| ICLUB Insider |
December 1, 2004 |
THE LATEST NEWS ON
NAIC SOFTWARE BUILT BY ICLUBCENTRAL INC.
Summary
Remember the good old days when preparing your club's
required federal tax filings meant laborious hours spent
filling out forms, doing tedious math and making multiple
copies?
If so, you'll welcome the 2004 NAIC Club Tax Printers.
Working in conjunction with your NAIC Club Accounting
software (or NAIC Online Club Accounting), the Federal Club
Tax Printer makes it possible for most club treasurers to
create all of the necessary Federal tax forms (Form 1065,
Schedule K-1, Schedule D and Schedule K) in just six clicks
of the mouse.
That's right -- once you install the software, all you need
to do is click through five simple screens and all your
necessary IRS tax documents will be created in a matter of
moments, completely filled in and ready to mail! All that's
left for you to do is print the various forms and
instructions and share them with your club members. (But
don't worry, we won't tell your club members just how easy
the Federal Club Tax Printer is to use -- and you can keep
them convinced that you slaved hours over the preparation of
their returns!)
For clubs in eight states (Arizona, California, Georgia,
Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri and New York),
the State Tax Printer is also available, making it just as
simple to generate the tax forms required by those states.
The State Tax Printers are separate programs from the
Federal Club Tax Printer, but are just as straightforward
and convenient to use.
Now through December 31, 2004, NAIC members can pre-order
the 2004 Federal Club Tax Printer at a whopping $30 discount
off the regular $79 price! Pre-order today for just $49
each, and you'll receive the Tax Printer by download or on
CD-ROM as soon as it's ready to be delivered in the coming
weeks (as soon as the IRS finalizes the 2004 forms). Wait
until 2005 to buy and the price goes up to $59. If you're
not an NAIC member club, then no discounts apply. The same
prices and discounts apply to the State Tax Printer, as
well.
You may have noticed that the title of this article refers
to "6 clicks" of the mouse, but there are only five screens
that appear -- so what's the 6th click? It's the easiest of
all -- it's the button that says "Quit" once you're finished
using the program.
What are you waiting for? The 2004 Club Tax Printers are
available for pre-order today! Remember, they're just $49
for NAIC members ONLY if you order before December 31, so
make sure to have your NAIC membership number available
before you order, and visit:
http://www.iclub.com/taxes/buy.
Has your investment club changed treasurers in the past
year? If so, now's the time to make sure that your Club
Accounting Support hasn't lapsed. Your Club Accounting
Support subscription is valid for one full year of support
services and must be renewed annually. If your club has
changed treasurers, then you should double-check to make
sure that your club's renewal notice hasn't been overlooked.
Plus, if you renew your support before the end of the year,
you can report the expense on your club's year-end financial
reports.
If you've been appointed "Treasurer for Life" for your club
(or even if it just sometimes feels that way), then you
probably already know the benefits of having full access to
ICLUBcentral's Support team, including access to our online
support pages, personalized email support, and telephone
support that's just a call away. Also remember that the only
way to receive software updates and automatic stock quote
downloads is by having a valid Support contract.
Either way, Club Accounting Support is a club treasurer's
best way of ensuring that your club accounting software
keeps running smoothly. Make sure that your club's treasurer
sees this notice, and forward this email to them today!
To renew your Club Accounting Support, please visit: http://www.iclub.com/store/support.aspx.
NAIC Investor's Toolkit 5 has three different options
available for selecting the starting point of your future
EPS and revenue growth projections. These options are often the source of
some confusion, so let's review the choices.
First, you can select the option that you wish to use by
default for new companies by visiting Options > Preferences
from the Toolkit 5 menu and choosing the Stock Study tab.
There you'll find the three selections:
1) From the last annual data
2) From the last quarterly data
3) From the end of the trend line
If you select a new choice here, it will only be reflected
in new SSGs you create or import into the software -- it
won't change any of the projections on SSGs already in your
library.
These options can also be changed for an individual company.
From the Visual Analysis screen (after clicking the SSG
graph on page 1), you'll see a link that says "Start
Projection" in the blue toolbar above the graph. Click it
and you can change the projection starting for only that
particular company.
Now that you know how to change those settings, when should
you use which option?
According to the Toolkit 5 manual, the first option,
projecting from the most recent annual data, is the default
setting, since most people figure on projecting out for the
next five fiscal years. Analysts' estimates are most often
based upon those figures.
The second option, from the last quarterly data, considers
that the quarterly data is already reported and projections
should make use of the most up-to-date data.
The third, from the end of the trend line, assumes that the
trend line is the "norm" and the actual data points are
"deviations from the norm." The rationale here is that a
projection from the end of the trend line will likely be
closer to the norm in the future and deviation would be
minimized.
On occasions when you've determined that the most recent
year's poor performance should be eliminated as a non-recurring event -- and you had better have a good reason for
this -- you will need to select either the trend line
terminus or the most recent quarter to start your
projection. Otherwise, you may not even have a place to
start from.
Another point of confusion is how projections are displayed
on the Toolkit 5 graph. No matter which choice you make for
the starting point of your EPS projections, Toolkit 5 always
calculates future revenues and EPS going out for a full five
years. This means that the future projection line always
begins on a point on the most recent fiscal year (even if
you select "from last quarterly data"). This point is
determined by whatever starting value that you've selected
from the three choices. Here's where it gets confusing -- if
you select "from last quarterly data," the trend line does
not begin at the most recent quarter that's plotted on the
SSG graph. The explanation is simple -- if the projection
were to begin on the last quarter, the five year projection
would end somewhere off the right of the graph -- and
perhaps even off the page! By beginning the five year
projections on the most recent fiscal year, you will always
see a full five year projection on the graph, and growth
rate indicated by the ending value will always match the
scale on the graph.
This is just another of the many improvements in NAIC
Investor's Toolkit 5 over version 4. If you haven't updated
already, don't delay too long while special upgrade pricing
is still in effect!
For more information on NAIC Investor's Toolkit 5, please visit: http://www.iclub.com/tk5/.
Thanksgiving decorations are now available only in the
clearance aisle, and that can mean only one thing -- the
year-end holidays are on the way! Although you may not want
to start thinking about the joys of the season -- or working
on what to buy for those on your holiday list -- it's that
time of the year once again.
So with the spirit of the season firmly in mind, I'd like to
offer a suggestion that will help you avoid the usual last-
minute rush to find gifts for loved ones. This idea has the
added benefit of being a gift that can truly improve the
lives of your loved ones for years to come, contributing to
their long-term financial security while teaching them about
the best way to invest in the stock market.
Instead of giving a sweater or necktie or video game to your
loved ones this year, why not consider stuffing their
stocking with NAIC Take Stock? This official NAIC Software
program is designed for complete beginners to investing, and
makes the often-intimidating task of completing a Stock
Selection Guide possible even for those who don't know a
stock from a Yule log.
NAIC Take Stock fully employs NAIC's time-testing investing
methods, leading investors to make better investing
decisions based on the quality and potential return of
companies that pass Take Stock's rigorous computerized
logic. And since NAIC Take Stock includes one full-year of
data on more than 7,000 companies, seamlessly delivered via
any computer's Internet connection, there's no need for
other data services or endless manual entry of numbers into
the software. Just enter a ticker symbol and follow the on-
screen instructions, and in just a few steps any investor
can determine the worthiness of any stock.
Because NAIC Take Stock is programmed to allow anyone to
use, regardless of experience, even young people,
mathematic-phobes and even drama majors (like me!) can put
the software to use immediately, without the need to read a
complicated manual. Just follow the prompts in NAIC Take
Stock's interface to examine each element of the software's
analysis.
Order a copy (or several!) of NAIC Take Stock today for your
loved ones, young and old, and give them the gift that will
keep on giving for years to come -- an education in the
benefits of long-term investing as well as practical
analyses of stocks that your favorite people can use today.
For more information on NAIC Take Stock, or to download a demo, please visit:
http://www.iclub.com/takestock/.
Read past newsletters, subscribe, or unsubscribe at:
http://www.iclub.com/newsletters/
Copyright 2004 ICLUBcentral Inc. All rights reserved.
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