 starsout of 1 votes
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Current version:
3.0 starsout of 1 votes
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"Great for what it does but missing alot, and expensive!"
Version: Money Decoder 1.1.5
Pros
The trial version simplified how much I was spending in an average month (vs. how much I should be spending) and helped me to figure out debt repayment, and how much I should be saving and investing for long term security.
Cons
I wanted to a program to input my actual expenses and compare them to my ideal budget on a regular basis. The trial version did not offer this feature unless I wanted to create a new file for each month. The full version is $499, not 19.95
Summary
While I could develop an ideal monthly budget, debt reduction, and savings plan with the trial version, I could not then input actual expenses to compare against the plan. I am not sure if this is a feature in the full version. The product website is gimmicky, and there appears to be no real user group or very many 3rd party online reviews, so I could not determine if I wanted to purchase the full version. At a price of $499 (not the 19.95 listed on download.com), it was not worth the risk for me.
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