As the financial planning industry continues to evolve and grow, it's not enough to just have a fancy desk calculator. With the advent of state-of-the-art financial planning software, advisors can now create sophisticated, customized plans for their clients that incorporate their entire lives.

But what is this software? And why should you use it? Here's a quick rundown on what exactly this software does for you:

You can build financial plans with custom goals, which will give your clients the peace of mind they need in order to make informed decisions about their investments. These goals can be set up based on variables like age, income level, and marital status.

"Financial planning software is basically a collection of calculators that work as an engine to solve household needs."

You can then choose from a variety of different tools tailored specifically toward helping people manage their money better—from calculators that allow you to see how much your investments are worth in real-time (or at any given point in history) or even guides that help you understand how inflation affects your wealth over time. You'll also find calculators that will help you figure out how much money you should be saving each month so that when retirement comes around someday it won't be too big of a shocker!

How to Choose Financial Planning Software?

By following these steps, you can choose the right financial planning software.

• Determine why you need cash-flow-based software
• Understand your client's needs
• How do your clients prefer to receive their financial plans
• Look for intuitive software that is supported across device types
• Pay attention to security

1) Determine why you need cash-flow-based software

Cash-flow-based software, on the other hand, is designed to track every dollar of spending over time so that you can see how much was spent on various things, including various expenses like rent and food. This type of software allows advisors to create budgets based on income and expenses, which makes it easier for clients who have limited funds to understand what they need to do in order to reach their goals.

2) Understand your client's needs

When building financial planning software, you also need to understand your client's needs so you can find the tool that works best for them. Advisors whose main client base is complex families require different software than those who work primarily in simple households. Similarly, high-net-worth clients have different investment planning requirements than low-net-worth clients.

All financial planning software offers a different end-client experience or set of solutions that must align with the advisor's desired outcome."

3) How do your clients prefer to receive their financial plans

If your customers prefer paper communication rather than digital, you may want to look for software that can support it. When a planning software is too complex or not robust enough, frustration ensues and usage declines."

4) Look for intuitive software that is supported across device types

Software that is supported on all devices including desktop, mobile, and smart devices, and allows you to communicate with customers depending on the level of sophistication required.

It should also align with the level of sophistication you want to use in building the financial plan. A sole proprietor may not want planning software that requires extensive data input or time to plan, whereas a large firm is likely to have a technical team supporting more complex planning capabilities.

5) Pay Attention to Security:

Another important aspect to consider is the security capability of the software. As advisors increasingly move to cloud-based planning, keeping client data secure digitally is of paramount importance.

Asks for software with "strict security protocols" to protect customer information.

The key criteria to consider are:

• Ability to run financial report packages on any date and at any time.
  
• Whether the program provides a reconciliation of automatically extracted financial data from various custodial accounts to provide a single view to the client.
• Ability to run Monte Carlo simulation analysis to determine the probability of a range of possible outcomes rather than simple straight-line analysis based on flat annual returns.
• An open architecture that allows you to easily extract data from various software.
• A subscription-based pricing model that is not dependent on investment balances.

Pros & Cons Of Financial Planning Software

Pros:

• Financial planning software helps advisors keep track of all their clients' finances in a systematic manner.
• These platforms can help advisors save both time and money by automating tasks such as tracking investments, budgeting, and forecasting future income.
• These systems can help advisors stay up to date on regulatory changes and best practices in the financial industry.
• Financial planning software can provide detailed information on strategies and investment options, saving time and money in the process.

Cons:

• Some platforms can be complex, thus requiring a lot of time to learn.
• This can be difficult for advisors who already have a lot of responsibilities.
• Some software can be expensive and hence it may not be possible for all advisors to use them.
• Some software programs may not be as user-friendly as other types of planners, making it difficult for an advisor to use.

Conclusion:

As a financial advisor, one of the most important tasks you have is to pick the best financial planning software for your clients. This software will impact how you generate and share financial plans with your clients.

If you're able to test these platforms or get on a free trial arrangement before choosing one, even better.

Are you interested in hiring a software expert in financial planning systems? We have highly dedicated and experienced financial planning software developers available for hire.