Overview
Compoundee is an iPhone App that can solve time value of
money equations. It
does so from a a savings and investment
perspective. It can calculate how much investment will be worth
over a period of time, or the necessary rate, duration of time,
periodic deposits or initial investment required to achieve a
desired accumulation. Compoundee makes these calculations
simple with a user interface that can be used by anyone, with or
without previous exposure to financial calculations. You don't
ever need to know what fv, pv, n, & i are to use Compoundee.
It is very flexible in that it allows for different investment lifetimes,
different compounding periods, periodic withdrawals or deposits,
and different rates of return.
Compoundee also automatically provides results that take into account
inflation.
This is especially useful because it helps you to learn how much
your investment will be worth in today's dollars.
For a complete description of the app, please see the documentation
section below, please also look a the
screen shots before purchasing.
Compoundee is by no means intended to replace complex spreadsheets
or full-blown investment and retirement planning software. It is useful
as a quick, easy & portable method of performing financial calculations. This
can be an important first step towards gaining
knowledge and background information before speaking with an investment
advisor or certified financial planner.
Download
Compoundee on iTunes
Version History
1.5 (Latest) - Published changes from 1.4.2 through 1.5 to appStore
1.4.4 - Beta Version for 1.5 release
- Fixed problems when recents button is double-tapped
- Fixed calculation problems for Weekly choices
1.4.3 - Added Weekly deposit frequency
- Added Weekly compounding
Full list of changes
Requirements
Compoundee requires iPhone OS 2..2.1 or greater. If
you regularly sync your iPhone, it has most likely already been
uprgaded. Otherwise, to upgrade the iPhone OS, plug in your iPhone
and click Check for Updates. Continue with the upgrade by
following the on-screen instructions.
Support & Feedback
Please send all support requests or any other feedback to
info@goodhumans.com. We are
interested in hearing all support & feature requests, feedback, compliments,
and complaints. Please do not hesitate to contact us.
User Documentation
Choosing the variable
After launch, and at the top of the screen is a bar that allows
you to select which of the variables you would like to solve for.
Tapping on one of these controls will alter the rest of the
display such that the appropriate input fields are available
that correspond to the chosen calculation. Also updated is the
results window towards the bottom of the screen so that the
appropriate results will be displayed. The available
variables to solve for are:
- Total(fv) -
Tapping on this will allow you to solve for the total
accumulation of your investment. This value will be
displayed in the results window along with an
inflation adjusted amount. This latter value is what
the total is in today's dollars. This number provides
meaning to the larger number, because it more accurately
reflects how much you will be able to purchase with the
total at the end of your investment.
- Rate - Tapping on this
will allow you to calculate the necessary average annual
rate of return for your investment in order to achieve your
goals as set according to the input fields. It is important to
note that this is a nominal APR. Below this result, will appear
a tax and inflation adjusted rate. This is the nominal APR that would
be needed to accumulate the desired Total after tax and inflation
effects are accounted for.
- Duration -
Tapping on this will allow you to solve for the necessary lifetime of
the investment in order to achieve your
goals as set according to the input fields. The tax and inflation adjusted
result shows the duration necessary to achieve those goals if the
effects of taxes
and inflation are accounted for.
- Deposits -
Tapping on this will allow you to solve for the amount
of periodic deposits you will need in order to achieve
your investment goals. The tax & inflation adjusted result shows the amount
of periodic deposits necessary if the effects of taxes and inflation are
accounted for.
- Principal - Tapping this
control will solve for the initial investment you will
need to make in order to achieve your goals as set by the
other input fields. The tax & inflation adjusted result shows the amount
of initial investement necessary if the effects of taxes and inflation are
accounted for.
Basic Input Fields
The following fields are used as inputs to the calculator.
The specific input that are displayed are dependent on the
variable to be solved, as described above. It should be noted
that all of the numeric inputs can include commas and currency
symbols to allow for easier reading of larger numbers. Including
these separators or the percent symbols is not required,
however.
The other attempt to make input easier is a history facility for each field.
Tapping on this will bring up a menu
of the past several entries for that field.
This list of input fields follows:
- Principal - The amount of the initial investment.
- Total - The future value of the investment. This is the total accumulation of the investment at the end
of the specified duration.
- Rate - The simple annual interest rate the investment will earn. This is a nominal APR.
- Duration - The length
of time the investment will last. This can be specified
in days, months, or years. To change units, tap on the
right side of this table
after entering the numeric portion of the duration into
the textfield.
- Deposits - The amount of money that will be periodically deposited into the account. If money is to be periodically withdrawn instead, use a negative number here. You can specify how often these deposits using the row underneath this text field.
- Deposit Frequency - Tapping on the label to the right of the deposits field allows you to change the frequency of the deposits. Deposits can be made on a daily,monthly,quarterly,semi-annual, or yearly basis.
- Compounding Frequency - Tap this to change how interest will be compounded. This can be daily, months, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually. Tap the desired choice on the subsequent menu to choose.
Advanced Input Fields
The advanced input fields are displayed in a row directly above the results on each
screen. To modify the values for these, click on the row. A new screen will
appear where the following fields may be modified.
- Inflation Rate - This
is the constant average anual rate that is to be used
for calculating the inflation adjusted total. It is
defaulted to 3.2%, but you can set it to any value in
order to test how different inflation rates will
affect your savings.
- Tax Rate - This
is the average annual combined tax rate you expect to pay on these earnings.
- Deposit Time - This
specifies whether the periodic & deposits will be made at the beginning
of the period or at the end of the deposit period.
- Exra Deposits - This
allows for extra annual deposits to be included in the calculation. This
can be useful to account for savings of christmas bonuses and other types
of annual savings in addition to the periodic deposits.
Results
The results are displayed toward the bottom of the screen. They
are automatically updated whenever the input parameters change.
The results are hidden by the keyboard while input is enterred
into the text fields. To dismiss the
keyboard, hit the return key on the on-screen keyboard.
Alternatively you can dismiss the keyboard by tapping
almost anywhere on the screen outside of the text input field.
Known Issues, Bugs and Caveats
- Compoundee sometimes attempts to give a reasonable answer even
in the face of impossible parameters. This can occasionally result
in approximated results for rate-of-return or durations. Often, the
result for an impossible equation will be 'N/A'. A better way to handle
all of this would probably be to validate input and alert users of the
problem immediately.
- The 30/360 Day counting standard is the only daycounting standard used at
this time. This can cause some differences when comparing results to
other calculators that use different day counting standards. This would
most often occuring when using daily and weekly frequencies
and durations. To learn more
about various day-counting conventions and the conventions that are used for
different investment types, please visit:
Day count convention at WikiPedia.
- When the duration does not divide evenly by the deposit period, deposits
are pro-rated according to the fractional duration. In other words, if deposits
are being made monthly and the duration is 45 days, the deposits will be
included one and half times. A better way of handling this would
be to include the full deposit amount for calculations where the deposits are
being done at the beginning of the period, and to exclude the deposits for
calculations deposits are configured for the end of period.
- There is no capability to increase the deposits to account for inflation.
- The tax rate is overly simplistic in that it is a combined federal and local tax rate. These should be separated so that the local taxes can be deducted from the amount the federal tax is
calculated on.
- Tax and Inflation effects are combined. It probably makes more sense to
show the after tax result as a separate number.
Other Savings Calculators
There are several savings and time-value-of-money calculators on the
web and there are a few other iPhone Apps. These are listed below:
iPhone Apps
Web-based Calculators
Disclaimers
Compoundee is provided "AS IS" without warranty of any kind,
either expressed or
implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of
merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose.
Compoundee not constitute investment advice.
The results are approximations. Do not make financial decisions based
on the results from this calculator. Please consult with a ceritifed
financial planner for investment advice.
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