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The Annuity Ace Lite A Financial Tool for Deferred and Immediate Annuities Copyright 1993 Insight Software Solutions ANNUITY ACE LITE TABLE OF CONTENTS General Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Disclaimer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 About Insight Software Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Contents of Distribution Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Program Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Getting Started With The Annuity Ace . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Running the Annuity Ace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Screen Layout In The Annuity Ace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Common Screen Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Menu Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Data Input Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Data View Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Moving Around In The Annuity Ace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Menu System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Moving Field to Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Editing Within a Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Special Fixed Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Special Function Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Deferred Annuity Illustrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Basic Inputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Special Option Inputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Function Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Immediate Annuity Illustrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Basic Inputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Special Option Inputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Function Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 COLA (Cost of Living Adjustments) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Illustration Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Inputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Function Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Quick Calculator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Financial Calculator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Page 1 ANNUITY ACE LITE Four Function Calculator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 On-line User Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Color Attribute Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Printer Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Filing System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Answers To Common Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Page 2 ANNUITY ACE LITE General Information Disclaimer Insight Software Solutions makes no warranties or representations of any kind, expressed or implied, including any implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for any particular purpose. Insight Software Solutions shall not be liable for any errors contained herein or for any loss of profit or for incidental or consequential damages or for any other damages. About Insight Software Solutions Insight Software Solutions is located in Bountiful Utah. Please send any inquiries, questions, suggestions or comments to the following address: INSIGHT SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS Tel: (801) 295-1890 P.O. BOX 354 Fax: (801) 299-1781 BOUNTIFUL, UT 84011-0354 BBS: (801) 963-8721 CIS: [71672,3464] Contents of Distribution Disk The Annuity Ace diskette contains several files which are needed for optimal performance. Their name and function are listed below. ACE.EXE This is the main executable program. ACE.CFG This contains program configuration information such as screen color and printer selections. This file is automatically created if not found. ACE.PTR This contains printer definitions for a variety of printers. ACE.DOC This is the User Manual for the Annuity Ace. ACE.BAT This is a start up batch file for hard disks. INSTALL.EXE This copies the program to a hard disk. ANNUITY.INF This contains saved information. Page 3 ANNUITY ACE LITE Program Support Once registered, you will receive notification of major updates and new products. Registration includes a 90 day support policy where free updates will be provided for major problems. If a problem cannot be resolved, then a refund of money will be made. Insight Software Solutions offers support through the mail, phone, fax, BBS and CIS. Please refer to the address and phone numbers on the previous page. Our official support BBS is the Rocky Mountain Software BBS (RMS). RMS can be reached 24 hours a day at (801) 963-8721 where a conference dedicated to us can be found. Our latest software products and versions, bulletins, news and message system are located on RMS under conference #4. RMS accepts modem baud rates of 1200 to 38400. Insight Software Solutions is a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principal works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442 or send a CompuServe message via CompuServe Mail to ASP Ombudsman 70007.3536. Page 4 ANNUITY ACE LITE Getting Started With The Annuity Ace System Requirements The Annuity Ace is almost hardware independent. It will run on most PC systems. The minimum requirements are as follows: IBM type PC, XT, AT or PS/2 (or compatible) 512K Ram Dos 2.0 or higher any monochrome, color, or composite monitor virtually any printer that supports condensed printing Installation The Annuity Ace may be run from either a floppy or hard disk. An installation program called INSTALL.EXE is provided to assist you in the installation of the program on a hard drive. From the A> prompt, simply type in "INSTALL". This will prompt you through the installation process. Alternatively, you may simply copy the contents of the floppy diskette onto the hard disk. We recommend that it be placed into its own subdirectory. Running the Annuity Ace To run the Annuity Ace, simply type "ACE". This can be done from the floppy disk or from a hard drive if you used the provided installation procedure. Page 5 ANNUITY ACE LITE Screen Layout In The Annuity Ace Common Screen Lines There are several common screen lines found in the Annuity Ace. This includes the first, second, twenty third, twenty fourth, and twenty fifth lines. The first line contains the current date and time as specified by DOS. It also contains the copyright notice of INSIGHT SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS. The second line is part of the box surrounding the user work area. It generally contains a centered title describing the function of the current screen. The twenty third line is the status line. It shows the status of the Help, Caps, Scroll Lock, Num Lock, and Insert keys. The twenty fourth line is the prompt line. It indicates what you are supposed to do for a given input field. The twenty fifth line is the Function Keys Status line. It shows what Function Keys (F1, F2, ...) are available for use and what their particular functions are. Menu Screens Menu Screens appear as a list of numbered items. There is also a movable highlight bar indicating the current menu selection. Data Input Screens Data Input Screens contain fields or areas which can be changed by you. These fields are generally preceded by a label indicating what type of value is desired for the field. Data View Screens Data View Screens contain scrollable text for your viewing. Generally, the text can be scrolled up and down and left and right. Indications of the current location in the text are given on the left side of the status line. Page 6 ANNUITY ACE LITE Moving Around In The Annuity Ace Menu System Menus appear as a list of numbered options. To select the option desired, you may press the associated number. An alternate method is to use the arrow keys along with the <Enter> key. One option is always highlighted and indicates the current option. To change the current option, you may press the UP and DOWN arrow keys to move the highlight bar. Once the desired option is highlighted, pressing the <Enter> key selects it. Moving Field to Field Moving from one field to another field can be accomplished by many different keystrokes. Listed below is a summary of the keystrokes available and the function they perform. ENTER KEY: Moves you to the next logical field. RIGHT ARROW KEY: If the cursor is on the last editing character of the field, this key moves the cursor to the right of the current field. LEFT ARROW KEY: If the cursor is on the first character of the field, this key moves the cursor to the field to the left of the current field. DOWN ARROW KEY: Moves the cursor to the field below the current field. UP ARROW KEY: Moves the cursor to the field above the current field. PAGE DOWN KEY: Moves the cursor to the last field on the screen. PAGE UP KEY: Moves the cursor to the first field on the screen. TAB KEY: Moves the cursor to the next logical field. TAB LEFT KEY: Moves the cursor to the previous logical field. <CTRL> RIGHT ARROW KEY: Moves the cursor to the field to the right of the current field. <CTRL> LEFT ARROW KEY: Moves the cursor to the field to the left of the current field. Page 7 ANNUITY ACE LITE Editing Within a Field Editing within a field can be accomplished with many different keystrokes. Listed below is a summary of the keystrokes available and the functions they perform. RIGHT ARROW KEY: Moves the cursor one character to the right. LEFT ARROW KEY: Moves the cursor one character to the left. HOME KEY: Moves the cursor to the beginning of the field. END KEY: Moves the cursor to the last character in the field. BACKSPACE KEY: Moves the cursor to the left one character and erases that character and shifts all trailing characters to the left one space. INSERT KEY: Toggles between insert mode and typeover mode. DELETE KEY: Erases the character under the cursor and shifts all trailing characters to the left one space. ALPHA/NUMERIC KEY: Outputs the character where the cursor is and moves the cursor over to the right, one space. If insert mode is on, then all trailing characters are moved to the right, one space. Special Fixed Fields There are certain fields which have fixed values. When the cursor is moved to these fields, a window of choices appears. Each choice has either an associated number or letter next to it. Pressing the associated number or letter automatically makes the desired selection and moves the choice into the input field. Special Function Keys There are a number of special function keys which perform a variety of tasks. These keys are as follows. <ESC> KEY: This key always takes you back one level from where ever you are. For example: if you enter a screen from a menu, then the <Esc> key will take you back to that menu. <F1> KEY: This key is the help key. It toggles off and on whether help messages should be shown with each input. Page 8 ANNUITY ACE LITE <F2>..<F10> KEYS: These other function keys may or may not be active and have different functions in different parts of the program. Brief explanations of what these keys do are displayed on the screen in the Function Key line. Detailed information is given under the documentation of each particular screen as to which Function Keys are active and what their function is. Page 9 ANNUITY ACE LITE Deferred Annuity Illustrations Description A deferred annuity is simply a savings vehicle that accumulates cash due to interest earned. Many modern day savings plans can be considered an annuity. These can include savings accounts, IRA accounts, 401K accounts and others. Basic Inputs TITLE: A title line printed on the top of the report. This uses a line on the report only if something is entered; therefore, you can fit more of the report on a page if the title is left blank. DEPOSIT METHOD: The frequency of deposits to be made. This may be on a weekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly, monthly, quarterly, semi-annual or annual basis. COMPOUND METHOD: The frequency at which the interest rate is compounded. This may be on a daily (360 or 365 days), monthly, quarterly, semi-annual or annual basis. DURATION IN MONTHS: The number of months to compute and run the illustration. The maximum number of months allowable is 696 or 58 years. If the "deposit mode" has been specified as a period greater than a month, then the months are automatically truncated to the nearest specified period. For example, an annual deposit mode would change an input of 123 to 120. INTEREST RATE: The rate at which to compound the money. Three decimal places are allowed. A notation to the right of the interest rate will say either "flat rate" or "variable rate". "Flat rate" means that the interest rate shown is for every single period during the term of the illustration. "Variable rate" means that it has been specified at some point to use a different rate. Variable interest rates are made possible through the F3 (INTEREST) function key. ORIGINATION DATE: The date at which the money is first deposited and the illustration starts. The printed illustration keeps track of each payment period based upon the origination date. BEGINNING BALANCE AMOUNT: The beginning balance or a lump sum amount that the interest calculation starts out with above and beyond the first monthly or yearly deposit. BEGINING BALANCE LOAD: The load, if any, that is to be placed Page 10 ANNUITY ACE LITE upon the initial deposit. A load is another name for a sales charge. It is expressed as a percentage with 3 decimal places allowed. MONTHLY DEPOSIT AMOUNT: The amount of money that is to be deposited every month. Depending on the "deposit method", this may be "weekly deposit", "bi-weekly deposit", etc. in which case it is the amount of money to be deposited for the given period. Deposits are assumed made at the beginning of each period. A notation to the right of the deposit will say either "flat deposits" or "variable deposits". "Flat deposits" means that the monthly deposit shown is for every single period during the term of the illustration. "Variable deposits" means that it has been specified at some point to use a different deposit. Variable deposits are made possible through the F2 (DEPOSITS) function key. MONTHLY DEPOSIT LOAD: The load, if any, that is to be placed upon the monthly deposit amount. A load is another name for a sales charge. It is expressed as a percentage with 3 decimal places allowed. Depending on the "deposit method", this may apply to a "weekly deposit", "bi-weekly deposit", etc. in which case it simply applies to the specified deposit amount. Special Option Inputs SPECIAL OPTIONS: Consists of seven choices which are as follows: None, Tax Sheltered Comparison, Cost of Waiting, Cost of Lower Interest Rate, Inflationary Adjusted Rate, No Load vs. Load, and Accumulate To Given Age. None is for producing a basic interest accumulation illustration. Tax Sheltered Comparison compares the basic illustration along side one that has been adjusted by a given tax bracket. It shows the real return on money for non tax-sheltered savings. It also shows the difference in savings using non-taxed investments. Cost of Waiting compares the basic illustration along side one that has been offset by a given number of months. It shows the difference in savings over the years that you can make by starting to save now instead of later. Cost of Lower Interest Rate uses two different interest rates on the same deposits for the same duration to show the potential difference in earnings. This illustrates the difference in savings that can be made by obtaining higher interest rates. Inflationary Adjusted Rate allows entry of an estimated inflation rate. An additional column is added to the basic illustration which shows what the current balance is worth in today's dollars. This shows what your money will be worth in the future Page 11 ANNUITY ACE LITE based on the estimated inflation rate. No Load vs. Load compares the an annuity which has a load to the same annuity without a load. The difference in earnings is also shown. This illustrates the impact a small sales charge can have on your future earnings. Accumulate To Given Age allows you to specify a target age and a target savings amount. The needed payment amount is automatically calculated. The resulting illustration runs from the origination date and ending when the target age is attained. The ending balance is that of the desired savings amount. TAX BRACKET: The estimated tax bracket of the person for whom the illustration is for. It is in a percentage form. This only appears when the special option "Tax Sheltered Comparison" is selected. MONTHS TO WAIT: Specifies the number of months to wait before doing the comparison. This only appears when the special option "Cost of Waiting" is selected. ALT. INT. RATE: A second interest rate for interest rate comparisons. This only appears when the special option "Cost of Lower Interest Rate" is selected. INFLATION RATE: The estimated inflation rate for the future. This only appears when the special option "Inflationary Adjusted Rate" is selected. BIRTH DATE: The birth date of the person for whom the illustration is for. This is needed to determine how many years and months there are before reaching the person's "Target Age". This only appears when the special option "Accumulate To Given Age" is selected. TARGET AGE: The desired age by when a desired "Future Value" will be obtained. This only appears when the special option "Inflationary Adjusted Rate" is selected. FUTURE VALUE: The desired amount that is to be obtained by a given age. This only appears when the special option "Inflationary Adjusted Rate" is selected. Function Keys F2 KEY (DEPOSITS): Pops up another screen which allows up to 100 deposit or withdrawal inputs. Negative numbers may be entered which indicate a withdrawal. Each deposit is numbered. New Page 12 ANNUITY ACE LITE function keys appear indicating how to change deposits above 100. There will be enough inputs and function keys to cover the duration specified for the illustration. By this fashion you may enter in different deposits for the entire span of the illustration. The new F2 key (DUP) will duplicate the previous value and advance the cursor. This allows easy duplication of deposits without having to rekey them all in. The new F10 key (COLA) allows for easy Cost of Living Adjustments to the deposits or withdrawals. Please see the section on using COLA. F3 KEY (INTEREST): Pops up another screen which allows up to 120 interest rate inputs. Each interest rate is numbered. New function keys appear indicating how to change interest rates above 120. There will be enough inputs and function keys to cover the duration specified for the illustration. By this fashion you may enter in different interest rates for the entire span of the illustration. The new F2 key (DUP) will duplicate the previous value and advance the cursor. This allows easy duplication of interest rates without having to rekey them all in. F4 KEY (VIEW/PRINT): Pops up another screen containing all the Illustration Printing options. Please refer to the section on "Illustration Printing". F9 KEY (QUICK CALC): Pops up the quick calculator. See the documentation about the quick calculator for usage. Page 13 ANNUITY ACE LITE Immediate Annuity Illustrations Description An immediate annuity is where periodic payments are made from a deposit of money. As payments are made, the remaining balance accrues interest and is added back into the balance. So while payments are depleting the original deposit, accrued interest helps build it back up so that the payments can continue for a longer period. Immediate annuities are generally used as retirement vehicles. Basic Inputs TITLE: A title line printed on the top of the report. This uses a line on the report only if something is entered; therefore, you can fit more of the report on a page if the title is left blank. BEGINNING BALANCE: A beginning balance that the annuity starts out with. PAYOUT: The desired periodic payout. It will be calculated based on the other values. Entering a desired payout will adjust the beginning balance to indicate the amount of money required. PAYOUT METHOD: The frequency at which payouts are made. This may be on a weekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly, monthly, quarterly, semi-annual or annual basis. DURATION IN MONTHS: The number of months to compute and run the illustration. The maximum number of months allowable is 480 or 40 years. If the "payout method" has been specified as a period greater than a month, then the months are automatically truncated to the nearest specified period. For example, an annual payout mode would change an input of 123 to 120. INTEREST RATE: The rate at which to compound the money. Three decimal places are allowed. COMPOUND METHOD: The frequency at which the interest rate is compounded. This may be on a daily (360 or 365 days), monthly, quarterly, semi-annual or annual basis. ORIGINATION DATE: The date at which the money is first deposited and the illustration starts. The printed illustration keeps track of each payment period based upon the origination date. Special Option Inputs Page 14 ANNUITY ACE LITE SPECIAL OPTIONS: Consists of two choices which are as follows: None and Split Annuity. None is for producing a basic immediate annuity illustration. Split Annuity is a combination of an immediate annuity and a deferred annuity. The immediate annuity pays out while the deferred annuity builds back up to the original amount. So when it is all done you have the same amount of money you started with plus the payouts you received. INTEREST RATE: The interest rate for the deferred annuity. COMPOUND METHOD: The compound method for the deferred annuity. This along with the interest rate produces the true effective interest rate. Function Keys F4 KEY (VIEW/PRINT): Pops up another screen containing all the Illustration Printing options. Please refer to the section on "Illustration Printing". Please note that only part of the printing options are applicable and available for the immediate annuities. F9 KEY (QUICK CALC): Pops up the quick calculator. See the documentation about the quick calculator for usage. Page 15 ANNUITY ACE LITE COLA (Cost of Living Adjustments) COLA, Cost of Living Adjustments is the ability to increment deposits on a yearly basis based on an estimated inflation factor. The Annuity Ace provides a very powerful, yet easy to use method of allowing complete flexibility over any cost of living adjustments that you may want to apply to your deferred annuities. The COLA option is the F10 Key (COLA) found inside the deposits entry screen. Pressing F10 brings up the following entry screen: ╔╡ COLA ╞═════════════════════════════╗ ║ First Deposit Amount: 300 ║ ║ Starting Deposit Num: 1 ║ ║ Ending Deposit Num : 240 ║ ║ Annual COLA Rate : 4.00 ║ ║ Transaction Type : Deposit ║ ║ Round To The Dollar : N ║ ╚═════════════════════════════════════╝ The best way to illustrate the use of COLA is with some examples. The following examples assume you are working with Monthly Deposits. Example 1: You put 10% of your pay into a 401K which currently is $300. You plan to retire in 20 years and you estimate a 4% cost of living adjustment (salary increase) each year. So you would enter 300 for "First Deposit Amount", 1 for "Starting Deposit Num", 240 for "Ending Deposit Num", 4 for "Annual COLA Rate" and "Deposit" for "Transaction Type". Press F2. Example 2: The same principal works for withdrawals. You may decide to take out $500 a month for the 10 years after you retire with an inflation factor of 4%. In this case, you would enter 500 for "First Deposit Amount", 241 for "Starting Deposit Num", 360 for "Ending Deposit Num", 4 for "Annual COLA Rate" and "Withdrawal" for "Transaction Type". Press F2 and values are filled in for you. Page 16 ANNUITY ACE LITE Illustration Printing Inputs The Illustration Printing screen allows for a variety of options which affect the way the illustration is to be printed. The fields are listed below with their respective functions. PRINT DESTINATION: This function allows you to specify where the illustration is to be sent--it can be sent to the screen, printer or a file. The illustration appears on the screen as it will appear when it is printed. When viewing the illustration on the screen, function keys are available to send the illustration directly to the printer without having to come back and change the print destination to the printer. ILLUSTRATION DETAIL: Determines whether to print every month, quarter, half year or year of detail on the illustration. The illustration detail cannot be a smaller period than that specified in the deposit mode. For example, you cannot illustrate monthly values for an illustration which has only annual deposits. Deposit Methods of weekly, bi-weekly and semi-monthly are always illustrated on an annual basis. YEARLY BASIS: Allows you to select how the cumulative totals of the illustration are to be displayed. They can be displayed on either a calendar or fiscal year basis. A fiscal year basis displays the totals at exact yearly intervals. For example, a loan paid monthly which starts in March would show totals each March. If a calendar basis is chosen, totals would be shown at the end of each calendar year. For example, a loan which starts in April would show totals each December or end of the year. CUMULATIVE VALUES: Shows each line of values as cumulative totals from all previous years or months in the illustration. CUMULATIVE TOTALS: Only applies if you are using a monthly illustration and you are not using cumulative values. Selecting "Yes" here will show the totals after each year as a cumulative total. Selecting "No" will show the totals for each individual year. DOLLAR VALUES: Specifies the use of dollar values in the illustration. If "no" is selected, cents appear in the figures. You would normally use dollar values if you prefer working with whole numbers or if you are working with a very large mortgage where the numbers start to merge when showing the cents. Page 17 ANNUITY ACE LITE DATE FORMAT: This specifies the format in which the dates will appear in a report. For example, a date of October 23, 1992 would appear as follows: MM/DD/YY = 10/23/92 DD/MM/YYYY = 23/10/1992 MM-DD-YY = 10-23-92 DD-MM-YYYY = 23-10-1992 MM.DD.YY = 10.23.92 DD.MM.YYYY = 23.10.1992 MM/DD/YYYY = 10/23/1992 YY-MM-DD = 92-10-23 MM-DD-YYYY = 10-23-1992 YY.MM.DD = 92.10.23 MM.DD.YYYY = 10.23.1992 YYYY-MM-DD = 1992-10-23 DD/MM/YY = 23/10/92 YYYY.MM.DD = 1992.10.23 DD-MM-YY = 23-10-92 MMM YYYY = Oct 1992 DD.MM.YY = 23.10.92 DD MMM YY = 23 Oct 92 SEQUENCE COLUMN: This allows you to specify the left column of the illustration. The options produce the following columns: "Date Only" "Payment Number Only" "Date & Payment Number" PMT PMT DATE NUM NUM DATE -------- --- --- -------- 10/25/94 1 1 10/25/94 11/25/94 2 2 11/25/94 Function Keys F4 KEY (START PRINT): This function starts the actual printing of the schedule or summary. Based on the print destination, it either sends the illustration to the screen, printer or ascii file. Page 18 ANNUITY ACE LITE Quick Calculator The Quick Calculator can be selected as option three from the main menu or by the F9 (QCALC) Key from one of the input screens. The Quick Calculator option is used to calculate a variety of financial calculations and for simple math functions. Selecting the Quick Calculator pops up a window which contains its own menu. You can select a financial value to solve for or a four function calculator. Financial Calculator The financial calculator consists of two parts. One is for calculating present values and future values and the other is for calculating loans. The first consists of five solve for values and the second consists of four solve for values. By selecting one of these values to solve for, inputs appear which you must enter to solve for the selected value. These values and inputs are listed below. Present/Future Values PRESENT VALUE: This lets you solve for a lump sum amount (or present value) given the future value, interest rate, number of months, and any period deposits. DEPOSITS: This lets you solve for a periodic deposit given the future value, interest rate, number of periods, and a lump sum amount (present value). DURATION: This lets you solve for the number of periods it takes to reach a future value given the future value, interest rate, periodic deposit, and a lump sum deposit. INTEREST RATE: This allows you to solve for an interest rate based on the present value, the number of periods, the number of deposits and the future value. FUTURE VALUE: This allows you to solve for a future value given a lump sum amount (present value), a periodic deposit, an interest rate, and the number of periods. Loans PRINCIPAL: This allows you to solve for the principal amount of a loan given the periodic payment, duration and interest rate. PAYMENT: This allows you to solve for the periodic payment of a Page 19 ANNUITY ACE LITE loan given the principal amount, duration and interest rate. DURATION: This allows you to solve for the duration of a loan given the principal amount, periodic payment and interest rate. INTEREST RATE: This allows you to solve for the interest rate of a loan given the principal amount, periodic payment and duration. Four Function Calculator The four function calculator simply allows you to type in numbers and add, subtract, multiply, and divide them. It displays the result. The result can then be used as one of the next numbers in a calculation. Page 20 ANNUITY ACE LITE On-line User Manual The Annuity Ace provides the capability to review this manual on- line. Option number five from the main menu allows this. Once option five is selected, the user manual is loaded into memory and displayed on the screen. You can scroll through it at will by use of the arrow keys and PgUp and PgDn keys. The manual can be printed by your printer by simply pressing the F2 Key. The file "ACE.DOC" contains the user manual. It is in standard ascii format and can be read in by virtually any editor or word processor. It can be printed by simply using the Dos Print command. Page 21 ANNUITY ACE LITE Configuration The configuration section allows you to configure the program to work with the printer of your choice and to work with the colors of your choice. Selecting Main Menu Item #5 (Configuration Menu) brings up this menu. Color Attribute Selection Selecting the color attribute option brings up a screen with a list of all the different areas where different colors are used and a displayed list of color to choose from. These are listed below with a brief description of what areas are effected by the specified color attribute names. Listed below the attribute names is a list of active Function Keys which can help in setting up your colors. SCREEN ATTRIBUTE: The color that the screen uses everywhere except for the following special areas. This is the most common color. FIELD ATTRIBUTE: The color that input fields appear in while they are not being edited. This distinguishes them from normal text on the screen. EDIT ATTRIBUTE: The color of an input field while it is being edited. This helps identify where you are at on the screen. FKEY ATTRIBUTE: The color that the FKey line appears in at the bottom of the screen. ERROR ATTRIBUTE: The color that error messages pop up in. MENU NORMAL ATTRIBUTE: The color that pop up scrollable selection windows appear in. MENU HIGHLIGHT ATTRIBUTE: The color that the highlighted selection of menus and pop up scrollable selections appear in. STATUS ATTRIBUTE: The color that the screen title appears in. Also the color of the Caps Lock, Num Lock, Insert, Scroll, and Help status. F2 KEY (SHOW COLOR): Displays the current color specified in the field where the cursor is located. The color is displayed in a window in the bottom right corner. F3 KEY (OTHER COLORS): There are 256 colors available, but only Page 22 ANNUITY ACE LITE 128 of them are displayed on the screen at one time. The F3 Key toggles between displaying the different sets of 128 colors. F4 KEY (DEFAULT MONO): Automatically sets all the fields to the default colors selected by Insight Software Solutions for a monochrome monitor. F5 KEY (DEFAULT COLOR): Automatically sets all the fields to the default colors selected by Insight Software Solutions for a color monitor. Printer Selection The printer selection brings up a menu which has several options. The options are to Select A Printer, Delete A Printer, Add A Printer, Modify A Printer, and to Alter Line Spacing and Margins. Below the menu items is a list of the current printer specifications. Selecting a printer brings up a list of printers. Simply use the arrow keys to highlight your printer type and press the <Enter> key. If your printer is not listed, you may try several of the printers listed to see if your printer is compatible with one of those listed. If it is not, then you may enter your own printer definition for your exact printer. Deleting a printer definition should not be used very often. Simply use the arrow keys to select the printer definition to be deleted and press the <Enter> Key. You will be prompted to verify that you really want to delete the printer definition. Adding a printer definition can be difficult if you are not familiar with printer control sequences. Selecting this option brings up a printer input screen; it asks for a printer name along with many different printer control sequences. The printer control sequences need to be entered in hexadecimal notation. Modifying a printer definition brings up the same screen as Adding A Printer definition, you may then change any of the fields desired. If the printer name is changed, the changed definition will not be overwritten but will appear as a new printer definition--this allows you to create a similar printer definition without rekeying all the control sequences back in. Miscellaneous Printer Options allows you to specify several different items. These items are as follows: Use 8 Lines Per Inch allows for more information to be put on a page. The default lines per inch is 6 which allows for 60 lines Page 23 ANNUITY ACE LITE per page. By selecting 8 lines per inch, you increase your lines per page to 80. Top Margin allows for a top margin on your reports. The reports normally start printing on the first line of the page. PLEASE NOTE that laser printers and some ink jet printers should leave the top margin at zero. Left Margin allows a larger left margin. The reports are centered on the page. However, if a larger left margin is desired (for punched holes, etc) then it can be specified. Pause After Each Page allows you to insert new pieces of paper if your printer does not have continuous form paper. Use IBM Graphics instructs the program to use the IBM graphic characters for producing solid lines and boxes. If your printer does not directly support these characters, then an "N" should be entered here. Printer Port allows your printed output go to either LPT1, LPT2 or LPT3; this is helpful if you have more than one printer connected to your computer. Bypass Printer Check allows you to bypass all printer error checking. There are rare cases where the printer error checking can cause an error message to display even though there really is not an error. Certain hardware like an automatic printer switching box or some software spoolers may cause this. You may turn the error checking off by selecting "Y" here to avoid this rare problem. CAUTION: If your system works with the error checking on, then DO NOT turn it off. If there is a real printer problem, the computer could get hung and require a reboot. Page 24 ANNUITY ACE LITE Filing System The Annuity Ace provides the capability to save and retrieve all information that has been entered in the Deferred and Immediate Annuity Input Screens. To invoke this option, select option 4 from the main menu--this will bring up another menu. The menu allows you to load the information or save it out. Answers To Common Problems Problem: The reports do not print out correctly on my printer. Solution: Make sure that the correct printer driver has been selected. To select a printer driver, you enter the configuration menu. Select "Printer Selection", then select "Select A New Printer Default". Choose the appropriate printer. If your printer is not listed, then it is more than likely compatible with another printer listed. Almost all printers fall under one of the following printers: Epson, IBM Graphics Printer or HP LaserJet II. Problem: Every time I try to print, the program tells me that my printer is either off-line or out of paper. Solution: The program attempts to make sure the printer is okay. Some networks, spoolers and hardware fool the program into thinking that the printer is not okay. There is an option in the program to bypass this printer error checking. You must turn it on. To turn it on, do the following: Enter the configuration menu, Select "Printer Selection", then select "Miscellaneous Printer Options". This brings up an entry screen. Change the "Bypass Printer Check" to a "Y". Page 25