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Capital Gainz Version 3.0
Copyright 1991-92 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
July 8, 1992
READ THIS ENTIRE DOCUMENT: It contains important information!
This is an unregistered shareware version of Capital Gainz if:
o It was obtained via an electronic bulletin board, on-line
service, or other electronic means.
or
o It was obtained from a shareware disk vendor, or a source
other than DBLinx and David Lee Cohen.
or
o During program sign-on the legend "shareware version" 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 your Capital Gainz
registration.
Capital Gainz is distributed on one or two diskettes, containing
this file, README.DOC, the INSTALL.EXE installation program, the
PROGRAM archive, and the DOC archive. The shareware version may also
contain disk vendor information in the VENDOR.DOC file. The registered
version includes the Capital Gainz Utility Program, CGUTIL.EXE, and
DoublePrint, DP.EXE.
Capital Gainz requires an IBM personal computer or compatible
running MS-DOS version 3.00 or later, any monochrome or CGA/EGA/VGA
monitor, a minimum of 640KB of RAM, and a hard disk. At least 512KB of
RAM must be available to run Capital Gainz. The Capital Gainz User's
Manual lists disk space requirements for the Capital Gainz data files.
Although Capital Gainz has been reasonably tested for reliability
and accuracy, you should backup your data regularly. This should
especially be done before any data file upgrade. Any bugs or
inaccuracies should be reported, and every effort will be made to fix
them.
Forward bug reports, problems, questions, suggestions, or general
feelings about Capital Gainz to the address at the top of this
document. And thanks for trying Capital Gainz.
Distribution, Registration:
---------------------------
Capital Gainz is Copyright 1991-92 by David Lee Cohen.
Distribution restrictions are detailed in the VENDOR.DOC file.
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.
Registration requirements are discussed in LICENSE.DOC. This file
also contains a registration form.
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 by the
INSTALL program. 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 "Can't Upgrade
from Shareware Version" or "Invalid Record Declaration" when running
Capital Gainz. If you experience this problem, run the Capital Gainz
Utility Program to upgrade your data files.
The Capital Gainz Utility Program is only available with the
registered version of Capital Gainz. DO NOT TRY TO INSTALL A NEW
UNREGISTERED VERSION ON TOP OF AN EXISTING VERSION.
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
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subdirectories, see the section on Upgrading to Version 3.0 at the end
of this document.
Prepare for Installation
------------------------
You should have either two 5.25" 360KB diskettes or a single 3.5"
720KB diskette. If you have two diskettes, one should be labeled
PROGRAM and one should be labeled DOC. If you have a single diskette,
then it should be labeled PROGRAM. The following files should be on
the diskettes - if you have a single 720KB diskette, then the PROGRAM
and DOC diskettes referred to below are combined onto a single PROGRAM
diskette:
A PROGRAM disk with INSTALL.EXE, README.DOC, and the PROGRAM
archive. The PROGRAM archive name can be CPGNZP.zzz, CGZP30.zzz,
or CGZP30n.zzz. 'zzz' is 'EXE' for a self-extracting archive, or
else it indicates the compression method used, such as 'ZIP'.
A DOC disk with the DOC archive. The DOC archive name can be
CPGNZD.ZZZ, CGZD30.zzz, or CGZD30n.zzz. 'zzz' is 'EXE' for a
self-extracting archive, or else it indicates the compression
method used, such as 'ZIP'. For registered versions, there will
also be CGUTIL.EXE and DP.EXE files. For shareware versions,
there may also be a VENDOR.DOC file, with information for vendors
and sysops.
(Registered versions also include a DEMO disk. Shareware versions
may or may not include the demo in a separate archive on one of
the disks. See the Demo/Tutorial section below for details.)
Alternatively, INSTALL.EXE and README.DOC can be on the DOC disk
instead of the PROGRAM disk. Often, Capital Gainz is archived into two
files on CompuServe or bulletin boards. The first of these two files
usually contains the README.DOC, INSTALL.EXE, and VENDOR.DOC files
along with the files normally in the DOC archive. If you downloaded
these two files to your hard disk, do the following to prepare for
installation:
Create a CAPGNZ directory and unarchive the MAIN archive file
(CPGNZ30.zzz, CGZ30.zzz, or CGZ30n.zzz) to it. Copy the PROGRAM
archive to a diskette, then run INSTALL.EXE and choose not to
install the documentation (you already installed it). You can't
INSTALL from a hard disk.
IF YOU DO NOT HAVE THESE FILES, PLEASE CONTACT US AT THE PHONE
NUMBER OR ADDRESS LISTED AT THE TOP OF THIS DOCUMENT. ALSO, LET US
KNOW WHERE YOU OBTAINED YOUR COPY OF CAPITAL GAINZ.
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Installation
------------
To install Capital Gainz, simply insert the PROGRAM disk (or
whichever disk contains INSTALL.EXE) into one of your PC's floppy
diskette drives and (if you inserted the disk into drive A) type:
A:INSTALL
You will be prompted for the necessary information, and any
directories requested will be created if they do not exist. If you are
installing a registered version, you will also be prompted for the
Registration Number on the distribution diskette. If there is a
separate UPGRADE or DOC disk, you'll be prompted to insert it 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 (CAPGNZ.DOC).
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.
CONFIG.SYS File
---------------
The maximum number of open files allowed, as indicated by the
'FILES=nn' statement in the CONFIG.SYS file in your root directory,
may need to be increased in order to run Capital Gainz. You can have
Capital Gainz do this automatically on installation, or else do it
manually with a text editor.
Documentation
-------------
After installation is complete, these three 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.
CAPGNZ.DOC - Capital Gainz user's manual (over 200 pages). In the
online version of the manual, screen shots, example reports, and
several chapters are omitted.
TOUR.DOC - the Quick Tour chapter from CAPGNZ.DOC, only in the
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shareware version.
You can view or print these files from within Capital Gainz using
the View Documentation option from the Main Menu. While viewing the
users manual, use the Goto Page feature to quickly jump to page
numbers listed in the Table of Contents.
Getting Started
---------------
If you don't want to read (or print) 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:
CG
in the directory you specified during installation.
Capital Gainz data files (*.DAT and *.K01) and help files (*.HLP)
must be located in the directory that you're in when you start Capital
Gainz.
Demo/Tutorial
-------------
A Demo/Tutorial screen show was recently added to Capital Gainz.
Registered users receive this on a separate disk, and can run it by
inserting the disk, changing to the disk, and running CGDEMO.EXE:
A:
CGDEMO
Shareware users may or may not receive the demo/tutorial, depending on
the how the program is distributed. If the archive CPGNZS.zzz or
CGZS30.zzz exists, you need to unarchive it before you can run it. For
example, if you have the file CPGNZS.EXE on one of the disks:
C:
CD \CAPGNZ
MKDIR DEMO
CD DEMO
A:CPGNZS
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
---------------
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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 prove too
slow on older 8086 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:
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 securities that 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
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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 LIFO 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 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.
I apologize for any inconvenience. This method is still available for
any securities that were already using it, but share migration will be
discontinued in the next release. 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 request the specific shares to sell.
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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
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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.
Short Term Capital Gains Distributions
---------------------------------------
IRS publications are very elusive on what to do with short term
capital gains distributions from mutual funds. Capital Gainz takes the
approach that short term capital gains distributions are treated the
same as dividends.
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