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-
- MUTUAL FUND EXPERT
- ACCOUNTING PROGRAM
- FOR WINDOWS
-
-
- Version 3.3
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- by:
-
-
- George R. Cotten
- 37 Lawrence Lane
- Lexington, MA 02173
- 1
-
- FundExpert ACCOUNTING PROGRAM
-
- This program is being distributed under the shareware concept.
- The program and this manual are the copyrighted property of the author.
- You are granted a limited license to try the program for one month, to
- copy it and distribute it, provided that:
-
- a) You do not charge a fee for the distribution or copying of
- the program unless you have the prior written consent of the author,
-
- b) It is distributed only in its original, unmodified, compiled
- form (except that it may be compressed using an archiving facility, as
- long as the program can be uncompressed only back to its original form),
-
- c) This documentation file accompanies the program itself, and
- is also distributed in its original, unmodified form (or compressed - see
- exception in item b above), and,
-
- d) It is not distributed as part of any commercial product or
- service without the prior written consent of the author.
-
- After trying the program, if you decide to use it, please return
- the license agreement/registration form, signed, along with the registration fee of
- $30.00.
- Registration entitles you to use the program on one computer or local
- area network (LAN) at a time. LAN support is NOT provided. If used on a
- network, it is at your own discretion. Site licenses are also available
- for an additional fee as explained in the license agreement/registration
- form. Registered users can obtain technical support and will be notified
- about future revisions.
-
-
- CAUTION!
- ──────────────
- Although the program FundExpert may be useful for most investors, and the
- author did his best to minimize bugs, he cannot underwrite everyone's investment
- decisions or business use of this product. Before using this program you should
- recognize that it involves a high level of complexity which is potentially susceptible
- to error either in the program code itself or on your part due to incorrect usage.
- Thus you should understand that you use and rely upon the results of FundExpert at
- your own risk.
- You should satisfy yourself regarding the adequacy and accuracy of
- FundExpert with test examples before committing to using and relying upon the
- program on a regular basis. You should furthermore review all program output for
- reasonableness before using it to make investment decisions.
- 2
- TABLE OF CONTENTS
-
-
- Files on the disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
-
- Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
-
- CHAPTER ONE Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
-
- Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
-
- Program Configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
-
- Initial menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
-
- Program's limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
-
- CHAPTER TWO Mutual Funds investments . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
-
- Adding new accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
-
- Deleting existing accounts . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
-
- Sorting of existing accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
-
- Gain/Loss from transactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
-
- Transaction log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
-
- Analysis of investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
-
- Fidelity Brokerage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
-
- Capital gains calculation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
-
- Yield of Bonds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
-
- CHAPTER THREE Communication. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
-
- Connecting to the Host Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
-
- Account balance and recent activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
-
- Share prices, yields, and no. of shares . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
- 3
- Transfer of shares between accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
-
- Transfer of funds from a bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
-
- Customized dialing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
-
- CHAPTER FOUR Other investments . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
-
- Bonds, stock market, banks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
-
- CHAPTER FIVE Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20
-
- View/delete files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
-
- Archive data files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
-
- Delete Transactions' Log data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
-
- CHAPTER SIX Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
-
- Cancel last share transaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
-
- Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
-
- Downloading quotations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
-
- CHAPTER SEVEN Plotting Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24
-
- LICENSE AGREEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
-
- LIMITED WARRANTY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26
- 4
- --------------------
- Files on the Disk:
- --------------------
-
- There are four program files on the distribution diskette:
- INSTALL.EXE, README.1ST, DEMO.EXE and WFUND.OVR. The program is
- self-installing and you will find the following files on your disk:
-
- WFUNDS.EXE is the actual program,
- FUNDS.CFG is the configuration file for the program
- *.ACT and *.STK are the data files for different accounts
- SHARE.LOG is the log of all transactions
- SHARE.ARC contains archived transactions and is formed when needed
- COPY.DAT is a copy of "account screens" and is formed when needed
- SALES.LOG listing of "closed" positions and is formed when needed
- MANUAL.DOC is the instruction manual
- DEMO.EXE is a compressed file of demo data
-
- -------------------
- Introduction
- -------------------
-
- The program FundExpert automates the access to many families of mutual
- funds using automated service telephones. The program permits a speedy, access to
- these funds: obtaining individual quotations and balances including the last
- purchase/sale/exchange of shares in your account. An additional feature is the
- automated transfer of funds from your bank to some groups of funds, or between
- funds in certain groups. The program maintains a record of all the transactions and
- calculates the actual return on investment in these funds, taking into account
- dividends and the change in share price. The price quotations for different stocks,
- funds, or bonds can be also downloaded from Prodigy(R) and/or CompuServe(R).
-
- A separate section of the program permits compilation of all investments in
- Treasury, Municipal and Corporate bonds. The yield to maturity of these bonds is
- calculated and payment dates listed. If an interest payment is due within 30 days,
- then this entry is highlighted for your convenience.
-
- Another section is devoted to direct investments in the stock market, and a
- routine is provided for making buy/sell orders by telephone, directly to the host
- computer at Fidelity Brokerage. There is also a section for recording your
- investments in bank accounts, such as Certificates of Deposit, or Money Market
- accounts.
- 5
- Any sales, or purchases of shares, or bonds, can be recorded by simply moving
- the mouse to the desired location, clicking the left mouse button and inserting the
- new value into the dialog box that appears on the screen, and then clicking on the
- "OK" or "CANCEL" buttons. The program will record automatically each such
- change as purchase or sale. The program maintains a permanent record of all
- transactions, calculates the actual yield on investment for individual accounts as well
- as provides the "purchase date and price" and "selling date and price" for all "closed
- positions", according to IRS rule FIFO (ie. "First in, first out").
-
- You may try this demo for a limited time period. At the end of your trial,
- you are invited to register and then you will receive a personalized copy of the
- program, be given access to technical assistance and notified about future
- improvements.
- 6
- CHAPTER ONE Installation
- -------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Please read the license agreement and warranty information found at the
- end of this manual for more information regarding the use of the program.
-
- --------------------
- Installation
- --------------------
-
- To install the FundExpert on a hard disk, put the master disk into Drive A:
- or Drive B; , and type the following:
-
- INSTALL <ENTER>
-
- This will initiate the installation process during which you will be given an
- opportunity to select the drive and directory where you wish to store the program.
- Alternatively, you may copy all the files to the desired directory on your hard disk,
- change to that directory, and then type: INSTALL <ENTER>.
- After you have installed the program in your computer, you are ready to
- start the program. The first time that you use the program, you will go directly to
- the "configuration menu" (see below).
-
- NOTE: The installation program stores one file ( FUND.BAT ) in the root
- directory of drive C: . This is done to facilitate the start up of the program from any
- directory, since in most installations the root directory of drive C: is included in the
- PATH statement.
-
- In order to install the program's icon into the Window's Program Manager,
- follow the following procedure:
-
- 1. Start Windows and maximize the Program Manager. Highlight the desired group
- (eg. APPLICATIONS) by placing the mouse pointer anywhere within that
- group's window and clicking the left mouse button once.
- 2. From the upper menu bar select "File", and from the drop-down menu select
- "New". Click on "Program Item" and then on "OK".
- 3. In the "Description" field type: FundExpert. Press TAB button to move to the
- next field. In the "Command Line" field type the complete path to, and the
- program's name (eg. C:\FUND\WFUND.EXE).
- 4. Click on "OK".
- 7
- ------------------------
- Program configuration
- ------------------------
-
- The program is started by simply issuing a command:
- FUND
- or (if that produces an error) changing to the appropriate sub-directory (eg. \FUND)
- and issuing the command WIN WFUNDS, ie. type:
- C:
- cd \FUND
- WIN WFUNDS
-
- NOTE: Windows (ver. 3.0 or above) must have been installed in the computer and
- the PATH statement (in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file) must include the directory path
- where Windows program is located. Consult Windows and/or DOS manual for
- further information about PATH statement.
- You can also start the program by clicking on its icon in the Program
- Manager, if such icon was installed using the procedure described above.
-
- At the first start-up of the program you will be presented with the
- configuration routine. This routine can be reached at any other time by clicking
- mouse on "Utilities" - "Program configuration".
-
- You must respond to all the questions presented on the screen, but you may
- leave blank the fields for the password and directory path for files d/l from
- CompuServe/Prodigy. You can move between the fields using a mouse, or the TAB
- key. Some fields require a text input, others are simple buttons that can be selected
- (or de-selected) using a mouse or the bar on the keyboard.
- You will be prompted for modem port, and asked to select the funds that
- should be displayed on the selection screen in the future. Please note that you cannot
- choose more than eight funds from the list (plus the Fidelity Funds that are a
- compulsory choice). You can add up to three families of funds that are not listed in
- the program, however you will not be able to avail yourself of any dialing routines
- when connected to these funds. You may also add the "Fidelity Brokerage" account
- at this time (see the specific instructions for the use of this option).
- NOTE: If you do not have a modem, or do not want to use one, type 0
- when asked for the modem's port. If you do use a modem, make sure that it is
- connected and turned on before starting this program.
-
- You will be also asked to select a directory path for downloading quotes
- from Prodigy/CompuServe. If you will not avail yourself of this service, press
- <ENTER>. Otherwise select any directory path that is convenient (eg. for
- CompuServe(R) it might be C:\CIM\CABINET\GENERAL, or for Prodigy(R) -
- C:\PRODIGY).
- 8
- In registered copies you are also given a choice whether you wish to protect
- the access to the program and data with your personal password. Please note that the
- password is case sensitive, ie. "PASSWORD" is not the same as "password", or
- "PassworD" ! The data files are further protected from intrusion by encoding some
- of critical information like: number of shares, PIN code and the personal password.
-
- NOTE: Make a note of your password, since once this option has been
- invoked, the program cannot be started without the correct password. If you
- retained the original copy of the program (without the password invoked), in
- emergency you may recover the data by copying the former FUNDS.CFG file into
- your new directory and then starting the program anew.
-
- When this procedure is completed, the initial screen will appear showing
- that it is unregistered shareware version. Press <ENTER> to continue the program.
- This screen is absent from the registered version of this program.
-
-
- ------------------
- Initial Menu
- ------------------
-
- Using the FundExpert is straightforward. To start the program type simply:
-
- FUND <ENTER>
-
- However, if this causes an error, change to the proper drive and the proper
- sub-directory and issue the command WIN WFUNDS. For example, if you installed
- the program in the directory \FUND on disk drive C:, you would type the following:
-
- C:
- CD \FUND
- WIN WFUNDS
-
- Substitute your drive and directory in the above commands. Once you have followed
- the steps above, the first screen will be displayed. The initial window that appears
- after the user passes through the "Registration screen", contains at the top a menu
- bar which presents the following options:
-
- PROGRAM
- Main Menu
- Communication
- Windows
- Utilities
- Tools
- 9
- The inactivated menu choices will be "grayed" for easy identification. In order to
- start the program you MUST click the mouse on the "PROGRAM", this will drop
- the menu:
- Portfolio #1
- Portfolio #2
- Portfolio #3
- Exit this program
- Exit Windows
-
- You MUST click on the "Portfolio #1", to activate most of the other menu options
- and simultaneously the window's background will turn light blue. If you wish to
- terminate the program, but remain under Windows - click on the "Exit this
- program". The "Exit Windows" selection terminates the program and the Windows
- operating system and brings back the DOS command line.
- The option to set up the additional two individual portfolios (Portfolio #2
- and Portfolio #3) is available only to the registered users only. NOTE: Portfolios #2
- and 3 can use only the accounts that have already been selected for the Portfolio #1.
-
- IMPORTANT NOTE: The program uses two windows to display information. In
- the Main Window (background color - light blue) all selections are accomplished
- using a mouse to point the selections and then clicking the left mouse button to
- confirm it. In the Supplementary Window (background color - white) the mouse
- does not operate and all selections must be made by entering the appropriate number
- (or text) from the keyboard and pressing the <ENTER> key to complete the
- transmission. In certain computers the Supplementary Window, when it first appears,
- is inactive - ie. the cursor is not visible and the window's frame is grayed. Such
- windows should be first activated by clicking the mouse while it is pointed
- anywhere WITHIN the window area.
-
-
- -----------------------------
- Program's limitations
- -----------------------------
-
- The program requires IBM compatible computer, type 286 or higher, a
- Hayes compatible telephone modem, mouse, and a telephone receiver with
- Touch-Tone dialing. A limited version of the program can be run without a modem.
- The operating system should be MS-DOS version 3.1 or above, and include
- Windows version 3.0 or higher.
- The program will use a RAM drive for its work files, providing that such
- drive is available and has a subdirectory \TEMP, or \TMP , in accordance with
- specifications for Windows system. Consult DOS, or Windows, manuals for a further
- description of RAM drives.
- The data files are of "sequential" type. The data files can be accessed with
- any editing program, but you are advised against making any corrections, or
- changes, using an outside editor, since you may inadvertently destroy the usefulness
- of such files. The content of the data files is further protected from unauthorized
- intrusion by encoding some of the critical numbers.
- 10
- CHAPTER TWO Investments
- ______________________________________________________
-
-
- To record any change in investments, such as purchase or sale of stocks,
- bonds, price change, or the balance on bank accounts, select with your mouse "Main
- menu" - to drop the next menu:
- Mutual funds
- Bonds
- Stocks
- Banks
- Investment analysis
- Capital gains calculation
- Yield of bonds
-
- Select with your mouse any one of the first four options if you desire to update your
- portfolio. "Investment analysis" presents a summary of all your investments and
- annual budgets, capital gains calculations assist in compiling data for IRS Schedule
- D (Capital Gains), while "Yield of bonds" routine permits the calculation of the
- yield to maturity and durability of bonds. If you choose "Mutual funds", the next
- screen gives a listing of all the currently selected mutual fund families. You may
- also select one of the other options, such as: bonds, stocks, or banks.
- The next window lists all your holdings in the selected investment category
- (or mutual fund family). While the "Accounts Screen" is displayed, several other
- selections are activated. For instance you may telephone for latest mutual fund
- information, add/delete accounts, or display the "Gain-Loss Screen". Each of these
- choices will be described in detail below.
-
- -------------------------
- Adding New Accounts
- -------------------------
-
- After you have chosen the desired family of funds, you will be presented
- with the screen summarizing all your accounts in that family. If you desire to add a
- new account to the list, select with the mouse "Tools" on the main Menu Bar. This
- will display the drop menu, from which select "Enter new account". You will be
- next presented with a list of questions to answer: Fund number, Fund description,
- your account number, stock symbol (optional - required for automated downloading
- of share prices), security code (if none required, enter 99), Social Security number
- (optional, it is required by some Funds), number of shares on the account, the share
- yield and price (Note: no. of shares, their yield, and price should be entered on a
- single line, separated by blank spaces). After you answered all the questions, the
- screen containing the summary of all your accounts will re-appear.
- 11
-
- ----------------------------------
- Deleting an existing account
- ----------------------------------
-
- To delete an existing account, select with the mouse "Tools" on the main
- Menu Bar. This will display the drop menu, from which select "Delete existing
- account". At this point, a dialog box will appear and you will be asked for the
- account number. NOTE: The account number is a single letter displayed in the left-
- most column of the "Account screen" tabulation. A deletion of an account will
- cause also the deletion of all recorded transactions on this account in the
- "Transaction Log", if you so choose (see later).
- The registered version of this program offers an option to archive the deleted
- records in a separate file whose format is compatible with most of the popular
- spreadsheet and database programs.
-
- NOTE: You cannot delete ALL the funds on any given screen.
-
-
- --------------------------
- Sorting of accounts
- --------------------------
-
- You may re-arrange your accounts to any desired order by selecting with
- the mouse "Tools" on the main Menu Bar. This will display the drop menu, from
- which select "Sort accounts". At this point, a dialog box will appear and you will be
- asked for the account number. NOTE: The account number is a single letter
- displayed in the left-most column of the "Account screen" tabulation.pressing You
- will be asked which record should be moved, enter its position (eg. A). Next you are
- asked to which position the record should be moved. Enter the desired new position
- (eg. B) . Repeat the procedure until all accounts have been sorted.
-
-
- ------------------------
- Gain/Loss screen
- ------------------------
-
- As you change a listing of all the accounts with a given Fund and/or change
- the amount of shares that you own in these accounts, an additional information is
- being developed in the supplementary screen - called "Gain/Loss screen". You can
- access this screen by selecting "Windows" from the main menu bar, followed by the
- selection of "Gain-loss screen" from the drop-down menu. The screen presents the
- Fund number, account name, the amount of money that you invested (ie. all the
- purchases, less all the sales), the current value, the total profit/loss, and average
- percentage of gain/loss over the period from the date shown on the screen.
- 12
-
- The average percentage gained/lost on investment ("av. %") during the
- period, starting on the date shown, is simply the total capital gains (re-invested
- dividends plus change in shares' price) divided by the total amount invested during
- that period. Note that any distributions (such as dividends) that were not re-invested,
- are not included in the gain/loss calculations.
-
- You are permitted to change the date, and this will cause all the PERCENT
- gain/loss calculation to commence from that date only, but the "Profit/Loss" will
- continue to be computed on all available records. Note that in the calculation of the
- average percentage gained/lost on investment ("av. %"), all shares purchased prior to
- that date are automatically re-priced to the price recorded on that (or nearest to it)
- date and thus the result of these calculations is greatly influenced by the selection of
- the correct date.
-
- The annualized gain/loss (ann. %) is the quarterly compounded, annual
- interest rate, that would produce the same average percentage gain/loss during the
- period, as the one calculated above, if a lump sum was invested at the beginning of
- the period at the "ann. % " rate.
-
- The Total Gain/Loss and Average % Change for the particular family of
- Funds are presented in the top right-hand corner of the screen. The Total Gain/Loss
- is the amount compiled from ALL the records available in SHARE.LOG file, while
- the Average % Change is the average for all transactions that occurred AFTER the
- date shown in the table.
-
- You can change back to the account screen by selecting "Accounts screen".
-
-
- -------------------------
- Transactions' log
- -------------------------
-
- A log of all the transactions. ie. any change in the number of shares, is
- maintained separately and can be accessed by selecting "Windows" from the main
- menu bar, and next choosing "Transactions' log" from the drop-down menu. The last
- column that is displayed, "amount paid ($)", represents the amount paid for the
- purchase (if positive), or amount received from sale (if negative), or will be equal to
- 0 if the transaction was a result of dividend distribution.
-
- No changes can be made to these records.
- 13
-
- ------------------------------
- Analysis of investments
- ------------------------------
-
- In the following calculations it is assumed that all the Money Market funds
- and bank accounts had a constant value of deposited dollars throughout the period,
- and equal to the currently recorded balances.
-
- "Summary of investments" gives a summary of all your investments in the
- mutual funds (subdivided into: stock funds, bond funds and money market funds), as
- well as your bond, stocks, and bank accounts . The summary will be presented both
- as the dollar value and percentage of total capital. The total value of dividends per
- year from the bonds is also given, as well as the amount of dividends due before the
- end of the current calendar year.
- The program will also calculate the total capital gains in the Stock and Bond
- Mutual Funds since the beginning of the current year. (NOTE: You are advised to
- price ALL the mutual funds on January 1st, as the program searches for the prices
- dated nearest to that date and uses them for the calculation of the total value of
- bond and stock funds at the beginning of the current year.) Starting in April of each
- year, the program will also calculate the projected (estimated) values for the annual
- income - assuming that it will continue to grow at the same rate.
-
- An additional routine "Budget" is provided to assist in recording annually
- the projected versus achieved investment goals. This routine requires that it be
- entered just before and just after January 1 of each year.
-
-
- -----------------------
- Fidelity Brokerage
- -----------------------
-
- This section of the program will permit you to interact with the host
- computer for placing the buy/sell orders and obtaining stock quotations through the
- Fidelity Brokerage. Note that the Fidelity Brokerage has been placed under the
- category of Mutual Funds, ie. you reach it by selecting "Mutual Funds" from the
- main menu bar. Simply follow the instructions as they appear on the screen and
- listen to the responses through the telephone receiver. The dialing sequence has been
- timed to correspond to the various questions asked by the host computer, at one
- point you have a choice of two responses, depending on the question asked by the
- computer. Since the sequence is rather complicated, you should first try it out with
- the modem disconnected from the telephone line.
-
- NOTE ON THE SETUP sequence during the initial CONFIGURATION of
- the program. If you choose the "Fidelity Brokerage" during the initial configuration
- of the program, you will need to either accept the default values for their transaction
- charges, or to insert the modified (custom set).
- 14
-
- --------------------------------
- Capital gains calculation
- --------------------------------
-
- IRS Schedule D (capital gains) requires a report of "purchase date and
- cost/base" and "sales date and gross sale price". Frequently your sale lots may differ
- in the number of shares from the purchase lots. Three different reporting methods
- are approved by IRS:
- 1. First In, First Out (FIFO) method
- 2. Specific identification method
- 3. Category averaging method
-
- This part of the program will provide the required information for all three method.
- However you are advised to consult the IRS regulations on use of these techniques.
-
- (a) A common method for reporting such sales is known as FIFO (ie. "First in,
- first out"). The program does these calculations for you and you can obtain the
- report by selecting "Sales log" from the selection screen. The "sales log" does not
- include any Money Market Fund transactions. The program gives you an option
- either to list ALL the transactions, or only those lots that were sold between a
- selected "starting date" and "final date".
-
- NOTE: the "Date bought" and "Date sold" are highlighted for all "long term sales"
- (ie. when the assets were held for more than 360 days).
-
- If you made the appropriate selection in the configuration section of this
- program, you may also delete all the "closed" positions (ie. all lots of shares that
- have been sold). However you are advised that selection of this option may
- introduce small errors in calculation of gain/loss in all the accounts.
-
- (b) Specific identification method allows you to identify the particular lot that
- you are selling and the program will record your selection for future use. After you
- select the particular security that you wish to sell, the program displays a listing of
- all the available transactions. The list includes the date of the transaction, number of
- shares purchased, number of remaining shares and their purchase (base) price. The
- number of remaining shares represents the number of shares that has not been sold
- in any of the previously recorded transactions.
-
- (c) Category averaging method permits you to use as the basis the average price
- of all identical securities that were bought at different times. The program will
- calculate these averages for you. You may select either "single category" or "double
- category". The "double category averaging" method gives the average for securities
- held for less than one year, and those held for more then one year.
- 15
-
- --------------------
- Yield of bonds
- --------------------
-
- A separate routine (available from the initial selection screen) is provided for
- calculating yield to maturity and duration of bonds. The yield to maturity is
- calculated by three different methods. The first two:
- 1. Moody's equation
- and 2. S&P equation
-
- have been published by these two, well known companies. However they implicitly
- assume that the annual premiums are re-invested at the interest rate of the bond.
- This is not necessarily true. For instance you may purchase a bond having a nominal
- interest rate of 9%, but be able to reinvest the proceedings at only 4%. In the third
- calculation there is no such assumption. You select the interest rate that you expect
- to obtain on invested annual premiums, and the computer calculates what would be
- the equivalent, annualized, compounded interest rate if the funds were held to bond's
- maturity.
-
- The Moody's equation requires a number of iterations and you may find
- some delay before the results are printed (particularly with slower computers and/or
- bonds of long time to maturity). The delay time may be controlled by selecting the
- default (fast), or "more precise" (slower) iteration interval at the opening screen for
- the procedure.
-
- The duration of bonds is also calculated, since this provides a measure of
- sensitivity of the bond to interest fluctuations. In the last column, the projected
- change in the value of the bond is calculated for 1% change in the interest rates
- prevailing in the marketplace.
-
- 16
-
- CHAPTER THREE Communications
- ______________________________________________________
-
- To initiate communications you must select "Communication" from the main
- menu bar. Next select "Dial host computer" from the drop-down menu. This will
- cause the modem to dial the appropriate telephone number that refers to the current
- "Account screen". Once the dialing is completed, you may select your next action.
- To terminate your connection with the host computer, you should select "Hang-up
- telephone from the drop-down menu.
-
- Once the dialing is completed, a number of selections under the "Account
- info." (on the main menu bar) become available, you may choose: account balance,
- last purchase, last sale, share price, exchange between accounts, transfer from bank
- and "next instruction" .
- If you select account balance or share price, you must follow your selection
- by clicking the mouse over the ACCOUNT DESCRIPTION for the account about
- which you are enquiring. The host computer will respond vocally (listen to it on the
- telephone receiver) soon after the dialing is completed.
- You may now update the records (eg. new price, or change in the number of
- shares) by pointing and clicking the mouse on the appropriate number in the
- "Account screen" tabulation. This will initiate an input routine: the selected number
- will turn red and a dialog box asking for the new value will appear. You may
- continue these actions repeatedly until you obtain all the desired information for all
- the funds in a given family.
-
- NOTE: The Benham, Merrill Lynch, and Vanguard families of funds allows you to
- repeat the actions initiated by either "Account balance" or "Share price", BUT if you
- wish to switch from one to another, you must first indicate your desire by selecting
- "Next instruction" on the drop-down menu. This procedure is not required by the
- other families of funds.
-
- You may change the values of : number of shares, yield and their price
- Please note that whenever you change the number of shares, the computer interprets
- it as a purchase/dividend/sale and will make the appropriate record of the
- transaction. In order to record the correct price of shares that were bought/sold,
- ALWAYS change the price before changing the number of shares!
-
- The updated screen is automatically displayed. Note that the prices and
- yields of all other funds on the screen that have the same "Fund Number" are also
- automatically updated. This feature is particularly useful if you have several
- accounts with the same Fund (eg, regular and IRA ones). You will also find the date
- of the last record change in the upper, right corner of the screen.Each time you
- change the price of the share - the new price and the date of change will be
- recorded in the file HISTORY.DAT, which is subsequently used for plotting that
- data.
- 17
-
- NOTE : Fidelity family of funds requires that you have at least one account active
- before you can access the data by phone.
-
-
- -----------------------------------------
- Account balance and recent activity
- -----------------------------------------
-
- The account balance and the current value can be obtained by the method
- described above. Once you go through that procedure, you can also obtain additional
- information for that particular account by selecting: last purchase, or last sale from
- the drop-down menu.
-
-
- -----------------------------------------------
- Transfer of shares between active accounts
- -----------------------------------------------
-
- Several families of funds permit the use of this service for exchange of
- shares between your active accounts and/or setting up of a new account. However,
- you must use the individual account numbers rather than the "family" ones. For
- instance in Fidelity group of funds you are not allowed to use numbers starting with
- letter "T". Unfortunately, the author was unable to obtain the detailed instructions for
- this procedure for all families of funds at the time of setting up this program.
-
- In order to start this procedure, select "Account info." from the main menu
- bar, and then select "Exchange between accts" from the drop-down menu. A dialog
- box will now appear answer the questions as they appear in the top three lines on
- the screen. You must await response from the Host computer, when it is so indicated
- on the screen. At the end of the procedure the Host computer gives you the final
- choice of either accepting or cancelling the transaction as spelled on the screen and
- spoken by the Host computer on the telephone.
-
- NOTE: Whenever you are asked to provide "account (rec. no)", respond with the
- letter (eg. A) corresponding to that fund. If you wish to open a new account, you
- must provide the Fund No. as specified by the prospectus. After each
- selection/response press <ENTER> key.
-
- ----------------------------------
- Transfer of funds from a bank
- ----------------------------------
-
- In order to use this service, special arrangements must be made with your
- Fund Manager (as eg setting up of "Money Line" for Fidelity funds). You must use
- the individual account numbers rather than the "family" ones.
- 18
-
- In order to start this procedure, select "Account info." from the main menu
- bar, and next choose "Transfer from bank" from the drop-down menu. Answer all
- the questions as they appear in the Supplementary Window. At the end of the
- procedure the Host computer gives you the final choice of either accepting or
- cancelling the transaction as displayed on the screen and spoken by the Host
- computer on the telephone.
-
- NOTE: Whenever asked to provide "account (rec. no)", respond with the letter (eg.
- A) corresponding to that fund and found in the left-most column of the tabulation.
-
-
- --------------------------------
- Customized Dialing Routine
- --------------------------------
-
- The user is given an opportunity to design up to five customized dialing
- routines. In order to do so, select "optional dialing" from the selection screen and
- you will be given the next choice of: dialing, setup, and correction.
-
- Select "setup" and follow the instructions on the screen to enter the
- telephone number and the dialing sequence. You may use numbers in any
- combination with the following symbols: ( - ) . In addition, you may use
- a comma whenever you wish to introduce a pause in dialing. Each comma is
- equivalent to a pause of 2 seconds. Press <ENTER> when finished.
-
- You may alter/correct your dialing sequence by choosing "correction" from
- the menu. You will then be presented with the current sequence and you can type
- the corrected sequence immediately underneath the old one. Press <ENTER> when
- the corrections are completed.
- 19
- CHAPTER FOUR Other investments
- ______________________________________________________________
-
- IF you select "Stocks" or " Bonds from the Main Menu, you enter a separate
- routines. In most respects the screen display and operation resemble the
- corresponding features of the section dealing with the Mutual Funds. The following
- differences should be noted however:
-
- 1. The dividends and other distributions that are not re-invested, are not included in
- the gain/loss calculations.
- 2. A deletion of any share record from the Account Screen, may also delete all
- related transactions from the Transaction Log, if you so select.
- 3. An additional screen of data "Bond calculations and Payment dates" can be
- reached by selecting "Windows" from main menu bar, followed by "Gain/loss
- screen" from the drop-down menu.. The following additional information is provided
- on this screen:
- a. Actual yield to maturity of the bond, calculated using S&P formula using
- two basis: (i) "orig" - assuming that the bond was purchased on date shown,
- and (ii) "today" - assuming that the bond was purchased today. The second
- alternative is useful in evaluating the change in the bond's yield as its market
- value changes.
- b. Payment dates and the amount paid. For your convenience, any payments
- that are due within the next 30 days, and 10 days after the pay date, are
- highlighted.
- 4. In the section devoted to bank accounts ("Banks"), it is suggested that you use
- following descriptive titles:
- CD - Certificates of Deposit
- MM - Money Market accounts
- SAV - Saving accounts
- REG - Other checking accounts
- 20
- CHAPTER FIVE Utilities
- _________________________________________________________________
-
- A number of utility routines have been provided under the general heading
- of "Utilities" on the main menu bar. These include:
-
- View of data files
- Delete data files
- Delete Transactions' Log data
- Archive all data files
- Add "pre-dated" transactions
- Program configuration - see comments on page 6 of this manual
- System information - analysis of your computer system
-
- The "unregistered" version of this program have some additional items under this
- heading, namely:
- Purchase order - see comments below
- Registration - follow the instructions received on registration of this
- program
- Use of demo. data - see comments below
-
-
- ---------------
- View files
- ---------------
-
- This routine displays the content of the COPY.DAT and SHARE.ARC files.
- Both of these files are written in delimited format, suitable for subsequent use in a
- variety of spreadsheet (eg. Lotus 123(R)), or data-base (eg. (dBase(R)) programs.
-
- ----------------
- Delete files
- ----------------
- A routine for deletion of optional files, such as: SALES.LOG, SHARE.ARC,
- COPY.DAT, and QTRACK.TXT.
-
- ---------------------
- Archive data file
- ---------------------
- This routine copies all the data files (not program files) on to a floppy disk
- for safe storage, eg in case of corruption of hard disk files.
- 21
-
- ---------------------------------
- Delete Transactions' Log data
- ---------------------------------
-
- This routine allows to delete:
- (a) all records,
- (b) all transactions in Money Market funds and "dividends",
- (prior to specified date)
-
- If the dividend payments are combined prior to a selected date, that date is
- automatically recorded on the "Gain/Loss" screen and all future calculations of
- gain/loss will start from that date. It is recommended that the option (b) should be
- enacted once a year, as close as possible to the Jan. 1.
-
- These techniques are useful for reducing the size of the SHARE.LOG file,
- which is limited to 140 records.
- 22
- CHAPTER SIX Tools
- ____________________________________________________
-
- Several useful techniques have been provided under the heading "Tools" on
- the main menu bar. These are:
-
- Enter new account - see description on page 10 of this manual
- Delete existing account - see description on page 11 of this manual
- Sort accounts - see description on page 11 of this manual
- Cancel last share transaction - see comments below
- Printer - see comments below
- D/L from CompuServe/Prodigy - see comments below
-
- ---------------------------------
- Cancel last share transaction
- ---------------------------------
-
- This routine permits to cancel the last transaction that involved a change in
- the total number of shares, ie. sale, purchase or dividend.
-
-
- -------------
- Printer
- -------------
-
- If you desire to print any of the screens as it is displayed, select "Printer"
- and choose "Turn printer on". Next go back to the desired screen, it will be printed
- as it appears in the window. The printing option will remain active until you return
- to the "Printer" selection and choose "Turn printer off".
-
-
- -------------------------------------------------------
- Downloading quotations from Prodigy or CompuServe
- -------------------------------------------------------
-
- NOTE: You can download ONLY the price quotations for the securities already
- listed in one of the existing accounts and displayed on the appropriate "account
- screen". The stock symbol of such securities MUST be identical in all respects to the
- symbol used by the source of the data (Prodigy(R), or CompuServe(R) ). Please note
- that the two services use somewhat different symbols for certain securities (eg.
- bonds).
- 23
-
-
- A. DOWNLOADING FROM PRODIGY(R)
-
- You may update the prices by down-loading the quotations from the
- Prodigy(R) Service using the following procedure:
-
- 1. On the Prodigy(R) Service list your stocks on either Quote Track 1 or 2 (however
- your list does not have to be restricted to the shares listed in the FundExpert
- program).
-
- 2. On Prodigy(R), select "Files" menu, then select "Report setup" and choose the
- following:
- Range: Entire list
- Report type: Closing prices
- Destination: Files
- On the next screen select:
- Text (*.TXT)
- No column headings
- File: [path] QUOTE.TXT
- (Path is the directory that you selected during the SETUP)
- On the next screen select: OVERWRITE FILE
- 3. Save the setting "for all future sessions" and "print".
-
- When the printing is completed, return to FundExpert program, go to the screen of
- interest (eg. stocks, or a particular family of Mutual Funds), select "Tools" from the
- main menu bar, and then choose "D/L from CompuServe/Prodigy". All the prices on
- the screen will be updated automatically.
-
-
-
- B. DOWNLOADING FROM COMPUSERVE(R)
-
- You can download the quotations from CompuServe(R) using their CIM
- (Compuserve Information Manager) interface.
-
- 1. Start CIM in the usual way and select "Quotes..." from the Service Menu. Using
- CIM published procedure, select the list of stocks that you desire to download and
- press "ALL"
-
- 2. Once you receive the response and listing of all the quotes, SAVE the data in a
- file named "QUOTE.TXT" and located in the directory that you selected during the
- SETUP (eg. C:\CIM\CABINET\GENERAL)
-
- 3. Return to the FundExpert, proceed to the screen of interest (eg. stocks, or a
- particular family of Mutual Funds) and go the screen of interest (eg. stocks, or a
- particular family of Mutual Funds), select "Tools" from the main menu bar, and then
- choose "D/L from ComuServe/Prodigy". All the prices on the screen will be updated
- automatically.
- 24
- CHAPTER SEVEN Plotting module
- ___________________________________________________________
-
-
- The "Plotting module" is a separate program which runs under DOS (NOT
- under Windows). In order to access it, you must close Windows, move to the
- directory where FundExpert programs are stored, eg. (C:\WFUNDS) and type
- typically::
- C:
- CD \WFUNDS
- PLOTS <ENTER>
- This will start the Plotting module.
-
- All changes in prices of mutual funds, shares, and bonds are automatically
- recorded in the file HISTORY.DAT . You may plot this data by entering the
- "Plotting module" and selecting the particular group of data by answering a few
- questions on the display screen. The data is plotted as price (on the Y-axis) versus
- the number of days (on the X-axis) since the first entry.
-
- If a share distribution has occurred (as capital gains, or stock split) you may
- correct all the previous (recorded) quotations by selecting the routine from the menu
- and entering the number of shares that have been distributed per one share owned.
- You should perform this procedure only once for each share distribution, since all
- the records are permanently corrected.
-
- A list of the historical data may also be recorded to widen the period
- covered by the plot, however only the securities listed in any one of the accounts
- (and displayed on the "account screen") can be entered.
-
- As an additional feature in this program you may add a plot of a "moving
- average" to aid in your investment decisions. A "moving average" is a plot of an
- average taken over the previous n weeks, where you can select the value of n,
- versus the number of days and it tends to eliminate any minor variations in prices.
- For a longer term predictions it is preferred to use a 30-week average, but that can
- only be done with a data base stretching for at least 1 year. If you select 1 week, the
- plot will almost coincide with the actual data points. A good compromise is to take
- an intermediate value of 10 weeks.
-
- NOTE: For successful creation of a plot of "moving average" it is necessary
- to record the price variations at constant time intervals: daily, or weekly. For an
- average investor it is suggested that weekly routine is satisfactory.
- 25
- LICENSE AGREEMENT
- -------------------------------------------
-
- The use of the FundExpert program is granted under the following terms:
-
- 1) You may make copies of the program and documentation in their
- original, unmodified, form without restriction. You may make copies of the
- documentation either in its printed or machine readable form without restriction. If
- these copies are distributed to others outside of your organization, you have no
- obligation to control the use of those copies; however, any copies made which are
- distributed within your organization are restricted to the terms of this license
- agreement.
-
- 2) You may not modify the program or its documentation or charge a
- fee for copying or distributing the program or its documentation.
-
- 3) You may use the FundExpert program on the number of computers
- for which you have paid the license fee. If the fee has been paid for a site license,
- you may use the program on as many computers as are located at that site; however,
- you may not use the program on any computer not located at that site without
- paying an additional licensing fee.
-
- I agree to abide by the terms and conditions of this license.
-
- ______________________________ _____________________
- Signature Date
- 26
- LIMITED WARRANTY
- _____________________________________
-
- The author warrants to any licensee that acquires the program from him
- that:
-
- 1) All diskettes the author provides to licensee constitute an accurate
- duplication of the software and manual. The author will replace any diskette found
- to be defective within 30 days from the date of acquisition. The author withholds
- the right to not honor this warranty if the diskette has been subjected to physical
- abuse, or used in defective or incompatible equipment.
-
- 2) The FundExpert program will perform substantially as described in the
- documentation accompanying the software, if used as directed in such
- documentation.
-
- 3) This warranty specifically limits any remedy to the replacement of the
- physical diskette and documentation if these were originally acquired directly from
- the author. It shall not cover any other damages including, but not limited to: loss
- of profit, commercial damage, or other special, consequential or similar claims. The
- FundExpert program is sold without warranty as to its merchantability or fitness for
- any particular purpose.
-
- 4) The author makes no warranty that its software is error free nor that its
- use by the licensee will be uninterrupted.
-
- 5) It is necessary to complete and return the registration card and pay the
- license fee to implement this warranty and to receive customer support.
-