RetireBase Changelog

What's new in RetireBase 2.3

Nov 5, 2013

New Features:
Increase Font Size - For high resolution monitors the font size may not be as readable as desired, especially those in List windows. By clicking on the F+ popup menu located at the top-right of most windows the font size can be increased by 1 or 2 sizes.
Changes:
Date Entry - All enterable date fields now use the system date format set in the operating system preferences. For Mac OS X, this is set in System Preferences>Language & Text>Region. For Windows it is set in Start>Control Panel>Regional and Language Options>Regional Options. A variety of formats can be selected by choosing the country or using customize. (For example, mm/dd/yyyy, yyyy-mm-dd. The internal format of mm/dd/yyyy is still used for application generated dates and for searches.
Remembering Window Locations - The Help windows can now be remembered.
Lastest Income Tax Data - Income tax data for the lastest available year is included for USA and Canada. Changes to Michigan (Property and Pension and North Carolina (expemptions taxes have been included. Added Canada OAS age because depending on year of birth, the age changes and the pension can be deferred to age 70.
Fixes:
Accounts - The last day period record for accounts that have passed their end date was not being recalculated properly. This has been fixed. Changing of the Active Record check box was automatically set off when the End Date was passed which was causing problems when an account was not updated until after the End Date. This has been removed and the user must set the Active Record check box manually.
Login - Any change to the Access included in a License Document was not being accepted. This has been corrected.
Asset Movement - Asset Movement text did not display taken assets for Person 2 and instead used Person 1. This has been fixed. The Charts window cannot be Auto Opened as it was creating a second window when the main window opened.
Unique Names - Unique names for Accounts were not being checked properly and did not always make the changes to other records as expected. This has been fixed.

New in RetireBase 2.2r1 (Nov 5, 2013)

New in RetireBase 2.2 (Nov 5, 2013)

New in RetireBase 2.1 (Nov 5, 2013)

New Features:
Support Latest Operating Systems - Support is provided for Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion and Windows 7.
Accounts - When printing active accounts from the menu, the colors can now be set and saved by the user.
Automatic Open Of Windows At Login - Each window can now be automatically opened at the next login by holding down the Shift key when selecting the menu item. To remove the automatic open, hold the Shift key down when closing the window.
Help - Show Sections - Previously when a Help window was opened, it showed the complete description. To make it easier to view a particular part of the description, a Show Sections check box is provided that lists the sections, which can be expanded and then collapsed, if desired, to show only a section of the description. The sections are the numbering used in the manual.
Duplicating Last Year Tax Data - If desired, in the Retire Cash Flow window, rather than use a tax file for the current year, a duplicate of the last year can be created. This permits the existing application release to be used, rather than upgrading, if an upgrade is required.
Marginal Tax Rates - Each of the Retire Cash Flow Income charts now has a check box to switch between the normal Income chart and a new Marginal Tax Rate chart. Added colors for pensions and salaries instead of using gray.
Changes:
Account Net Worth - Changed RRSP/IRA to be Registered to be independent of country on the printing of active accounts.
Accounts-Input Window - The creation and deletion of Account Period records in now automatically done by the application. In the past, the Add and Delete buttons had to be used.
Cash Flow Retire Rates page - Salary/Pension Inflation and Increase rates have been added as has the Dividend Payment and Dividend Yield rates.
Cash Flow Retire Entry page - in the Assets area, clicking on the "Use A Fixed Rate Above Inflation" check box and entering a percent over-rides any percentages entered into the %Rate column. The percent is added to the Expenses Inflation rate and used for all assets. This is very useful when the objective is to have asset growth as some amount above inflation.
Cash Flow Retire Dividend Payments - Previously the dividend payment amount was set as a percent of the Dividend Share amount. It has been changed so that the amount and the rate can be entered directly. A new Yield percent can now be used to relate Dividend Payment Amounts to the Dividend Share Amounts.
Examples Folder - Examples are now in an Examples Folder with all Retire Cash Flow examples inside a second folder called Examples-Retire. This reduces the clutter in the Release folder.
Selection Mark - Previously a check mark for Macs and a double arrow for Windows were used to indicate when an item has been selected in an array. It is now the same for both platforms and is a "greater than" character (>.
Fixes:
Cash Flow Retire - The TFSA Max check box was giving inconsistent results, particularly in the room left and the filling of the Assets Per Year page. The Asset Movement page was showing Person 1 instead of Person 2. These have now been fixed.
Printing - Some headers were printed twice. Some text areas in Windows were being truncated. These have now been corrected.
RetireBase Show Windows At Login - The Show Accounts and Show Cash Flow at Login have been removed from the menu and been replaced by a more general Automatic Open of windows at login. To use this new feature, hold down the Shift key when selecting any menu item or closing a window.

New in RetireBase 2.0 (Nov 5, 2013)

New Features:
Addition Of USA - A new country drop-down menu has been added to the Entry page. When the USA is selected, the Entry and many other pages change to show the USA information instead of for Canada. In addition, during the login for the first time, the Country and Province or State must be selected. They will be used as the defaults. These can be changed at any time on the Entry page as indicated in the manual.
Payroll Deductions - These have been added to the Expenses and are either entered by the user or automatically calculated from the salaries. For Canada they are Canada Pension Plan and Employment Insurance. For the USA they are Social Security and Medicare. Self-employment can also be set for each person.
Assets Per Year Page - A new TaxesEach of the $/Year amounts on the Entry page can be changed in any year on the new Assets Per Year page. This permits yearly adjustments rather than the same amount for all years.
Home Buyers Plan - On the Assets Per Year page it is possible to withdraw some of the RRSP assets and use as Canadian Home Buyers Plan. The balance is kept in a separate column and the yearly amount is applied, if sufficient or the mandated amount is added back into taxes.
Charts Values Page - This new page provides the arrays used in the 3 charts on the Charts page. It makes it easy to see the details of the charts.
Charts Windows Check Boxes - Each of the 3 charts now have a check box in the upper left corner. When the check box is off, the chart is shown, when it is on, the arrays used in the chart are shown. These are the same as on the new Charts Values page, but only for the chart selected. This makes it easy to see the details of the chart.
Exclude GIS Check Boxes - On the Income pages, a new button has been added for excluding the Guaranteed Income Supplement.
Exclude Taxes Check Box - On the Taxes page, a new button has been added for excluding all taxes.
Change Order For Adding To and Taking From Assets - On the Calculations page, it is now possible to use a different order for the automatic adding to and taking from assets. It is also possible to override the automatic calculation.
Changes:
Country and Province Default - After the initial login, the Country and Province or State must be selected. They are used on the Entry page and can be changed at any time.
Show All Check box - This has been removed as all charts and the analysis now show all ages.
Rates Page - The Salary/Pension %Infl arrays has been changed to be Salary/Pension %Inc arrays. The %Infl amount was not appropriate as it is normally a fixed amount over the lifetime of the pension while the %Inc would normally be set to be similar to the Expenses Inflation rate. This change permits the %Inc to be changed during pre-retirement years.
Government Values Page - A new array for Federal government values replaces the variables that were used previously. This was done to make it easier to include the USA. A summary of the tax form line used in the calculations have now been included.
Auto Iterate - Changed to include all years for expenses and not just after retirement and to include increasing income.
Ontario Tax Credits - Ontario removed sales tax credit and added energy credit. Application changed to accommodate.
Change Request - Changes on the non-entry pages can now be made to multiple ages at one time.
Income Changes - Comment and error messages now provided. Pension calculation now uses last positive salary before Retire Age.
Fixes:
Capital Gain ACB - The Adjusted Cost Base was being added to any capital gain withdrawal instead of being subtracted. Fixed by making it positive.
Pension Splitting - Determining when to split and when not to and the values to use had not been set correctly. The change is minor but it affected how the Person 2 percent is shown and to make sure that the Person 2 can have a larger income and be the person doing the splitting when both have splitable income.
Chart 8 - Taxes - The chart showed Available income instead of Taxable income. Changed to use the correct income so that it now matches what is shown in the array.
Extra Expenses - Person 2 assets were being included even when the Include Person 2 check box was not on. The would normally not be a problem unless person 2 was once included and then excluded. A test has been added to exclude Person 2 when the check box is off.
TFSA Maximum Contribution - The initial Pensions Projected Annual Inflation Rate was used and it should have been the Expenses rate. The rate used now is that shown for Expenses on the Rates page.