Although not a major overhaul of its product, Version 3.0 of Money Tree Software Ltd.'s Total Planning Suite offers new reporting features and an updated interface that make it an improvement over the previous incarnation.
This version of the Corvallis, Ore.-based company's goal- and cash-flow-based
financial planning software, which was rolled out this month, also offers new features related to the planning of future loans and asset-account management.
The software is compatible out of the box with many programs already familiar to financial advisers.
The improvements isn't likely to draw advisers away from other
financial planning suites they might already use, but those in the market for software for the first time should consider Money Tree's package.
The company has addressed several changes suggested by its users such as giving "Contact List" its own button on the main interface, where it is always available rather than where it formerly resided on the file menu.
A one-year subscription to Total costs $1,495 and includes a year of support via a toll-free phone number or e-mail, as well as software updates. There is also an annual renewal fee thereafter of $700.
A 90-day free trial is available.
A comparable subscription to the desktop offline version of the NaviPlan suite, from competitor Emerging Information System Inc. of Winnipeg, Manitoba, will cost an adviser $1,699 annually. EISI provides a free 30-day trial.
"Total is a Cadillac for the price of a Ford," said William O. Wright, a certified financial planner and registered investment adviser with Guidance Financial Consultants in Wichita, Kan., which manages just under $100 million in assets.
"Aesthetically, it's better and even easier to use, the calculations are faster, and it has a few more tiers of variance built in," Mr. Wright said of the latest version of Total, which he has used since its pre-release testing phase.
He said his favorite addition in the current release is the express reports feature, which allows advisers to run reports throughout the process of creating a financial plan and catch errors early, rather than trying to find mistakes once the data have all been entered.
"While most good planners are fairly intuitive about a lot of stuff, you simply can't keep track of everything in your head throughout the planning process," Mr. Wright said.
Advisers also will be able to import their existing client information into Total from other software packages they might already use, such as those from Albridge Solutions Inc., Advisor Exchange LLC, CRM Software Inc., Financial Computer Support Inc., Laser App Software Inc., ProTracker Software Inc., and Redtail Technology Inc., among others.
Cathy Wagner, a certified financial planner and sole practitioner in Palm Harbor, Fla., who has 250 clients, said she evaluates new products from other software vendors every year but always returns to Money Tree.
"From an ease-of-data-entry, ease-of-use, report-generation and cost perspective, it's just hard to beat. They have really consistent, top-notch support — in fact, I've been speaking with the same person for years," Ms. Wagner said.
DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT
Advisers across the country are contemplating document-management products these days and one of the more adviser-focused companies has released an updated version of its flagship product.
Version 6.0 of CNG-Safe, a recent update from Cabinet NG Inc. of Madison, Ala. (cabinetng.com), is meant to meet advisers' increased concerns for regulatory compliance and data protection. The product offers enhanced security, a new user interface and simplified integration with most Windows-based software, including Advisor's Assistant, ACT!, LaserApp, Junxure, Outlook and Qube.
The CNG-Safe (an acronym for Safe Access Filing Environment) update provides stronger authentication of users and more-in-depth control over access rights. For example, an administrator can now grant different users access to specific cabinets, folders and documents. There is also a document-level tracking features that can inform an administrator of file usage and access details.
"While we had been considering a document-management system for some time, everyone in our firm was adversely affected by Hurricane Katrina, which finally gave us the impetus to implement something," said Stacey Maxted, client administrator for Thompson Diaz Baxter Byrne & Associates PA, a Biloxi, Miss.-based firm affiliated with
AIG Financial Advisors.
The firm had evaluated other products in 2006, including an offering from Laserfiche of Long Beach, Calif., but settled on CNG largely based on its ease of use and strong customer support, she said. All six professionals in the office now use the software.
The base price for a typical small-office adviser system is $2,500, which includes one server license, two user licenses, a license for CNG-Books (a co-branded QuickBooks interface often used as a back-office tool) and four hours of help with installation, configuration and training.
Also included is one year of maintenance upgrades and phone, e-mail and web-based tech support. Pricing is comparable to that of the similarly featured Intuition Pro from Laserfiche (
InvestmentNews, Sept. 17).
Davis Janowski can be reached at djanowski @crain.com.
