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Text File | 1990-11-16 | 18KB | 445 lines

RETIREMENT QUICK-MONITOR (TM) Ver. 1.01 Copyright 1990 Rod Hoisington PO Box 839 Key Largo, FL 33037 HERE'S THE PROBLEM - Many people don't realize until it's too late that their retirement assets are not going to cover their retirement needs. Lack of planning will obviously lead to this problem -- also the unexpected effect of INTEREST and INFLATION rate changes can destroy retirement plans. HERE'S THE SOLUTION - Successful retirement planning is a process of estimating and then projecting retirement income and expenses periodically using various interest and inflation rate assumptions... ...It's never too early to start. HERE'S WHAT THIS PROGRAM DOES - RETIREMENT QUICK-MONITOR calculates and displays the savings necessary for you to retire at EVERY age between 30 and 90 for any interest and inflation rate combination. A unique tabulation lets you see the results for all ages at once, with the lumpsum, annual and monthly savings required at every age. It quickly redisplays with changes. This is a stand-alone program featuring brief worksheets, attractive screens, printouts, scrolling menus, and pop-up help. Although designed for easy personal forecasting, the speed and graphics make it ideal for laptop use by financial planners in front of clients. RETIREMENT QUICK-MONITOR, with its on-screen help, assists you in arriving at a successful retirement nestegg estimation. The program is divided into two phases: 1. A brief and easy worksheet which helps you arrive at retirement Income, Expense, and Savings estimates, and 2. The automatic tabulation which in a continuous display shows the earliest date you can retire with your present savings, and the amount required to retire at every age to age 90. All ages and amounts are on the screen at once. Page 2 - Then, with a keystroke, the program quickly retabulates with your choice of a different combination of interest/inflation rates. Also displayed for every year between your present age and age 90 is the lumpsum amount, the annual deposit, and the monthly savings deposit required to reach your retirement nestegg. Although the program provides you with many elements of successful planning it is not intended as a complete retirement planning program. Its specialty is the dramatic display of your retirement situation with varying interest/inflation estimations. The key to your comfortable retirement is to be able to forecast what your savings might be with different combinations of interest and inflation rates; the best case, the worst case, the most likely, the least likely. And then, keep monitoring your nestegg as conditions change. There's the problem, and the solution...and now you have the software that can do it. The author is a former tax accountant with a background in securities, insurance and education. He has seen the unfortunate results of inadequate retirement planning and the misplaced reliance on Social Security and private pension plans -- substantial personal savings are usually required as well. Start early, monitor often, and gain a comfortable retirement. HERE'S THE FINANCIAL INFORMATION YOU'LL NEED - RETIREMENT QUICK-MONITORs specialty is the handling of the interest/inflation problem inherent in retirement planning, and to do that it requires three amounts: 1. Your estimate of INCOME you'll have after you retire, 2. An estimate of EXPENSES you'll have after you retire, 3. The amount of your PRESENT SAVINGS. If you don't already have these totals don't worry, the program will help you... A. You can FIND OUT the amount to expect as retirement income -- estimates are available from the Social Security Administration, employers and plan administrators, B. You can ESTIMATE your expenses after retirement (the program shows you how.) C. You probably KNOW the amount of your present savings (the program will help you total up.) Page 3 - The first two screens in the program consist of brief worksheets to assist you in arriving at and totaling these three aggregate amounts. The third and final screen lets you see in one continuous display the earliest date you can retire with your present savings, and the amount required to retire at every age to age 90. All ages are seen at once. Then, with a keystroke, it quickly retabulates with a different combination of interest/inflation rates. Also displayed is the lumpsum amount, the annual deposit, and the monthly savings deposit required to reach your target nestegg. The amount of savings you're going to need may surprise you. But the earlier you determine your required nestegg the better. PROGRAM ASSUMPTIONS AND LIMITATIONS - Three assumptions are necessary to provide realistic results. 1. To avoid the tragedy of outliving your income, your life expectancy is assumed to be 90 years. All calculation are made from your present age to age 90. In other words, if the program says you need an additional $50,000 to retire at age 60, that's the additional amount needed to cover all of your retirement expenses from age 60 to age 90. 2. The Cost Of Living Adjustment (COLA) for Social Security, those pension plans which use COLA (many don't), and variable annuities tends to run about 80% of the inflation rate. So the program sets all COLA at 80% of the assumed inflation rate. 3. Due to many obvious unknowns this program doesn't adjust for state and federal income taxes. It's assumed that taxes are paid out of other funds. Also note that current Social Security regulations call for gradually increasing the full-benefit retirement age from age 65 up to age 67. If you were born after 1937 you are affected. This software rounds to the nearest year. So if you will reach age 62 after 2002 consider your normal retirement age to be 66 instead of 65; if you will reach age 62 after 2019 your normal retirement age will be 67. You don't need to worry about this as far as the program is concerned as it automatically makes all necessary adjustments. The law permitting early retirement at age 62 has NOT been changed. This software provides for early Social Security benefits starting between age 62 and your normal retirement age (65, 66 or 67), with Cost Of Living Adjustment (COLA) included in the calculations starting with your normal retirement age. Page 4 - MORE FEATURES - A sample plan and forecast is built in as a menu selection so you can become familiar with the program within minutes without having to enter your own data. Plans can be saved, and the attractive printed output can be customized with fields indicating for whom the report was prepared. This program does NOT require color or special graphics, runs on all IBM compatibles and works perfectly from a single floppy drive. Up to 18 different versions of your plan can be saved for quick recall. Data in any version can easily be erased and the version reused by using the F6 key; "F6=ERASE" appears on the bottom line of each input screen. (Or, alternately, the four data files ending with .DAT could be copied to another disk or renamed using DOS, in which case there is no limit to the number of data file sets that can be saved. Using DOS to copy or rename data files is NOT required however.) The four RQM data files are identified with the *.DAT extension as explained below. REQUIRED HARDWARE > IBM PC or compatible computer. > 256k bytes of RAM memory. > One floppy disk drive or a hard drive. > Monochrome monitor. > A dot-matrix or laser printer is a desirable addition for print-outs of the plan versions created. REQUIRED SOFTWARE > DOS 2.1 or higher. REQUIRED FILES This disk contains version 1.01 of RETIREMENT QUICK-MONITOR dated 11-16-90. This disk should contain the following files: README.TXT - This introductory text RQM.EXE - Main program RQM110.FRM - Program overlay RQM210.FRM - Program overlay RQM310.FRM - Program overlay RQM410.FRM - Program overlay RQMSMPL1.DTA - Sample data file RQMSMPL2.DTA - Sample data file RQMSMPL3.DTA - Sample data file RQMSMPL4.DTA - Sample data file RQM110.DAT - User data files RQM210.DAT - created by the RQM310.DAT - program when RQM410.DAT - first run. Page 5 - GETTING STARTED Make a backup copy of the program disk. To use this program from your FLOPPY DISK DRIVE: 1. Place the disk in drive A 2. Type: A: and then press ENTER 3. To start the program, type: RQM and then press ENTER NOTE: The program files (listed above), and all of the data files must be on the same floppy disk. For faster processing, you can load this program onto your HARD DISK. (This program does NOT require any adjustment of the AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS files on your hard disk.) To install on a HARD DISK: 1. Change to the drive and subdirectory onto which you would like install the program. 2. Place the disk in drive A 3. From the DOS prompt on your chosen drive, type: COPY A:*.* and then press ENTER 4. To start the program, type: RQM and then press ENTER NOTE: The program files (listed above), and all of the data files must be in the same subdirectory. DISCLAIMER This software is provided "AS IS," there are no warranties, expressed or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of performance, mechantability, or fitness for a particular purpose, and all such warranties are expressly and specifically disclaimed. The accuracy of this software cannot be guaranteed. In no event will the Author be liable for any damages, including any lost profits, lost savings or other incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use or inability to use such software even if the Author has been advised of the possibility of such damages or claims. This disclaimer shall be governed by the laws of the State of Florida and shall inure to the benefit of Rod Hoisington, his successors, administrators, heirs and assigns. Page 6 - THIS IS USER-SUPPORTED SOFTWARE This program has been placed in circulation under the "SHAREWARE" concept. Shareware distribution gives users a chance to try soft- ware before buying it. If you try a Shareware program and continue using it, you are expected to Register by sending the required fee to the Author. Shareware is a distribution method, not a type of software. The Shareware system makes fitting your needs easier, because you can try before you buy. And because overhead is low, prices are low also. Shareware has the ultimate money-back guarantee -- if you don't use the product, you don't pay for it. Copyright laws apply to both Shareware and commercial software, and the copyright holder retains all rights. Although it is protected by copyright, you are encouraged to try it out, copy it, and pass it around freely. If you like it, and use it, then a Registration Fee is requested. Commercial users of RETIREMENT QUICK-MONITOR must register and pay for their copies of RETIREMENT QUICK-MONITOR within 30 days of first use or their license is withdrawn. Site-License arrangements may be made by contacting Rod Hoisington. Anyone distributing RETIREMENT QUICK-MONITOR for any kind of remuneration must first contact the author, Rod Hoisington, at the address below for authorization. This authorization will be auto- matically granted to distributors recognized by The Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP) as adhering to its guidelines for shareware distributors, and such distributors may begin offering RETIREMENT QUICK-MONITOR immediately (however, the author, Rod Hoisington must still be advised so that the distributor can be kept up-to-date with the lastest version of RETIREMENT QUICK-MONITOR.) REGISTRATION FEE The Registration Fee for RETIREMENT QUICK-MONITOR is $35. In addition to obtaining the right to continue using the software, upon registering you will receive: > A registered copy of the next updated version (5 1/4" disk)... > Notices of updates, upgrades, enhancements and other programs... > Technical support from the author by mail for a period of one year. -------------------------------------------------------------- Retirement QUICK-MONITOR Registration Payment Form -------------------------------------------------------------- The Registration Fee for this software is $35. Like all good software, this program is improved and and upgraded from time to time. By registering, in addition to the right to use RETIREMENT QUICK-MONITOR, you will receive a registered copy of the next version (5 1/4" disk) when released, notices of updates, upgrades, enhancements and other programs, plus technical support by mail from the author for a period of one year. NAME __________________________________________ DATE _________ COMPANY NAME __________________________________ ADDRESS _______________________________________ CITY,STATE,ZIP ________________________________ TELEPHONE _____________________________________ WHICH VERSION OF RETIREMENT QUICK-MONITOR ARE YOU PRESENTLY USING? Ver#___.__ WHAT MAKE/MODEL COMPUTER DO YOU USE? __________________________ HOW DID YOU OBTAIN THIS COPY OF THIS SHAREWARE? _______________ _______________________________________________________________ Please mail your check or money order for $35 TO: Rod Hoisington PO Box 839 Key Largo, FL 33037 THANK YOU AND HAVE A COMFORTABLE RETIREMENT! 1116101 ________________________ COMMENT FORM ________________________ Your comments regarding this software are welcome. Please fill out this form or write me with your comments. Name _______________________________________________ Address ____________________________________________ City,State,Zip _____________________________________ Retirement QUICK-MONITOR Ver. # _____ Date __________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ Please mail comments to: Rod Hoisington PO Box 839 Key Largo, FL 33037 Suggestions for improvements are welcome. If your suggestion is used, you will receive a free updated version which incorporates your suggestion. You are encouraged to pass along a copy of RETIREMENT QUICK-MONITOR to your friends for evaluation. Please encourage them to register their copy if they find that they can use it. All registered users will receive a copy of the latest version of the program. Thank you. Copyright 1990 Rod Hoisington ALL RIGHTS RESERVED This text can be printed with the command COPY README.TXT PRN