Quick Tour
Chapter 4 - Quick Tour
===>>>
Before you begin entering your own data into Capital Gainz, do one or all of the following:
- Run the demo/tutorial screen show described in CGDEMO.DOC.
- Manually follow along with this chapter.
- If you installed the Example Data, play around with it for awhile.
The demo/tutorial screen show illustrates all of the activity described here, plus a number of other things. However, by following along with this chapter, you'll get 'hands-on' experience. I recommend that you run the demo, and, if you are still not ready to get started, then follow along with this chapter.
This chapter and the demo/tutorial only include representative activities. Features are not covered thoroughly - the rest of this voluminous manual contains all the details you could ever want. Remember that you can always use the F1 key to bring up context-sensitive help screens in Capital Gainz.
4.1 Following The Quick Tour
First, let me introduce you to the philosophy behind Capital Gainz: flexible and simple access to all of your investment information. Menus, forms and tables are displayed in overlapping windows, when possible. You'll use the following types of screens in your tour:
Menus - menus are simple: highlight your choice and hit Enter, or hit the indicated short cut key. Also, since you never go more than two menu levels deep, you'll never get lost.
Entry Forms - the current field is highlighted. The Enter key or the Down Arrow key accepts the current field and advances to the next one, accepting the form when used on the last field. The Esc key or the Up Arrow key moves you back one field, exiting the form when used on the first field. When a field requires a value from a known list, such as a security symbol, an invalid or blank entry brings up a table of valid values for you to choose from. Some fields include a list of valid responses directly on the form. When entering values with the keyboard, you can use the Left Arrow, Right Arrow, Del, and Backspace keys to edit a field. Also, forms include one or more labeled rows of keys for performing additional functions, such as a short cut Form Accept key. By default, the Form Accept key is Ctrl-Enter, and the Form Reject key is Ctrl-Esc. Using the Form Accept key is the same as hitting Enter on all of the fields, and hitting the Form Reject key is the same as hitting Esc on all of the fields.
Tables - records are presented in tabular form, and the current record is highlighted. Use the Up Arrow key to move back one record, the Down Arrow key to move ahead one record. Use PgUp to scroll back one page, and PgDn to scroll ahead one page. Usually, Ins brings up an Entry Form to add a record, Enter brings up an Entry Form to change the highlighted record, and Del removes the highlighted record. Also, tables include a labeled row of keys for performing additional functions, such as recording a stock split.
===>>> If more functions are available than can fit on the screen, there is a key labeled More to show you more functions. Also, Function List will popup a list of functions you can choose from.
Reports - reports are displayed on the screen, and can be sent to a printer or a file. Options are available via labeled function keys. You can limit the entities reported on, like only printing activity for specific securities. Or, you can specify the begin and end dates to report over. Most reports are available from the related tables, as well as from the Report Menu.
Other - status screens keep you updated on when Capital Gainz is performing a requested operation, such as marking shares to be sold. Popup dialogue screens accept information such as date ranges. Confirmation screens prevent inadvertent keystrokes from accidentally writing or deleting records.
In this quick tour, I'll introduce you to the fundamentals of Capital Gainz by actually recording some investment activity. This activity will represent normal Capital Gainz use. Please type in all data exactly as instructed - errors are intentionally introduced to demonstrate how to fix them. Errors rarely occur on your printed statements from brokers and investment companies, so I'm actually simulating data entry errors.
To use Capital Gainz, you define certain values first, such as portfolios and securities. Then, you repeat activities such as entering transactions and analyzing information. You may need to occasionally add or change portfolio and security information, but the bulk of your activity will be dealing with buy, sell, and distribution information.
The first thing you need to do is start Capital Gainz with the CG.BAT batch file. This batch file is in the directory you specified at installation, and, depending on how you installed Capital Gainz, it may also be in the '\' directory.
After hitting any key at the Capital Gainz logo screen, you're taken to the Main Menu. At the top, you see the current portfolio you're working in - <<Default Portfolio>>. This portfolio is created when you start up Capital Gainz for the first time. The options in the menu are split into local and global sections. The local options apply only to your current portfolio, and the global options apply to all portfolios. For instance, purchasing shares is local to a single portfolio, but managing broker information is global to all portfolios.
[[Screen not in online version of documentation.]]
Let's change the name of your current portfolio. Either highlight P) Portfolio and hit Enter or hit the p key. This brings up the Portfolio Table, which lists a single portfolio.
[[Screen not in online version of documentation.]]
There's a check mark next to this portfolio indicating that it's the current one, and it's highlighted since there are no other portfolios. Hit the function key labeled Change at the bottom of the screen, and a Portfolio Form pops up with the current values filled in. Use the Down Arrow or Enter key to highlight the Name field, and enter a name such as The Nest Egg, followed by the Enter key. You can then enter a description if you'd like.
[[Screen not in online version of documentation.]]
To accept the changes and write the record, move through the rest of the fields with the Enter or Down Arrow key - when you leave a description line blank, or enter all of them, the record is updated. Or, use the short cut key combination listed at the bottom of the screen to accept all the fields. This takes you back to the Portfolio Table, where you see the new portfolio name.
While we're on the Portfolio Table, let's add another portfolio. Hit the Ins key to insert a new record, and a Portfolio Form with just the ID field filled in comes up. Portfolio IDs range from 000 to 999, and this is a good example of how Capital Gainz 'guesses' at field values when possible. Maybe you'd like to add a portfolio for your son, Junior. Give the portfolio a descriptive name, such as Junior's Portfolio. When you complete the form this time, the Portfolio Table shows two portfolios. The one you just added is highlighted, and has a check mark next to it indicating that it is now the current portfolio. Make The Nest Egg current by using the Up Arrow key to move the highlight bar up, and then hitting the Enter key to move the check mark. To exit from the Portfolio Table and return to the Main Menu, hit the Esc key.
Now that we have some portfolios defined, we need to add some securities. Securities are divided into local and global securities. Global securities can be accessed by any portfolio, include a symbol and name, and are associated with a history of price records. Local securities contain purchase, sale, and distribution information on a global security for a particular portfolio. To add a global security, choose the G) Global Security option on the Main Menu and hit Enter, or just hit the g key.
You should now be at the Global Security Table, with a message indicating there are no records in the table. While Capital Gainz automatically creates a default portfolio for you, it can't create securities. To add a global security, hit the Ins key. This brings up the Global Security Form. Let's create a security for the tax-free bond fund you bought from Bob's Mutual Funds company. The Symbol and Name fields can be anything you want. We'll use BOBTF and Bob's Tax Free Bond Fund.
We haven't defined any brokers by using the Broker/Investment Company choice on the Main Menu. Leave the Broker/Inv Co field blank and hit Enter to bring up the empty Broker/Investment Company Table. Use the Ins key to bring up an empty Broker/Investment Company Form, then fill in the information for Bob's Mutual Funds:
Name :Bob's Mutual Funds
Address:1313 Good Luck Ln.
City :Podunk
State :NC
Zip :27709
Phone# :800-123-4567[[Screen not in online version of documentation.]]
After entering the last field, you're taken back to the Broker/Investment Company Table, and the new Bob's Mutual Funds investment company is highlighted. Hit Enter to select it and return to the Global Security Form.
Next, we come to the Account Number field. Broker/investment company and account number information can be entered for global AND local securities. This option provides flexibility:
- For mutual funds, you can associate an investment company, such as Bob's Mutual Funds, with a given fund. Whenever you add that fund to a portfolio as a local security, it will automatically be associated with the correct Broker/Investment Company record. However, the account number will change for different holdings of the fund, so leave the number blank for the global security.
- For stocks, you can set up a default broker for the global security. When you add a local security, you can use the default broker, along with its account number, or choose another broker.
- For mutual funds that you buy through a broker, you can associate the investment company with the global security and your broker with the local security.
There are many options in real life for brokers, investment companies, and account numbers. For Capital Gainz, just remember that you can associate a broker/investment company with a global or local security, and that you can assign an account number to a local or global security. Let's leave the Account Number field blank here.
We also need to select a security type. Security types classify your holdings, as you'll see later with the Portfolio Allocation Report. But what value do you use? Capital Gainz has a bunch of fixed types for you to choose from - just leave the Type field empty and hit Enter. No need to remember arcane codes or names. Just use the Up Arrow, Down Arrow, PgUp, and PgDn keys to move through the list. When you find and highlight Tax Free Bond Fund in the Bond Funds category, hit Enter to return to the Global Security Form, inserting the corresponding code. Whenever a security type has 'tax free' in its name, any dividends are noted as non-taxable when you generate Schedule B of the tax form. This fund pays dividends monthly, so enter 12 for the Dividends/Year field to generate correct yield calculations.
[[Screen not in online version of documentation.]]
Just like with the portfolios, entering all the fields writes the record and returns you to the Global Security Table.
[[Screen not in online version of documentation.]]
Now that we have a global security defined, let's add it to our portfolio. Use the Esc key to return to the Main Menu, and choose S) Security. By now you should know what to expect: the Local Security Table comes up, and you hit Ins to bring up the Local Security Form to add a record. Notice that Capital Gainz displays your current portfolio at the top of the form. On this form, you need to enter the local symbol and link it to a global symbol. Most of the time you'll use the same value for both the local and global symbols. But, the ability to link multiple local symbols to a single global symbol comes in handy if you own shares of a mutual fund both in an IRA and a regular account. All the pricing information is centralized in the global security, but different local securities keep the two accounts separate. Of course, you also could put them in separate portfolios and use the same value for the global symbol and both local symbols.
Let's enter BOBTF in the Local Symbol field. Then, link it to the global security. You can either enter BOBTF for the Linked to Global Symbol field, or just leave it blank and hit Enter. Similar to the security type entry on the Global Security Form, you're shown a list of global securities to choose from. Although the single entry in the table makes this somewhat less than interesting now, just think how handy this capability is if you have defined 50 or so global securities. Hit the Ins key, and the Global Security Form pops up. Thus, we didn't haveto define the global security from the Main Menu - we could have added it while we were adding the local security. Hit Esc to exit from the Global Security Form without adding anything, and choose the BOBTF global security by hitting Enter. This returns you to the Local Security Form.
Notice that the associated global security's information is displayed in the lower half of the Local Security Form. However, you cannot change any of the values on this part of the form while inserting a local security. Later, if you bring up the Local Security Form to change this security, you have the option of calling up the Global Security Form to change global information.
We already discussed why there is a Broker/Inv Co field here as well as on the Global Security Form. As you can see, Capital Gainz retrieved the broker/investment company associated with the specified global security and filled it in here. Enter 123456789 in the Account Number field.
Leave the Sell Method field blank, and hit the Enter key to see the variety of selling methods supported by Capital Gainz. Even though you select a method here, you can change it when you actually sell shares. The most commonly used method is first-in/first-out (FIFO), so let's use it for now.
This fund is not in an IRA or non-taxable retirement fund, so enter NO for the Tax Exempt field. You can highlight NO or just hit the n key. Be sure you differentiate between a non-taxable holding and a holding that offers tax-free interest or dividends, such as Bob's Tax Free Bond fund. Statements received from the mutual fund indicate the values you should enter for the Price Precision and Shares Precision fields. Bob's Mutual Funds uses 4 decimal points for the price, and 2 decimal points for the number of shares. After entering these last two fields in the Local Security Form, you return to the Local Security Table.
[[Screen not in online version of documentation.]]
Hit Esc from the Local Security Table to return to the Main Menu. Finally, we can record some activity. The statement from Bob's Mutual Funds shows:
Date Transaction Amount Price Shares
-----------------------------------------------------------
1/02/91 Share Purchase 50.00 15.1568 3.30
1/31/91 Dividend Reinvested 0.26 15.1841 0.02
(0.0788 per share)
2/03/91 Share Purchase 200.00 15.1704 13.18
2/28/91 Dividend Reinvested 1.36 15.1636 0.09
(0.0824 per share)
3/02/91 Share Purchase 200.00 15.0909 13.25
3/28/91 Dividend Reinvested 2.40 15.1162 0.16
(0.0804 per share)
4/01/91 Share Purchase 100.00 15.2458 6.56
4/30/91 Dividend Reinvested 2.92 15.2735 0.19
(0.0799 per share)
5/01/91 Share Purchase 100.00 15.3519 6.51
5/31/91 Dividend Reinvested 3.60 15.3506 0.23
(0.0832 per share)
6/01/91 Share Purchase 200.00 15.1087 13.74
6/28/91 Dividend Reinvested 4.19 15.0495 0.28
(0.0739 per share)
6/28/91 L.T. Cap Gain Reinv 7.18 15.0495 0.48
(0.1266 per share)
Total Shares Owned: 57.49===>>>
(The share purchases listed total 57.99, not 57.49. I intentionally introduced an error on one of the purchases. Enter the activity as listed, and then I'll show you how to fix it.)
Choose the A) Activity option on the Main Menu and B) Buy Shares from the Activity Menu to bring up the Buy Shares Form to record the initial purchase. Notice that Capital Gainz displays a fractions-to- decimal table here. This is handy when you receive confirmations that use fractional values.
As you can see, Capital Gainz filled in the symbol and date fields. You can, of course, change these. Capital Gainz remembers certain key values that you entered, such as the last local security symbol, the last global security symbol, and the last date. This saves a few steps when you are performing multiple activities on a given security.
The Local Symbol field in the Buy Shares Form is for the local security's symbol, since a share purchase applies to a specific portfolio. At this point, you can accept the displayed value of BOBTF or erase the field and hit Enter to bring up the list of local securities. For now, accept BOBTF. You need to enter the actual purchase date, 1/02/91, in the Date field. The next three fields are Shares, Price, and Amount. You only need to enter values for two of these fields, and Capital Gainz calculates the third one. Leave the number of shares 0, and enter the price (15.1568) and amount (50.00) from your statement. The number of shares field is calculated, and should match the amount on your statement.
Sometimes rounding may require you to change the calculated value. If the calculations are consistently wrong, make sure you set up the precisions correctly on the Local Security Form.
This is a no-load fund, so enter 0 in the Commission field. The Notes field lets you enter a brief comment. Leave it blank for now.
[[Screen not in online version of documentation.]]
After entering all the fields, the purchase record is written and you're taken back to the Local Symbol field. Capital Gainz assumes that you want to enter more purchases until explicitly quitting and returning to the Activity Menu. As you add shares, a counter in the top right corner of the form is incremented. After you enter a symbol, the current number of open shares for the security is displayed to the right of the Shares field.
The next item on our list is a dividend. You reinvested the dividend, so you need to record the amount of the distribution and then record the purchase. To begin entering the dividend information, you can either hit the function key labeled Distributions, or back out of the Buy Shares Form with the Esc key and choose D) Distributions on the Activity Menu. The Local Symbol field is filled in with the last accessed local security's symbol, and the Date field is set to the last entered date. Hit Enter to accept BOBTF as the symbol, and change the date to the distribution date (1/31/91). Capital Gainz guesses that you want to enter a dividend, so it fills in the Type field with DIV. This is what we want for now, but you can erase this field and hit Enter to bring up a list of distribution types.
===>>> Next, enter the amount of the dividend (0.26) listed on your statement in the Amount field. Capital Gainz divides the amount by the number of open shares to come up with the Per Share field. If a per share value is listed on your statement, be sure to use it. If no per share value is given, the Capital Gainz calculation should be close enough for reliable yield calculations. Note that the per share value is NOT the price of the security! Complete the Distribution Form by hitting Enter at the Notes field.
[[Screen not in online version of documentation.]]
The record is written and you are asked if you want to reinvest the dividend. Most investors let mutual fund companies reinvest distributions in additional shares, so enter YES here. You are taken to the Buy Shares Form, now labeled Reinvest Distribution. You could enter a different symbol to redirect the distribution to another security, such as sending stock dividends to a money market fund. Since we're reinvesting the amount in the same security, hit Enter at the Local Symbol field, which should be BOBTF. Also hit Enter at the Date field, which should be 1/31/91.
The Amount field is set to the dividend amount, and the Price and Shares fields are set to 0. Change the price to the value shown on your statement (15.1841). Hit Enter at the rest of the fields to complete the form and write the open shares record.
Now you're back at the Distribution Form. Repeat the above procedures to enter the rest of the purchases and distributions. Move between the Buy Shares Form and Distribution Form by using the function keys or escaping to the Activity Menu. Carefully enter all the values - if Capital Gainz calculates different values, change them. Ignore any warnings you receive. Watch as the total number of open shares displayed on the Buy Shares Form increases, and the counters at the top of the forms are incremented. Be sure you specify the correct type for the last distribution, a Long Term Capital Gain. When you're done, Esc back to the Activity Menu, and then Esc back to the Main Menu.
Let's check if you entered everything correctly. Bring up the Local Security Table, and you'll see the number of shares purchased, the cost of the shares, and your current gain (or loss) so far. Also, the last entered price is shown as the current price, and the yield is calculated by multiplying the last entered dividend per share amount by the number of dividends per year, and then dividing by the last recorded price.
[[Screen not in online version of documentation.]]
Compare the number of shares shown in the Local Security Table to the values on the statement, to make sure you entered everything correctly. If the values don't match, then you made a mistake in entering the information. Actually, in this case I made an intentional error in the list of transactions, so the total number of shares is incorrect: total shares is 57.49, but the total shares on the Local Security Table is 57.99. Let's see what's wrong. Hit Esc to return to the Main Menu, and then select L) Log Maintenance. Select O) Open Shares Log, leaving For All Dates set. The Open Shares Log comes up, and Capital Gainz correctly guesses the local security symbol you want to view. To view a different symbol's log, you could either enter the value or blank it out and hit Enter to bring up the list of local securities to choose from.
After you hit Enter to accept BOBTF in the Local Symbol field, Capital Gainz builds a table of purchase records. The record dated 6/1/91 is incorrect - the number of shares should be 13.24, not 13.74. (You should have received a warning when you recorded this purchase.) Use the Down Arrow key to highlight the erroneous record and then hit the Enter key.
[[Screen not in online version of documentation.]]
Up pops the Buy Shares Form, with the fields filled in. Use the Enter key to move to the Shares field, and change it from 13.74 to 13.24. The Amount field is recalculated based on this change. Be sure to set it correctly. Upon completing the form, you return to the Open Shares Log. When we recorded activity, you kept filling in this form until explicitly exiting. However, when you reach the activity forms from the activity logs, Capital Gainz assumes you are only making a single change or addition.
To prevent data entry errors, Capital Gainz warns you of certain suspicious values. For instance, Shares multiplied by Price may not equal Amount. Also, if the calculated values differ significantly from the statement, then you probably entered an incorrect value.
4.2 Handling Loads
Now let's add a mutual fund that charges a load. First, add the investment company to the Broker/Investment Company Table:
Name :Big Al's Investment Company
Address:100 Uptick Dr.
City :Churning
State :NC
Zip :27111
Phone #:800-234-5678Add the global security to the Global Security Table:
Symbol :BAGF
Name :Big Al's Growth Fund
Broker/Inv Co :Big Al's Investment Company
Account Number:
Type :Growth Stock Fund
Dividends/Year:12And, add the local security to the Local Security Table:
Symbol :BAGF
Linked to :BAGF
Broker/Inv Co :Big Al's Investment Company
Account Number :987654321
Sell Method :SCAT
Tax Exempt :NO
Price Precision:3
Share Precision:4Notice that we're using the average selling method (SCAT).
Big Al charges a 3% front-end load on purchases, and no load on reinvested distributions. All that's reported is the purchase amount, shares, and loaded price. Here's six months of activity from statements you've received:
Date Transaction Amount Price Shares
-----------------------------------------------------------
1/02/91 Share Purchase 100.00 48.095 2.0792
2/01/91 Dividend Reinvested 0.40 45.292 0.0088
(0.19 per share)
2/01/91 Share Purchase 100.00 46.693 2.1416
3/04/91 Share Purchase 100.00 48.703 2.0533
4/01/91 Share Purchase 100.00 49.286 2.0290
5/02/91 Dividend Reinvested 1.58 48.058 0.0329
(0.19 per share)
5/02/91 Share Purchase 100.00 49.544 2.0184
6/03/91 Share Purchase 100.00 54.753 1.8264
6/03/91 Share Purchase 100.00 54.753 1.8264
Total Shares Owned: 12.1896===>>> (Again, I've introduced an error on one of the purchases, so the individual purchases don't add up to the displayed total. As before, enter the activity as listed, and I'll show you how to fix it.)
As you enter these values, use the Calc Load/Comm key to separate out the load as a commission. Thus, for the first purchase, enter a price of $48.095 and an amount of $100.00. The number of shares is calculated to be 2.0792. At the Commission field, hit the Calc Load/Comm key to bring up the load calculator. Choose the LOAD type, and then move down to the Load field and enter 3.00%. The calculated net asset value is $46.652, and the calculated amount and commission are $97.00 and $3.00. The effective commission rate is 3.09%, which is $3.00/$97.00. When you complete the load calculator form, these values are transferred to the Buy Shares Form. You could simply use the loaded prices and amounts from the statement, but this approach more accurately reflects the use of funds. Be sure not to calculate a load for reinvested distributions.
[[Screen not in online version of documentation.]]
With the loads separated out, here's what you'll end up with:
Date Transaction Amount Price Shares
Commission
----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
1/02/91 Share Purchase 97.00 46.652 2.0792 3.00
2/01/91 Dividend Reinvested 0.40 45.292 0.0088 0.00
(0.19 per share)
2/01/91 Share Purchase 97.00 45.292 2.1416 3.00
3/04/91 Share Purchase 97.00 47.242 2.0533 3.00
4/01/91 Share Purchase 97.00 47.807 2.0290 3.00
5/02/91 Dividend Reinvested 1.58 48.058 0.0329 0.00
(0.19 per share)
5/02/91 Share Purchase 97.00 48.058 2.0184 3.00
6/03/91 Share Purchase 97.00 53.110 1.8264 3.00
6/03/91 Share Purchase 97.00 53.110 1.8264 3.00
Total Shares Owned: 12.1896After completing the entries, bring up the Local Security Table. The 4.29% yield for BAGF looks too high. BAGF pays dividends quarterly, not monthly. If the yield figure looks too high, then you probably specified too high a number for the dividends per year. If BAGF isn't highlighted, use the arrow keys to highlight it. Hit Enter to bring up the Local Security Form.
The information we want to change, number of dividends per year, is associated with the global security. So, use the function key labeled Modify Global Security to bring up the Global Security Form for the global security linked to this local security. Use the Enter key to move down to the Dividends/Year field, and change it to 4. When you hit Enter on this last field, the global security record is updated and you return to the Local Security Form. Hit Esc to return to the Local Security Table. The yield displayed is now 1.43%, which is correct.
Also, the number of open shares for BAGF is incorrect. As you should have noticed, the last purchase was erroneously entered twice. Hit Esc to return to the Main Menu, then choose L) Log Maintenance and O) Open Shares Log. Hit Enter at the displayed BAGF symbol on the Open Shares Log.
[[Screen not in online version of documentation.]]
The displayed purchases all show the same price, since BAGF uses the average selling method. But, the actual purchase prices are stored in the records, as you'll see. Use the Down-Arrow key to highlight the last record - or, use Ctrl-PgDn to go directly to the last record. Hit the Del key to delete it. The Buy Shares Form pops up, showing the record to be deleted. Here, you can see that the original purchase information is still intact. After confirming the deletion, you return to the Open Shares Log. Hit Esc three times to return to the Main Menu.
4.3 Sales and Analysis
Choose S) Security to return to the Local Security Table. We see that BOBTF shows a loss of $6.71, the difference between the cost ($871.91) and current market value ($865.20). The current market value is obtained by multiplying the number of open shares by the latest recorded price: 57.49 * $15.0495 = $865.20. On the other hand, BAGF shows a gain of $45.41, calculated by subtracting the cost and the commissions from the current value. Let's analyze a bit more. Hit the function key labeled Portfolio Allocation Report - you may have to scroll through the functions with the More key, or use Function List. The report is displayed on the screen, and gives you a percentage breakdown of your portfolio holdings by security class and type. To return to the local security table, hit the Esc key.
Next, let's take a look at the price history of BOBTF. Highlight BOBTF, and hit the function key labeled Price History Table. Look at all dates by hitting the All Dates function key on the Dates Form. The table displayed shows price and distribution information for the local security's related global security. The high and low prices are flagged, and the average monthly price is calculated. Capital Gainz constructs the price history as you make activity entries. Of course, you also can add, change, or delete entries in this table. The distributions are listed to explain price dips caused by payouts.
Return to the Main Menu by hitting Esc from the Price History Table and the Local Security Table. By now, you're impressed with Capital Gainz and want to sell some shares to buy a couple copies for friends. You decide to sell some of your BOBTF shares, so, through the miracle of modern documentation, let's say you called up Bob's Mutual Funds, sold $100 worth of shares, and the sale was confirmed at a price of $15.25 at the end of the day.
From the Main Menu, choose A) Activity, and then choose S) Sell Shares from the Activity Menu. At the Sell Form, enter the BOBTF in the Local Symbol field. Capital Gainz fills in the Sell Method field with the sell method you specified when defining the security and displays the last entered date. Enter the date of the sale, 7/1/91, in the Date field. According to the IRS, to sell shares of a mutual fund using a method other than FIFO or an average method, you must specify the exact shares at the time of the sale. We didn't do that here, so we'll use the FIFO selling method displayed.
Enter 0 in the Shares field, 15.25 in the Price field, and $100 in the Amount field. Capital Gainz calculates the number of shares to be 6.56, which equals the number of shares confirmed by Bob's Mutual Funds. There was no commission or back-end load charged, so enter 0 in the Commission field. Leave the Notes field blank.
[[Screen not in online version of documentation.]]
After entering the last two fields, Capital Gainz scans through your open shares and generates a report listing shares to be sold. Choose to Print the Report Now, which sends it to the screen. When you're done viewing the list, hit Esc. Capital Gainz asks if you want to confirm the sale.
A brief note about confirmations. Capital Gainz lets you determine if you want confirmation screens to popup whenever you add, change, or delete a record. However, you don't have a choice when an action, such as selling shares, affects multiple records. Capital Gainz always asks for confirmation in those cases.
Answer YES to the confirm question, and Capital Gainz processes the sale. Processing involves converting the open shares records into closed shares records. When processing is complete, hit Esc twice to return to the Main Menu. From there, choose L) Log Maintenance and C) Closed Shares Log. Hit Enter at the Local Symbol field, which shows BOBTF, and you'll see the result of the sale. Since you only executed a single sale, this table looks like the list displayed when you executed the sale.
A nifty feature of Capital Gainz is that after deleting one or more records from the Closed Shares Log, you have the option of 'unselling' it. This means Capital Gainz will add it back to the Open Shares Log, as if you never sold it. This is a great way to reverse an erroneous sale.
As you may have wondered, the confirmation check point when selling shares with Capital Gainz makes an excellent 'what if?' tool. For instance, you could have chosen the Max Gain/Min Loss (MAX) selling method for your sale, to see what shares you would have specified to achieve the greatest gain on the sale. Then, just don't confirm the sale (until it's actually executed), and mail the request to the broker/investment company. This feature is useful if you need to maximize or minimize gains for tax considerations.
Hit Esc three times to return to the Main Menu, and bring up the Local Security Table. Make sure BOBTF is highlighted, and hit the function key labeled Activity Summary. You'll have to scroll through the list of function keys with the key labeled More, or use Function List, to find it. There's a lot of good information in this report.
Purchase, sale, and distribution information are totalled over the period. The total return figure assumes a buy-and-hold strategy, with a single share purchased at the beginning of the period and held to the end of the period, with all distributions reinvested. Your performance includes all purchases, sales, and distributions. The performance percentages account for shares not held the entire period by annualizing the purchase amounts. As your investments build up, it's interesting, and sometimes surprising, to see the difference between total return's buy-and-hold strategy and other strategies such as dollar-cost averaging.
Let's take a look at what reports are available. Hit Esc twice to return to the Main Menu, then choose R) Reports. The Report Menu is split into three sections: one for reports that apply to all portfolios, one for reports that apply to all or the current portfolio, and one that applies to the current portfolio and all or selected securities. Function keys let you choose all or the current portfolio, all or selected securities, and all or a range of dates.
You've probably noticed that most of these reports look familiar, as they are the same ones you saw at the bottom of various tables. The Report Menu puts them all together, and adds more options. Let's print out the activity logs for BAGF. Notice that reports are set to print for All Securities. Since we only want a report for BAGF, hit the key labeled Select Securities. A list of the local securities in the current portfolio is displayed. Highlight BAGF and hit the Enter key to tag it for the report. Hit Esc to return to the Report Menu. Now, you see that reports are set to print Selected Securities. You could specify a range of dates with the Select Date Range key, but this is more valuable if you have a few years worth of transactions and want to single out a particular year.
Choose Activity Detail. A short form gives you a couple more options here - choose to print ALL logs, by LOGTYPE. Capital Gainz flashes some messages indicating what it's doing - again, these are more valuable when many records are being processed. Finally, you'll see the Open Shares Detail Report and Distribution Detail Report. There is no Closed Shares Report since you have not sold any of BAGF's shares.
If the printed copies of your reports have some funny characters separating the headings, or do not have any sort of lines separating them, your printer does not understand the default line drawing characters used by Capital Gainz. You could flip through your printer manual and set the dip switches or change the settings in the little LCD menu. But, there's an easier way to handle this. Hit Esc twice to return to the Main Menu, and then choose U) User Settings. This form allows you to customize Capital Gainz. Hit the key labeled Set Report Parameters to set the printer related values. Use the Enter key to go to the Line Draw Chars field, choose NO, then hit the Form Accept short cut key or Enter on the rest of the fields. Back at the User Settings Form, hit the Form Accept key again to write the settings data and return to the Main Menu. Now, your reports will substitute standard ASCII characters for the ones your printer didn't understand.
Changes you make to the User Settings apply from that point on - these settings persist since they are saved in a file. You can try out some of the options and go back and change them later if you want. In particular, you may want to try out different screen colors with the Colors function key.
4.4 Finishing Up
Let's close our tour by updating the prices of the securities in your Nest Egg portfolio. Choose S) Security, hit the function key labeled Price Update, and then choose to update prices from the SCREEN. A form cycles through the securities in your current portfolio, accepting Date and Price fields. July of 1991 was a good month, with BAGF finishing at $55.00 and BOBTF at $15.50 on 7/31/91. The $55 price for BAGF is the net asset value, not the loaded price. If you only had the loaded price ($56.701), you could use the Calc Load/Comm key on the Price Form to determine the net asset value. After you enter the last security's price, you return to the Local Security Table, which is recalculated to reflect the new prices. BAGF now shows a gain of $68.45, while BOBTF has a gain of $16.94. You can also update prices with an ASCII file.
Well, that's it for our brief tour. To clean up, just delete the portfolios from the Portfolio Table, delete the broker/investment companies from the Broker/Investment Company Table, and delete the global securities from the Global Security Table. Demonstrating all the features of Capital Gainz would have been tedious. Instead, you are now familiar enough with Capital Gainz to start maintaining your portfolio. With your bearings set, you should be able to find answers to most of your questions in the rest of the users manual.
