Label: Michael Slatford, 3 Campden Road, South Croydon, Surry CR2 7EQ
Price: £12.00
Joystick: various
Memory: 48K
Reviewer: Mike Wright

The Investment Monitor from Michael Slatford Software is a personal portfolio valuation system for the 48K, priced at £12.00.

The program can handle data for investments in shares, unit trusts, gilts and investment bonds. Each investment is treated as a card in a card-file index of up to 50 cards. You enter the details on each new card - the name and type of investment, the date and quantity bought, the buying price, the total cost (including fees) and the latest date and price.

Other details such as the highest and lowest prices, the estimated value and any gain or loss, expressed in real, percentage and annual compounded percentage terms are calculated and retained by the program until the next time the card is up-dated. An estimate of the selling fees at to give the estimated value of the investment. Details of income from dividends and selling are entered when updating, and changes in name or holding are best done using the amend option.

An analysis option allows statistical information about all or individual holdings to be examined showing the date of the last up-date, the amount invested, the realisation value and the capital gain or loss. Total income from dividends and sales is included to give a total gain (or loss).

The portfolio section monitors the amount of money allocated for investment by taking account of whether money from sales is to be reinvested. It shows the number of holdings and includes income from holdings that have been sold completely.

Copies of the analyses can then be printed out - Kempston's E interface is catered for - it is possible to use other interfaces but they are not covered from within the program.

The manual is, I'm afraid, poorly presented - it's just five loose sheets in an envelope. Fortunately it isn't a major requirement for this program. Investment Monitor is a practical, simple to use means of watching how your investments are doing. It doesn't set out though to show what those investments may do in the future.

A QL version which is compiled and runs faster with room for up to 90 investments, details of a building society account, that lets income be zeroed at the start of a year and will realise capital gains is also available for £20.00.

Label: Slatford, 3 Campbell Road, South Croydon, Surrey CR2 7ED
Author: Michael Slatford
Price: £12 (mail-order only)
Memory: 48K/128K
Joystick: None
Reviewer: Chris Jenkins

OK, no jokes about 'crashes' here. Investment Monitor isn't a get-rich-quick method to decide what shares to buy, but a useful method of recording your equities, gilts, unit trusts, bonds, regular investments, and probably what you've stashed in a sock under the bed too.

Epson and RS-232 printer convertible, Investment Monitor is basically a menu-driven card-index system. Each 'card' is tailored to take details of the particular kind of investment represented, including date bought, value, current price, dividends, and so on.

You can review your cards singly or in numerical order, and update, delete, insert or renumber them.

Also, should the stockmarket collapse, your Spectrum will jump out of the window for you (not strictly true - Ed).