macOS [Java] RMD Calculations Always come out to zero

jared_kipe said:

it appears that the variable "rmd" is only calculated if the age is 70, 71, 72, 73, or 74. Otherwise it is always returned as 0.0 (the starting value).

EDIT: also, the age thing (meaning the multiple if statements) is horrible programming in general. Though I guess if there is really no formula for the conversion you'll be stuck with something similar. But at least use a switch control structure.

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import java.util.*;
import java.text.*;

public class RMD
{
	double balance;
	double rmd;
	long age;
	String bdate;
	SimpleDateFormat sd = new SimpleDateFormat("MM/dd/yyyy");
	
	Date current = new Date();
	public void setBalance(double i)
	{
		balance = i;
	}

	public double getBalance()
	{
		return balance;
	}

	public void setBDate(String h)
	{
		bdate = h;
	}

	public long getAge() throws Exception
	{
		
		Date birthd = sd.parse(bdate);
		long cur;
		long birth;
		long diff;

		cur = current.getTime();
		birth = birthd.getTime();
		diff = cur - birth;
		age = (diff/(24*60*60*1000))/365;
		return age;
	}

	public double getRMD()
	{
		int years = (int)age;

		switch (years)
		{
			case 70: rmd = balance/27.4; break;

			case 71: rmd = balance/26.5; break;

			case 72: rmd = balance/25.6; break;

			case 73: rmd = balance/24.7; break;

			case 74: rmd = balance/23.8; break;
			default: rmd = 0.0; break;
		}

		return rmd;
	}
}

jared_kipe said:

I have no idea what you're talking about. Why is age stored as a long and then cast to an integer "years"?

Why are you only testing these few select years?

Why not put
int years = getAge();
into the getRMD method, since getAge calculates the age itself.

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switch ((int)getAge())

jared_kipe said:

Umm so they are 70-75 milliseconds old?? Obviously you are NOT storing milliseconds in the age variable so there is no need for it to be a long type.

You do realize why that worked right? The method getAge() is somewhat poorly named as it actually calculates it (and calculates it every time...).

Also, normally getters/setters are named as such:
age()
setAge()

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cur = current.getTime();
		birth = birthd.getTime();
		diff = cur - birth;

age = (diff/(24*60*60*1000))/365;

lee1210 said:

Some notes:
If you want the birthdate as a date, just store it as one. It's wasteful to parse it every time getAge is called.
getAge sets an ivar, but does so every time it's called. Either calculate the age whenever the birthdate is set, and just return it when getAge is called, or get rid of the age ivar, make it local, and rename getAge to calculateAge.
getAge does not get the age in years. Dividing days old by 365 does not give you years old.
I would find another way to grab the denominator for RMD by age in years. Maybe a sparse array, maybe an array with an easily calculated index that you wrap in a function, maybe a Hash, etc. Using a switch here is overkill, and makes adding or changing these values more difficult than it needs to be.
Your current date is initialized when your object is instantiated. If the object lives for a few days your calculations will no longer be current.
Your rmd ivar is like your age ivar. Calculate when you have birthdate and balance available and just return this or rename the method calculateRMD and make the ivar local.

-Lee

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chown33 said:

Guessing that RMD means "Required Minimum Distribution" regarding an IRA (Independent Retirement Account), I strongly suggest using the IRS-supplied tables and procedures, rather than calculating a figure:
http://www.irs.gov/retirement/article/0,,id=96989,00.html

One of the problems appears to be that the OP doesn't know how to make or use tables. Another problem is that some things are not simply a calculation based on age, but on the year in which one attains a specified age. Furthermore, the specified age is fractional (e.g. 70.5), so a long or int type is unlikely to work correctly.

If this isn't regarding Required Minimum Distributions from an IRA, then ignore the above.

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