Retirement QUICK-MONITOR Ver. 1.0 Copyright 1990 Rod Hoisington PO Box 839 Key Largo, FL 33037 HERE'S THE PROBLEM - Many people don't realize until it's too late that their retirement assets are not going to cover their retirement needs. Lack of planning will obviously lead to this problem -- also the unexpected effect of INTEREST and INFLATION rate changes can destroy retirement plans. HERE'S THE SOLUTION - Successful retirement planning is a process of estimating and then projecting retirement income and expenses periodically using various interest and inflation rate assumptions... ...It's never too early to start. HERE'S WHAT THIS PROGRAM DOES - Retirement QUICK-MONITOR calculates and displays the SAVINGS necessary for you to retire at EVERY age between 30 and 90, and for any interest and inflation rate combination. The key to your comfortable retirement is to be able to forecast what your savings might be with different combinations of interest and inflation rates; the best case, the worst case, the most likely, the least likely. And then, keep monitoring your nestegg as conditions change. There's the problem, and the solution...and now you have the software that can do it. This program forecasts and monitors the effect of interest and inflation rate changes on retirement nesteggs. It displays the results of changing INTEREST rates affecting EARNINGS, while changing INFLATION rates are affecting EXPENSES. HERE'S THE FINANCIAL INFORMATION YOU'LL NEED - Retirement QUICK-MONITOR is not intended to be a complete financial planning program. Its specialty is the handling of the interest/inflation problem and for that it requires three amounts: 1. Your estimate of INCOME you'll have after you retire, 2. An estimate of EXPENSES you'll have after you retire, 3. The amount of your PRESENT SAVINGS. If you don't already have these totals don't worry, the program will help you... A. You can FIND OUT the amount to expect as retirement income (estimates are available from the Social Security Administration, employers and plan administrators), B. You can ESTIMATE your expenses after retirement (the program shows you how.) C. You probably KNOW the amount of your savings (the program will help you total up.) The first two screens in the program consist of brief worksheets to assist you in arriving at and totaling these three aggregate amounts. The third and final screen lets you see in one continuous display the earliest date you can retire with your present savings, and the amount required to retire at every age to age 90. All ages are seen at once. Then, with a keystroke, it quickly retabulates with a different combination of interest/inflation rates. Also displayed is the lump-sum amount, the annual deposit, and the monthly savings deposit required to reach your target nestegg. The amount of savings you're going to need may surprise you. But the earlier you determine your required nestegg the better. PROGRAM ASSUMPTIONS AND LIMITATIONS - Three assumptions are necessary to provide realistic results. 1. To avoid the tragedy of outliving your income, your life expectancy is assumed to be 90 years. All calculation are made from your present age to age 90. In other words, if the program says you need an additional $50,000 to retire at age 60, that's the additional amount needed to cover all of your retirement expenses from age 60 to age 90. 2. The Cost Of Living Adjustment (COLA) for Social Security, those pension plans which use COLA (many don't), and variable annuities tends to run about 80% of the inflation rate. So the program sets all COLA at 80% of the assumed inflation rate. 3. Due to many obvious unknowns this program doesn't adjust for state and federal income taxes. It's assumed that taxes are paid out of other funds. Also note that current Social Security regulations call for gradually increasing the full-benefit retirement age to age 67. This software rounds to the nearest year. So if you will reach age 62 after 2002 consider your normal retirement age to be 66; if you will reach age 62 after 2019 your normal retirement age will be 67. You don't need to worry about this as the program automatically makes all necessary Social Security adjustments. This software provides for early Social Security benefits starting between age 62 and your normal retirement age (65, 66 or 67), with COLA included in the calculations starting with your normal retirement age. MORE FEATURES - This is a stand-alone program featuring attractive screens, scrolling menus, and pop-up help windows. Although designed for easy personal forecasting, the speed and graphics make it suit- able for laptop use by financial planners in front of clients, or for office use to answer client "what ifs" quickly and easily. Up to 18 different versions of your plan can be saved for quick recall. Data in the versions can easily be erased and the version reused. Or, alternately, the data files (4) can be renamed using DOS, in which case there is no limit to the number of data file sets that can be saved. (RQM data files are identified with the *.DAT extension as explained below). Plans can be saved, and the attractive printed output can be customized with fields indicating for whom the report was prepared. A sample plan and forecast is built in as a menu selection so you can become familiar with the program within minutes without having to enter your own data. The author is a former tax accountant with a background in securities, insurance and education. He has seen the unfortunate results of inadequate retirement planning and the misplaced re- liance on Social Security and private pension plans -- substantial personal savings are usually required as well. Start early, monitor often, and gain a comfortable retirement. REQUIRED HARDWARE > IBM PC or compatible computer. > 256k bytes of RAM memory. > One floppy disk or a hard drive. > Monochrome monitor. > A dot-matrix or laser printer is a desirable addition for print-outs of the plan versions created. REQUIRED SOFTWARE > DOS 2.1 or higher. REQUIRED FILES This disk contains version 1.0 of Retirement Quick-Monitor, dated 10-22-90. This disk should contain the following files: README.TXT - This introductory text RQM.EXE - Main program RQM1*.FRM - Program overlay RQM2*.FRM - Program overlay RQM3*.FRM - Program overlay RQM4*.FRM - Program overlay RQMSMPL1.DTA - Sample data file RQMSMPL2.DTA - Sample data file RQMSMPL3.DTA - Sample data file RQMSMPL4.DTA - Sample data file RQM1*.DAT - These four USER DATA files are RQM2*.DAT - created by the program when it is RQM3*.DAT - first run. Old .DAT files can be RQM4*.DAT - erased or renamed by using DOS to make room for new. GETTING STARTED Make a backup copy of the program disk. To use this program from your disk drive: 1. Place the disk in drive A 2. Type: A: and then press ENTER 3. To start the program, type: RQM and then press ENTER NOTE: The main program file, RQM.EXE, and all of the above listed files must be on the same disk. For faster processing, you can load this program onto your hard disk. To install on a hard disk: 1. Change to the drive and subdirectory onto which you would like install the program. 2. Place the disk in drive A 3. From the DOS prompt on your chosen drive, type: COPY A:*.* and then press ENTER 4. To start the program, type: RQM and then press ENTER NOTE: The main program file, RQM.EXE, and all of the above listed files must be in the same subdirectory. DISCLAIMER This software is provided "AS IS," there are no warranties, expressed or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of performance, mechantability, or fitness for a particular purpose, and all such warranties are expressly and specifically disclaimed. The accuracy of this software cannot be guaranteed. In no event will the Author be liable for any damages, including any lost profits, lost savings or other incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use or inability to use such software even if the Author has been advised of the possibility of such damages or claims. This disclaimer shall be governed by the laws of the State of Florida and shall inure to the benefit of Rod Hoisington, his successors, administrators, heirs and assigns. USER-SUPPORTED This program has been placed in circulation under the "SHAREWARE" concept. Copyright 1990 by Rod Hoisington, all rights reserved. Although it is protected by copyright, you are encouraged to try it out, copy it, and pass it around freely. If you like it, and use it, then a Registration Fee is requested. The Registration Fee for this software is $35. You will also want to register so that you will receive: > A registered copy of the next updated version (5 1/4" disk)... > Notices of updates, upgrades, enhancements and other programs... > Technical support from the author. -------------------------------------------------------------- Retirement QUICK-MONITOR Registration Payment Form -------------------------------------------------------------- The Registration Fee for this software is $35. Like all good software, this program is improved and and upgraded from time to time. By registering you will receive a copy of the next version (5 1/4" disk), notices of updates, upgrades, enhancements and other programs, and technical support from the author. NAME __________________________________________ DATE _________ ADDRESS _______________________________________ CITY,STATE,ZIP ________________________________ TELEPHONE (w/Area Code) _______________________ WHICH VERSION OF RETIREMENT QUICK-MONITOR ARE YOU PRESENTLY USING? Ver#___.__ WHAT MAKE/MODEL COMPUTER DO YOU USE? __________________________ HOW DID YOU OBTAIN THIS COPY OF THIS SHAREWARE? _______________ _______________________________________________________________ Please mail your check or money order for $35 TO: Rod Hoisington PO Box 839 Key Largo, FL 33037 THANK YOU 102210 ________________________ COMMENT FORM ________________________ Your comments regarding this software are welcome. Please fill out this form or write me with your comments. Name _______________________________________________ Address ____________________________________________ City,State,Zip _____________________________________ Retirement QUICK-MONITOR Ver. # _____ Date __________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ Please mail comments to: Rod Hoisington PO Box 839 Key Largo, FL 33037 Suggestions for improvements are welcome. If your suggestion is used, you will receive a free updated version which incorporates your suggestion. Please share this disk with others. Thank you. Copyright 1990 Rod Hoisington This text can be printed with the command COPY README.TXT PRN