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- M A S T E R C A L C
-
- by Robert B. Cook
-
-
- FENDER'S NOTE: There are two financial programs on this issue of LOADSTAR
- 128 but they complement each other, rather than clash. Bob Cook's
- MASTERCALC takes an algebraic approach to financial formulas -- you are
- prompted for data on a particular financial operation, and you enter a
- question mark in the field that is unknown. It's just like solving an
- equation for an unknown.
-
- The Main Menu covers the following items:
-
- INVESTMENTS - with the following subcategories
-
- Periodic Interest - Solve for Future Value, Present Value, Annual
- Interest Rate or Number of Years
-
- Regular Deposits - Solve for Future Value, Amount of Regular Deposit,
- Annual Interest Rate or Number of Years
-
- Regular Withdrawals - Solve for Present Value, Amount of Regular
- Withdrawal, Annual Interest Rate or Number of Years
-
- Depreciation - Solve for Salvage Value or Depreciation Rate
-
- When an item such as FUTURE VALUE, ANNUAL INTEREST RATE, REGULAR LOAN
- PAYMENT, etc. is preceded by a check mark it indicates that this item is one
- that can be calculated. To calculate that item press the ? key instead of
- entering an amount. Only one item at a time may be calculated, so only
- enter one question mark per calculation.
-
- ANALYZE RETURN ON INVESTMENT - with the following subcategories
-
- Analyze an Investment - Asks for Amount of Investment, Face Value at
- Maturity, Interest Rate, Length of Investment, Compounding Periods,
- Tax Bracket and whether Interest is taxed. Gives you Net Return on
- the Investment.
-
- Compare Investments - Asks for the above information for two different
- investments, then compares them.
-
- ANALYZING RETURN ON INVESMENTS lets you analyze a single investment or
- compare one investment against another taking into account your tax rate,
- early withdrawals and discount bonds. For most investments the FACE VALUE
- will be equal to the AMOUNT INVESTED. Some investments, such as savings
- bonds, are purchased for less than FACE VALUE at maturity and the interest
- earning is included in the FACE VALUE. When comparing investments a DEFAULT
- INTEREST RATE and/or an EARLY WITHDRAWAL PENALTY may be incurred in the
- event a bond or certificate is cashed before maturity. Include the age of
- the current investment at the changeover.
-
- LOANS - with the following subcategories
-
- Regular Loan Payments - Solve for Principal, Payment Amount, Annual
- Interest Rate or Length of Loan
-
- Remaining Loan Liability - Asks for Payment Amount, Length of Loan,
- Number of Payments per Year and Number of payments Made. Calculates
- Loan Liability and Number of Payments Remaining
-
- Single Loan Payment - Asks for Principal, Annual Interest Rate, Length
- of Loan and Compounding Periods per Year. Calculates Total Amount
- Owed.
-
- Loan Amortization Schedule - Asks for Principal, Payment Amount, Annual
- Interest Rate, Length of Loan, Number of Payments, Month the Loan
- Began and Period to Display. Then it displays the Beginning Balance,
- Principal, Interest and Ending Balance for every month in that
- period, a year at a time. To produce a LOAN AMORTIZATION TABLE it is
- necessary to enter information in the REGULAR LOAN PAYMENT category
- to get the amount of the monthly loan payment. You can start the
- display of the amortization table at any point in the life of the
- mortgage and extend it to any other point.
-
- For all of the categories and subcategories you can press ESCape to skip to
- the end of the category if you made a mistake. RECALCULATE will let you
- redo the same category. PRINT-OUT prints the current screen. CONTINUE will
- move to the next screen in the category.
-
- CALCULATOR - This looks and works like a hand-held calculator with eight
- memories, accessed with the eight F-keys. Instead of entering an amount
- for an item you can retrieve the contents of one of eight calculator
- memory locations by pressing the F-keys (F1 through F8). The calculator
- will perform standard calculations and store them in the current memory
- location. The current memory location is displayed as Mem# and can be
- changed by pressing M. The arithmetic operator to the right of Mem#
- indicates the current math operation. Press ENTER, RETURN or = to
- calculate the total. To leave the calculator, press ESC.
-
- MASTERCALC is designed to be easy to use but it's not made to teach the
- intricacies of financial analysis. If you know how your finances work,
- MASTERCALC can help you make smart decisions by giving you quick and
- accurate data.
-
- RBC
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