In the Set Up a Product guide, we went through how to navigate the Product page and edit Product variables. In this section, the steps to view and modify Portfolio Variables are the same. But we will look at some of the differences on the Portfolio details screen first.
To set up your portfolio, first, navigate to the Portfolio section of Model Development by clicking "Develop" at the top of the page. After clicking on the Portfolios button, you should see a list of the portfolios and "Create New Portfolio" in the upper-right corner.
Just like the Products section, you can mouse-over the portfolios to reveal the copy and delete icons on the right side. Clicking anywhere else will bring you to that portfolio's page. Let's go to the In Force Portfolio.
Let's look at this page, starting with the bar at the top. Clicking on "Inforce Portfolio." will give you a dropdown that allows for easy navigation to other existing portfolios, if any others exist. The Description is the same text that was shown in the product selection screen and has no impact on any calculations. The Starting Cash Before Investment, Asset Purchase/Sale Amounts, and New Business Sales Amount Variables are related to the dynamic investment and sales processes, which is a more advanced topic. So we will be leaving those alone for now. For more information, see the article on Investment Strategies.
On the left side of the screen, you can see the variable list, as pictured below. There is a filter at the top, which defaults to filtering by name. If you click on the "by Tag" on the right side of the filter, it will give you a list of tags to filter by. Note that you can add more tags to any variable, and they do not need to come from a predefined list.
If you click on an existing variable, you will be able to edit it using the formula builder. If you either click on the variable's tags or the "(No Tags)" section of the variable's header, you can input new tags. Make sure you click on the checkbox to save them. Clicking anywhere else on the header will expand the Variable Properties & Documentation section.
Clicking "Add New" will create a new variable and give you the opportunity to set each of its attributes. For now, let's change the Investment Expense Rate. You can use the filter to make it easier to find in the variable list. Click on Investment Expense Rate, click on the 0.002, and change it to 0.003 (this will make investment expenses equal to 30 bps). Finally, click on "Save Formula".
For more information on the formula builder and variable properties, see the Formula Builder article.
Next, we'll cover the company level in - Set Company Inputs.