Some for the money: the leading money management software is not new, but it's definitely improved.

The leading money management software is not new, but it's definitely improved.

Looking for more than just the standard financial programs? Want to go beyond balancing a checking account, creating a budget and tracking a stock portfolio by personal computer?

These days you can get financial help, on line. A slew of new packages and enhancements now lets business owners and home users for on-line financial advice, transfer money between accounts, even pay bills, automatically.

Kiplinger's CA-Simply Money ($69.95) is the latest product for the financially perplexed. If, for example, you're shelling out hefty interest payments on your credit cards, this "intelligent" system might suggest using a home equity line of credit, with a lower interest rate, to pay off your credit debt. Just click the "advice" icon to get help with specific circumstances. It's like having a financial planner in a box.

For cutting-edge money management, check out these three new services offered in Microsoft Money 3.0 ($69.95). Bank On-Line automatically balances and reconciles all your checking, savings and credit card accounts. A-n added plus: You can transfer money between accounts.

There is a catch though: To use Bank On-Line, you will need a modem and an account with a participating bank. Needless to say, your local bank may not be among the privileged. So, you may have to do your on-line banking out-of-state. Also, tack on an additional $7.95 a month charge for the service.

For $9.95 per month, you can make 20 bill payments anywhere in the U.S. with Pay On-line. By plugging in the necessary information, a check is cut and sent to the payee. There's also an automatic payment schedule for recurring bills.

Want to update the value of your investment portfolio quickly and easily? Quotes On-Line can do it, and give you the closing price of more than 16,000 stocks and mutual funds listed on the NYSE, AMEX and NASDAQ stock exchanges. For $3.95 per month, you can access the system four times a month with an unlimited number of requests. After that, it's 50 cents per call.

Less sophisticated, but more popular, than Microsoft Money is Quicken ($59.95) by Intuit Inc. The number-one-selling financial software package prints checks, tracks credit card spending, creates a budget and monitors your investments.

A new pop-up calendar makes it easier to schedule and view recurring transactions. Also, it's no longer necessary to buy separate software from CheckFree, an independent bill paying service. instead, Quicken is directly linked to the service, which allows 20 transactions per month for $9.95. Just designate where and when the check will be delivered and it will be sent electronically.