Since we started using PlanFirst! eight years ago, it has proven to be a powerful planning tool for our clients.  The most impactful feature I have found has been the ability to create “what if” scenarios on the fly during client meetings in the “Decision Center”.  Once we have a client’s financial information in the software as a “base scenario”, we can very quickly show you the impact of various decisions.  It is a flexible software, and we can model a variety of scenarios: retiring early, taking a dream vacation or sending a child to private school. 

Another impactful feature of the software is the client portal, allowing you to view all financial information in one place.  The account aggregation features allow you to see your accounts across platforms and the vault provides a secure place to store important documents.  If you want to go all in on the client portal, you can even upload photos of yourself and family members.  We love to see the photos when they’re uploaded!  

This software is continually evolving, and we are excited to introduce a new feature this month: “My Plan”. This tab in the client portal is replacing the goals section that was previously in the client portal. Don’t worry, the goals have not gone away – they are just enhanced with more charts and details. “My Plan” is set-up in different tiles with more details on your plan:

• Plan Overview – a nice summary of your overall plan percent of success and graph of portfolio assets; also includes snapshots of Net Worth, Investments and Asset Allocation. All goals (retirement, education, etc.) are also summarized with percent success on this tile.
• Profile – includes personal and contact information
• Income
• Balance Sheet
• Individual Goals – each goal in the system breaks down into its own tile with more details on cash flow and funding; you can make edits to goals (other than retirement) in this section as well. 

You can also add goals such as Family Support, Travel or Education within this area.  Want to see the impact of a family vacation to Europe next year?  Simply add a Travel goal – you can select start and end dates, dollar amount and account(s) used to fund the goal. There are some limitations in looking at longer term goals, so if you have questions in this area feel free to reach out to our office.

For more information, check out this Guide with screenshots of the new features. We are happy to answer any questions that arise. If you haven’t had the opportunity to fully explore your PlanFirst! client portal yet, let us know and we’ll be happy to schedule a meeting to review it in detail. We can also show you how to add it on the homepage of your smartphone for quick access.

Mary McCraw, CFP®
Vice President

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The Arkansas Financial Group, Inc. is a Fee-Only Financial Planning Firm located in Little Rock, AR serving clients in Arkansas and throughout the country.

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