Let me get to the categories now. I can only imagine that Money (like other ms software) decides what you must want to do and leaves it at that. With Quicken, you can have as many categories (and subcategories) as you want.
Let's say, for example, that you have professional expenses. The category would be "professional." You can then divide your expenses into sub-categories of "professional," like "membership dues," "books," "education," etc.
Or you have expenses for your home. The category would be "home." Sub-categories might be things like "insurance," "heat," "electric," "property taxes," "repairs." Or your car, with sub-categories for gas, maintenance, insurance, repairs, etc.
Or you want to keep track of your computer expenses with subcategories for hardware, software, service, repair, supplies, etc.
You can split transactions, too. Let's say you bought several things at a store, such as envelopes, a new thingy to replace the one that is leaking on the toilet, and a printer. You can split the expenses into your favorite categories, so you can retrieve the information later.
All these go into reports that you might want to generate. Such as your net worth
![huh :huh:](https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/Smileys/fun/huh.gif)
, how much you spend on dining out, heating the house, repairing the car, etc. Also, you can generate an income and expense report which will let you know if you have made more than you spent this month/year, or the reverse.
You can set a savings goal and see how you're doing.