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-
- MUTUAL FUND EXPERT
- ACCOUNTING PROGRAM
-
- Version 2.4
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- by:
-
-
- George R. Cotten
- 37 Lawrence Lane
- Lexington, MA 02173
- 1
-
- FundExpert ACCOUNTING PROGRAM
-
- This program is being distributed under the shareware concept.
- The program and this manual are the copyrighted property of the author.
- You are granted a limited license to try the program for one month, to
- copy it and distribute it, provided that:
-
- a) You do not charge a fee for the distribution or copying of
- the program unless you have the prior written consent of the author,
-
- b) It is distributed only in its original, unmodified, compiled
- form (except that it may be compressed using an archiving facility, as
- long as the program can be uncompressed only back to its original form),
-
- c) This documentation file accompanies the program itself, and
- is also distributed in its original, unmodified form (or compressed - see
- exception in item b above), and,
-
- d) It is not distributed as part of any commercial product or
- service without the prior written consent of the author.
-
- After trying the program, if you decide to use it, please return
- the license agreement/registration form, signed, (at the end of this manual)
- along with the registration fee of $40.00.
- Registration entitles you to use the program on one computer or local
- area network (LAN) at a time. LAN support is NOT provided. If used on a
- network, it is at your own discretion. Site licenses are also available
- for an additional fee as explained in the license agreement/registration
- form. Registered users can obtain technical support and will be notified
- about future revisions.
-
-
- CAUTION!
- ─────────────────────────────────────
- Although the program FundExpert may be useful for most investors, and the author
- did his best to minimize bugs, he cannot underwrite everyone's investment decisions
- or business use of this product. Before using this program you should recognize that
- it involves a high level of complexity which is potentially susceptible to error either
- in the program code itself or on your part due to incorrect usage. Thus you should
- understand that you use and rely upon the results of FundExpert at your own risk.
- You should satisfy yourself regarding the adequacy and accuracy of FundExpert
- with test examples before committing to using and relying upon the program on a
- regular basis. You should furthermore review all program output for reasonableness
- before using it to make investment decisions.
- 2
- TABLE OF CONTENTS
-
-
- Files on the disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
-
- Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
-
- CHAPTER ONE Installation .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
-
- Installation . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
-
- Program Configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
-
- Initial menu . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
-
- Program's limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
-
- CHAPTER TWO Using FundExpert program . . . . . . . . . . 9
-
- Adding new accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
-
- Deleting existing accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
-
- Sorting of existing accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
-
- Connecting to the Host Computer . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . .10
-
- Share prices, yields, and no. of shares . .. . . . . . . . . . .11
-
- Account balance and recent activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
-
- Transfer of shares between accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
-
- Transfer of funds from a bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
-
- Gain/Loss from transactions . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 13
-
- Transaction log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
-
- Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
-
- Fidelity Brokerage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
-
- Downloading quotations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
- 3
-
- CHAPTER THREE Stock Market . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
-
- CHAPTER FOUR Bonds portfolio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
-
- CHAPTER FIVE Bank accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20
-
- CHAPTER SIX Other features . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
-
- Customized dialing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
-
- Yield of Bonds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .21
-
- Summary of investments . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .22
-
- UTILITY PROGRAMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .22
-
- "Pre-dated" entries . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .22
-
- View/delete files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
-
- Capital gains calculation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
-
- Plotting module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24
-
- LICENSE AGREEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
-
- REGISTRATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
-
- LIMITED WARRANTY . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .27
- 4
- --------------------
- Files on the Disk:
- --------------------
-
- There are three program files on the distribution diskette:
- INSTALL.EXE, README.1ST and FUND.OVR. The program is self-installing and
- you will find the following files on your disk:
-
- FUNDS.EXE and FUNDS.OVR is the actual program,
- FUNDS.CFG is the configuration file for the program
- *.ACT and *.STK are the data files for different accounts
- SHARE.LOG is the log of all transactions
- SHARE.ARC contains archived transactions and is formed when needed
- COPY.DAT is a copy of "account screens" and is formed when needed
- SALES.LOG listing of "closed" positions and is formed when needed
- MANUAL.DOC is the instruction manual
- LICENSE.DOC is the license agreement
-
- ----------------
- Introduction
- ----------------
-
- The program FundExpert automates the access to many families of mutual
- funds using automated service telephones. The program permits a speedy, access to
- these funds: obtaining individual quotations and balances including the last
- purchase/sale/exchange of shares in your account. An additional feature is the
- automated transfer of funds from your bank to some groups of funds, or between
- funds in certain groups. The program maintains a record of all the transactions and
- calculates the actual return on investment in these funds, taking into account
- dividends and the change in share price.
-
- The price quotations for different stocks, funds, or bonds can be also
- downloaded from Prodigy(R) and/or CompuServe(R). Any changes in price are
- automatically recorded by the program and can be subsequently plotted.
-
- A separate section of the program permits compilation of all investments in
- Treasury, Municipal and Corporate bonds. The yield to maturity of these bonds is
- calculated and payment dates listed. If an interest payment is due within 30 days,
- then this entry is highlighted for your convenience.
-
- Another section is devoted to direct investments in the stock market, and a
- routine is provided for making buy/sell orders by telephone, directly to the host
- computer at Fidelity Brokerage. There is also a section for recording your
- investments in bank accounts, such as Certificates of Deposit, or Money Market
- accounts.
- 5
- Any sales, or purchases of shares, or bonds, can be recorded by simply moving
- the cursor to the desired location (with the arrow keys) and changing the respective
- numbers. The program will record automatically each such change as purchase or
- sale. The program maintains a permanent record of all transactions, calculates the
- actual yield on investment for individual accounts as well as provides the "purchase
- date and price" and "selling date and price" for all "closed positions", according to
- IRS rule FIFO (ie. "First in, first out").
-
- You may try this demo for a limited time period. At the end of your trial, you
- are invited to register and then you will receive a personalized copy of the
- program, be given access to technical assistance and notified about future
- improvements.
- 6
- CHAPTER ONE Installation
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Please read the license agreement and warranty information found at the end
- of this manual for more information regarding the use of the program.
-
- ------------------
- Installation
- ------------------
-
- To install the FundExpert on a hard disk, put the master disk into Drive
- A: or Drive B; , and type the following:
- INSTALL <ENTER>
- This will initiate the installation process during which you will be given an
- opportunity to select the drive and directory where you wish to store the program.
- Alternatively, you may copy all the files to the desired directory on your hard disk,
- change to that directory, and then type: INSTALL <ENTER>.
- After you have installed the program in your computer, you are ready to
- start the program. The first time that you use the program, you will go directly to
- the "configuration menu" (see below).
-
- ------------------------
- Program configuration
- ------------------------
-
- The program is started by changing to the appropriate sub-directory (eg. \FUND)
- and issuing the command FUNDS, ie. type:
- C:
- cd \FUND
- FUNDS
-
- At the first start-up of the program you will be presented with the
- configuration routine. This routine can be reached at any other time by pressing
- ALT F1, when you are in the "Mutual Funds" section of the program., or through
- the Utility module (see later).
- You will be presented with choices for screen colors, prompted for modem
- port and speed, and asked to select the funds that should be displayed on the
- selection screen in the future. Please note that you cannot choose more than eight
- funds from the list (plus the Fidelity Funds that are a compulsory choice). You can
- add up to three families of funds that are not listed in the program, however you
- will not be able to avail yourself of any dialing routines when connected to these
- funds, At each question, the current selection is presented in square brackets (eg.
- [C:\FUND]). If you do not wish to change it, press the <ENTER> key. You may
- also add the "Fidelity Brokerage" account at this time (see the specific instructions
- for the use of this option).
- 7
- NOTE: If you do not have a modem, or do not want to use one, type 0
- when asked for the modem's port. If you do use a modem, make sure that it is
- connected and turned on before starting this program.
- If you elect to delete all "closed positions" (ie. all lots of shares that have
- been fully sold), a small error will be introduced into the gain/loss calculations for
- the individual accounts (read under "Sales log" for more information), and the
- gain/loss calculations will exclude all the "closed positions".
- You will be also asked to select a directory path for downloading quotes from
- Prodigy.CompuServe. If you will not avail yourself of this service, press <ENTER>.
- Otherwise select any directory path that is convenient (eg. for CompuServe(R) it
- might be C:\CIM\CABINET\GENERAL, or for Prodigy(R) - C:\PRODIGY).
-
- NOTE: Once you selected all the groups of funds to be displayed on the screen
- and inserted the initial balances on your account (see later under "Adding new
- accounts"), you are advised to follow the procedure described under "Transactions'
- Log" in order to clear all the old data. Namely: display "Transactions' Log" on
- the screen and press DEL key.
-
- In registered copies you are also given a choice whether you wish to protect
- the access to the program and data with your personal password. Please note that the
- password is case sensitive, ie. "PASSWORD" is not the same as "password", or
- "PassworD" ! The data files are further protected from intrusion by encoding some
- of critical information like: number of shares, PIN code and the personal password.
-
- NOTE: Make a note of your password, since once this option has been
- invoked, the program cannot be started without the correct password. If you
- retained the original copy of the program (without the password invoked), in
- emergency you may recover the data by copying the former FUNDS.CFG file into
- your new directory and then starting the program anew.
-
- When this procedure is completed, the initial screen will appear showing
- that it is unregistered shareware version. Press <ENTER> to continue the program.
- This screen is absent from the registered version of this program.
-
-
- ------------------
- Initial Menu
- ------------------
-
- Using the FundExpert is straightforward. To start the program, make sure
- you are on the proper drive and in the proper sub-directory. For example, if you
- installed the program in the directory \FUND on disk drive C:, you would type the
- following:
- C:
- CD \FUND
- FUNDS
- 8
- Substitute your drive and directory in the above commands. Once you have
- followed the steps above, the first screen will be displayed. The first selection screen
- offers a choice of :
-
- 1. Mutual funds - this leads into the main part of the program for Mutual Fund
- transactions
- 2. Other investments - for recording etc transactions with bonds, shares or bank
- accounts
- 3. Yield of bonds - calculates yield to maturity and duration of bonds
- 4. Optional dialing - a routine that permits setting up your own dialing sequences
- (for instance: to obtain current balance on your credit card
- or bank account).
- 5. Summary of investments - presents the summary of all investments and
- categorizes them
- 6. Utilities - leads to several useful maintenance routines
- 7. Plotting module - for plotting daily price variations
- 8. End of Job - terminates the program.
-
- Throughout the program certain conventions were maintained.
- a. Whenever there is a question followed by a blinking question mark (?), the
- answer should be entered, in some instances this may have to be followed by
- pressing of <ENTER> button
- b. A question ending in: [Y]/N indicates that pressing only the <ENTER> button
- is equivalent to the answer contained in the square brackets. Otherwise pressing
- of either Y or N is sufficient and additional <ENTER> is not required.
-
- -------------------------
- Program's limitations
- -------------------------
-
- The program requires IBM compatible computer, type 286 or higher, a Hayes
- compatible telephone modem and a telephone receiver with Touch-Tone dialing. The
- operating system should be MS-DOS version 3.1 or above. The program uses
- Expanded Memory, if such is available. The "shareware version" requires a
- computer with built-in clock/calendar, the "registered" version does not have this
- requirement.
- If the environmental variable TMP or TEMP is set to a directory on a RAM
- disk - the program will use that directory for its working files. See the DOS manual
- for explanation of environmental variables and RAM disk.
- The data files are of "sequential" type. The data files can be accessed with
- any editing program, but you are advised against making any corrections, or
- changes, using an outside editor, since you may inadvertently destroy the usefulness
- of such files. The content of the data files is further protected from unauthorized
- intrusion by encoding some of the critical numbers.
- 9
- CHAPTER TWO Mutual Funds
- ______________________________________________________
-
-
- If you select "Mutual funds", the next screen allows the choice of the desired
- family of funds. Select one. The next screen will show the currently loaded account
- information for these funds. Note a brief summary of available commands in the
- last four rows of the display. A further display of additional "active keys" may be
- obtained by pressing ALT-H (for Help screen). In addition to all the available
- mutual funds, there is an additional choice; "Fidelity Brokerage" account (see the
- specific instruction for the use of this option).
-
- The following keys are activated:
-
- F1 - dial the telephone number for the desired mutual fund
- F2 - obtain the price quotations for the listed mutual funds
- F3 - obtain the share balance information for your accounts
- F4 - last purchase information for the chosen account
- F5 - last dividend information for the chosen account
- F6 - last sale information for the chosen account
- F7 - price quotations for funds not listed on the screen
- F8 - copy "accounts screen" to COPY.DAT file in delimited format
- F9 - proceed to another function (for Vanguard funds only)
- F10 - terminate the session and hang up the telephone
- ALT F1 - change configuration file
- ALT F2 - sort listed accounts
- ALT F3 - change to "portfolio screen"
- ALT F4 - change to "accounts screen"
- ALT F5 - exchange shares between existing accounts or set up a new account
- ALT F6 - transfer money from your bank to an existing account
- ALT F7 - print screen
- ALT F8 - change to "transactions' log"
- ALT F9 - cancel last transaction
- ALT F10 - download quotations from Prodigy(R) or Compuserve(R)
- INSert - add new account
- DEL - delete listed account
- ALT H - Help screen, giving the summary of all active keys
-
- In addition, the following keys are available for moving the cursor on the screen:
-
- DOWN ARROW - moves the cursor down one row
- UP ARROW - moves cursor up one row
- RIGHT ARROW - moves cursor to the right
- LEFT ARROW - moves cursor to the left
- 10
- ------------------------
- Adding New Accounts
- ------------------------
-
- After you have chosen the desired family of funds, you will be presented with the
- screen summarizing all your accounts in that family. If you desire to add a new
- account to the list, press INSert key. You will be presented with a list of questions
- to answer: Fund number, Fund description, your account number, stock symbol
- (optional - required for automated downloading of share prices), security code (if
- none required, enter 99), Social Security number (optional, it is required by some
- Funds), number of shares on the account, the share yield and price (Note: no. of
- shares, their yield, and price should be entered on a single line, separated by blank
- spaces). After you answered all the questions, the screen containing the summary of
- all your accounts will re-appear.
-
- ---------------------------------
- Deleting an existing account
- ---------------------------------
-
- To delete an existing account, move the cursor to the line on which that account
- is displayed and press DELete key. You will be asked to confirm your choice, and if
- you press Y than this fund will be deleted. A deletion of an account will cause
- also the deletion of all recorded transactions on this account in the "Transaction
- Log", if you so choose (see later).
- The registered version of this program offers an option to archive the deleted
- records in a separate file whose format is compatible with most of the popular
- spreadsheet and database programs.
-
- NOTE: You cannot delete ALL the funds on any given screen.
-
- ----------------------------------
- Sorting of existing accounts
- ----------------------------------
-
- You may re-arrange your accounts to any desired order by pressing ALT F2.
- You will be asked which record should be moved, enter its position (eg. A) and
- press <ENTER>. Next you are asked to which position the record should be
- moved. Enter the desired new position (eg. B) and press <ENTER>. Repeat the
- procedure until all accounts have been sorted.
-
- ---------------------------------------
- Connecting with the Host Computer
- ---------------------------------------
-
- Press key F1 to initiate dialing to the host computer. The modem is silenced at
- this stage and you will not hear the dialing.You are advised to keep your receiver on
- the hook until the modem signals with a beep that it has stopped dialing. Now lift
- the phone receiver and listen to the automated response by the host computer.
- 11
- NOTE: Certain telephone sets appear to interfere with the clarity and/or action
- of the modem and that is the reason for keeping the telephone receiver "on the
- hook" while the modem is dialing.
-
- Once the dialing is completed, you may select your next action. Move the cursor
- to the line on which the desired account is displayed. When the host computer asks
- for next action, hang up the telephone receiver and press F2 if you desire share
- prices and yields for individual funds, or press F3 if you desire to obtain the
- balance of shares in your accounts, and their net worth. Each time keep your phone
- receiver on the hook until you hear the beep signifying that the dialing was
- completed. You may continue these actions repeatedly until you obtain all the
- desired information for all the funds in a given family.
-
- NOTE: The Benham, Merrill Lynch, and Vanguard families of funds allows you to
- repeat the actions initiated by either F2 or F3 keys, BUT if you wish to switch from
- eg. "Share prices" (F2) to "Account balance" (F3), you must first indicate your
- desire by pressing F9. This procedure is not required by the other families of funds.
-
- To terminate your connection with the host computer, you should press:
- F10 key - this hangs up the telephone line and terminates the current fund
- selection. You are asked:
- "Continue? - [Y]/N".
- If you respond N , the initial menu screen appears. If you press Y , you will
- be presented with the screen showing the selection of available families of funds.
-
-
- -----------------------------------------------
- Share prices and yields, number of shares
- -----------------------------------------------
-
- After you obtained the new prices and yields for shares (by pressing F2), you may
- wish to update the records. In order to do that, move the cursor to the appropriate
- location - just to the left of the number that you wish to change, by use of :
-
- RIGHT ARROW
- LEFT ARROW
- UP ARROW
- DOWN ARROW
- keys.
- 12
- You may change the values of : number of shares, yield and their price after
- moving the cursor to the desired position. After entering the new value, press
- <ENTER>. Please note that whenever you change the number of shares, the
- computer interprets it as a purchase/dividend/sale and will make the appropriate
- record of the transaction. In order to record the correct price of shares that were
- bought/sold, ALWAYS change the price before changing the number of shares!
-
- The updated screen is automatically displayed. Note that the prices and yields of
- all other funds on the screen that have the same "Fund Number" are also
- automatically updated. This feature is particularly useful if you have several
- accounts with the same Fund (eg, regular and IRA ones). You will also find the date
- of the last record change in the upper, right corner of the screen.
-
- NOTE: If you selected to "record/plot price variations" in the configuration
- menu, each time you change the price of the share - the new price and the date of
- change will be recorded in the file HISTORY.DAT, which is subsequently used for
- plotting that data.
-
- You can also receive price quotations for funds not listed on the screen by
- pressing F7 and providing the fund number (eg 21) when asked for it. Pressing the
- key F8 copies the data from the screen to COPY.DAT file in delimited format.
-
- NOTE : Fidelity family of funds requires that you have at least one account active
- before you can access the data by phone.
-
- -----------------------------------------
- Account balance and recent activity
- -----------------------------------------
-
- The account balance and the current value can be obtained by pressing F3 and
- following the instructions given in the previous section. Once you go through that
- procedure, you
- can also obtain additional information for that particular account by pressing the
- appropriate keys:
-
- F4 - gives the last purchase
- F5 - gives most recent dividend
- F6 - gives the last sale
-
- ------------------------------------------------
- Transfer of shares between active accounts
- ------------------------------------------------
-
- Several families of funds permit the use of this service for exchange of shares
- between your active accounts and/or setting up of a new account. However, you
- must use the individual account numbers rather than the "family" ones. For instance
- in Fidelity group of funds you are not allowed to use numbers starting with letter
- "T". Unfortunately, the author was unable to obtain the detailed instructions for this
- procedure for all families of funds at the time of setting up this program.
- 13
- In order to start this procedure, press ALT F5 and answer the questions as they
- appear in the top three lines on the screen. You must await response from the Host
- computer, when it is so indicated on the screen. At the end of the procedure the
- Host computer gives you the final choice of either accepting or cancelling the
- transaction as spelled on the screen and spoken by the Host computer on the
- telephone.
-
- NOTE: Whenever you are asked to provide "account (rec. no)", respond with the
- letter (eg. A) corresponding to that fund. If you wish to open a new account, you
- must provide the Fund No. as specified by the prospectus. After each
- selection/response press <ENTER> key.
-
- -----------------------------------
- Transfer of funds from a bank
- -----------------------------------
-
- In order to use this service, special arrangements must be made with your Fund
- Manager (as eg setting up of "Money Line" for Fidelity funds). You must use the
- individual account numbers rather than the "family" ones.
-
- In order to start this procedure press ALT F6 and answer the questions as they
- appear in the top three lines on the screen. At the end of the procedure the Host
- computer gives you the final choice of either accepting or cancelling the transaction
- as displayed on the screen and spoken by the Host computer on the telephone.
-
- NOTE: Whenever asked to provide "account (rec. no)", respond with the letter (eg.
- A) corresponding to that fund.
-
- ---------------------
- Gain/Loss screen
- ---------------------
-
- As you change a listing of all the accounts with a given Fund and/or change the
- amount of shares that you own in these accounts, an additional information is being
- developed in the supplementary screen - called "Gain/Loss screen". You can access
- this screen by pressing ALT F3 keys. The screen presents the Fund number,
- account name, the amount of money that you invested (ie. all the purchases, less all
- the sales), the current value, the total profit/loss, and average percentage of gain/loss
- over the period from the date shown on the screen.
- 14
- The average percentage gained/lost on investment ("av. %") during the period,
- starting on the date shown, is simply the total capital gains (re-invested dividends
- plus change in shares' price) divided by the total amount invested during that period.
- Note that any distributions (such as dividends) that were not re-invested, are not
- included in the gain/loss calculations.
- You are permitted to change the date, and this will cause all the PERCENT
- gain/loss calculation to commence from that date only, but the "Profit/Loss" will
- continue to be computed on all available records. However the new date MUST BE
- IDENTICAL with one of the actual transaction dates on that account. You can
- determine the acceptable dates by reviewing the data in the SHARE.LOG file (you
- van view it by pressing ALT-F8 keys). Note that in the calculation of the average
- percentage gained/lost on investment ("av. %"), all shares purchased prior to that
- date are automatically re-priced to the price recorded on that date and thus the result
- of these calculations is greatly influenced by the selection of the correct date.
-
- The annualized gain/loss (ann. %) is the quarterly compounded, annual interest
- rate, that would produce the same average percentage gain/loss during the period, as
- the one calculated above, if a lump sum was invested at the beginning of the period
- at the "ann. % " rate.
- The Total Gain/Loss and Average % Change for the particular family of Funds
- are presented in the top right-hand corner of the screen. The Total Gain/Loss is the
- amount compiled from ALL the records available in SHARE.LOG file, while the
- Average % Change is the average for all transactions that occurred AFTER the date
- shown in the table.
-
- You can change back to the account screen by pressing ALT F4 keys.
-
- -----------------------
- Transactions' log
- -----------------------
-
- A log of all the transactions. ie. any change in the number of shares, is maintained
- separately and can be accessed by pressing ALT F8 keys. The last column that is
- displayed, "amount paid ($)", represents the amount paid for the purchase (if
- positive), or amount received from sale (if negative), or will be equal to 0 if the
- transaction was a result of dividend distribution. If desired, you can print that log by
- pressing ALT F7 keys while the log is displayed on the screen.
-
- No changes can be made to these records. However you may delete the records
- by pressing DEL key. You are then given an option to delete either all the
- transactions, or to delete only the "closed" transactions in the Money Market funds.
- When the option to delete ALL the transactions is activated, the dates on the
- Gain/Loss screen are also changed and all the calculated percentage profit will be
- calculated for the period starting from the date when the change was initiated.
-
- The deleted transactions may be saved in a file SHARE.ARC using "de-
- limited" format, and accessed by most spreadsheet (eg. Lotus 123(R)) or data-base
- (eg. dBase(R)) programs.
- 15
- ---------------
- Printing
- ---------------
-
- You can obtain a printed copy of any screen, by first placing the desired table
- on the screen (press ALT F3 - for Gain/Loss screen, ALT F4 - for Account
- screen, and ALT F8 - for Transactions log), and then pressing ALT F7 keys.
-
- ------------------------
- Fidelity Brokerage
- ------------------------
-
- Although this option has been placed under the "Mutual Funds", none of the
- F keys is activated. The program will permit you to interact with the host computer
- for placing the buy/sell orders and obtaining stock quotations. Simply follow the
- instructions as they appear on the screen and listen to the responses through the
- telephone receiver. The dialing sequence has been timed to correspond to the various
- questions asked by the host computer, at one point you have a choice of two
- responses, depending on the question asked by the computer.
- Since the sequence is rather complicated, you should first try it out with the
- modem disconnected from the telephone line.
- 16
- ------------------------------------------------------
- Downloading quotations from Prodigy or CompuServe
- ------------------------------------------------------
-
- NOTE: You can download ONLY the price quotations for the securities already
- listed in one of the existing accounts and displayed on the appropriate "account
- screen". The stock symbol of such securities MUST be identical in all respects to the
- symbol used by the source of the data (Prodigy(R), or CompuServe(R) ). Please note
- that the two services use somewhat different symbols for certain securities (eg.
- bonds).
-
-
- 1. DOWNLOADING FROM PRODIGY(R)
-
- You may update the prices by down-loading the quotations from the
- Prodigy(R) Service using the following procedure:
-
- 1. On the Prodigy(R) Service list your stocks on either Quote Track 1 or 2 (however
- your list does not have to be restricted to the shares listed in the FundExpert
- program).
-
- 2. On Prodigy(R), select "Files" menu, then select "Report setup" and choose the
- following:
- Range: Entire list
- Report type: Closing prices
- Destination: Files
- On the next screen select:
- Text (*.TXT)
- No column headings
- File: [path] QUOTE.TXT
- (Path is the directory that you selected during the SETUP)
- On the next screen select: OVERWRITE FILE
- 3. Save the setting "for all future sessions" and "print".
-
- When the printing is completed, return to FundExpert program, go to the screen of
- interest (eg. stocks, or a particular family of Mutual Funds) and press ALT-F10.
- All the prices on the screen will be updated automatically.
-
-
-
- 2. DOWNLOADING FROM COMPUSERVE(R)
-
- You can download the quotations from CompuServe(R) using their CIM
- (Compuserve Information Manager) interface.
-
- 1. Start CIM in the usual way and select "Quotes..." from the Service Menu. Using
- CIM published procedure, select the list of stocks that you desire to download and
- press "ALL"
- 17
- 2. Once you receive the response and listing of all the quotes, SAVE the data in a
- file named "QUOTE.TXT" and located in the directory that you selected during the
- SETUP (eg. C:\CIM\CABINET\GENERAL)
-
- 3. Return to the FundExpert, proceed to the screen of interest (eg. stocks, or a
- particular family of Mutual Funds) and press ALT-F10.
- 18
- CHAPTER THREE Stock Market
- ______________________________________________________________
-
- IF you select "Stock Market" from the initial selection screen, you enter a
- separate routine for all your stock market transactions. In most respects the screen
- display and operation resemble the corresponding features of the section dealing
- with the Mutual Funds. The following differences should be noted however:
-
- 1. Only the following keys are active in this routine:
- F10, ALT F3, ALT F4, ALT F9, ALT F10, INS, DEL
- DOWN ARROW, UP ARROW, LEFT ARROW, RIGHT ARROW
- and their actions are the same as in the Mutual Fund section of this program.
- 2. The dividends and other distributions that are not re-invested, are not included in
- the gain/loss calculations.
- 3. The sales log for the stock market transactions is maintained in the identical way
- to that described in the "Mutual Fund" section of this manual. However the sales
- log can be accessed only through the "mutual fund" section, or the "Utilities"
- section of the program.
- 4. You can change the number of shares, their yield and price by simply moving the
- cursor to the desired position (using the arrow keys) and typing the new value.
- 5. A deletion of any share record from the Account Screen, may also delete all
- related transactions from the Transaction Log, if you so select.
- 19
- CHAPTER FOUR Bond portfolio
- ______________________________________________________________
-
- IF you select "Bond portfolio" from the initial selection screen, you enter a
- separate routine for all your bond transactions. In most respects the screen display
- and operation resemble the corresponding features of the section dealing with the
- Mutual Funds. The following differences should be noted however:
-
- 1. Only the following keys are active in this routine:
- F10, ALT F3, ALT F4, ALT F9, ALT F10, INS, DEL
- DOWN ARROW, UP ARROW, LEFT ARROW, RIGHT ARROW
- and their actions are the same as in the Mutual Fund section of this program.
- 2. The dividends and other distributions that are not re-invested, are not included in
- the gain/loss calculations.
- 3. The sales log for the bond transactions is maintained in the identical way to that
- described in the "Mutual Fund" section of this manual. However the sales log
- can be accessed only through the "mutual fund" section, or "Utilities" section of
- the program.
- 4. A deletion of any share record from the Account Screen, may also delete all
- related transactions from the Transaction Log, if you so select.
-
- An additional screen of data "Bond calculations and Payment dates" can be
- reached by pressing ALT F3 keys. The following additional information is provided
- on this screen:
-
- 1. Actual yield to maturity of the bond, calculated using S&P formula using two
- basis: (a) "orig" - assuming that the bond was purchased on date shown, and (b)
- "today" - assuming that the bond was purchased today. The second alternative is
- useful in evaluating the change in the bond's yield as its market value changes.
- 2. Payment dates and the amount paid. For your convenience, any payments that
- are due within the next 30 days, and 10 days after the pay date, are highlighted.
- 20
- CHAPTER FIVE Bank Accounts
- _________________________________________________________________
-
- IF you select "Bank accounts" from the initial selection screen, you enter a separate
- routine for all your bank transactions. In most respects the screen display and
- operation resemble the corresponding features of the section dealing with the Mutual
- Funds. The following differences should be noted however:
-
- 1. Only the following keys are active in this routine:
- F10, ALT F9, INS, DEL
- DOWN ARROW, UP ARROW, LEFT ARROW, RIGHT ARROW
- and their actions are the same as in the Mutual Fund section of this program.
- 2. The sales log for the bank transactions is maintained in the identical way to that
- described in the "Mutual Fund" section of this manual. However the sales log
- can be accessed only through the "mutual fund" section of the program.
- 3. You can change the number of shares, and their yield by simply moving the
- cursor to the desired position (using the arrow keys) and typing the new value.
- The price of shares is assumed to be $1 each.
- 4. A deletion of any share record from the Account Screen, may also delete all
- related transactions from the Transaction Log, if you so select.
-
- It is suggested that you use following descriptive titles:
- CD - Certificates of Deposit
- MM - Money Market accounts
- SAV - Saving accounts
- REG - Other checking accounts
- 21
- CHAPTER SIX Other features
- ____________________________________________________________
-
- --------------------------------
- Customized Dialing Routine
- --------------------------------
-
- The user is given an opportunity to design up to five customized dialing
- routines. In order to do so, select "optional dialing" from the selection screen and
- you will be given the next choice of: dialing, setup, and correction.
-
- Select "setup" and follow the instructions on the screen to enter the
- telephone number and the dialing sequence. You may use numbers in any
- combination with the following symbols: ( - ) . In addition, you may use
- a comma whenever you wish to introduce a pause in dialing. Each comma is
- equivalent to a pause of 2 seconds. Press <ENTER> when finished.
-
- You may alter/correct your dialing sequence by choosing "correction" from
- the menu. You will then be presented with the current sequence and you can type
- the corrected sequence immediately underneath the old one. Press <ENTER> when
- the corrections are completed.
-
- --------------------
- Yield of bonds
- --------------------
-
- A separate routine (available from the initial selection screen) is provided for
- calculating yield to maturity and duration of bonds. The yield to maturity is
- calculated by three different methods. The first two:
- 1. Moody's equation
- and 2. S&P equation
- have been published by these two, well known companies. However they implicitly
- assume that the annual premiums are re-invested at the interest rate of the bond.
- This is not necessarily true. For instance you may purchase a bond having a nominal
- interest rate of 9%, but be able to reinvest the proceedings at only 4%. In the third
- calculation there is no such assumption. You select the interest rate that you expect
- to obtain on invested annual premiums, and the computer calculates what would be
- the equivalent, annualized, compounded interest rate if the funds were held to bond's
- maturity.
-
- The Moody's equation requires a number of iterations and you may find some
- delay before the results are printed (particularly with slower computers and/or bonds
- of long time to maturity). The delay time may be controlled by selecting the default
- (fast), or "more precise" (slower) iteration interval at the opening screen for the
- procedure.
- 22
-
- The duration of bonds is also calculated, since this provides a measure of
- sensitivity of the bond to interest fluctuations. In the last column, the projected
- change in the value of the bond is calculated for 1% change in the interest rates
- prevailing in the marketplace.
-
- -----------------------------
- Summary of investments
- -----------------------------
-
- If you choose from the initial menu "Summary of investments", you will
- obtain a summary of all your investments in the mutual funds (sub-divided into:
- stock funds, bond funds and money market funds), as well as your bond, stocks,
- and bank accounts . The summary will be presented both as the dollar value and
- percentage of total capital. The total value of dividends per year from the bonds is
- also given, as well as the amount of dividends due before the end of the present
- calendar year.
- If in the program configuration you selected to record/plot the price
- variations - the program will also calculate the total capital gains in the Stock and
- Bond Mutual Funds since the beginning of the current year. (NOTE: You are
- advised to price ALL the mutual funds on January 1st, as the program searches for
- the prices dated nearest to that date and uses them for the calculation of the total
- value of bond and stock funds at the beginning of the current year.)
-
- -----------------------
- Utility programs
- -----------------------
-
- 1. "Pre-dated entries"
-
- Normally the new entries are acquiring the current date automatically.
- However, on occasions it may be desired to use a different date, eg pre-date for
- transactions that have occurred before installation of this program. This can be
- accomplished by selecting the "Pre-dated entries" from the "Utilities" menu and
- replying to the questions as they appear on the screen.
-
- 2. Delete records from SHARE.LOG
-
- This routine allows to delete:
- (a) all records,
- (b) all transactions in Money Market funds and "dividents",
-
- The divident payments are combined prior to a selected date, and that date is
- automatically recorded on the "Gain/Loss" screen. All future calculations of
- gain/loss will start from that date.
- These techniques are useful for reducing the size of the SHARE.LOG file,
- which is limited to 200 records.
- 23
- 3. View files
-
- This routine displays the content of the COPY.DAT and SHARE.ARC files.
- Both of these files are written in delimited format, suitable for subsequent use in a
- variety of spreadsheet (eg. Lotus 123(R)), or data-base (eg. (dBase(R)) programs.
-
- 4. Delete files
-
- A routine for deletion of optional files, such as: SALES.LOG, SHARE.ARC,
- COPY.DAT, and QTRACK.TXT.
-
- 5. Capital gains calculation
-
- IRS Schedule D (capital gains) requires a report of "purchase date and
- cost/base" and "sales date and gross sale price". Frequently your sale lots may differ
- in the number of shares from the purchase lots. Three different reporting methods
- are approved by IRS:
- 1. First In, First Out (FIFO) method
- 2. Specific identification method
- 3. Category averaging method
-
- This part of the program will provide the required information for all three method.
- However you are advised to consult the IRS regulations on use of these techniques.
-
- (a) A common method for reporting such sales is known as FIFO (ie. "First in,
- first out"). The program does these calculations for you and you can obtain the
- report by selecting "Sales log" from the selection screen. The "sales log" does not
- include any Money Market Fund transactions. The program gives you an option
- either to list ALL the transactions, or only those lots that were sold between a
- selected "starting date" and "final date".
-
- NOTE: the "Date bought" and "Date sold" are highlighted for all "long term sales"
- (ie. when the assets were held for more than 360 days).
-
- The report will be printed out, if you press ALT F7 keys.
-
- If you made the appropriate selection in the configuration section of this
- program, you may also delete all the "closed" positions (ie. all lots of shares that
- have been sold). However you are advised that selection of this option may
- introduce small errors in calculation of gain/loss in all the accounts.
-
- (b) Specific identification method allows you to identify the particular lot that
- you are selling and the program will record your selection for future use. After you
- select the particular security that you wish to sell, the program displays a listing of
- all the available transactions. The list includes the date of the transaction, number of
- shares purchased, number of remaining shares and their purchase (base) price. The
- number of remaining shares represents the number of shares that has not been sold
- in any of the previously recorded transactions.
- 24
- (c) Category averaging method permits you to use as the basis the average price
- of all identical securities that were bought at different times. The program will
- calculate these averages for you. You may select either "single category" or "double
- category". The "double category averaging" method gives the average for securities
- held for less than one year, and those held for more then one year.
-
-
- 6. Reconditioning of files
-
- In the unlikely event that the data files become corrupted and the program
- indicates an error, this procedure is provided in the REGISTERED copies only. It
- will recondition all the data files (without the loss of data) and thus clear the error.
-
-
- --------------------
- Plotting module
- --------------------
-
- All changes in prices of mutual funds, shares, and bonds are automatically
- recorded in the file HISTORY.DAT if you opted this option in the configuration
- routine. You may plot this data by entering the "Plot module" and selecting the
- particular group of data by answering a few questions on the display screen. The
- data is plotted as price (on the Y-axis) versus the number of days (on the X-axis)
- since the first entry.
-
- If a share distribution has occurred (as capital gains, or stock split) you may
- correct all the previous (recorded) quotations by selecting the routine from the menu
- and entering the number of shares that have been distributed per one share owned.
- You should perform this procedure only once for each share distribution, since all
- the records are permanently corrected.
-
- A list of the historical data may also be recorded to widen the period
- covered by the plot, however only the securities listed in any one of the accounts
- (and displayed on the "account screen") can be entered.
-
- As an additional feature in this program you may add a plot of a "moving
- average" to aid in your investment decisions. A "moving average" is a plot of an
- average taken over the previous n weeks, where you can select the value of n,
- versus the number of days and it tends to eliminate any minor variations in prices.
- For a longer term predictions it is preferred to use a 30-week average, but that can
- only be done with a data base stretching for at least 1 year. If you select 1 week, the
- plot will almost coincide with the actual data points. A good compromise is to take
- an intermediate value of 10 weeks.
-
- NOTE: For successful creation of a plot of "moving average" it is necessary
- to record the price variations at constant time intervals: daily, or weekly. For an
- average investor it is suggested that weekly routine is satisfactory.
- 25
- LICENSE AGREEMENT
- ------------------------------------------------
-
- The use of the FundExpert program is granted under the following
- terms:
-
- 1) You may make copies of the program and documentation in their
- original, unmodified, form without restriction. You may make copies of the
- documentation either in its printed or machine readable form without restriction. If
- these copies are distributed to others outside of your organization, you have no
- obligation to control the use of those copies; however, any copies made which are
- distributed within your organization are restricted to the terms of this license
- agreement.
-
- 2) You may not modify the program or its documentation or charge a
- fee for copying or distributing the program or its documentation.
-
- 3) You may use the FundExpert program on the number of computers
- for which you have paid the license fee. If the fee has been paid for a site license,
- you may use the program on as many computers as are located at that site; however,
- you may not use the program on any computer not located at that site without
- paying an additional licensing fee.
-
- I agree to abide by the terms and conditions of this license.
-
- ______________________________ _____________________
- Signature Date
- 26
- REGISTRATION INFORMATION
- FundExpert Version 2.4
- Name: ________________________________________________
-
- Company: _____________________________________________
-
- Address: _____________________________________________
-
- _____________________________________________
-
- City: ______________________ State: ______ ZIP: ___________
-
-
- License fee for ____ computers at $40.00 per computer ________
- OR Site license, unlimited use at one site ($100.00) ________
- Total ________
-
- Indicate required disk type: 5 1/4 inch or 3 1/2 inch (5 1/4 inch is preferred)
-
- Make check payable to George R. Cotten and mail to:
- 37 Lawrence Lane,
- LEXINGTON, MA 02173.
- 27
- LIMITED WARRANTY
- _______________________________________________________________
-
- The author warrants to any licensee that acquires the program from him
- that:
-
- 1) All diskettes the author provides to licensee constitute an accurate
- duplication of the software and manual. The author will replace any diskette found
- to be defective within 30 days from the date of acquisition. The author withholds
- the right to not honor this warranty if the diskette has been subjected to physical
- abuse, or used in defective or incompatible equipment.
-
- 2) The FundExpert program will perform substantially as described in
- the documentation accompanying the software, if used as directed in such
- documentation.
-
- 3) This warranty specifically limits any remedy to the replacement of the
- physical diskette and documentation if these were originally acquired directly from
- the author. It shall not cover any other damages including, but not limited to: loss
- of profit, commercial damage, or other special, consequential or similar claims. The
- FundExpert program is sold without warranty as to its merchantability or fitness for
- any particular purpose.
-
- 4) The author makes no warranty that its software is error free nor that its
- use by the licensee will be uninterrupted.
-
- 5) It is necessary to complete and return the registration card and pay the
- license fee to implement this warranty and to receive customer support.
-