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AmortizeIt!
The Complete Amortization Solution
(Shareware Edition)
(Printed Manual for)
(Registered Users has Sample Screen Shots)
Pine Grove Software
67-38 108th Street, Suite D-1
Forest Hills, New York 11375
(800) 242-9192
(718) 575-9192
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
(c) 1990, 1991 by Pine Grove Software, All Rights Reserved.
AmortizeIt! is copyrighted software and as such is protected
by the laws of the United States. You may distribute a shareware
version (version 1.0) of this software to others but you may not
sell it. If you are a distributor of shareware software, you may
charge up to $6 for your disk duplication services. This product
may NOT be distributed along with any other product that is being
sold for profit without the expressed, prior written permission
of Pine Grove Software.
SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT
The registered user of AmortizeIt! is entitled to make backup
copies of the software for the sole purpose of protecting his
investment. This license allows you to use one copy of
AmortizeIt! on one computer at a time. You may use your copy of
AmortizeIt! on different computers provided that there is NO
POSSIBILITY of it being used on two computers at the same time.
Do not confuse this copyright notice with the user supported
method of distribution. If you use this program, you are honor
bound to pay the licensing fee. The method that we choose to use
to distribute version 1.0(C) of this software is simply on a
"try-before-you-buy" basis. AmortizeIt! is NOT FREE SOFTWARE. And
if you paid a fee to anyone other than Pine Grove Software (or an
authorized retail distributor), you did not pay for a license.
(NOTE: version 1.1(B,C) is specifically not to be distributed via
the shareware method.)
If you have any questions concerning this license agreement,
please call us at (800) 242-9192 or (718) 793-4622.
i
WARRANTY
While these routines are easy to use, financial planning
requires careful study. Therefore, Pine Grove Software specifi-
cally disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, including
but not limited to, implied warranties of merchantability and
fitness for a particular purpose or use. In no event shall Pine
Grove Software be liable for any loss of profit or any other
commercial damage, including but not limited to, special, inci-
dental, consequential, or other damages. We suggest that you
obtain professional guidance when making any major financial
decisions. We are NOT responsible for your interpretations of the
results obtained with these routines, even if it is shown that
there is an error in the programming of a routine.
While great care has been taken with regards to the accuracy
of these routines. And the results that these routines produce
have been checked against a number of sources, it is still
possible that you may get different results than what you had
expected. Some of these differences are caused by internal
rounding of the calculations (usually off by no more than 1/10 of
1% over say 20 years), by the way interest and periods are
calculated, by an error in using the program, or by possibly, in
an extreme case, by an error in programming. Therefore, when
using this program, please use common sense. And if you are about
to make what could be for you an important financial decision,
triple check the results obtained with this or any calculator.
ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
COPYRIGHT NOTICE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i
LICENSE AGREEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i
WARRANTY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
INSTALLING AMORTIZEIT! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
INITIAL INSTALL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
STARTING AMORTIZEIT! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
SELECTING FROM THE MENUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
IMPORTANT KEYS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
HELP WITH HELP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
ENTERING/EDITING INFORMATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
THE ROUTINES OF AMORTIZEIT! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
LOAN CALCULATOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
AMORTIZATION ROUTINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
REMAINING BALANCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
BALLOON PAYMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
ACCELERATED PAYMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
INTEREST DUE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
THE QUESTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
FILES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
FILE STRUCTURE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Some Relationships Between the Routines . . . . . . . . . 30
APPENDIX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
ALLOWABLE TOTAL PERIODS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
MESSAGES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
PRINTING TO DISK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
LOCAL MENUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
SETTING OTHER OPTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
PINE GROVE SOFTWARE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
OTHER PROGRAMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
SUBSCRIPTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
REFERENCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
COMING FEATURES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
iii
INTRODUCTION
Thank you for selecting AmortizeIt!, The Complete
Amortization Solution. We believe that you have chosen a program
second to none in its application class. AmortizeIt! performs
more calculations faster and with less effort than any other
program we have seen. AmortizeIt! is easy to use. There is never
any programming needed to solve a problem. All you have to do is
answer each question in a routine and press <F9> and, in most
cases, the results will be displayed instantly.
Much of what is found in this manual is also available
through the program's help function. If you do get stuck at any
time, press the <F1> key and a detailed help window will be
displayed. If you are at the main menu and need information about
a routine, simply highlight the routine's name and press <F1> and
a description of the routine will be displayed.
Since the help system is so extensive, much of this manual is
used to discuss how these routines can be used. After we review
several of the basics of the program, we will discuss the inter-
relationships of the routines that may not be so obvious. These
examples are not meant to be exhaustive. Rather they are meant to
illustrate several ideas and to get you thinking about the power
of the program that you are about to use.
One final item. Like all software publishers, we hope that
you take the time to at least browse through the manual. No
matter how easy a program is to use, you will undoubtedly learn
something by doing this. We want you to get the most from our
software as you possible can.
1
AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
INSTALLING AMORTIZEIT! on a Hard Disk from a 5.25" Original
AmortizeIt! is easy to install. It is not copy protected. (We
ask that you respect our license agreement which states that you
can only use a copy of AmortizeIt! on one machine at a time.) The
program, as it is distributed on 5.25" disks, is compressed in
order to save disk space. Therefore, the program can not be run
from the original disk. To prepare for use, follow these steps
(we assume you are putting the program on a hard drive):
Type this: Press This: Comments:
Place the original AmortizeIt! disk
in drive A: (or B:)
c: <enter> log on to the hard drive, your hard
drive may be a different letter
cd \ <enter> change to the root directory
md Amort <enter> make a directory for AmortizeIt!
cd \Amort <enter> make the AMORT directory the default
directory
copy a:*.* <enter> copy all files from the distribution
disk to your hard drive
if you put the original disk in drive
b: change the a: to b: in this step
AMORT <enter> this is the decompress step
Amortize <enter> this starts the program so you can
set it for your system
during this step, you will enter your
name and tell the program if you have
a color monitor. When you are done
press <F9> and you will exit
Amortize <enter> The program starts with this command
INSTALLING AMORTIZEIT! on a Hard Disk from a 3.5" Original:
Follow the steps above, except ignore the "AMORT" command. As
the program is distributed on a 3.5" disk it does not need to be
decompressed.
NOTE: AmortizeIt! can only be run from a hard disk or a
floppy disk with 720k (3.5") capacity or higher.
2
AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
INITIAL INSTALL
This step assumes all files are decompressed and that Amort-
izeIt! is on your hard drive or a working copy is on a 720k
capacity or higher diskette. If this is not the case see "In-
stalling AmortizeIt! on a Work Disk."
The first time you run AmortizeIt!, you will be asked to
enter your name and to tell the program whether or not you are
using a monochrome monitor or a color monitor. Simply enter the
name that you will want to have printed on the reports and answer
the question "Y" or "N" as to whether or not you see colors on
your screen.
Once you are have done this, press <F9> to set the software
for your computer. Now, restart the program.
With some versions of the program, you may be also asked to
enter the current date. If you are asked to do this, the date
must be entered in a MM/DD/YY format. Please be sure to set the
correct date so that AmortizeIt! can do it's date calculations
correctly.
3
AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
STARTING AMORTIZEIT!
If you have installed AmortizeIt! on a hard drive according
to the instructions under "Installing AmortizeIt! on a Work
Disk", change to the drive that you loaded it on. For example, if
AmortizeIt! is on drive c: do the following:
Enter: Comment:
c: changes to drive AmortizeIt! is on if you
have loaded it on another drive substitute
the appropriate drive letter
cd \Amort change to the suggested directory that A-
mortizeIt! is in
Amortize this starts the program
or
Amortize /G when program starts, initial graphics screen
is suppressed
or
Amortize /I starts AmortizeIt! in install mode so that
you can customize settings
4
AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
SELECTING FROM THE MENUS
When the program starts you will see the AmortizeIt! logo.
You may pass by this screen quickly by pressing the space bar.
Once you have done this you will see the opening menu. This menu
is refereed to in this manual as the main menu.
You may pick a menu item two ways. You may use your cursor
keys to move the highlight bar up and down. When the bar is over
the menu item that you want, press <Enter>. Or secondly, you may
type the highlighted letter (or capital letter) of a menu item
and that item will be selected.
While the cursor bar is on a menu item, if you press <F1> a
help window will describe what the routine does.
See also the appendix for a diagram of the menu structure. In
addition, see "Local Menus", else where in this manual.
5
AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
IMPORTANT KEYS
Throughout the AmortizeIt!'s instructions and help screens,
you will see symbols such as <F1> or <Esc>. This means, find the
keys on your keyboard that have an F1 or Esc written on them and
press them to activate the feature.
Often you will also see a symbol such as <^Y>. This means to
hold the <Ctrl> key while pressing the <Y> key. The technique is
like using the shift key to produce a capital "Y". This symbol
<^Y> is called "Control Y".
While the help lines at the bottom of a routine's screen will
remind you about some of the keys that you may use at any given
moment, it is impossible to list all of the keys available. It is
VERY IMPORTANT for efficient use of AmortizeIt! to remember the
options that are available to you. In selected fields, these keys
will produce the following:
<Esc> exits what you are doing and restores the original value to
the field. This is the "I don't want to be here key!". This is
particularly useful when printing.
<F1> brings up the help system. Press <F1> a second time and you
will see a help index. Use the cursor keys to high light a topic
of interest and then press <Enter> to display the help informa-
tion for that topic.
<F2> (File Key) saves and retrieves client data.
<F3> starts printing. In some routines you will have the option
of sending the report to the printer, disk drive or screen. When
appropriate, simply select the destination from the menu.
<F4> sends a line feed to the printer. Use this key (rather than
the line feed on the printer) to advance the paper so that you
can have the desired spacing between the print outs for the
routines.
NOTE: By using this key instead of the printer's line feed key,
you will keep the program's internal line counter synchronized
with the printer. This will prevent a print out from being split
across two pages.
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AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
<F5> sends a form feed to the printer. This will eject the
current page and IF the paper has been correctly set in the
printer, it will align the printer to print at the top of the
next sheet of paper. Use this key INSTEAD of the form feed button
on the printer. (See the note on the <F4> key.)
<F9> performs the action. Usually calculates. While in copy mode,
it performs the copy. When a screen is asking you for informa-
tion, such as before a printout, <F9> is used to complete the
data input. (Consider this to be the "DO-IT!" key.)
<F10> Local Menu. When the cursor is on selected input fields the
user will have access to local menus via the <F10> function key.
Some of these local menus are: Extra Payments, Fiscal Month and
Additional Interest Rates. Watch the help lines at the bottom of
a routine's screen to know when <F10> is an option.
<tab> moves the cursor from one field to the next field.
<shift><tab> moves the cursor back one field.
<PgUp> moves the cursor to the top of the column.
<PgDn> moves the cursor to the bottom field of the column.
<^PgUp> moves the cursor to the first field on screen.
<^PgDn> moves the cursor to the last field on screen.
<^Y> clears the field. That is, it deletes the contents of a
field. If you are having trouble entering data and AmortizeIt! is
beeping at you, try clearing the field using <^Y>. Then start
entering the data again.
<^R> restores the original contents of the field
<Home> moves the cursor to the beginning of the field.
<End> moves the to the end of the field.
<^ > (Ctrl left arrow) moves cursor a word at a time to the left.
<^ > (Ctrl right arrow) moves cursor a word at a time to the
right.
<Del> deletes character at the cursor.
<BackSpace> deletes character to left of the cursor.
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AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
<^Home> deletes from beginning of subfield to cursor. Example:
When entering a date in the 'MM/DD/YY' format, using <^Home>
while on the second 'D' of the 'DD' part of the date will delete
just the 'DD' part of the entry. In other words, the 'DD' is the
subfield.
<^end> deletes from cursor to end of the subfield. This is the
opposite of the <^Home> key.
<^T> deletes word to right of the cursor.
<Ins> toggles insert mode on and off.
<Alt><F1> will display the previously called help topic.
8
AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
HELP WITH HELP
Press the <F1> key at any time to bring up a context sensi-
tive help window. If <F1> is pressed again when help is being
displayed, a list of help topics will be shown. You may use the
cursor keys to move to any topic. Press <Enter> and then help on
that topic will be displayed.
<Alt><F1> will display the previously called help topic.
<Esc> will exit a help window.
While in some help windows, one or more related help topics
may be shown. Use the cursor to move the highlight bar to one of
these topics and press <ENTER> to read the help information on
the related topic.
Also, always note the bottom right corner of the help window
to see if there is additional help information. This will be
indicated by the PgUp/PgDn indicators.
9
AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
ENTERING/EDITING INFORMATION
There are three basic types of data or information that
AmortizeIt! will allow you to enter. The first data type is
numeric. Simply enter the appropriate value and press enter. If
you need to clear a value press <Y> while holding the <Ctrl> key.
<^Y>
The second type of entry is a date type. Enter any valid date
in a MM/DD/YYYY format. Do not type in the </>'s. The program
provides them automatically. Also, with a date you can use the
<Tab> key to move to any one of the three fields (month, day or
year). Once at a field, enter the correct value and press enter.
When in the year field, it is possible to enter just the last two
years of a date and AmortizeIt! will fill in the missing first
two numbers if the year is in this century. In the month or day
field it is NOT necessary to supply a leading zero. You may enter
2 for February. You do not need to enter 02. If you use this
technique, you must move to the next field by pressing the <Tab>
key.
NOTE: If you do not enter a valid date, AmortizeIt! will beep
when you press enter.
The third data type is when you are limited to a few specific
choices. An example of this is Compound Period in the loan table
routine where the range of input is limited to 8 or so choices.
To change from one acceptable value to another, press either the
<space bar> or the dark gray <+> or <-> keys located on the right
side of the keyboard. Once the correct value is selected, you may
move on to the next field by pressing <Enter> or using the
appropriate cursor key or the <Tab> key.
10
AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
THE ROUTINES OF AMORTIZEIT!
*** IMPORTANT ***
There are many questions or inputs that are common to several
routines. For example, Compounding Period needs to be set in many
of the routines. An explanation of questions that are used in
more than one routine are explained in the section of the manual
under the heading "The Questions". This section of the manual
looks at what a routine does and the questions unique to that
routine.
LOAN CALCULATOR
The Loan Calculator routine will solve for any one of the
following: Amount of Loan, Total Payments (term), Annual Rate or
Periodic Payment. Enter the known values for any of the three and
0 (that is the number "0" not the letter "O") for the unknown.
Press <F9> to calculate. The payment method may be either payment
in advanced or payment in arrears. To change, move the cursor to
that field and press the space bar. Payment and compounding
periods may be set the same way.
While the calculator will solve for the annual rate it is
technically an approximation. There is no mathematical formula to
solve for rate and therefore it must be accomplished via interpo-
lation. To see how close the result is, repeat the problem, but
use the rate that AmortizeIt! suggests and enter a zero (0) for
Periodic Payment. Press <F9> to calculate. If the payment does
not change, then the interest rate calculation was very accurate.
If is reasonable to expect that the payment amount will change by
several cents.
NOTE: While solving for the rate, it is possible for Amort-
izeIt! to take longer than other calculations. Therefore it will
display intermediate results. WAIT FOR THE ASTERISK TO APPEAR TO
BE SURE THAT THE CALCULATION IS DONE.
NOTE: The compounding period must be either shorter in dura-
tion or equal to the payment period.
11
AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
AMORTIZATION ROUTINE
AmortizeIt! will display a classical loan table. That is, it
will show how each payment is applied to interest and principal.
You can display a table for a loan year, calendar year or a
fiscal year. The table will calculate a total for payments,
interest and principal for both the year displayed (YTD Totals)
and from the beginning of the loan through the last payment of
the particular year (Running TTLS).
Enter loan data as you do for all routines.
See the section "The Questions" for an explanation of the
inputs that are common to other routines. The following inputs
are uniquely applicable to the Loan Table.
Payment Method
A loan may be calculated using one of two payment methods,
Payment in Arrears or Payment in Advanced. Payment in Arrears is
the most common method of payment calculation. Simply stated,
payment in arrears is when the first payment is due exactly one
pay period after receipt of the borrowed funds. Since there was
use of the funds for that one period, interest is due for that
period when the first payment is made.
Payment in Advance is when the first payment is due on the
first day that the funds are available (origination date of the
loan). Therefore, since there has been no use of the funds when
the first payment is made, the entire first payment is applied
toward reducing the principal. Leases are usually written using
the payment in advance method.
Display Year
AmortizeIt! can be set to display an amortization table by
the loan year, calendar year or fiscal year. A loan year is used
to see the cost of the loan for any complete 12 month period from
the first payment date. A fiscal year display is used to coincide
the display with a tax year. If a tax year is the calendar year,
use the calendar year display.
To set the FIRST month of a fiscal year, press <F10> and
select the month from the menu by typing the capital letter in
the month's name or move the bar to the month's name by using the
up and down cursor keys and then select by pressing <Enter>.
12
AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
Amortizing Method
There are 5 ways that AmortizeIt! can apply a payment. Normal
is the most common method used for a mortgage. It is also known
by the names of Equal Payment or Level Payment Mortgage. Under
the normal payment method the payment amount is the same (except
*for possibly the last one) for the duration of the loan as long
as the interest rate does not change.
Under the US Rule the payment amount is the same and payments
are applied in exactly the same way as under the normal method
EXCEPT when interest is being accrued (during negative amortiza-
tion). The US Rule does not allow for interest to be charged on
accrued interest.
The Rules-of-78 applies interest faster than the normal
method. This is often used by banks for short term consumer loans
on items such as cars. NOTE: When payments are made on schedule
for the entire duration of the loan, the total interest paid will
be the same whether the Rules-of-78 or the Normal method is used.
The Fixed Principal Method applies the same amount of each
payment to the principal. The payments get smaller as the princi-
pal is paid down and less interest is due for each period.
The Interest Only Method calculates a payment amount so that
only the interest is paid on the loan up until the last payment
is due. At that time a balloon is due equal to the original
amount of the loan plus the last period's interest.
Days Per Year
Payments and amortization may be calculated using either a
360 or a 365 day year. The 360 day year is the most commonly used
value, and this is the default for AmortizeIt!. This setting only
affects the results when compounding is set to daily.
13
AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
Annual Rate
The value that is enter will be the effective rate for the
entire loan unless <F10> is pressed to change the rate for
different periods.
CAUTION: Entering a rate in this field will NOT set that rate
for the entire loan unless this is the first time a rate is being
entered. To set the same interest rate for the entire term of the
loan, press <F10> and select Paid Interest Rate from the menu. If
you pick FIXED from the next menu, you will be prompted to cancel
all adjustable rate entries.
HINT: If you need to enter additional (adjustable) rates,
enter those rates BEFORE filling in this field by pressing <F10>.
This saves you the trouble of entering a rate, pressing <Enter>
and then finding yourself in the Amount of Loan field. However,
if you are in the Amount of Loan field and wish to go back to
Annual Rate field, hit the UP arrow.
Extra Payments Applied Toward Principal
To enter extra payments, press <F10> while being asked for
the Amount of Loan. You will be shown a menu that will give you
the opportunity to enter extra payment amounts annually on the
anniversary date of the loan OR periodically when any payment is
made. Make the appropriate selection. Then using SolveIt's
standard editing techniques, enter any extra payments that are
made.
Press <F10> while entering extra payments, to copy an extra
payment over several consecutive payment periods. This is much
faster than keying in a regular extra payment. If you want to pay
an extra $100 every payment period, enter the $100 amount, then
enter the first period that it will be paid in and the final
period that you expect to make the payment in. Press <F9> to
execute the copy over the periods.
A word of CAUTION. If you enter an extra payment for the last
period of the loan when the REGULAR PAYMENT is equal to or
greater than the remaining balance, it will confuse AmortizeIt!.
AmortizeIt! will not understand why you want to make an extra
payment when the regular payment would be more than the remaining
balance. (And in fact, neither can we.) If you did this, simply
adjust the extra payment.
Of course this method can be used to zero out extra payments.
Setting the Payment Amount
14
AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
Using the above procedure for entering extra payments, you
can set any payment you want to use to amortize the loan. For
example, suppose AmortizeIt! calculates a monthly payment of
$835.50 and you want to amortize a loan using an $800 payment
instead. Enter -$35.50 in the extra payment fields (use the copy
feature to copy it across all periods) to reduce the monthly
payment to $800.
This is the technique used to display an amortization sched-
ule with a balloon payment. Use the Balloon Payment routine to
calculate the needed periodic payment. Then return to this
routine and enter the DIFFERENCE between what the Loan Table
calculates and what the Balloon Payment routine calculates.
Once all data is entered press <F9> to calculate and display
the loan table.
15
AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
The Loan Table Display
WHEN A TABLE IS DISPLAYED, pressing the <Esc> key will exit
the routine. Pressing <R> will allow you to enter new or edit
existing data. Pressing <N> will display the next year. If you
are at the last year pressing <N> will redisplay the first year.
Pressing <A> will allow you to display any year. When prompted
enter a four digit year. For example 1990 or 2001.
The <S> key will open a summary window. You can summarize the
loan through any period. See Summary Window below for details.
WHEN A LOAN TABLE IS DISPLAYED, you can print a schedule for
any range of periods by pressing <F3>. Just follow the on screen
prompts. Also, all data for a loan can be saved by pressing <F2>.
When an asterisk (*) appears in the payment column, that
indicates that an extra payment was made on that payment date.
When an asterisk (*) appears in the date column, that indi-
cates that the interest PAYMENT changed on that date.
NOTE: If the loan is calculated in arrears, then the RATE
actually changed on the preceding payment date.
Negative Amortization
Negative Amortization occurs when the payment being made does
not cover the interest due for the period. The amount owed is
growing. (If you are using normal amortization, interest is
charged on accumulated interest. If you are using the U.S. Rule,
then interest will not be charged on accumulated interest.)
Negative Amortization most often occurs during the early
years of a mortgage. Banks will make a loan and collect interest
based upon a lower rate than what is actually being charged. This
gives them a competitive edge and allows the borrower to make a
lower payment during the early years of a loan. All the while
though, interest is accruing (the balance is growing) due to the
artificially low rate.
To amortize a negative loan, you must first enter both the
Paid Rates and the Accrued Rates (see below). The paid rate is
the LOWER rate that the payment is actually being based upon. The
Accrued Rate is the HIGHER rate that is actually being charged.
(For a negative amortizing loan, the rates would never be fixed.)
Once both the accrued and paid rates are entered, the loan is
ready to be amortized. Hit <ESC> once from either rate entry
screen and you will be back at the main AmortizeIt! screen. Press
<F9> to calculate.
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AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
One thing. To amortize the loan correctly, at some point
the Accrued Rate must be 0% and the Paid Rate must be equal to or
higher than the previously entered Accrued Rate.
Paid Rate
The paid rate is the rate that payments are actually based
upon during the early years of a negative amortizing loan. This
rate is lower than the Accrued Rate.
Accrued Rate
The accrued rate is the rate that is actually used to deter-
mine the interest that will be due on the outstanding balance.
To set the accrued or paid rate, put the cursor on the Annual
Rate Field and press <F10>. Follow the on screen prompts.
Summary Window
One of the unique features of AmortizeIt! is the Summary
Window. This window will detail the total principal and interest
paid through any period as well as the interest saved as the
result of extra payments paid to principal. The remaining balance
will be shown if there is any.
To use this feature, simply press <S> when an amortization
schedule is displayed on the screen. A window will appear and you
will be asked for the period number that you want the loan
summarized through. Enter that value and press enter. The loan
will then be summarized (this may take a while, depending upon
the number of periods) and a window will be displayed with the
summary details.
A word of CAUTION when using this feature. If you had entered
a series of extra payments through the ending period, the summary
window will add all of those extra payments up and include them
in the total of extra payments paid even though the loan is paid
off. (After all, you did tell the program that you were making
those extra payments, didn't you!).
The way to avoid this problem is simple. Enter (or use the
copy feature) all of the extra payments that you might make
through the last period, then run the amortization schedule on
the screen and note at what period the loan is paid off as the
result of the extra payments. Then go back to the extra payment
screen and cancel or zero out all of the extra payments from the
new last payment period on. Now, when you look at the summary
screen, the extra payment total will be accurate.
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AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
REMAINING BALANCE
This routine, as it says, will calculate the remaining bal-
ance of a loan. The result is calculated after the payment is
made. So if you want to pay off a loan when you are making the
100th payment, you will want to know the balance due after the
99th payment is made.
Balance After Payment
Enter the payment period number that you want the remaining
balance calculated up to. That is, this routine assumes that the
payment was made for this period, and that you want to know what
the balance is after this payment is made.
Example: Assume that you have a mortgage for $176,500, with
360 monthly payments at a rate of 9.25% compounded monthly.
Payment is set to arrears. To find the remaining balance of the
loan after 5 years, enter 60 in the Balance After Payment #
field. The result is $169,553.27.
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AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
BALLOON PAYMENT
This routine works differently from earlier versions of the
program. You now tell the program how much of a balloon you want
to pay or collect (Balloon Payment field) after which payment
number (Payment # Balloon Due), and AmortizeIt! will calculate
what the regular payment would be in order to have the balloon
amount that you desire.
The balloon is actually the remaining balance of the loan at
a particular point. This routine will allow you to structure a
loan so that an amount due is paid off in a relatively short
period of time, but at a payment amount that would be less than
required to amortize the entire loan in a short time span. By
setting the balloon amount, you can control the rate at which the
principal is paid down. Often, this will be faster than if the
loan were amortized over the longer period of time.
Balloon Payment
The remaining balance of the loan at the point that you want
to collect that balance.
Payment # Balloon Due
The payment number you want to collect the balloon on. The
value must be less than the total number of payments.
Example: Assume that you want to borrow $250,000 for a house
but you cannot find a lender willing to lend you this amount for
a term that is long enough to give you an affordable payment. If
you structure a loan with a balloon of $225,000 after 5 years,
you may be able to swing a deal. Assuming an interest rate of
9.75%, your monthly payment would be $2,356.23 or a great deal
less than the payment for a five year loan. (This assumes monthly
payments and compounding with payments made in arrears.)
To print an amortization schedule with a balloon see "setting
the payment amount" under Loan Table.
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AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
ACCELERATED PAYMENT
This is a very fast and easy routine to use to show how much
interest you will save if you make extra REGULAR payments. You
will be able to set the extra amount you want to have applied
toward the principal starting after whatever payment number you
wish.
If you want to make IRREGULAR payments or you want to vary
the amount of each payment, use the Amortization Routine to key
in the extra payments. Then use the summary feature to show the
interest saved.
Increase After Payment
Enter the payment number after which the extra payment is to
be applied. If you have a 48 month loan, and you want to start
sending an extra $100 after the first year, then enter 12 since
you will send the first extra amount with the 13th payment.
Extra $ Paid
How much extra money are you going to send along with each
payment. Enter the dollar amount.
Periods to Pay Off
This result tells you how many TOTAL periods it will actually
take to pay the loan off as the result of the extra payments.
Don't become confused. This is NOT the number of periods of extra
payments.
Example: In the early years of a normal mortgage, most of the
payment amount goes toward paying interest. (If you don't believe
this, just look at the Loan Table routine.) You can save yourself
a lot of this interest expense by paying a small extra amount to
be applied toward principal early in the loan. Take a 30 year
$250,000 mortgage at 10.5%. If, after the fifth year (Increase
AFTER Period 60) you want to send an extra $150 with each pay-
ment, you will pay the loan off in less than 25 years and you
will save $116,055.89 in interest. This $150 is only about a 7%
increase in the monthly payment. (This example is assuming
payment in arrears, along with monthly payments and monthly
compounding.)
The effects of accelerated payments will be greater the
higher the interest rate, the sooner they are begun and the
longer the term.
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AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
SUGGESTION: If you are making extra payments to principal on
a loan, we suggest that you do so by making the payment with a
separate check, and plainly writing on the check that it is a
principal payment.
After you mail the payment, follow it up with a phone call to
the lender to make sure that the payment was applied toward
principal. Even though we have clearly stated in letters that
were included with these checks that we were making a payment to
be applied toward principal, our bank has used it to pay the next
payment early in more than half the cases that we sent in the
extra payments. (That is they use the extra payment to pay the
next payment due, rather than to apply the entire check toward
principal. Of course this does not save the borrower any money!)
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AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
INTEREST DUE
It is often necessary to know how much interest is due when
1) a loan is being paid off on other than a payment due date or
2) to check the interest being paid on an investment. The Inter-
est Due routine will calculate the interest that is due between
any two dates or for any number of days. Enter the first date
(usually the day the last payment was made) and then enter either
the date that the loan is being paid off or skip to the next
field and enter the number of days for calculating the interest.
Start/Last Date
Enter the Start and Last Dates for the period that the money
is outstanding.
NOTE: It is not necessary to enter a Start or Last date. If
you enter a Start Date and enter a positive number for the Number
of Days, then the Last Date is automatically calculated. If you
enter the Last Date and enter a negative number for the Number of
Days, then the Start Date is automatically calculated. Using the
above procedure, it is possible to determine the date X days from
a specific date.
Number of Days
The number of days for which interest is due.
NOTE: It is not necessary to enter a value for the Number of
Days. If you enter both a Start Date and a Last Date, then the
number of days is automatically calculated for you. This, of
course, is the classic days between dates routine.
The range of acceptable values here is from -9,999 to 32,000.
If you enter a negative number of days, AmortizeIt! will
calculate the Start Date. If you enter a positive number, the
Last Date will be calculated.
Compounding Period
This routine supports 10 compounding periods. Besides the
normal daily, weekly, biweekly etc., this routine supports simple
interest and continuous compounding as well.
"None" is to be selected when you want to calculate simple
interest. That is, there is no compounding.
"Continuous" compounding assumes that funds are earning
interest constantly. This is a higher frequency of compounding
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AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
than daily and of course will result in the largest return on a
deposit. (Or the highest interest bill if you are paying inter-
est!)
Further Note: The last two fields on the Interest Due screen
tells you the day of the week for the Start and Last Date.
Enter the amount that is outstanding on the loan and the
interest rate. Select the compounding period and days per year.
Press <F9> to calculate the results.
Example: If you need to find the interest due for 45 days and
you are assuming monthly compounding enter the Start Date, skip
the Last Date, and enter 45 for the Number of Days. Enter $20,000
for the Amount. Enter an interest rate, say 7.675% and set the
compounding period to monthly and the days per year to 360. The
result will be $20,187.99
While this routine is designed to find the interest due and
future value of a single amount, it is possible to calculate both
for a series of payments. The method is simple but tedious.
Calculate the results for each payment and then sum the results.
(You should use the future value routine under the finance menu
to calculate the FV of a series. The only reason you would use
the Interest Due Routine is to achieve a higher degree of
accuracy needed because of fractional periods.)
This routine uses a technique that converts the nominal rate
at the compounding frequency that you select to an equal nominal
rate for daily compounding. Interest is then calculated for the
exact number of days. This MAY result in a SLIGHTLY different
amount of interest due if the rate had not been converted but
rather interest was figured using a fractional period technique
at the compounding frequency selected.
NOTE: The calendar math routine from version 3.0/3.1 has been
incorporated into this routine.
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AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
THE QUESTIONS
Annual Rate
This is the nominal or stated annual interest rate either
charged or earned. The range of values is 1 to 49 percent. Do NOT
enter a percent (%) sign.
Pressing <F10> in SOME routines will bring up an interest
rate menu that will allow you to make changes to the rate. Rate
changes can be made either annually or periodically.
Compounding Period
AmortizeIt! supports 8 different compounding periods. (Daily,
Weekly, BiWeekly, Monthly, Bimonthly, Quarterly, Semiannually,
Annually) To change from one payment period to another, tap
either the space bar <SP> or the dark gray plus <+> or minus <->
keys on the right side of the keyboard.
NOTE: You CANNOT select a compounding period that is of a
longer duration than the payment period. If you want to calculate
a loan with semiannual compounding, first make sure that either
an annual or a semiannual payment period is set.
Days Per Year
Payments and amortization may be calculated using either a
360 or a 365 day year. The 360 day year is the most commonly used
value, and this is the default for AmortizeIt!.
Loan Amount
Total amount that is being financed. You may enter a value up
to $99,999,999. (Do not enter a $ sign.)
Loan Table or Amortization Routine: You will NOT be allowed
to make a 0 entry. While in this field, press <F10> to add extra,
short, or skipped payments.
Calculator Routine: Will solve for the amount if a 0 is
entered.
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AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
Payments
Number of total payments that one expects to make. There are
several things to consider. First this is not the number of
payments per year. Secondly, the maximum total number of payments
is 480 but the term can not exceed 40 years (see note below).
Loan Table or Amortization Routine: Note that you cannot
amortize a loan that exceeds 40 years. So if you are amortizing a
loan with semiannual payments, then the maximum total number of
payments is 80 (2 payments per year X 40 years = 80 payments). If
one is amortizing a mortgage with an extra payment(s) the number
of periods entered is the total number of periods as if there
were NO extra payments made. AmortizeIt! will automatically
calculate the effects of early payments. Also, if you want to do
a 15 year accelerated biweekly mortgage, you would enter 360
payments. One (1) is the minimum value that can be entered while
in the amortization routine
Calculator Routine: If zero (0) is entered then AmortizeIt!
will solve for the number of payments. While you can not enter a
fractional number of payments (that is, you can only enter full
payments such as 48 and not 48.5), AmortizeIt!, while solving for
the total number of payments, will display the fractional part of
a payment in the interest of accuracy. You will have to decide if
the amount of the loan, the payment or the rate is to be adjusted
to eliminate the fractional period.
Payment Amount
Enter payment amount. Acceptable range: $1.00 to $99,999,999-
.00. Do NOT enter a $ sign. Initially, it is assumed that the
same amount is to be paid for each payment period.
If you want the payment amounts to change, press <F10> while
entering data in this field. A menu will appear that will allow
you to enter different payment amounts. The amount may be adjust-
ed annually or periodically (when any payment is made). Selecting
"fixed" from the menu, will reset all payments equal to the first
payment.
Payment Date
Date of first payment. Note, for a loan that is calculated
using the Payment in Arrears Method, it is assumed that the
origination date of the loan is exactly one period before the
first payment date.
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Payment Method
Payments (or deposits) may be made either in advance of or
after a periodic interest calculation. (Or at the beginning or
end of the period.) Deposits in advance are credited before
calculation and thus earn interest more than one made in arrears.
Payment Period
This is the frequency at which payments are made. That is
payments may be made daily, weekly, biweekly, monthly, bimonthly,
quarterly, semiannually, or annually. This is equivalent to 365,
52, 26, 12, 6, 4, 2 or 1 periods per year.
To change from one payment period to another, tap either the
space bar <SP> or the dark gray plus <+> or minus <-> keys on the
right side of the keyboard. In most cases, you CANNOT select a
payment period that is a shorter duration than the compounding
period.
Periodic Payment
This is the amount that would be paid on each payment date to
amortize the loan.
Loan Calculator: Enter zero (0) and press <F9> to solve for
payment amount.
Present Value
The present value is what an amount is worth in current
dollars. It is always less than the future value except in maybe
cases of extreme deflation. Acceptable range: $1 - $99,999,999.
Starting Date
This is the starting date for the routine. All ending dates
are based on this date.
To enter a date, you do not need to enter leading zeros. That
is to enter June 8 1990, you may enter 6/8/90 or 06/09/1990.
There is no need to type the "/". Also, if you just need to edit
the day, for example, you can use the <tab> key to tab to the day
field.
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Total Periods
Number of total periods one expects. There are several things
to consider. First this is NOT the number of periods per year.
The lowest value that can be entered here is 1 and the maximum
total number of periods is 480. HOWEVER, the maximum number of
years that the program will accept is 40. Therefore, you cannot
enter 180 here if the payment period is set to quarterly. 180
divided by 4 is 45 years, which is over the maximum.
Please see the appendix for a chart that shows the acceptable
number of payment periods.
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AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
FILES
Pressing <F2> from almost anywhere in the program will
display the Save/Retrieve Menu. The only time <F2> will not be an
option is while another menu or message window is displayed.
You next will have to choose what data it is that you want to
save or retrieve. (see below, under File Structure)
After selecting the data, you will be prompted for a file
name. You may either enter a file name, or you may enter a DOS
wild card character (Examples: *.*, S*.*, S???.???, A:*.*). If
you enter part of a file name or a name containing a wild card,
you will be presented with a list of the files on the drive. Use
the cursor keys, to move the highlight selector to a file name.
If you are saving data, you will be prompted to confirm that you
want to overwrite the existing file. If you are saving only some
data, (i.e. adjustable rates), you will only replace the adjust-
able rate part of the file.
AmortizeIt! automatically checks to see that you are updating
an AmortizeIt! file. It will not allow you to alter a file that
is not one of its own. You will also not be allow to retrieve a
file that is not an AmortizeIt! file.
The file structure was changed between AmortizeIt! 3.1 and
AmortizeIt! 4.0. The two structures are NOT compatible and
therefore a file from version 3.1 and earlier cannot be used with
versions from 4.0 on.
One final note, the file structure for all of our financial
programs is the same. So if you have AmortizeIt! and you want to
upgrade to AmortizeIt!, you will still be able to use your data
files from AmortizeIt!.
FILE STRUCTURE
All of the data that can be saved, is saved to one file. That
is, the budget, net worth, amortization data for one client can
be kept in one file. We feel that this is easier for the user
than keeping track of say 4 or 5 different files for one client.
On the other hand, you have to give it some thought as to what
data you are working with when you do a save or retrieve.
For example: If you are doing amortization projections for a
client, and you want to save the data to an existing file, you
must be careful to select just the Loan/Amortization data. This
is done in order not to overwrite the information in the file
that might be there for the budget, net worth or IRR/Net Present
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AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
Value routines.
Likewise, when you retrieve data, you must pick the data that
you want to retrieve. That is to say, if you are currently
working on a budget for Mr. & Mrs. Rivadeneyra and Mr. Langenhahn
calls with a question about a prospective mortgage for a summer
house, you must make sure that you only retrieve the
Loan/Amortization data in order that you do not overwrite
(destroy!) the information that you have keyed into the budget
routine for Mr. and Mrs. Rivadeneyra.
The program's data file is structured so that the following
elements of data can be saved, updated or retrieved individually:
Adjustable Rates, eXtra Payments, Budget Data, Net Worth Data,
Cash Flows, Inflation Rates, Rates & eXtra Payments,
Loan/Amortization, Rental Analysis, Everything. In addition to
these elements, the current value of Present Value, Future Value,
Payment Method, Payment Period, Compounding Period and Starting
Date are also saved.
To give you a few examples, if you want to save the deposit
amounts in the future value routine, you would save the eXtra
Payments. (Extra Payments and Deposits are the same thing to the
program. This is so that you can easily see what the future value
or present value of the extra monies is that you applied toward
the principal of a mortgage. That is, if you key in extra loan
payments, you do not need to rekey in the values as a deposit in
the future value routine.)
If you want to save the cash flow values from the Net Present
Value or the IRR routines, you would save the Cash Flows. If you
want to save the inflation rates for the Purchasing Power Rou-
tine, you would save the Inflation Rates. And if you have a ARM
(adjustable rate mortgage) and you make extra payments to reduce
the outstanding principal, you would save Rates & eXtra Payments
or the Loan/Amortization data.
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AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
Some Relationships Between the Routines
(Only SOME of this is applicable to AmortizeIt!)
As we have stated, the help screens can actually provide you
with all of the information that you need to operate AmortizeIt!.
The purpose of this section is to show with examples how you can
solve financial problems with the program where the choice of
routine may not be obvious.
Let us look at how two professional people might use the
program to solve problems for their clients. Mr. I. M. Smart is a
financial planner. He often, as might be expected, needs to do
financial presentations and he finds AmortizeIt! very useful for
generating figures to back up his opinions.
Ms. Penney Rich is an attorney whose cliental includes a
number of sports stars and entertainment personalities. She is
often involved with negotiating settlements that require her to
use the financial, budget and net worth routines.
Let us start with an example for one of Mr. Smart's clients.
Reds Mason is a builder who also likes to speculate in the real
estate market. He owns several properties which he rents out to
commercial tenants. He wants to know the best way to manage his
money. He particularly wants to know the effect of prepaying his
mortgages. (Three routines will be used to arrive at an answer.)
First, Mr. Smart goes to the Remaining Balance routine to see
how much is still owed on one of the loans. He enters the origi-
nal loan amount of $250,000, 180 for the number of monthly
periods and 11% for the rate. Since the loan has been held for
exactly 2 years, he enters 24 to find out the remaining balance
after the 24th payment. The result is that there is sill $235,315
owed on the loan.
After this calculation, Mr. Smart goes to the Loan Table
Routine and notes that the details of the mortgage are already
entered as the result of having entered them in the remaining
balance routine. The only thing he needs to do is to change the
amount of loan to equal the remaining balance ($235,315) and to
change the term from 180 to 156, since there are only 156 remain-
ing periods.
At this point, while he is on the amount of loan field he
presses <F10> to enter the extra payments that Mr. Mason wants to
make. Mr. Mason feels that he can pay an extra $2,000, once a
year. AmortizeIt!'s copy feature is used to enter the extra pay-
ments. Once that is done, the amortization table is displayed and
it shows that the loan is paid off after 138 payments instead of
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AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
the 156 payments it would have taken if the extra payments were
not made.
To summarize the details of the savings, press <F10> and
summarize the loan through the 138th period (156 is NOT entered
here since there are no longer 156 periods.) Mr. Smart can now
show Mr. Mason that his extra $2,000 a year, if paid for a total
of 12 years, will save him $25,222 in interest payments.
Now that sounds pretty good to Mr. Mason. But in fact, Mr.
Smart has to point out that this is not the real savings to him.
He suggests that Mr. Mason could do something else with the
$2,000 rather than apply it toward his mortgage. What happens if
he decides to invest the money in tax free bonds? How much would
$2,000 a year grow to after twelve years?
Again, Mr. Smart turns to use AmortizeIt!. He taps <Esc> a
few times to get back to the main menu. He picks the future value
routine from the finance menu. Once in the routine he changes the
present value to $0 and the interest rate to 8.5% which is the
going rate for the bonds. Since the $2,000 payments were entered
in the Loan Table, there is no need to re-enter them in the
Future Value routine. Therefore, all that is left to do is to
press <F9> and the Future Value Routine calculates that the
$2,000 deposited every year for 12 years will grow to $41,329.70
over the 138 periods. It also shows that there is a gain of
$17,329 over the $24,000 that was invested.
Now the idea of making extra payments does not look as good
as it did at first. Mr. Smart is able to demonstrate to his
client that the actual cash savings is only $7,893 (The $25,222
interest savings less the $17,329 gain.) when the future value of
the series of $2,000 payments is taken into consideration. And in
fact, the savings is even less when you consider that the inter-
est on the mortgage is probably tax deductible. If Mr. Mason is
in a 28% tax bracket and if he pays the $25,222 interest he will
realize an additional tax savings of $7,062. So therefore, as
incredible as it may seem, Mr. Mason would actually LOOSE $267.
if he makes the extra payments!
Now that Mr. Mason knows that he does not want to make the
extra payments. He changes the subject to ask about his rental
properties. He knows (or at least he thinks that he knows) that
he his making money. The question is, is he making a reasonable
return on his investment. (Two routines will be used to arrive at
an answer.)
To answer this question, Mr. Smart uses AmortizeIt!'s Rental
Income Analysis Routine. We wouldn't bother you with lots of
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AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
details here since there are thirty variables involved in analyz-
ing rental income. But so you can follow along using the program,
let us assume that he bought a building for $300,000 and he has a
mortgage of $250,000 for 180 months at 11%. There are 2 points
charged on the loan. Also assume that the building will appreci-
ate at 9% per year. We will not allow for any inflation of
expenses, income, or property taxes. In fact, we will not even
have a property tax figure! (Don't we wish!) The monthly expenses
will be $3,000 and the total monthly rental income will be
$6,000. The depreciation basis is $275,000, the useful life is
31.5 years, the purchase date is 10/11/1990 and the date that the
property is sold is 4/11/2000. This scenario will generate a
bottom line cash flow of $339,502.
But remember, the question is, "Is this a good investment?".
Mr. Smart hits the <Esc> key a few times and goes to the finance
routines. Under Evaluation he chooses the IRR routine. The
internal rate of return is used to determine the rate of return
on a series of complicated cash flows. In this case the cash
flows are already entered, since they are carried over from the
calculations of the Rental Income Analysis routine. All that is
left to do is to press <F9>. The result is that the annual rate
of return is less than 1%. No comments needed. Changes must be
made!
Moving on to Ms. Rich, we find her in the middle of nego-
tiating a contract for a local sports star. The client, Sam
Fielder, wants to sign for $1,000,000 bonus, payable at the start
of the new contract. The owners of the franchise, who are anxious
to keep the local hero on their payroll, fear that they will
severely jeopardize the financial health of their organization if
they meet his demands. They counter propose that they will pay
him, $200,000, a year for ten years starting after five years.
Of course, the challenge here is to see if the offer is as
good as the current demand. Ms. Rich uses the Present Value of a
Series Routine to see if it is. Before entering the Payment
Amounts, she sets the Total Periods to 15, the Payment Period and
Compounding Period to annual. She assumes a nominal rate of 6.5%.
Once these are entered she returns to the Payment Amount field.
Instead of filling in an amount, she press <F10> to enter
individual cash flows. She selects "extra periodically". (Since
payments are annual, extra annually and extra periodically give
the same result here.) She then uses the copy feature to copy
$200,000 as the amount from period 6 through period 15.
(Remember, the proposal on the table is for $200,000 a year
starting in the sixth year.)
Once this is done she escapes out. She presses <F9> to solve
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AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
for the result. Ms. Rich sees that the series of future payments
is worth $1,046,864.50. She can therefore advise her client that
the two compensation packages are essentially the same. And in
fact, she points out that if Mr. Fielder does not need the cash
now, then he may be better off postponing the income to a time
when his cash flow may be less.
Next, Mr. Fielder wants to provide some income for his Mother
who has nearly reached retirement age. Initially, he thought that
he would buy her an annuity to generate income. His goal is to
provide her with $5,000 a month for the next fifteen years. He
has $400,000 readily available for this investment.
As would be expected, Ms. Rich uses the Time to Withdrawal
Routine to check the feasibility of this plan. She discovers that
$400,000 invested earning 8.5% annually will pay the desired
$5,000 a month for only 119 periods, or for a little less than
ten years.
Now the question is, if Mr. Fields wants to provide the
$5,000 a month, and he wants to do so for fifteen years, how much
would he have to invest? To arrive at the answer is simple, but
not so obvious. Ms. Rich exits from the Time to Withdrawal
routine and from the main menu she selects the Loan Analysis
Calculator Routine. There she keys in 0 for the Amount of Loan
and she enters 180 for the term. (Monthly payments for fifteen
years is 180 payments.). She assumes the same rate of return or
8.5% and she sets the payment to $5,000. When she solves for the
result they learn that it will take an initial investment of
$507,748.47 to generate the kind of income that Mr. Fields is
seeking. (You can go back to the Time to Withdrawal Routine to
confirm this calculation.)
There we have it. These are some real life examples of how
users use AmortizeIt!. We hope that these illustrations expand
your understanding of how the program can be used. Again, these
are only some to the applications for these routines. We strongly
encourage you to "play" with the program. Experiment and try to
answer other "what if" questions. Let us know what you find out.
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AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
APPENDIX
ALLOWABLE TOTAL PERIODS FOR EACH PAYMENT/COMPOUNDING PERIOD
YEARS WKLY BIWKLY MONTH BIMNTH QRTRLY SEMIANNL
1 52 26 12 6 4 2
2 104 52 24 12 8 4
3 156 78 36 18 12 6
4 208 104 48 24 16 8
5 260 130 60 30 20 10
6 312 156 72 36 24 12
7 364 182 84 42 28 14
8 416 208 96 48 32 16
9 468 234 108 54 36 18
10 260 120 60 40 20
11 286 132 66 44 22
12 312 144 72 48 24
13 338 156 78 52 26
14 364 168 84 56 28
15 390 180 90 60 30
16 416 192 96 64 32
17 442 204 102 68 34
18 468 216 108 72 36
19 228 114 76 38
20 240 120 80 40
21 252 126 84 42
22 264 132 88 44
23 276 138 92 46
24 288 144 96 48
25 300 150 100 50
26 312 156 104 52
27 324 162 108 54
28 336 168 112 56
29 348 174 116 58
30 360 180 120 60
31 372 186 124 62
32 384 192 128 64
33 396 198 132 66
34 408 204 136 68
35 420 210 140 70
36 432 216 144 72
37 444 222 148 74
38 456 228 152 76
39 468 234 156 78
40 480 240 160 80
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AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
MESSAGES
"CALC"
When the "CALC" message is displayed in the upper right hand
corner of the window, this means that the results that are
currently shown are not accurate. To get rid of this message and
to display the correct calculations, press the <F9> key.
"Out-of-Range"
Occasionally, you will see an "Out-of-Range" message dis-
played in the upper left corner of the window. When you see this
message, it means that the resulting answer to a calculation
produced a result that was too large to display. Therefore, DO
NOT accept the displayed answer as being correct!!
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AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
PRINTING TO DISK
When you print to disk, the report or schedule is saved in a
standard ASCII file on the designated drive. The purpose of being
able to print to disk is so that you can later load the file into
your favorite word processor for editing. This will allow you,
for example, to bold face selected numbers in a report. Of course
you can also change the numbers that AmortizeIt! gives you, if
you desire!
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AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
LOCAL MENUS
DESTINATION MENU
This menu is displayed when you are starting a schedule or
preparing to send an amortization schedule to the printer. There
are three destinations to pick from:
Screen : Printer : Disk File
Pick the screen option to display the schedule to the screen.
Pick the printer option to print the schedule. The next
window that you see will ask a series of questions that will be
used to customize the title page of the printed schedule.
The Disk File option will send the schedule to a disk file.
By "printing to disk" as it is sometimes called, you will be able
to take the resulting ASCII text file and load it into a word
processor so that you can highlight important points. You will
also be able to add notes or modify the title page.
INTEREST RATE MENU
When applicable, the interest rate menu may be accessed by
pressing <F10> when the cursor is in the interest rate field on a
routine's main screen.
Fixed Rate
This option will allow you to reset all of the rates for each
payment or deposit period equal to the value entered on the
routine's main screen. This is the quick and easy method to
change an adjustable rate loan to a fixed rate loan.
Adjust Annually
This option will allow you to set an interest rate for an
entire year. The rate changes one payment period prior to the
anniversary date of the loan if the payment is in arrears. It
changes on the anniversary date of the loan if the payment is in
advanced.
Adjust Periodically
This option will allow you to change the interest rate on any
payment or deposit date.
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AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
FISCAL MONTH MENU
To access this menu, you must be on the Display Year field in
the Loan Table routine. Press <F10> for this menu.
Select the first month of the fiscal year from the list by
typing the capital letter in the months name or, alternatively,
by using the cursor keys to move the high light bar over the
month's name and pressing <Enter>.
EXTRA PAYMENT MENU
When applicable, the payments or deposited amount may be
altered. To do this, access the extra payment menu by pressing
<F10> when the cursor is in the Deposit, Payment or Amount of
Loan field on a routine's main screen. Watch the help lines at
the bottom of the screen to know when this is an option.
No Extra Payment
Selecting this option will cancel all previously entered
extra payments or deposits.
Extra Annually
This will allow you to enter an extra payment or deposit once
a year on the anniversary date of the loan.
Note however, if you use the copy function to copy an annual
payment or deposit across several years that if you pick a
starting period other than on the anniversary date, the amount
will be copied every twelve months from the period you select.
This will happen even though the period are not displayed on the
screen.
For example: If your mortgage's origination date is in
November but you expect to receive tax refunds in about April
that you would use to pay principal on the loan. You can copy the
extra amount from the 18th period on if you want to start making
the payments in April in the second year of the mortgage.
Extra Periodically
This will allow you to enter extra payment(s) on any payment
date. This is the option that you want to select if you wish to
schedule a series of regular extra payments. (Follow the menus
from the entry screen that allows extra payments to be copied.)
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AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
COPY RATE
Press <F10> for the local menu to copy a rate over many
periods when interest rates are being added. This is a very fast
way to set one rate over a block of many periods.
Once the copy window is displayed, you will be asked for an
interest rate, a starting period and an ending period. If you are
adjusting rates by the period, then you will be able to copy the
rate from any period to any period.
If you are adjusting the rate annually, the program will copy
the rate starting at any period and use that rate for a minimum
of at least a years worth of payments. This is to say, that if
you are adjusting the rate annually, and the loan is being paid
quarterly, then the interest rate that you enter in the copy mode
is used for determining the payment amount for at least 3 payment
periods following the initial period.
When you are in the copy window, you may press <Esc> so that
the copy does not take place and the rates are left unchanged, or
you press <F9> to perform the copy.
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AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
COPY AMOUNT
Press <F10> for the local menu to copy an extra payment over
many periods when payments are being added. This is a very fast
way to set or schedule one regular extra payment over a block of
many periods.
Once the copy window is displayed, you will be asked for a
dollar amount, a starting period and an ending period. If you are
adding extra payments by the period, then you will be able to
copy the amount from any period to any period.
If you are adding payments annually, the program will copy
the amount from the starting period and copy it to the period
that is on the anniversary date of the starting period. For
example, if the payment period is quarterly, and you are adding
extra payments annually, then if you use the copy feature to copy
an extra payment from period 10 to period 20, then the extra
payments will be made when the regular payments are made for
periods 10, 14, and 18.
Please note that when you are copying extra payments that are
being made once a year, that you are not restricted to making
those extra payments on an anniversary.
When you are in the copy window, you may press <Esc> so that
the copy does not take place and the rates are left unchanged, or
you press <F9> to perform the copy.
40
AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
SETTING OTHER OPTIONS, THE INSTALL MENU
The install (or setup) function will allow you to customize
certain features of the program.
To start install, you must first be in the directory that
AmortizeIt! is located in. If you set the program up on your hard
disk the way we suggested at the start of this manual, you would
log on to the drive that AmortizeIt! is located on and type "CD
SLVIT4" Then from there enter:
Amortize /I
You will then be shown a menu from which you can set the follow-
ing items:
Color Picker
Selecting the color picker will give you another menu of
choices so that you can completely customize AmortizeIt!'s screen
colors. You will be able to change:
Frame (menu frame or window border)
Title (menu/window title background)
Unselected Text (normal menu and screen text)
Selected (text in menu's cursor)
Pick (character that is menu choice)
Help (help lines at bottom of a window)
Before you start to change the default colors, please make
sure that you are working with a backup copy!!
You may pick a color for AmortizeIt!'s text by picking the
unselected text option. By selecting this or any color option,
you will be shown a box with text written in it. If you press the
space bar the colors will change. Note how first all possible
text colors are displayed for a particular background color. Once
all text colors are shown for the background color, the back-
ground color will change and you will be rotated through all of
the text color combinations again for the new background color.
You can move "BACKWARD" or "FORWARD" through the color choices by
using the <+> or <-> keys on the right side of the keyboard near
the numeric keypad.
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AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
Once you see a color combination that you like, press <Enter>
to accept it. If you wish, you may press <Esc> to cancel the
color picking option and to return to the install menu without
setting a color.
You may set the colors for any of the options using the same
technique. When you are finished setting the colors, hit <Esc>
from the "color picker" menu to return to the main install menu.
(Remember, If you hit <Esc> while the color pick window is shown
you will not be setting the new color, <Esc> is to exit the color
pick menu only.)
Default Subdirectory
The default subdirectory is the directory that AmortizeIt!
looks
into to find its overlay and data files. There is no need for you
to install a default subdirectory if the program is started while
you are in the subdirectory that AmortizeIt! is in on your hard
drive.
If you do set a default subdirectory, when you want to save
or retrieve your data files (files with interest rates, budget
info, etc.) you will be prompted with the default directory.
This, of course, will keep your data files from being scattered
all over your hard disk. (You can override this setting when you
are doing a save or retrieve.)
Budget Items
You can change the titles (descriptions) of all of the items
listed in the budget. This way, the budget routine is not limited
to being a personal budget program. Rather, if you run a small
business, you can change the category name for example from
Mortgage Payment to Rent. The item descriptions that are preceded
by a "T" are the descriptions of "TOTAL" items. That is the
descriptions that are entered into these field should say some-
thing such as "Advertising Total". These total descriptions are
referencing the items immediately preceding the "T". The total
descriptions appear in the reports.
You are limited to 21 characters plus a ":" including all
punctuation and spaces for all descriptions.
Net Worth Items
You can change the titles of all of the items listed in the
Net Worth Statement. This way, the Net Worth Routine is not
limited to personal use. Rather, if you run a small business, you
can change the title for any category. (Don't forget to work with
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AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
a copy of the program before you start to modify it!!)
You are limited to 21 characters plus a ":" including all
punctuation and spaces for all descriptions.
Page Length
Page length in this case is actually a misnomer. Entering a
value here will actually set AmortizeIt! for the number of lines
that you want to print on a page.
For standard 8.5 x 11 inch paper we suggest a setting of 60
line to allow for an appropriate bottom margin. You can set any
value from 5 lines to 255 lines.
Save Changes & Quit
This option will save the changes that were made while using
the install routine. Thus, when you start AmortizeIt!, these
changes will become the program's default settings.
Quit Install/No Save
This option will ignore all changes that were just made while
in the install routine.
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AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
PINE GROVE SOFTWARE
Pine Grove Software was founded in 1984. MoneyCalc!, RentIt!,
AmortizeIt!, Budget Plus! and AmortizeIt!, The Financial
Calculator, are our five software packages. We offer custom
programming services as well as modification of our programs for
your use.
Pine Grove Software
67-38 108th St., Suite D-1
Forest Hills, NY 11375
(800) 242-9192 or (718) 575-9192
44
AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
OTHER PROGRAMS
SolveIt! is our flagship product. Our other programs at this
time are subsets of this program. They offer an even more econom-
ical way to buy just the routines that you need.
MoneyCalc! Includes FV, PV, IRR, NPV, ANNUITY calculator.
Budget Plus! Includes Budget & Net Worth routines.
RentIt! Includes RENTAL ANALYSIS, AFFORDABLE HOUSE, 2 MORT
As of January 1991, each of the above programs sells for $50
plus $5 for shipping except for SolveIt! which sells for $90 plus
$5 shipping. After you register a program with us you will
automatically receive the next upgrade at no charge.
45
AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
SUBSCRIPTION
Pine Grove Software has a subscription service for SolveIt!.
For $20 plus $4 shipping/handling per year you will automatically
receive at least two upgrades to SolveIt!. This subscription is
included at no charge for the first year after you register the
program.
46
AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
REFERENCES
Haim Levy & Marshall Sarnat, Capital Investment & Financial
Decisions, Prentice/Hall International, 1978
Hewlett-Packard Business Calculator Owner's Manual, HP-10B,
Edition 2, June 1989
Shillinglaw, Gordon, and Ronen, Accounting, A Management Approach
Trost, Stanley R., Useful Basic Programs for the IBM PC, SYBEX
1983
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AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
COMING FEATURES
We plan to add the following features to AmortizeIt!
Lease vs Buy comparisons
Amortization Routine: Short and long beginning periods
Amortization: Exact day interest rate calculation
Amortization Routine: Interest change on any date, not just
payment dates
Amortization: Matrix display that displays different rates and
different loan amounts and calculates the resulting payments
Amortization: APR factoring in points and extra payments
Amortization: Ability to compare 2 or 3 loans at the same time
POP-UP Math Screen : Add, Subtract, Multiply, Divide and
Percentages : move the results into an AmortizeIt! field
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AmortizeIt! 1.0c/1.1c (c) Pine Grove Software
INDEX
"CALC" . . . . . . . . . 35 Fiscal year . . . . 12
"DO-IT!" . . . . . . . . 7 Fixed Rate . . . . 37
"Out-of-Range" . . . . . 35 Increase After Payment20
<Ctrl> . . . . . . . . . 6 Interest Due . . . 22
<Esc> . . . . . . . . . . 6 Interest Only . . . 13
<F1> . . . . . . . . . . 6 INTEREST RATE MENU 37
<F10> . . . . . . . . . . 7 Loan Amount . . . . 24
<F2> . . . . . . . . 6, 28 Loan Calculator . . 11
<F3> . . . . . . . . . . 6 Loan Table Display 16
<F4> . . . . . . . . . . 6 Negative Amortization 16
<F5> . . . . . . . . . . 7 Net Worth Items . . 42
<F9> . . . . . . . . . . 7 No Extra Payment . 38
Accelerated Payment . . . 20 None . . . . . . . 22
Accrued Rate . . . . . . 17 Number of Days . . 22
Adjust Annually . . . . . 37 Other Options . . . 41
Adjust Periodically . . . 37 Page Length . . . . 43
AMORTIZATION ROUTINE . . 12 Paid Rate . . . . . 17
Amortize . . . . . . . . 4 Payment # Balloon Due 19
Amortize /G . . . . . . . 4 Payment amount 19, 25
Amortize /I . . . . . 4, 41 Payment Date . . . 25
Amortizing Method . . . . 13 Payment Method 12, 25
Amount Returned . . . . . 24 Payment Period . . 26
Annual Rate . . . . . 14, 24 Payments . . . . . 24
Balance After Payment . . 18 Periodic Payment . 26
Balloon payment . . . 15, 19 Periods to Pay Off 20
Budget Items . . . . . . 42 Pine Grove Software 44
Cash Flows . . . . . . . 24 Present Value . . . 26
Color Picker . . . . . . 41 Printing to Disk . 36
Compounding Period . . . 22 Questions . 11, 12, 24
Continuous . . . . . . . 22 References . . . . 47
Copy Amount . . . . . . . 40 Relationships . . . 30
Copy Rate . . . . . . . . 39 Remaining Balance . 18
Days Per Year . . . . 13, 24 Rules-of-78 . . . . 13
Default Subdirectory . . 42 Save Changes & Quit 43
DESTINATION MENU . . . . 37 Selecting From Menus 5
Discount Rate . . . . . . 24 Start/Last Date . . 22
Display Year . . . . . . 12 Starting Date . . . 26
Extra $ Paid . . . . . . 20 Subscription . . . 46
Extra Annually . . . . . 38 Summary Window . . 17
EXTRA PAYMENT MENU . . . 38 The Questions 11, 12, 24
Extra Payments . . . . . 14 Total Periods . . . 27
Extra Periodically . . . 38 US Rule . . . . . . 13
File Structure . . . . . 28
Files . . . . . . . . . . 28
Fiscal . . . . . . . . . 38
Fiscal Month . . . . . . 14
Fiscal Month Menu . . . . 38
49