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-
-
- SolveIt!
- Version 4.0/4.1
-
- General Features
- SolveIt! is a general purpose financial calculator that is
- capable of answering many of the questions that you might
- have when it comes to money. Its features a VERY EASY to use
- user interface that asks a series of questions. You simply
- "fill-in-the-blanks" and press <F9> and the program will
- calculate the results. There is NEVER any need to do any
- programming. And all of the routines are accessed using an
- standard menu system.
-
- SolveIt! 4.0 is a MAJOR update. SolveIt! now sports a new,
- even easier to use, user interface. The user can more easily
- edit any of the inputs. The cursor keys can be used to go
- back and correct an entry even before you calculate the
- results.
-
- You can press <F1> at any time, and a help window will
- appear providing detailed information about the routine and
- the question that is being asked. For those who are not
- familiar with all of the concepts used in these routines,
- reading the help screens will be very educational.
-
- Extensive printing is available in version 4.1. Our routines
- are written to work with any printer. In fact, we have NEVER
- found a printer that SolveIt! does not support. Schedules
- can also be printed to disk so that you may later load them
- into your word processor. This will allow you to edit them
- or highlight important points.
-
- The professional user will appreciate the way that SolveIt!
- saves its data. All data for one client is kept in one file.
- This way, information on Mr. Samual's mortgage is available
- in the same file as his budget and net worth statements.
-
- There are too many changes to describe in this short flier,
- but suffice it to say that every single routine in SolveIt!
- has been greatly enhanced since version 3.1. As we developed
- SolveIt!, we gave two things over riding concern. First, the
- program had to be VERY easy to use. Even though an extensive
- manual is supplied, we hope that you never need to use it.
- And secondly, the program had to be fast. Therefore, data is
- easy to enter quickly and the program will often perform a
- calculation instantly.
-
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-
- 1
-
-
- The 30 Routines of SolveIt! 4.0
-
- Future Value
- Calculates the future value of a single deposit or series of
- deposits. The interest rate may be changed at any time
- during the term. The deposits may be made in any amount
- either on a regular or irregular basis. The user also speci-
- fies a starting date, term, payment period, compounding
- period and whether the deposits are in advance or arrears.
-
- In addition to doing a quick future value calculation, this
- routine will do a schedule that shows the future value at
- the beginning or end of each period, as well as the deposit
- amount for the period (if any), the accumulated interest and
- the total principal.
-
- Present Value of an Amount
- Solves for the present value of a future amount. The routine
- prompts for the amount, the number of periods, the compound-
- ing frequency and the interest rate.
-
- Present Value of a Series
- Solves for the present value of a series of future payments.
- The payment amounts can be changed as well as the interest
- rate. Besides calculating a quick present value amount, this
- routine will also do a schedule that shows the individual
- payments, the value of the accumulating payments, the rate,
- and the running future and present values of the payments.
-
- Internal Rate of Return (New Routine)
- Takes a series of complicated cash flows and answers the
- question, "What is the rate of return on this deal?". You
- will be prompted to enter the initial investment and then
- the projected income from that investment as a series of
- positive or negative cash flows. The IRR result will tell
- you the return on your investment. Use this figure to com-
- pare what you could earn on your money using another invest-
- ment.
-
- Net Present Value
- Is an investment a good investment? Enter the minimum rate
- of return that is acceptable to you or your firm and then
- enter the cash flows that the investment will generate. If
- the NPV result is positive then the investment is exceeding
- your minimum requirement. On the other hand if it is nega-
- tive, it is not meeting your expectations.
-
- You may use this routine and the IRR for any investment from
- stocks and bonds to a capital investment in a plant.
-
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-
- 2
-
-
- Time To Withdrawal (Annuity Payout)
- Answers the question, "How long will an amount last assuming
- a regular withdrawal?" The amount withdrawn can be adjusted
- by an inflation factor. SolveIt! can calculate the results
- using either the Annuity Due or the Annuity in Advance
- Method. The user can also specify the payment and compound-
- ing periods.
-
- This routine reports not only the length of time that the
- funds will last, but also the total amount returned with
- interest, the net gain and the date of the last payment.
-
- A schedule can also be calculated. This schedule will show
- the payment amount, the interest for the period, the accumu-
- lated interest, the remaining balance and the total amount
- paid.
-
- Required Payment for a Future Sum
- Answers the question, "How much do I have to put away on a
- regular basis to reach some amount at a particular point in
- the future?" The routine asks the user for the interest
- rate, compounding periods, payment periods and the desired
- term. Besides calculating the required payment, SolveIt!
- also reports the total amount invested, the gain over the
- invested amount, the total years invested and how long it
- takes money to double at the prescribed scenario.
-
- Purchasing Power
- The Purchasing Power Routine looks at the value of money two
- ways. It calculates both the declining value and the equiva-
- lent value of an amount. The routine allows any amount to be
- entered and adjusted by any inflation rate over any period
- of time up to a maximum or 40 years. The inflation rate may
- be adjusted every year and the context sensitive help screen
- includes the percentage of change in the Consumer Price
- Index from 1960 through 1989.
-
- The equivalent purchasing power (constant dollars) will tell
- you how much money is equal in value to the original amount.
- The declining purchasing power tells you what the original
- amount is worth in current dollars.
-
- Equivalent Interest Rate
- Is it better to invest money at 8.25% compounded quarterly
- or 8.12% compounded monthly? This routine will tell you the
- equivalent rate to a given rate at a particular compounding
- period assuming a different rate of compounding.
-
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- 3
-
-
- Interest Rate Earned
- If you invested $10,000 in a venture that returned $18,900
- after 8.5 years, what was the yield on your original invest-
- ment? This routine lets you look at money compounded 8
- different ways.
-
- Loan Calculator
- You provide the Loan Calculator with three of the four
- standard loan variables, amount, term, interest rate or
- payment, and SolveIt! will solve for the unknown value. The
- routine also considers 8 different compound and payment
- periods and whether the payment is made in advance or ar-
- rears.
-
- Amortization Table
- The Amortization Routine is as powerful as any found in
- stand-alone amortization programs. The routine prompts you
- for the loan amount, the term, whether the loan is based
- upon a 360 or 365 day year, and the interest rate (or
- rates). This routine supports 8 different payment and com-
- pounding periods which may be set individually. (Choose
- from: daily, weekly, biweekly, monthly, bimonthly, quarter-
- ly, semiannually or annually.) You also get to select how
- the table will be displayed. That is, do you want the totals
- displayed based upon a calendar year, fiscal year or loan
- year. Finally, you provide the starting date, amortization
- method (Normal, Rules-of-78, Interest Only, Fixed Principal,
- or U.S. rule) and payment method (Arrears for standard loans
- or Advanced for leases).
-
- The resulting schedule will give both totals for the year
- displayed and from the origination date of the loan. The
- program will accept a change of interest rate (ARM) on any
- payment date. You may also skip payments. And you can make
- random or regular extra payments to be applied to principal.
-
-
- By pressing <S>, you will be able to summarize the loan
- through any period. That is, you will be shown the total
- amount of interest paid, total principal paid, the interest
- saved as the result of extra payments and the remaining
- balance.
-
- Finally, the Amortization Routine will also handle a loan
- that is being negatively amortized (i.e. accrued interest)
- over all or part of its term.
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- 4
-
- Balloon Payment
- The Balloon Payment will tell you what the periodic payment
- will be for a loan when you specify a loan amount, term,
- interest rate, payment method and period, compounding peri-
- od, balloon payment amount and balloon payment number. This
- gives you the power to design a loan to fit your criteria.
-
- Accelerated Payment
- While the Amortization Routine will calculate interest saved
- for random or regular extra payments of any amount, the
- Accelerated Payment Routine will very quickly solve for the
- interest saved and calculate the reduced term for a series
- of regularly paid extra payments.
-
- Remaining Balance
- Calculates the remaining balance of a loan after any pay-
- ment. Again, this is a very fast routine to use. You fill-
- in-the-blanks, and SolveIt! will instantly calculate the
- results. Nothing could be simpler. Loans can be paid using
- one of eight different payment periods and the loan may be
- compounded in one of eight different ways. Like the other
- loan routines, the payments may be paid either in advance or
- in arrears.
-
- Interest Due & Calendar Math (New Routine)
- The Interest Due Calculator is a new feature with SolveIt!
- 4.0. Using this routine, you will be able to calculate how
- much interest is due for any number of days or between any
- two dates. SolveIt! prompts you to enter either a starting
- date or ending date or the number of days. You enter any two
- of the three values. Then you enter the amount, interest
- rate, payment and compounding period. The routine will not
- only solve for how much interest is due, it will also tell
- the day of the week for the starting and ending dates.
-
- We can not imagine a more flexible interest due calculator
- than this one. If you are due interest today on a financial
- instrument that you know you had to hold for 45 days, just
- enter today's date as the ending date, and 45 days for the
- term and SolveIt! will tell you the date that the financial
- instrument was purchased on as well as the interest due you.
- Since this routine calculates the starting date, you can
- compare the calculation with the date you actually bought
- the security. This enables you to check to make sure that
- the term was actually 45 days and not 46 or 47 days.
-
- This routine supports both long and short periods as defined
- by The U.S. Government's Truth-In-Lending Act, Regulation Z,
- Appendix J. Therefore it is also a handy routine to use to
- calculate how much interest is due on a loan when a loan is
- being paid off on other than a payment due date.
-
-
- 5
-
- Gross Profit Margin
- If you are a stock and bond trader or in a retail wholesale
- business, and you want to see what the gross profit is for a
- series of trades or sales, then this routine will handle the
- task for you. You enter quantities and cash flows for
- amounts spent and received. The program will calculate the
- gross profit, total cost and total revenue as well as the
- return on investment and gross profit margin.
-
- This routine is particularly handy if you are a trader who
- might buy 1,000 units of an item at one price and then sell
- the 1,000 units at different prices over many different
- transactions. Of course the Gross Profit Margin routine will
- allow you to do many different purchases of an item at
- different prices as well.
-
- Believe us, as traders, when we tell you that this routine
- is by far easier to use than your desk top calculator for
- all but the very simplest sales transactions.
-
- Weighted Average and Analysis
- This routine will take the values from the Gross Profit
- Margin routine and do some basic analysis on the numbers
- such as weighted averages, minimum and maximum values on
- both the costs and the revenue. You are also given the
- opportunity to key in a new set of values or to edit the
- existing values.
-
- Break Even Analysis
- In a matter of seconds you will be able to determine not
- only the break even point for any business or department but
- also the gross sales needed to achieve break even. Gross
- sales at break even is an important concept. For often a new
- business person will achieve a large cash flow, but he will
- not be aware of future payables and therefore redirect cash
- flow out of the business.
-
- By using this routine, you can determine not only the number
- of units that need to be sold or the number of hours billed
- to break even but also what level of gross sales you need to
- have to be at break even. Sometimes it is more difficult to
- track inventory or hours billed, than it is to track the
- gross income of a business. By using this routine and know-
- ing your gross sales, you will be able to calculate whether
- you are below, at, or above break even.
-
- This routine prompts you for a series of fixed costs, vari-
- able costs and if applicable for a series of costs associat-
- ed with the product or products sold. In addition to a break
- even figure and gross sales at break even, fixed, variable
- and material costs are reported as a percentage of sales.
-
-
- 6
-
- Economic Ordering Quantity (EOQ)
- If you buy large quantities of an item, this routine will
- tell you the most economical quantity to buy considering
- your overhead costs and the time value of money. Use this
- routine to do a quick check to see if you are over or under
- ordering. Remember, inventory costs can kill.
-
- Affordable House
- If you use this routine you will very quickly know how much
- you can afford to spend on a home given your life style. The
- routine asks you for your gross annual income, the cash you
- have available for a down payment, the term of the mortgage,
- the interest rate plus the estimated taxes, insurance, and
- maintenance. Finally, you are asked what percentage of your
- gross income you want to devote toward housing. SolveIt!
- calculates the total price of a home that you can afford,
- the amount of financing needed and what percentage the cash
- available is of the total house price so you can see if the
- terms for the downpayment of the lending institution are
- met.
-
- Second Mortgage Calculator
- Often, when one property is being sold and a second property
- is being bought, a short term bridge loan is needed since
- the proceeds from the first sale are not available when it
- is time to close on the second property. This routine will
- calculate the first and second mortgage payment. It is
- assumed that the second mortgage is only a short term loan
- on which only interest is being paid.
-
- Rental Income Analysis
- This routine will do a very complete analysis of income
- derived from rental units. It looks at variables such as the
- purchase price of the property, your tax bracket, monthly
- expenses, percentage occupied and property tax to name a
- few. SolveIt! allows you to assume different inflation rates
- for maintenance, rent and property tax increases. The rou-
- tine will calculate mortgage costs using one of three meth-
- ods for one or two mortgages. Depreciation, business use
- percentage and useful life are also considered. The bottom
- line result will be the profitability of the property.
-
- A cash flow schedule is also generated by the program show-
- ing the cash flow before and after tax considerations.
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- 7
-
- Budget
- The budget routine will now allow you to work with both
- protected and actual income and expenses. You can work with
- up to six different categories of income and thirty one
- categories of expenses. The description for each income and
- expense may be change by the user so that the budget may be
- set up for an individual, a small business or a department
- in a large corporation.
-
- The routine tracks income and expenses over any twelve month
- period and generates several cash flow reports. Totals for
- all items are reported on a twelve month basis as well. A
- report comparing Actual figures as a percentage of the
- projected figures is generated without any rekeying of data.
-
- Net Worth
- This routine will calculate an individuals net worth. Often,
- a borrower will have to present a net worth statement to a
- bank when seeking a loan. This routine will perform such a
- calculation in a matter of seconds. Just spend a few minutes
- filling in the values that SolveIt! is asking for such as
- the value of your car, cash in the bank, credit card balanc-
- es, etc. And it will tell you your net worth as fast as you
- can press the <F9> key.
-
- MACRS Depreciation
- The routine displays a depreciation schedule using the
- method as defined by the 1986 tax law. All data from the
- IRS's tables are include in the program so there is no need
- to use the government's tables. And in fact, if you have
- questions about depreciation, the help screens are a handy
- reference tool for they quote liberally from IRS Publication
- 534. SolveIt! supports all conventions and both the Acceler-
- ated Method as well as the Alternate Straight Line method of
- depreciation.
-
- ACRS Depreciation (New Routine)
- If you have an asset placed into service before 1987, then
- you probably need to depreciate the asset using this method
- as defined by the federal government.
-
- Other Depreciation Routines
- SolveIt! also supports three other generally used methods of
- depreciation. They are the Straight Line Method, the Sum-of-
- Years-Digits Method and the Declining Balance Method.
-
- **************************************************
-
- SOLVEIT! v. 4.2 added Bond yield and value routines. These routines
- will allow you to compare up to 3 bonds at one time. You may
- also optionally factor in taxes and/or inflation.
-
-
- 8
-