Maintenance Update 03 31 2010

Financial Calculator Update 3/31/2010

The quarterly update for 3/31/2010 is a targeted update. The only changes are centered around the tax specific calculators calculators, which have been updated to the preliminary 2010 tax rules and rates. There have been a few other updates, but they are limited to optional changes and enhancements. The one exception to this are new rates for 72T calculations. If you do not have any Tax calculators or 72T calculators, you may safely skip this update.

If you have not updated your calculators in a while you should definitely refresh your existing HTML calculator pages. All updates are cumulative, so if you start fresh with this update you will have all previous calculator updates as well. If you would like, you can review our 12/31/2009 update: 12/31/2009 Update. (The 3/31/2010 update includes all changes included in previous updates, you do not need to download any other updates to have the most current versions of all of the calculator components.)

Make sure to try our Calculator Configurator: Calculator Configurator
This new tool lets you see exactly how you can customize the many features of our calculators.

Update instructions*:

1. Download the latest version of your calculators from your download site, found on your update e-mail notice.
2. Execute the Calc.exe file from your download. This is a self-extracting zip file. (Or unzip the Calc.zip file if you are using a non-windows platform.)
3. When prompted for a directory, you may use the default of "java" or enter your own. It is recommended that you extract the update to a new directory and then move the required files to your production environment. One directory will be created with no subdirectories.
4. Delete the contents, in your current deployment, of the KJEgui, KJEgraph and KJEcalculation directories and remove them from your server. The new version no longer requires these directories or their content.
5. Replace your current dinkytown.jar file with the new version.
6. Replace all files with the extension "class" with the new version.
7. Make required changes to any HTML documents as described in this document or replace all of your existing HTML documents and re-apply your web-site custom changes.

*Please note, if you have a Servlet or other custom deployment (other than the custom formatted delivery described below), installation instructions for your package will found on your download page.

Update for custom formatted delivery**:

**Custom formatted delivery is a special option that you can add to your maintenance update service. With this option we can apply an HTML, JSP, CFM or ASP template to your calculator pages and their reports before the update is sent to you. You will then receive your calculator pages with all of your site formatting in place, without any rework to include changes that have been made to the pages deployed on your server. If you are interested in using custom formatted delivery, please contact us at (612) 331-2291, or for more information.

1. Download the latest version of your calculators from your download site, found on your update e-mail notice.
2. Execute the Calc.exe file from your download. This is a self-extracting zip file. (Or unzip the Calc.zip file if you are using a non-windows platform.)
3. When prompted for a directory, you may use the default of "c:\java" or enter your own. It is recommended that you extract the update to a new directory and then move the required files to your production environment. One directory will be created with no subdirectories.
4. Delete the contents, in your current deployment, of the KJEgui, KJEgraph and KJEcalculation directories and remove them from your server. The new version no longer requires these directories or their content.

All pages will be custom formatted to your site, no further integration or modification of the calculators is required. Please note, if your custom delivery uses Active Server Pages (ASP), Java™ Server Pages (JSP) or Cold Fusion (CFM) the respective ASP, JSP or CFM pages will be in place of your HTML documents for all calculator main pages. Report templates will remain in HTML documents (these documents are not called by your server, but instead used by the applet in the main calculator page).

To clear your Browser's cache:

When you test the new version of the calculators, make sure that the browser you are using uses the new files instead of any it may have in its cache. You may need to clear the browser's cache manually to ensure the new versions are loaded.

Internet Explorer:

Choose "Internet Options" under the "Tools" menu and on the "General" tab click on the "Delete" button under the Browsing History section. Click the top button "Clear private data now..." Click "Ok" when prompted if you wish to delete all temporary files. Close this dialog box, and all open Internet Explorer windows. Your Cache should then be cleared.

Firefox and Netscape:

Choose "Clear private data..." under the "Tools" menu. Check the box for "Cache" and then click the button "Clear private data now".

Master Changes (no HTML changes required, affects all calculators)

No change to base functionality of calculators in this update.

Updates that require modifications to HTML documents

1. 1040 Tax Estimator: (Tax1040.html) has been updated for new rates and schedules for 2010. This includes changes to the definitions, and the java calculation modules. It is highly likely that additional changes to the tax rates and rules will take place before the end of 2010. This update uses the current tax law for its estimates (and does not attempt to determine new or changed law not yet in effect).

2. 1040EZ Tax Estimator: (Tax1040EZ.html) has been updated for new rates and schedules for 2010. This includes changes to the definitions, and the java calculation modules. Please note that no new entry or output fields were required, but the tax tables and many of the tax computations were affected. This update uses the current tax law for its estimates (and does not attempt to determine new or changed law not yet in effect).

3. Marginal Tax Estimator: (TaxMargin.html, SPTaxMargin.html) has been updated for new rates and schedules for 2010. This includes changes to the definitions, and the java calculation modules. Please note that no new entry or output fields were required, but the tax tables and many of the tax computations were affected. This update uses the current tax law for its estimates (and does not attempt to determine new or changed law not yet in effect).

4. 72(t) Calculator: Early withdrawals from retirement accounts (Retire72T.html, Retire72T2.html), 72(t) Distributions: Impact on retirement fund balances (Retire72TAlt.html): The Federal Mid-Term rate has been updated for April 2010. This change affects the calculators default values and the definition of Reasonable Interest Rate For April 2010. For April 2010, 120% of the Federal Mid-Term rate has changed from 2.95% to 3.25%.

5. All Calculators with Minimum Credit Card Payments: All calculators with minimum credit card payment calculations have been updated to increases the smallest minimum payment to $15. Whenever a calculated minimum payment falls below $15, the new minimum of $15 will be used. This is a change from the previous minimum amount of $10. The following calculators have been updated with this change:

   Calculator Page	Calculator Name
   CardOptimizer.html	Credit Card Optimizer
   CCCDebtPlan.html	Debt Management Plan Calculator
   Debt2Amount.html	Cost-of-Debt Calculator
   DebtAccel.html	Accelerated Debt Payoff
   DebtAmount.html	How much do you owe?
   DebtConsolidate.html	Personal Debt Consolidation
   DebtConsolidate2.html	Personal Debt Consolidation
   DebtPayoff.html	How much do you owe?
   DebtPayoff2.html	Credit Card Minimum Payment Calculator
   DebtRolldown.html	Roll-Down Your Credit Card Debt!
   FSBMortgageEquity.html	Should I take out a home equity loan to consolidate debt?
   InvestmentDebt.html	Consolidation Loan Investment Calculator
   MortgageConsolidate.html	Mortgage Debt Consolidation
   MortgageEquity.html	Home Equity Debt Consolidation
   SnowBall2.html	Snowball Debt Elimination Calculator
   StudentRolldown.html	Student Loan Consolidation and Debt Payoff
   CADebtAccel.html	Accelerated Debt Payoff (Canadian)
   CADebtConsolidate.html	Personal Debt Consolidator (Canadian)
   CAInvestmentDebt.html	Consolidation Loan Investment Calculator (Canadian)
   AUDebtRolldown.html	Roll-Down Your Credit Card Debt! (Australian)
   AUInvestmentDebt.html	Consolidation Loan Investment Calculator (Australian)
   SPDebtAccel.html	Calculadora de Pago Acelerado de Deudas
   SPDebtAmount.html	Calculadora Cuánto Debe
   SPDebtConsolidate.html	Calculadora de Deudas Personales
   SPPRDebtConsolidate.html	Consolidación de Deudas Personales (PR)
   FRCardOptimizer.html	Optimiseur de carte de crédit
   FRDebtAccel.html	Désendettement accéléré
   FRDebtAmount.html	Combien devez-vous ?
   FRDebtConsolidate.html	Devriez-vous consolider vos dettes ?
   FRDebtPayoff2.html	Calculatrice de paiement minimal sur vos cartes de crédit
   FRDebtRolldown.html	Faites cascader vos soldes de cartes de crédit!
   FRInvestmentDebt.html	Calculatrice de placement d’un prêt consolidé