• New Pension Cost of Living options. After much feedback from users, you can now control the Cost of Living Adjustments for your Pension benefits for both BEFORE and AFTER your pension benefit starts. For both, you can select to use NO COLA, Inflation, or a Custom Percentage.
• New Social Security Estimate Options. Since most people are receiving personal benefit statements from the Social Security Administration, we have added the ability to enter an estimate yourself that overrides the estimate created in the program. This estimate could be your existing social security benefit (if already retired) or an estimate taken from the statement from the SSA. If you need to request a statement visit: http://www.ssa.gov
• Print Detailed Report has been overhauled so that numbers print in the correct formats. In some cases the Asset List values were not printing on the detailed report and this should now be corrected.
• New splash screen design
• If you had a shortfall in the retirement years, the Income Graph was not properly displaying the amount of interest and principal in the last year before your account was fully depleted. This is now corrected in the Income Graph, Spread Sheet, and printed detail report.
• Removed SoftLock utility from Purchase menu as a way to order our software; SoftLock went out of business in May 2001
• Added detailed ordering options and order form to HELP file

• Some of the values on the spread sheet and on the printed detail reports for version 2001.2 were incorrect due to a bug introduced accidentally in that release; this version corrects those numbers on both the spread sheet and the printed detail reports. The columns affected were "Income from Interest", "Income from Principal" and "Social Security", but only in the retirement years.
• Clarification for this year's release on the methodology for how the retirement years calculations are determined: The Total Investments column shows the beginning of year balance. The Retirement Income Goal amount listed is reduced by any defined benefit payments (pension or social security) for that year, and the remaining shortfall of required income is then taken out as a withdrawal from the Total Investments at the beginning of the year. The interest that is accrued over the remainder of the year on the remaining Total Investments is added back into the balance to reach the Total Investments amount for the beginning of the following year. This interest is listed as "Income from Interest". If your required income for a given year is more than the interest that accrues, then you must dip into your principal to meet your income requirements. This amount is shown in the "Income from Principal" column.
• Note on calculating the Total Investments amount in first year of retirement: That number is a beginning of year number. In the year prior to the year you retire, the program assumes you are still saving for retirement at your specified contribution rates. Thus the Total Investments in the first year of retirement include interest and contributions, company match etc. from the prior year.

• Social Security amounts were incorrect on the income graph for the last version 2001.1; if retirement age was less than 62, then it would show Social Security payments even though you cannot get retirement benefits from Social Security prior to age 62; this version 2001.2 corrects this problem.
• If you entered a Current Age in the twenties in version 2001.1 only, the program was crashing depending on what the Retirement Age was set to; this version corrects this problem.
• Changed the spread sheet column names to be more descriptive and easier to understand; changed this on the grid and on the printed detail report.
• Added name, company, address, contact info, etc. to printed detail reports (for PRO version only).
• Added better formatting to the printed detail reports (both Regular and PRO versions).
• Added software version number, copyright information and web address to the printed detail reports at the end of the report.
• Fixed old email addresses on some of the PRO version message boxes.
• Changed Age to Current Age on the detail report to match the main screen input label.
• If user does not enter any assets on the Asset List, the Asset List headers would print on the detail report, but nothing else. This new version prints placeholders if there are no assets.
• User info on the detail report used to print squares in certain places due to bad characters being printed. This new version attempts to eliminate that.

Version 2001.1 released 1/20/2001

• Increased the maximum output age of the calculation from 90 to 100. The additional years of calculations will appear in the SpreadSheet ONLY, not on the graphs.
• Fixed bug in the display of the Interest Income in the first year of retirement on the Spread Sheet. At the beginning of each year in retirement, the retirement income goal withdrawal is made first, then the interest for the year is calculated using the remaining balance.
• Updated the Help file. Added more information to the FAQ.
• Improved the output printed in the Detailed Report.

  Updated the Social Security Estimate as follows: All of the underlying data and calculations have been updated to the latest available data and Social Security laws.

• Cost of Living Adjustment was increased to 3.5% for 2001.
• The Maximum Creditable Earnings were increased to $80,400 for 2001.
• The Bend Point 1 used in calculating the Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) is now $561 (was $531) for 2001.
• The Bend Point 2 used in calculating the Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) is now $3,381 (was $3,202) for 2001.
• The Year 2000 and above National Average Wage Index is estimated using a conservative 3% above the latest year of actual data - 1999; the official 1999 National Average Wage Index is $30,469.84.
• The software was updated to use the current year 2001 Federal Income Tax Tables.
• All of the titles, help files, copyrights, and setup program have been updated to the new look and the new year.

Version 2000.3 released 2/3/2000

• added standard Windows keyboard shortcuts to all menu items
  
• added default "Enter" activation for all command buttons (i.e. OK buttons)
  
• added default OK button on splash screen so user can pass it more quickly if desired; otherwise timer will remove screen automatically after a few seconds
  
• added ability to save asset list information to a file; this is useful for the Pro version users and site licenses who want to pre-configure the software with the actual fund names available in their retirement plan
  
• added Torrid logo and updated information to the About screen
  
• updated contacts info to new sales and support email addresses
  
• added program limitations, FAQ, and revision history to the help file

Version 2000.1 and 2000.2 released 1/2000
Social Security Estimate Data Updates: All of the underlying data and calculations have been updated to the latest available data and Social Security laws.

• Cost of Living Adjustment increased to the latest data of 2.4%
  
• The Maximum Creditable Earnings were increased to $76,200
  
• The Bend Point 1 used in calculating the Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) is now $531 (was $505).
  
• The Bend Point 2 used in calculating the Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) is now $3,202 (was $3,043)
  
• The Year 2000 National Average Wage Index is estimated using a conservative 3% above the latest year of actual data 1998 $28,861 which yields 1999 index of $29727.28 and 2000 index of $30619.10
  
• The software was updated to use the current year 2000 Federal Income Tax Tables.
  
• All of the titles, help files, copyrights, and setup program have been updated to the new look and the new year.
  
• The new setup/installation program is designed to be more user friendly, fewer screens and fewer problems during the installation process. The End User License Agreement (EULA) is now presented in a clearer manner.
  
• Increased the allowed contribution percentage for Tax Deferred savings contributions to 50% and dollars to $50,000 because some users claimed their profit sharing, voluntary savings, retirement plan and others all combined exceeded the prior threshold of 25%.
  
• Fixed inconsistencies on the main screen on the interface border sizes, styles and alignment of the 3 main panels
  
• Fixed the alignment of text input boxes problem that showed up on Windows 98 and above.
  
• Eliminated SoftLock registration method via "e-mail" since its no longer offered.
  
• Using new SoftLock registration utility with their new contact information in Maynard, MA.
  
• Fixed bug where Pension amount in first year of retirement was being incorrectly added into the Total Investments balance

Version 3.991

• added new SoftLock registration utility which adds even easier registration via e-mail, web, 1-800 phone. Now accepts credit cards with expiration dates greater than the year 2000. Prior version, due to an oversight, did not accept credit card expiration dates Year 2000 and above.
  
• the passwords purchased are now more user friendly in that the new systems will allow you to recover your software or move it to a new computer without having to request a new password.
  
• updated the Social Security calculations to the new 1999 numbers for latest accuracy with respect to Maximum Benefit, Average Indexed Monthly Earnings, National Avg. Earnings, 2 bendpoints, and the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA)
  
• also, reduced several of the inflation factors involved in the social security calc from 5% to 3% to provide a better estimate. The older estimates may have been a bit high. The factors reduced to 3% for the estimate include national average earnings inflation factor, salary projection into the past to age 22, and the Primary Insurance Amount inflation factor
  
• updated and enhanced the HELP file

Version 3.985

• updated SoftLock registration utility to work on Windows NT
  
• fixed a bug that calculated the incorrect interest income in the first year of retirement.

Version 3.984 and earlier enhancements:

• updated Social Security calcs for 1998.
  
• vastly improved and re-organized Help file!!!
  
• added 20% to Tax Bracket input for new 1998 Long Term Capital Gain rate for Taxable Investments.
  
• updated Settings menu options to say "Percentage of Salary" rather than the less specific "Percent of Income".
  
• changed Pension calculation to NOT automatically apply any inflation in post-retirement; you do have the option of inflating the pension during the pre-retirement period
  
• in Pro '98 version, changed Make Setup Disk to have fewer option which makes the feature far less confusing to the user.
  
• in retirement, retirement income goal amounts are now paid out before interest accrues for that year
  
• Annual Return maximum has been raised from 25% to 35%.

Prior enhancements already added:

• print graphs
  
• more ways to register
  
• can enter company match and contributions using raw dollar amounts or by percentage of salary
  
• SOCIAL SECURITY estimate
  
• asset allocation model
  
• better printing and reporting
  
• spreadsheet and graphical analysis of your 401(k) balance growth and retirement income
  
• set a retirement income goal in today's dollars and $401K Planner will show you clearly in a graph whether your current savings strategy will meet that goal.
  
• new and improved interface

Please see our Special Offer for pricing of Upgrades and New Users.