FINANCIAL PLANNER V1.3 (S3A Only) ------------------------------------ Following the success of my Home Accounts program S3ABANK, a number of people have suggested that I issue some of the optional modules as standalone programs. This is the last of the modules. The others are: An Investment Tracker, S3AINV3.ZIP, a Fuel Consumption Tracker, S3AFUEL3.ZIP, An Expense Account Manager, S3AEXP.ZIP and a Home Inventory program, S3AHOME3.ZIP. This program allows you to keep track of an annual Budget for up to 25 different billing agencies (Phone, Gas, Electricity, TV etc.). To Install the program, simply put S3APLAN3.APP into any /APP/ directory and install as usual, using . Now go into the program. The 'nag' screens can be removed by registering the program, which will also allow you 25 agencies. The unregistered version allows you just 6 entries, to see the capabilities of the program. Working through the MENU commands will show you the capabilities of the program. The program basically works on 3 different levels: Level 1. To start, use (or ) to enter a couple of agencies who send you bills, such as Electricity and Phone (The usual Update, Delete and Move options are available as always). You can now move the vertical highlight to the required agency (either using the cursor, or pressing the first letter), and the horizontal highlight to the required month, and use (or ) to enter the estimated bill (From V1.3, this allows you to specify a period rather than just a month) . The bottom line will show the total for each month. Note that, although it starts up with January as the first month, you can use the horizontal cursor to make any month the first to be displayed. All the settings you have will be remembered between sessions. Once a payment has been made, you can use (or the Space-Bar) to show a cost in Bold as a reminder. The default is for a 12-month display, which is usable for costs up to 999. If you need more than 3 figures, there is an option to configure the display which, amongst other things allows you to reduce the number of months on display to prevent overlap. Level 2. If, like me, you run a separate account to pay the bills, you can use the planner to decide how much to transfer into the account each month. Press to switch the bottom line to 'Transfer' and use to put an initial estimate in for the amount. Note that you can put the amount in for individual months, to the end of the screen (if you have less than 12 months in the display it will fill up the remaining months as though they are displayed), or for all months. Now press again, and the line will show the Balance for each month. You can now increase or decrease the transfer accordingly, depending on how much in debt you are willing to go. There is also an option to adjust the initial balance in case you are not starting from zero. Level 3. This is the fully automatic mode that I operate. Use to enter the mode once you have completed all the entries. From now on, the present month will always appear in the second column, leaving the previous month in case there is an outstanding payment. All future payments will be de-reconciled, and the bottom window will show the predicted balance based on the previous months total. This total is shown in bold, and can be changed if required. Once the next month arrives, everything will move one column to the left, so you continually have a prediction for 11-months ahead. In V1.1, I implemented an 'Edit memo' function along the same lines as the option in 'Agenda'. Just use to open up a notepad to keep records of extra details, numbers and references. I also implemented the status window switching using . In V1.2 I have implemented decimal places. The only problem this generates is that of overlap between entries if you have too many digits. I have tried to make the program sensible enough to avoid this, but if you do have trouble, just reduce the number of months on display until the overlap disappears. In V1.3, I have implemented the capability to move the positions of the vertical lines, to design your own screen, and a 'Jump to Month' option. If you find the program useful and wish to register it, please see the file REGISTER.TXT for up-to-date instructions on how to register. Apart from giving you a 'warm' feeling, allowing you 25 agencies, and getting rid of the 'nag' screens, registering will give you access to full support and notification of regular, free, updates. If anyone has any useful suggestions for improvements, I will always try and include them in the next version. Cheers Al Richey