▪ An unsupported discounted price for experienced users who like reading directions, and don't need support.

Unsupported means that when you ask a question, your e-mail address will be looked up to see if you bought support, and if not, then you'll just be told that you don't have support, and you'll have to figure everything out yourself.

You can still get support if you find a problem with the software, even if you didn't buy support. Unsupported users can also get help with getting zipped e-mail attachments onto their hard drive so they can be opened with MS Excel, and similar things to get going.

▪ An e-mail supported price, for getting your questions answered via e-mail. E-mail support means you can e-mail your questions, and you'll most likely get an answer the same day.

▪ A full phone and e-mail supported price. Phone support means you can call and talk to someone that can answer questions, and/or you can send e-mail too.

The vast majority of questions can be answered by reading the directions, user manuals, and Word documents that go with them. Use "Control F" to search for relevant keywords while on a webpage, or a Word document, to find what you're looking for.

Most everything people have asked about in the past are in the directions because every time someone asks about something that's not in the directions, it is added.

About "Hand-holding" Support and Product Training

Phone support is generally limited to:

▪ Generic overall topics like what each program is used for (why, when, and with whom), how to access the directions, and how to get started.

▪ How to input oddball scenarios.

▪ How to do things that are not covered in the directions.

▪ Things covered in the directions, but are still confusing.

▪ Problems (bugs) with the software, where it's not work correctly.

Generally speaking, phone support kicks in only after you have made an attempt to work with the program after reading the directions. If you call and it's obvious that all of your questions are clearly answered in the directions, you'll probably be told that you're falling outside the area of support. If it seems like you have made the effort to work the program by reading the directions, and you still are confused, then phone support will help you. After doing this for thousands of people, most everything is clearly explained in the directions.

Some people just don't do directions, are too busy, or are computer illiterate, and want to be "hand-held" through every minor detail of every step of the instructions. Normal phone support does not cover this. This is more training than support. The hourly rate for training and/or hand-holding for both consumers/investors, and financial advisors, is $25 an hour.

The basics of how to do simple things in MS Excel is not covered under normal phone support. If you're so new to MS Excel that you don't know what a cell, column, row, or sheet tab is, then you should probably not buy this investment software. You can read about how to get up to speed with Excel here.

The vast majority of the time, all you'll need to do is input numbers and simple data (like people's name) into green-shaded input cells (that tell you exactly what to input), so being even an intermediate-level Excel user is not required.

You can view most all of the demos and see exactly what type of input information is required by looking over all of the cells that are shaded green/gray on the input sheets.

The most complex thing you'll ever have to do in Excel with this financial plan software is using formulas to increase a number by a percentage. For example, if the contents of cell A1 is $100 and you want to increase it by 10% every year, all you need to do is go cell A2 and input   =A1*1.1  and press enter. Then you'd just use the drag handle (the black box on the bottom right of each cell) to drag it down as far as needed.

Some investment modules (like the asset allocation software) look intimidating at first, and are common for people to want to be hand-held through the details of every step of the input process. These programs have had a lot of special attention given to making the details of every step very clearly explained in the directions.

All of the directions are updated on the site, so you can always read them, while following along with the demo, to get an idea of what you're going to be doing if you were to buy the program.

We hope this is now clear to you before you purchase, so you won't be disappointed when you want to call to get hours and hours of training and/or hand-holding support. If any of this is not clear, please send e-mail and it will be clarified.

If you send us any information that we think is valuable to others (either in general or specific to a financial plan software module or their directions), then you'll probably be offered a freebie of your choice.

Sending Zipped (compressed) Files via E-mail to Us

Please don't send programs back as e-mail attachments unless we ask you to (zipped or not), because it will probably be too big, and thus automatically deleted from the e-mail server

If after talking with Mike, or sending an e-mail describing the problem, we ask you to zip and send the program back, here's how to do it:

Go to Windows Explorer (right click on the Start button and click Explore).

Find and select the file.

Right click on it, and choose Send To.

Choose Compressed (Zipped) Folder.

If the file size is much smaller than the uncompressed file (less than half the size), then it worked. If it didn't then the problem may be that the workbook is protected. Unprotect and try again. In Excel versions before 2007, go to Tools, Protection, Unprotect Workbook. In Excel 2007, protection is under the Review tab.

There is now a smaller zipped file with the same name. Send that as an e-mail attachment.

E-mailing Screen Prints to Us

Support works best if you e-mail what's called "screen prints."

If we asked you send us program screen prints, then this is how to do it.

First e-mail a detailed description of the perceived problem in an e-mail without attachments. The anti-virus/spam software may delete e-mails with large attachments, and then you'll think you're being ignored.

If the program with your input is needed to troubleshoot, then you may be asked to attach a Word document with screen prints to an e-mail. Sometimes this is better and quicker than sending the whole program back (zipped or not).

On standard desktop computers, there is usually a Print Screen key at the top right of your keyboard. When you press it, what's on your monitor is turned into an image, and is put into the Windows clipboard.

Then you can open a new Word doc, and paste these screen prints into it with all of your input data (Control V).

Do a page break to separate the images, if there's more than one (Insert, Break, Page Break). This helps prevent images from piling up on top of each other.

You can also use the Drawing Toolbar to add text boxes and arrows (like on the demos) to point to things and write about it.

Then e-mail the Word document with ALL of your input and areas where you're asking questions about as an attachment. It's important to send prints of every place in the program that you input data (check all of the manual override areas too).

Laptops usually don't have this key, but they all have a magic way of doing screen prints (via function keys), so you can find out how by asking someone.

If you sent an e-mail asking a question, and you received a reply with no answer, other than to see this page, then you didn't buy support on the personal finance software you asked a question about. The database automatically does this when it's working right.

Please see that investment spreadsheet's main page, read the directions again, or you can research some things (like tax questions) online. Sorry, but support is not given any more on unsupported financial plan software due to the increasing time spent answering questions for free.

How to tack on/upgrade support to an existing product

Go to the page with the software that you already have. Take the difference between what you paid (or what the unsupported price is now), and the supported price on the page (or ordering form), and then go here: Use the custom deals secure credit card ordering form. Click on that link in the list of prices in the middle, then complete the order form as usual, then input "support upgrade" into the comment section at the bottom. Sending an e-mail telling what you did helps to get your upgrade in the database correctly.