The Business Master (3rd Edition)

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Capital Gainz Version 3.1 Copyright 1992 by David Lee Cohen. All Rights Reserved. Dave Cohen DBLinx P.O. Box 12545 RTP, NC 27709-2545 (919)-469-5196 (919)-469-3972 BBS CompuServe ID: 70431,132 Internet:davec@rock.concert.net January 6, 1993 ====================================================================== Capital Gainz, the Capital Gainz Utility Program, the Capital Gainz Graphics Program, the Capital Gainz Demo, and all online and printed Capital Gainz documentation are Copyright 1992 by David Lee Cohen. Unauthorized duplication or distribution is prohibited, except for: => Personal backup copies. => Copies of the Capital Gainz Demo/Tutorial may be distributed, but no fee may be charged. => Copies of the Evaluation Version of Capital Gainz may be made and distributed, according to the guidelines listed in the online VENDOR.DOC file. The Evaluation Version is a special version of Capital Gainz, includes online documentation only, and DOES NOT include the Capital Gainz Utility Program or the Capital Gainz Graphics Program. Disk vendors interested in distributing the Evaluation Version of Capital Gainz should read the guidelines in VENDOR.DOC. Capital Gainz, the Capital Gainz Utility Program, the Capital Gainz Graphics Program, the Capital Gainz Demo, and online and printed Capital Gainz documentation are protected by U.S. and International Copyright Laws. ====================================================================== READ THIS ENTIRE DOCUMENT: It contains important information! This is an unregistered shareware version of Capital Gainz if it was obtained from a shareware disk vendor, an electronic bulletin board, or a source other than DBLinx and David Lee Cohen; or during program sign-on the phrase "shareware" or "evaluation" is displayed. Otherwise, this is a registered version of Capital Gainz, purchased by and registered to you. If this is a shareware version of Capital Gainz, after installation refer to the document LICENSE.DOC for details on the shareware version's restrictions and for information on ordering a registered version of Capital Gainz. Also included in LICENSE.DOC is a list of what you get with registration. Requirements: ------------- Capital Gainz requires: - An IBM personal computer or compatible - MS-DOS version 3.00 or later - Any monochrome or CGA/EGA/VGA monitor For the Graphics Program, Hercules/EGA/VGA is required - A minimum of 640KB of RAM, with 512KB free - A hard disk, with between 1.2MB and 3.0MB of free space - A printer is NOT required Disk Space: ----------- The main components of Capital Gainz, along with approximate disk space requirements, are: - Capital Gainz program, libraries, and data: 950KB - Several years of user data: 200KB - Online documentation: 700KB - Graphics Program: 500KB - Utility Program: 300KB - Demo/tutorial: 500KB Distribution, Registration: --------------------------- Distribution restrictions are detailed in the VENDOR.DOC file. Registration requirements are discussed in LICENSE.DOC. This software is not public domain, and failure to abide by the distribution restrictions constitutes a violation of the U.S. and International Copyright laws. Upgrading to a New Revision or Converting to a Registered Version ----------------------------------- If you already have a shareware or registered version of Capital Gainz installed, install the new registered version in the same directory. Only program and documentation files will be overwritten. Data files may be upgraded, but will otherwise not be affected. Sometimes, a change in file formats requires an upgrade of existing data files. If this is the case, the upgrade function of the Capital Gainz Utility Program will be invoked automatically during installation. IF YOU ARE UPGRADING, YOU SHOULD INSTALL THE NEW VERSION IN THE DIRECTORY CONTAINING THE OLD PROGRAM FILES. When attempting to run a new version of Capital Gainz against old data files that were not upgraded, you may receive the error "Invalid Record Declaration" when running Capital Gainz. If you experience this problem, run the Capital Gainz Utility Program to upgrade your data files. The HISTORY.DOC file contains a list of major changes between revisions of Capital Gainz. If you are upgrading from a pre-version 3.0 copy and have been maintaining multiple portfolios with DOS subdirectories, see the section on Upgrading to Version 3.0 later in this document. Prepare for Installation ------------------------ You should have one or more diskettes containing the following: - INSTALL.EXE, INSTALL.INF, INSTALL.HLP (optional) - README.DOC (required, may be in documentation archive) - CGZLBnnn.xxx - Runtime library archive (required) - CGZPRnnn.xxx - Program files archive (required) - CGZDCnnn.xxx - Documentation files archive (required) - CGZDTnnn.xxx - Data files archive (required) - CGZEXnnn.xxx - Example data archive (optional) - CGZDMnnn.xxx - Demo/tutorial archive (optional) - CGZGRnnn.xxx - Graphics program archive (optional) - CGZUTnnn.xxx - Utility program archive (optional) 'nnn' refers to the version/subversion number, such as 31A. 'xxx' refers to the archive extension, such as ZIP or EXE. If you downloaded the files from a bulletin board system, make sure you at least have the archives and files listed as 'required' above. If you don't have INSTALL.EXE, you'll need to manually unarchive the files. Installation ------------ To install Capital Gainz, execute INSTALL.EXE. For instance, if you inserted the Install disk into drive A, type: C:>A:INSTALL You will be prompted for the necessary information, and any directories requested will be created if they do not exist. Online help is available by hitting the F1 key. You'll be prompted to insert disks as needed. After installation, the new Capital Gainz directory will be your current working directory. Detailed information on the installation process is included in the User's Manual. INSTALL may not be included in some BBS distributions. If not, you should create the target directory and unarchive the files to it. Assuming you have the files in \PROCOMM\DL: C:>MKDIR \CAPGNZ C:>CD \CAPGNZ C:>PKUNZIP \PROCOMM\DL\CGZLB31A.ZIP C:>PKUNZIP \PROCOMM\DL\CGZPR31A.ZIP C:>PKUNZIP \PROCOMM\DL\CGZDC31A.ZIP C:>PKUNZIP \PROCOMM\DL\CGZDT31A.ZIP Common installation problems include: bad diskettes, corrupt data caused by electronic transmission errors, and incorrect composition of the archives on the diskettes. The result of these kinds of problems are installation errors indicating: invalid archive, invalid archive format, or disk read errors. If you run into a similar problem, contact your original source for a replacement. If you encounter problems getting a replacement, contact us directly and let us know where you obtained your copy. Documentation ------------- After installation is complete, these important Capital Gainz documents will be on your disk: README.DOC - this file. LICENSE.DOC - the license agreement and information on ordering the registered version of Capital Gainz. CGnn.DOC - Chapter 'nn' of the Capital Gainz user's manual. In the online version of the manual, screen shots, example reports, and several chapters are omitted. You can view or print the documentation from within Capital Gainz using the View Documentation option from the Main Menu. Getting Started --------------- If you don't want to read the entire Capital Gainz User's Manual before getting started, you may want to at least read over the Quick Tour chapter to get you up and running as quickly as possible. Or, you can run the Demo/Tutorial screen show described below. Also be sure to refer to the LICENSE.DOC file for usage and distribution guidelines. To start up Capital Gainz, type: C:>CG in the directory you specified during installation. Demo/Tutorial ------------- To run the demo/tutorial screen show, change to the directory you specified for the demo files and run CGDEMO. For instance: C:>CD \CAPGNZ\DEMO C:>CGDEMO The demo works best on EGA/VGA color monitors. It will run on monochrome screens, but field highlighting won't show up. Backing Up Data --------------- I strongly urge you to regularly backup your Capital Gainz data files. There is a Backup option on the Main Menu that executes the backup command entered in the User Settings Form, but it may be slow on older PCs. If this is the case, use your favorite backup or compression utility to backup the data files before or after running Capital Gainz. You can even modify the CG.BAT startup file to do this automatically. Alternatively, you can use the DOS COPY command in a batch file to copy the data files to a backup diskette. The data files that should be backed up are: *.DAT *.K01 Included in this release is an example batch file, CAPGNZBU.BAT, that backs up Capital Gainz data files using the DOS COPY command. CAPGNZBU.BAT accepts the letter of the drive to copy the data files to as its only argument. Thus, to backup data from the current directory to the diskette in drive A: C:>CAPGNZBU A Problems with Category Methods ------------------------------ Prior to version 3.0, Capital Gainz had some shortcomings in its handling of the category selling methods. As correctly described in the manual, the average price, not the actual purchase price, was subtracted from the total purchase amount when changing/deleting open share records. As of version 3.0, Capital Gainz subtracts the actual purchase price on changes/deletions and traces through the chronological history of the shares when you choose the Total option on the Fixup Form. This is possible since both the actual and the average price are now stored in the sold shares records. If you have securities that use a category method, be sure to check them. If you have not sold any shares, then the easiest verification process is to run Fixup from the Local Security Table, choosing the Total option on the Fixup Form. If you have sold shares, we suggest that you delete (don't unsell) the sold shares records, re- enter the purchases, and run Fixup/Total before re-executing the sales. Problems With Selling Shares ---------------------------- Prior to version 3.0h (04/06/92), Capital Gainz examined all purchases when you executed a sale, not just those prior to the entered selling date. Thus, if you used the Maximum Loss selling method to record a sale on 6/1/91, but had entered purchases up through 12/1/91, then all of the purchases would have been examined. Also, if you used a category method, all purchases would be factored into the average price for the sale. Again, this was correctly documented. If you did not record purchases until all prior sales had been recorded, or used the FIFO or ID methods, there was no problem. As of version 3.0h, Capital Gainz restricts open shares by the sale date, and even recalculates the average price as of the sale date. Double Category Method Discontinued ----------------------------------- As of version 3.0r, Capital Gainz no longer supports the Double Category selling method. Considerable thought went into this decision. There are a number of reasons for discontinuing it: - There is no difference between short and long term tax rates. - This method is far more complicated than many users assume. Actions such as recording sales out of order, having an incorrect system date, or setting the holding period to an incorrect value have numerous side effects. It's very easy to make a serious error, either using Capital Gainz or pencil and paper. In fact, it's very likely that many, if not all, users of this method have made such errors. - Roughly 50% of testing is devoted to the Double Category method, given its complicated nature. As the program gets more complex, a considerable price increase would be required. - Prior to version 3.0, the Double Category selling method had a serious problem - you could not record prior sales, since share migration occurred automatically. - As of version 3.0, the Double Category method was handled robustly. But, it was impossible to account for changes in the holding period. (Based on the IRS documents.) I apologize for any inconvenience. This method is still available for any securities that were already using it, but share migration is no longer done. To continue using it, you'll have to manually maintain the values in the local security using the Fixup option. You are strongly urged to discontinue use. If you haven't sold any shares, simply change to a different selling method. If you've only sold shares from the long term category, it seems reasonable that you can switch to the Single Category method after migrating all of the short term shares. However, there is no mention of this in the IRS documents. If you have sold short term shares, you'll either have to manually maintain these securities within Capital Gainz, or backtrack and redo prior sales with another method, filing amended taxes as necessary. Seek advice from your accountant or the IRS documentation. In any case, other selling methods, such as last-in/first-out or minimum gain/maximum loss, are superior for reducing taxes. Just be sure to tell your broker/investment company which shares to sell. Upgrading to Version 3.0 ------------------------ If you were not maintaining multiple portfolios using DOS subdirectories, you can skip this section. A single default portfolio will be created for your data during the upgrade process. However, if you are upgrading and have been maintaining multiple portfolios using DOS subdirectories, you'll need to use the Capital Gainz Utility Program to merge the portfolios. Version 3.0's support for multiple portfolios consolidates duplicate data required when using DOS subdirectories. On installation, enter the subdirectories containing data to be upgraded. You can also upgrade these directories after installation. When you upgrade, a default portfolio is created in each subdirectory. After installation, you can skim over the Capital Gainz Users Manual for information on how the data files are set up for multiple portfolios. In particular, read the discussions on the Portfolio File, the Global Security File, and the Local Security File. Then, follow these steps to merge your portfolios: o If you did not upgrade all of the subdirectories at installation, upgrade them now using the Upgrade option in the Capital Gainz Utility Program, CGUTIL.EXE. The Utility Program is described in detail in the Capital Gainz Users Manual. By upgrading, each directory will contain a single version 3.0 portfolio. You can change directories from within the Utility Program. o Make certain that you don't have any conflicting security symbols in various directories. In other words, if you used the same security symbol to represent completely different securities, run Capital Gainz in the directories to rename the conflicting securities. If a given symbol represented the same security for multiple portfolios, there's no problem - the security definitions will be merged while individual values are maintained in separate portfolios. For instance, if you used FPINC to represent the Financial Progress Daily Income mutual fund in one directory, and used FPINC to represent the Financial Progress Industrial Income Fund in another directory, rename one or both of them using the Global Security Form in Capital Gainz. If you used FPINC to represent Financial Progress Daily Income in both directories, you don't have to change anything. Each holding of FPINC will be in a different portfolio. o Also, make certain that you don't have any conflicting broker/investment company names in various directories. If the same name represented different broker/investment companies, then run Capital Gainz in the directories to rename the conflicting broker/investment companies with the Broker/Investment Company Form. For instance, if you used Fidelity for the Fidelity Mutual Funds in one directory and Fidelity for the Fidelity Brokerage in another directory, rename one or both of them. If you used Fidelity to represent the Fidelity Mutual Funds in both directories, you don't have to change anything. The two broker/investment companies will be merged into one. o Copy the portfolios from the other directories to the installation directory using the Copy/Move Portfolios option in the Utility Program. This will eliminate duplicate security definitions and broker/investment companies while separating the holdings from each directory into individual portfolios. When you copy a portfolio with the Utility Program, a new portfolio ID is generated for it in the destination directory. o When you are finished, run Capital Gainz in the installation directory, where you copied all of your portfolios to. Make sure the data is correct. Then, you can exit from Capital Gainz and delete the files in the old subdirectories. Enhancements ------------ Capital Gainz is constantly being enhanced. My goal is to put out a release every 6 months, with every other one being a 'major' release with significant new features. Registered users are notified of updates, and can receive the upgrade for a small fee. I don't want anyone getting the impression that these frequent updates are meant to just increase revenues. Rather, I feel an obligation to offer the best product possible to those who have supported me in the past. So, what's planned? The following new features are targeted for the near term: - Mouse support. - Portfolio 'snapshot' histories. - Better support for bonds. - Faster program execution. - Download prices from online services. - Optional price data for of mutual funds. And, of course, a Windows version is planned for the long term. If You Like It -------------- If you like Capital Gainz, let me know. Also, pass along any suggestions - many features added over the years originated from user feedback. If friends or co-workers are interested, tell them to contact me and I'll send them a free evaluation copy of Capital Gainz. Of course, any mention of Capital Gainz in correspondence to magazines or newspapers is greatly encouraged and appreciated. Finally, if you're interested, I'm always looking for volunteers to try out new features in pre-releases of Capital Gainz. Documentation Changes: ---------------------- Chapter 1 - Introduction Under 'Disk Space', the required space for the demo/tutorial should be 500KB. This reduces the size of a full release to 3.1MB. Chapter 2 - Overview Under 'Executables and Related Files', there is no CGGDEMO.EXE. Chapter 3 - Installation Under 'Set Parameters', 'Install Demo Files' changed to 'Install Demo/Tutorial'. Since the INSTALL program is suspended during actual file copies, an additional 360KB of disk space is required to hold the program image. Added 'Enhanced Keyboard?' question. Chapter 5 - Questions and Answers Add question to first section: Why do I get an 'Out of Environment Space' error when I run CG.BAT? You are running out of environment variable space. Capital Gainz uses some space when it shell to DOS, to set the prompt to 'Type EXIT to return to...'. In CG.BAT, it reserves some space in order to do this later. You should modify the /E:n parameter on your CONFIG.SYS file's SHELL= line so 'n' is about 50 larger. Security performance should refer to 'return', not 'gain/loss'. Under 'Calculations', question 1 should read 'doesn't', not 'does'. Add a question under 'Activity': Why doesn't the distribution total on Capital Gainz' Schedule B match the distribution amount on my 1099? There could be several explanations. A mutual fund may have paid a foreign tax, and this amount did not appear in any statements. If so, record a dividend on the last day of the year equal to the foreign tax, and also record a fee for the amount. Another cause for mismatch is when a dividend reinvestment plan offers discounted shares, or absorbs brokerage commissions. These discounts should be recorded with the corresponding purchases as negative commissions. Add a question to first section: 'Why doesn't Capital Gainz accept any keystrokes?'. You answered YES to Enhanced Keyboard? in the install program. You can reinstall, or just edit CG.BAT, removing the /E switch on CAPGNZ, CGUTIL, and CGGRAPH. Chapter 7 - Activity A negative commission, which is a discount, should also be recorded for brokage commissions absorbed by the investment company. This is often the case in dividend reinvestment plans. Chapter 9 - Prices For Total Return and Activity Summary Reports, it's best to have prices recorded near the beginning and ending of each year. Chapter 10 - Log Maintenance In the Closed Shares Log, the current position, based on the last recorded price and date, is shown for uncovered short sales. Chapter 15 - Reports The following reports changed slightly: Portfolio Summary, User Settings, Global Security, Total Return, Portfolio Detail, Portfolio Allocation, Open Detail, Closed Detail. Only Fees are listed on the fee report. Discounts are added in with dividends on Schedule B. On the Wash Sale Report, the number of shares sold was added. The report lists each sale, along with related purchases. The purchases shown are from 30 days prior to up to 30 days after the sale, and the total share purchases shown for each sale are less than or equal to the number of shares sold. On the Activity Summary Report, 'Gain/Loss' was changed to 'Return' in the bottom section. On the Activity Summary Report, in the third section, the selling activity reflects the total sales in the period. On the Activity Summary Report, if you requested all dates, the first date is determined from the activity logs. The last date is the last date found in the price history file if any shares are open on the end date. If no shares are open on the end date, the last date is the last activity date. Thus, the performance of closed out securities is bracketed by the first and last activity dates, and the performance of active securities is bracketed by the first activity date and last price date. On the Activity Summary Report, if all dates were specified, the grand total return is a rough approximation, since different securities cover different periods. In the Closed Detail Report, the current position, based on the last recorded price and date, is shown for uncovered short sales. Chapter 18 - Utility Program The 'Rebuild Price History' function was enhanced. Now, you can rebuild prices from the activity logs, or just trim the existing price history down to one price per month. The second option saves the last price found in each month, deleting the other price records. Under 'Shell to DOS', there is a typo with 'discussed'. Chapter 19 - Graphics Program The opening logo file CGGRAPH.PCX, is in VGA format. Under 'Printing Graphs', 'Ctrl-P' is the print key, not 'F2'. Under 'Performance Graph', 'Gain/Loss' was changed to 'Return'. Under 'Performance Graph Settings', 'Gain' was changed to 'Return(+)' and 'Loss' was changed to 'Return(-)'. The exact labeling in the User Settings Form changed slightly. Under 'Lookup Adapter', CGA is no longer supported. If you are using Hercules Graphics and a Dot Matrix printer, then you need to modify the printer codes in order to print graphs. For the most common printer, the Epson FX, you need to change the Pre-Line Codes in Printer Setup (User Settings) from: 27 42 4 128 2 0 0 0 to: 27 42 6 208 2 0 0 0 This is to handle Hercules 720 pixel line length. Chapter 20 - Analysis In the sections that discuss performance, 'gain/loss' was changed to 'return'. Remove 'Closed Shares Gain/Loss - Over Period' section. Under 'Performance', if all dates were specified, the grand total return is a rough approximation, since different securities cover different periods. Chapter 21 - Tax-Related Details Under 'Discounts', discounts are not included on the fee report. They are added into the dividends on Schedule B, since companies report these two together on 1099s. Chapter 23 - Speed, Memory, and Disk Space Another good way to reduce disk space is to use the Utility Program's Rebuild Price History function to trim prices down to one per month. Under 'Demo/Tutorial Files', the required disk space should be 500KB. Chapter 25 - Error Messages Add: CGA graphics not supported. The Graphics Program does not support CGA graphics. The resolution would be far too poor for any but the simplest of graphs.