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-> This file introduces YOUR-PLAN, explains how to get started 
   etc. It should be read by all first-time users.

-> The file has been supplied as an integral part of YOUR-PLAN.     
   This is a personal financial planning software package developed 
   as a shareware package for use on a 'try-before-you-buy' basis 
   by Invest-Tech Limited. For contact details, see end of this file.

-> To print this file, type "PRINT README.TXT"

		 (Press CTRL+BREAK to quit now)
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			      WELCOME
			      =======

YOUR-PLAN (r2.1) is an easy-to-use software package for 
preparing a personal/household budget and cashflow projections
for six months ahead. It enables you to project your income 
and expenditure and to forecast monthly cashflows and end-month 
bank and credit card balances. Use YOUR-PLAN to plan ahead
and save money !!!!!!!!

YOUR-PLAN is a fully operational and useful package and not 
'disabled' in any way. We have offered it as shareware to 
encourage users to register and to purchase our other financial
planning software products for preparing financial projections
for the home and businesses. 

YOUR-PLAN is NOT free software. It has been supplied on a "try-
before-you-buy" basis. If you continue to use YOUR-PLAN after
a 30-day trial period, you must register with the author,
Invest-Tech. 

In return for registering, you will be licensed to use YOUR-PLAN
on a single computer indefinitely and you will automatically
receive (at no extra cost) a copy of the latest release of 
PERS-PLAN, a more powerful and comprehensive personal financial 
planner with its spiral-bound 90-page manual incorporating 
tutorial exercises etc. You also gain access to full support 
etc. for both products.

You can also upgrade and register directly with Invest-Tech via 
our World Wide Web (WWW) site on the Internet using a credit 
card and its special built-in forms. See bottom of file for 
details of its location.  Our Web site, called PlanWare, 
contains downloadable versions of *ALL* our financial planners 
for businesses and the home. It also offers useful advice in 
the form of text files on such topics as business planning, 
cashflow forecasting etc. as well as lots of other interesting 
stuff.

YOUR-PLAN is fully protected by copyright. However, it may be
copied in its entirety and without modification for FREE
distribution to friends and, subject to the conditions set out
in the VENDINFO.DIZ file, by shareware libraries etc.

	     Good luck with YOUR-PLAN.

		  Brian Flanagan, Invest-Tech Limited 

*****************************************************************

		       FILE CONTENTS/INDEX
		       ===================

This file (README.TXT) covers the following topics in separate
sections below:

	A - Details of supplied files, how to copy them etc.
	B - General introduction YOUR-PLAN and related matters
	C - Guidance on how to run YOUR-PLAN
	D - Explanation of shareware
	E - User Licence Agreement
	F - Software revisions
 
*****************************************************************

The supplied file VENDINFO.DIZ also contains important information.
It can be accessed by entering READ_ME.BAT at the DOS prompt.

******************************************************************

		    A - SUPPLIED FILES
		    ==================

See VENDINFO.DIZ for details.

Before starting to use YOUR-PLAN, we recommend that you review
this entire file either on-screen or, preferably, after printing
it. It includes brief instructions for loading YOUR-PLAN which
should enable you to start using the package. 

Another supplied text file (MANUAL.TXT), explains, in much more 
detail, how to load and use YOUR-PLAN. Because YOUR-PLAN is
very intuitive and contains very extensive 'on-line' help, you
may only need to refer to this file on an occasional basis.
However, you may wish to print it at this stage in order to
have it readily accessible for future reference, or if you get
"stuck",  or need detailed guidance on a specific issue.

We have also included with YOUR-PLAN a text file (MONEY.TXT)
which contains dozens of famous (and not so well-known)
quotations on the subject of "money". If you feel depressed
about your personal finances after using YOUR-PLAN, you should
have a look at MONEY.TXT. It MIGHT cheer you up !! We welcome
further quotations for inclusion in the next release of 
YOUR-PLAN. More seriously, have a look at Section 6.5 within
the manual text file (MANUAL.TXT) for some basic ideas on
utilising the output from YOUR-PLAN to improve your financial
planning and/or position.

Other text files of note are as follows:
   
   REGISTER   Details and Form for registration
   ENTERASS   Detailed guidance on entering assumptions.

*****************************************************************

		  B - GENERAL INTRODUCTION
		  ========================

YOUR-PLAN is an easy-to-use software package for preparing a
personal budget and cashflow projections for six months ahead.
It can be used to improve the management of your finances by
forecasting your income and expenditure. The resulting budget
can then be used to improve your financial planning & control
and, ultimately, to save yourself money. 

For a more detailed and formal description of YOUR-PLAN, you 
should refer to the text file called VENDINFO.DIZ.

Based on your estimates and assumptions, YOUR-PLAN compiles a
detailed and summary budget for up to a six months ahead. It
also produces reports analysing the budget and detailing all
your underlying assumptions on income and expenditure. 
YOUR-PLAN incorporates facilities for graphing key results;
overwriting assumptions by actuals; undertaking 'what-if' 
analysis; and rolling-forward assumptions and projections one
month at a time.

YOUR-PLAN is very suitable for users with limited or no
prior experience of computers as well as for more experienced
computer users who do not wish to go to the very considerable
trouble, or to waste valuable time, developing their own 
planning system on a spreadsheet. Bear in mind that YOUR-PLAN
involved hundreds of hours of development and years of 
"know-how".

To run YOUR-PLAN you need the following system:
 
 * Industry-standard PC with DOS 3.30 or higher and a hard disk,
   or dual 3.5" or 5.25" drives. 
 * Conventional memory of 640k. 
 * VGA, GCA, mono, Hercules or LCD display (or equivalent). 
 
A printer (dot-matrix, ink-jet or laser) is desirable. You can 
run YOUR-PLAN as a DOS program within Windows (use the supplied
icon called YOURPLAN.ICO).

YOUR-PLAN complements the very many personal financial packages
currently available in the market. Most of these are basically
household accounts systems with only very limited budgeting
facilities. To our best knowledge, very few of them have any
dynamic planning capabilities, similar to YOUR-PLAN's. To 
produce any form of projections with most of these systems, 
you must first keep historic accounts. For many people, this is 
a pain in the ......  Most of us are much more interested in 
projecting our income/expenditure and making ends meet in the 
FUTURE, rather than in learning about the past ("water under 
the bridge", "closing the stable door after the horse has 
bolted" and that sort of thing).
 
Historic data is NOT required to use YOUR-PLAN. However, if you 
do happen to keep household accounts (either manual or 
computer-based), past data on income and expenditure patterns 
etc. should help you make more accurate projections for the 
future.

Features
--------
YOUR-PLAN's features include the following:

* Seven categories of income (salary for one wage earner,
  reimbursed work expenses, dividends, rent etc.).

* Facilities for handling salary deductions based on absolute
  amounts and simple percentages as well as different
  percentages related to bands and thresholds (as for PAYE 
  income tax) specified by the user. YOUR-PLAN is not
  restricted to any particular tax system or currency. Basic             
  information on current tax bands and rates for the UK and 
  Ireland is contained in a supplied file (TAX.TXT).

* Sixteen main expenditure groups (household, car,
  accommodation etc.) incorporating twenty-eight subgroups
  which can be defined by a user. 

* Facilities for planning credit card expenditure and payments
  and for calculating interest on any outstanding balances.

* Current and deposit accounts with facilities for calculating
  interest on the basis of specified interest rates, handling
  accrued interest and specifying interest payment dates.

Help
----
YOUR-PLAN is entirely menu-driven and incorporates very
comprehensive context-sensitive help facilities. These 
include extensive menu prompts, error trapping, on-line Help 
Pages, pop-up Hint & Guidance Windows, annotated variable 
descriptions and "drill-down" values. A very comprehensive 
manual is supplied as an accompanying text file (MANUAL.TXT).

Specification   
-------------
  Number of reports                               7    (13)*  
  Number of graphed variables                     18   (18)*  
  Approximate maximum number of user assumptions  530  (950)* 
  Approximate total number of built-in formulae   870  (1,600)* 

	* Numbers for PERS-PLAN given in parenthesis

Registration
------------
The idea behind shareware is to allow a user to evaluate a 
software package at minimal cost - "try-before-you-buy". 

YOUR-PLAN is NOT FREE software. If you decide that you would
like to retain and continue to use YOUR-PLAN after a 30-day
trial period, you must register with Invest-Tech, the author
and copyright holder. See VENDINFO.DIZ for further details.

In return for registering, a user is licensed to continue
using YOUR-PLAN on one computer without any time limit.
In addition, a user automatically receives (at no extra cost)
a fully-operational copy of a much more powerful and comprehensive 
version of YOUR-PLAN, called PERS-PLAN, with its 90-page 
spiral-bound printed manual (incorporating tutorial exercises
etc.). You also gain access to full support for both products.

Further details about PERS-PLAN are given below and within 
YOUR-PLAN itself. (Practically all registrants immediately switch 
over from YOUR-PLAN to PERS-PLAN as soon as they receive the 
latter).

See the REGISTER.TXT file for further details and a Registration 
Form.

YOUR-PLAN contains a built-in Registration Form. Alternatively
you can use the Registration Form contained in the REGISTER.TXT 
file.

PERS-PLAN 
---------
PERS-PLAN, the version of YOUR-PLAN which is automatically 
supplied (at no extra cost) to all users on registering, includes 
many additional features and facilities:

  *  Covers a 12-month period with separate full-year reports
  *  Handles incomes, salary deductions etc. for one or two 
     wage-earners
  *  Special graph printing utility
  *  Much more extensive range of expenditure assumptions
  *  More function keys to facilitate data entry etc.
  *  Different printer set-ups can be used for monthly and
     full-year reports.

It is supplied with a 90-page spiral-bound manual. 

Invest-Tech Limited                                             
-------------------
We are management consultants specialising in financial and
business planning software. Formed in 1983, Invest-Tech is a 
Registered Practice within the Institute of Management
Consultants in Ireland and the UK. Our banker is Bank of
Ireland, O'Connell Bridge, Dublin 1, and our auditors are
Deloitte & Touche, Dublin.

In addition to YOUR-PLAN and PERS-PLAN, our range of financial
planning software includes the following commercial products:

BANK-PLAN: 12-month cashflow planner for micro- and small-
	   businesses. Runs 'stand-alone' and with similar
	   general structure to PERS-PLAN. Handles debtors,
	   VAT, creditors, expense payments etc. Price: 50 
	   pounds (sterling or Irish) excluding VAT (US$70).
	   These is a shareware version of BANK-PLAN. Look for 
	   a file called BANKP*.ZIP.

CASH-PLAN: 4-week + 11-month cashflow planner for small/medium
	   sized businesses, subsidiaries of large companies
	   and corporate cash planning. Runs 'stand-alone' and
	   with similar general structure to PERS-PLAN. More
	   powerful version of BANK-PLAN with additional
	   features and facilities. Price: 95 pounds (sterling 
	   or Irish) excluding VAT (US$150).

EASI-PLAN: A range of comprehensive and fully-integrated financial 
	   planners (P&Ls, cashflows, balance sheets, ratios etc.)      
	   covering 12-months plus 8 quarters. To our best                 
	   knowledge, no other package even remotely offers the 
	   same range of features or facilities for business and 
	   financial planning. Runs 'stand-alone' with similar 
	   general structure to PERS-PLAN. 
	   
	   A "MICRO" version for new and very small businesses (with 
	   annual sales of up to 250,000 pounds). Price: 45 
	   pounds (sterling or Irish) excluding VAT (US$70). 
	   
	   A "LITE" version for new and small businesses (with 
	   annual sales of up to 2 million pounds). Price: 75 
	   pounds (sterling or Irish) excluding VAT (US$120). 
	   
	   A "PRO" version for larger businesses and/or professional
	   advisers. Price: 145 pounds (sterling or Irish) excluding 
	   VAT (US$230).
	 
	   These are shareware versions of EASI-PLAN Micro, Lite and 
	   Pro. Look for files called EASI*.ZIP.

FIN-PLAN:  Wide range of comprehensive and fully-integrated
	   financial planners (P&Ls, cashflows, balance sheets,
	   ratios etc.) covering 12-months plus 8/16 quarters. 
	   Versions are available to run on Lotus 1-2-3 (any
	   release for DOS or Windows). 
	   Extensive menus with numerous features and facilities. 
	   Easily expanded by user. Price: 95 pounds (sterling or 
	   Irish) excluding VAT (US$150).

Comprehensive descriptions, specifications and 'demos' are
available for each of the foregoing products.

******************************************************************

		   C - HOW TO RUN YOUR-PLAN 
		   ========================

Refer to Section 3 of the MANUAL.TXT text file for more detailed 
instructions if you run into any problems.

The following guidelines assume that you have already installed
(i.e. copied, unzipped, unarchived, uncompressed etc.) the complete 
set of YOUR-PLAN files onto a hard disk.

     a) Get into the sub-directory where you have installed
	all YOUR-PLAN's files. For example, if the sub-directory
	YOUR was used, type "CD YOUR" and press RETURN at the 
	DOS prompt.

     b) Type "GO" to access an introductory menu system. If your
	PC uses a very old type of display, do not select this
	option choose c) or d) instead.
      
     or
     c) For guidance on the syntax for loading YOUR-PLAN etc.
	type "YP".

     or
     d) Type "YP MASTER" to directly load YOUR-PLAN with specimen
	assumptions contained in a file called MASTER.ASS.

To access any of YOUR-PLAN's text files, you can use the EDIT utility 
supplied with DOS or the NOTEPAD accessory supplied with Windows.
		     

Running YOUR-PLAN through Windows      
---------------------------------                     
To set up YOUR-PLAN to run within Windows, install it using the DOS 
commands etc. before you load Windows. 

Next, run the Windows Program Manager and proceed as follows:
  
  1. Select the Applications Group which you want to contain YOUR-PLAN.
  2. Select File and New options from the Program Manager's menu. 
  3. When the New Program Object box appears, select Program Item
     and OK.
  4. When the Program Item Properties box appears, proceed as
     follows:

     - Type "YOUR-PLAN" as the Description.
     - Type "C:\YOUR\YP X" as the Command Line. Make sure you enter
       a single space between YP and X. This command assumes that 
       YOUR-PLAN has been installed to the YOUR sub-directory on 
       a hard disk called C.
     - Enter "C:\YOUR" as the Working Directory. 
     - Select Change Icon and select OK when the Change Icon message
       box appears. 
     - When the next Change Icon box appears, enter 
       "C:\YOUR\YOURPLAN.ICO" as the File Name and select OK. 
     - Once you return to the Program Item Properties box select 
       OK twice to complete installation.

To run YOUR-PLAN within Windows, double-click on its icon and wait 
while it loads. Press RETURN to ignore the 'File does not exist' 
message and then use the cursor keys and RETURN to select the desired 
*.ASS file in response to the instruction 'Enter Data File Name" which 
appears at the top of the screen. If more than five such data files 
exist, press the F3 Function Key to display them in a larger window.

If using Windows, you can view any of YOUR-PLAN's text files using 
the Notepad accessory.


***** WATCH OUT ****
If you try to display graphs when running YOUR-PLAN in a DOS Window 
(i.e. less than full screen) when running in Enhanced Mode, the graphs 
may not show and the display may lock. To unlock it, return to a full 
DOS screen by pressing ALT+RETURN. Always use a DOS full screen when 
displaying graphs.

Using a LCD display         
-------------------
If you are running YOUR-PLAN on a portable PC with a LCD display, you
will probably need to change YOUR-PLAN's video setting once it has 
loaded in order to clearly distinguish the rectangular cursor which 
appears when you are viewing reports on the screen. To do this, 
press I (for Initialise) at the Main Menu, V (for Video) and L 
(for LCD/B&W). The Manual explains how to make these changes permanent.

****************************************************************

		    D - WHAT IS SHAREWARE ?
		    =======================

"Shareware" is a method of software distribution designed to
give users a chance to test a package before purchase at a very
competitive price. Copyright rules apply to shareware and the
authors retain all the rights except as indicated in their licence
agreements. As you will see from YOUR-PLAN, shareware does not 
signify cheap (in the nasty sense) or poor quality software.

*****************************************************************
	
		   E - USER LICENCE AGREEMENT
		   ==========================

See VENDINFO.DIZ.

*****************************************************************

		  F - SOFTWARE REVISIONS
		  ======================

V1.0   16-NOV-1992
------------------
First shareware release of YOUR-PLAN. Based on PERS-PLAN,
a more powerful and comprehensive planner which YOUR-PLAN
users automatically receive on registering with Invest-Tech.  

V1.01  6-FEB-1993
-----------------
Minor changes to Help Pages & menu prompts. Improved display
for Liquid Crystal Displays.

V2.0   19-JUL-1993
------------------
Addition of the following:
  Graph printing utility.  "Roll-forward" facility. Pop-up 
  Guidance and Hint Windows.  "Drill-down" values.
We have also added the ENTERASS.TXT and MONEY.TXT 
files. Extensive changes have been made to the layout and 
contents of the README.TXT and MANUAL.TXT files. 

V2.1   10-FEB-1994
------------------
The batch file called GO.BAT was enhanced to include introductory 
screens and a menu system for new users. Minor changes to *.TXT 
files.

*****************************************************************
YOUR-PLAN (c) Copyright Invest-Tech Limited 1992-95   
All Rights Reserved     

    Invest-Tech Limited  
    27 Ardmeen Park, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland
    
    Irish Tel: 01-283 4083      UK Tel: 01232-315454
      (Call 9 to 9 weekdays and 10 to 6 weekends - GMT/BST)  
    Fax: 278 2391 
      Fax codes: Irish:01-  UK:00-353-1-  Inter'l:+353-1-
    
    CompuServe:    100606,2665
    Internet:      brianf@iol.ie
    WWW Site URL:  http://www.planware.ie/resource/planware

*****************************************************************
To view this file page-by-page, type "TYPE README.TXT|MORE"

	      *** End of README.TXT file ***

