Thursday, 11 November 2010

Calculators - financial calculator, casio


I studied Finance and Mathematics.



TI Professional:

Pro:

1. You may use this in Actuarial exams or CFA exams.

2. Once you get used to it, it is a good calculator. Most finance textbooks gives examples using TI calculator.



Con:

1. Harder to use than Casio, but not too hard.

2. Battery supported, you should change your battery before going into the Actuarial or CFA exam if you have been using this calculator for awhile. I believe it lasts about 1-3 years.



Casio

Pro:

1. More features

2. Easier to use

3. Battery and solar supported

4. Navigation feature, you can scroll up and down on few lines of display



Con:

1. You can't use this on Actuarial or CFA exams.

2. School textbooks teach you how to use financial calculator using TI, not this one.



My opinion:

If you are not a hard-core finance person, getting a Casio might be better since it's easier and cheaper to use. However, as an actuary, I use TI most of the time.



If you are a Finance major, plan to take any Actuarial or CFA exams, get TI because you have no choice. (You may use HP for CFA exam, but I think people who started their career many years ago use HP, young people these days use TI)



I hope this review helped. Casio FC-200V Financial Calculator with 4-Line Display

I teach finance at the university at undergraduate level and our department recommends using this calculator for the students. The calculator work well for fundamentals of finance classes where the number of years are even numbers and do not include decimals. I have used this calculator to calculate bonds in advance finance classes were the number of years includes decimals (i.e. 1.71786). The answers it gives you are wrong. Try solving bond valuation manually where N includes a lot of decimals and compare it with the calculator. You will find that the calculator will give you wrong answers. I had tried Texas Instruments or HP for the same problem and I got correct answers. I recommend this calculator for beginner's in finance or people who do not want to solve complicated finance problems. If you plan to use for complicated problems, I recommend Texas Instruments or HP.



Here is an example:

Use CMPD for the following inputs:



N=3.43562

FV=100

PMT=1.375

I=1.355%



The prevent value should be -100.066697 but the calculator does not provide that answer. Try it with Texas Instruments or HP and that is the answer you will be getting but unfortunately with CASIO, it does not give you the correct answer.

I've been in the finance industry for nearly 10 years. Over the years I have always look for a business calculator that could handle every day finance calculations but provide ease of use. I have tried HPs and TIs but have always thought the key stokes necessary to do simple bond calcuations were somewhat tedious. When I read up on the Casio FC-200V I though my search had ended and thus purchased it. True enough this calculator with it's scroll through menus is very easy to use and logical and has perfomed every calculation that I have tried successfully.



So why did I give it 2 stars? For the simple fact that in the normal calcuation mode it does not allow comas to seperate the 1,000s, 1,000,000, 1,000,000,000 and so on and so forth. For example if you key in one million the display reads 1000000 and not 1,000,000 which just about every calculator I have used does. Comas are used in the other calculator functions but not the basic calcuation mode? Why is this? It seems to me that Casio decided to be lazy and not allow for comas on the basic calculation mode. For this I will not use this calculator. For a business calculator with so much promis I was so disapointed. If anyone from Casio reads this please allow for comas on the basic calcuation mode, for I will buy that calcuator in a heartbeat. If you don't care about the comas I think this is the best calculator on the market.

I bought this because I'm currently taking a finance class at a local university. Compare to the older model of Texas Instruments BA II calculator that I owned a couple years ago, this Casio FC-200V is much more intuitive. For example, when I try to calculate TVM, the Casio displays all the input fields on screen so you can enter values like you do on a PC.



Also, when you enter a calculation, you see the all the numbers display on the screen (i.e. "10+20+30x40"), so you can verify all the inputs after you finish pressing all the keys.



This Casio is powered by both the solar panel and a backup battery. So when you're in a dim environment, the battery will kick in and still allowing you to use the calculator.



The keys are easy to press and the layout are user friendly.



One reviewer mentioned that Casio doesn't display comma to seperate 1,000s, this may cause some confusion if you're doing a lot of calcuation with a lot of zeros. I don't find this to be a problem at all.



The only bad thing about Casio is that I wish the size is a little bit smaller. I don't understand why didn't Casio use the form-factor as its other smaller scientific calculators. It would be nice if I can put this calculator in my shirt's pocket without exposing 1/4 of its head.



Overall, I think this is the best financial calculator currently available. I highly recommend it if you are ok with the 1,000s' comma and the size (which the Texas Instruments' BA II is NOT any smaller in any way.) - Financial Calculator - Calculators - Finance Calculator - Casio'


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