Upgraded planning software takes a modest step forward

Financial crises may come and go. Today’s highflying stock may be tomorrow’s dog. But through it all, the quest for practical, if not perfect, financial planning software has been a constant that left irritated advisers reaching for the Prozac.
Well, perhaps it’s time they take a lower dose.
That’s because the latest iterations of two financial planning software packages offer a modest improvement that will make advisers’ days a little bit easier.
I evaluated NaviPlan Standard from Emerging Information Systems Inc. of Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Silver Financial Planner from Money Tree Software Ltd. of Corvallis, Ore., which are being released in conjunction with the FPA Annual Conference and Exposition that was convened this week in Seattle.
Although there aren’t enough critical new features in version 11.0 of NaviPlan Standard to make advisers drop other packages, its performance is much faster, and the interface has been distilled into a more-intuitive form. The less-cluttered appearance of the upgrade offered a significant improvement over version 10.2.
For advisers and firms that have invested in the NaviPlan platform, sticking with the software and migrating to the latest version is a no-brainer, because the upgrade is free to subscribers.
Although advisers experienced in using the software will notice many subtle changes and enhancements to the interface, these primarily are consolidated menu choices or additional drop-down menus designed to alleviate the clutter that plagued previous versions.
In fact, several regular users of the software said that past versions of it required as much as a month of online training to master the software. That training no longer is necessary.
Much of the two years of development work that went into the latest version focused on filling gaps in the software’s work flow by observing how advisers actually navigated through the software. When creating a new client file that includes basic financial information, advisers should find the Financial Assessment section and its tools more intuitive.
Advisers familiar with the software will find it refreshing that screens automatically update on the fly, once new information has been added or data fields are edited.
In the past, users had to go to specific screens and fields within the various Goals modules, such as Retirement, Education, Major Purchase and Insurance, and update them independently. With version 11.0, there is much more dynamic connectivity among modules, and pages will refresh more quickly once data has been added or a computation is initiated.
Also, advisers will find pop-up help buttons strategically placed, rather than being forced to leave the main interface to open a help page as previously was required.
There is a new knowledge base where advisers can search more frequently asked questions. When users need technical help, they can submit their questions online and receive updates on how long it will be before their question is answered.
Advisers who are familiar with the software will notice the significant improvement in the application’s speed while navigating in the interface and when performing computations using the software’s calculation engine.
Report generation has been streamlined in this version, as well. First, the main menu report choices all have been moved under a Client Reports submenu. Also for the first time, advisers can customize the reports section.
A one-year single subscription to NaviPlan Standard costs $625 to $995, depending on the asset allocation components selected and other choices. As is the case with most of its competitors, a free 30-day trial is offered to potential users and any files you might have created during that time can be restored upon purchase of a license.
Silver Financial Planner, the downloadable financial planning software, and its online alter ego Silver Online from Money Tree Software remain a bargain. Several advisers told me that the products aren’t as slick to look at compared with higher-priced products on the market, such as NaviPlan and Money- Guide Pro, but they remain very functional. Based on my two-day evaluation, I agree with them.
Bargain prices
Money Tree has rolled out a revamped version of Silver Financial Planner that includes a new Goal Evaluation system, which measures the risks and predicts likely portfolio outcomes among other things. The technology runs Monte Carlo simulations that can calculate up to 5,000 potential market outcomes.
Silver Online, released in mid-July, is accessible from anywhere via the Web. It shares many of the same features as Financial Planner, including easy-to-generate “what if” scenarios based on a client’s hypothetical asset allocations which can be quickly plotted as graphs or recalculated.
I thought that the arrangement of the interface that advisers can use to determine many of these what-if scenarios — such as the amount of savings clients will need in retirement, the number of years they will have to work to attain their goals and college planning — were laid out in a very intuitive manner.
Although I found that the online version sometimes could take as long as several seconds to re-render the screen after I tried a calculation, the lag was barely noticeable. However, a broadband connection is recommended.
Silver Online is $495 for a subscription or renewal. A subscription to the downloadable Silver Financial Planner software is $495, with annual renewals costing $150.
In addition to the other offerings, Money Tree is releasing this week its Express LGT product, a set of tools that enables clients to do some simple planning and asset entry and, in turn, request further assistance from the adviser.