Course Outline
Voyant
UK
Onsite
Training
Session
London,
18
May
2010
Morning Session – Software Features and Concepts
Getting Started – Load Sample Portfolio to Laptops
1. First Steps - Basic Considerations
a) When to start the planning year?
b) Calculation settings. Has your client done an accurate assessment of his or her
expenses?
c) The base plan versus scenarios. What should be included in each?
2. Stages, Events and Life Planning - The Timeline and Timing in Voyant
a) A powerful visual tool to aid in the planning discussion with your client.
b) Basic features of the timeline
c) How to move mortality up or down.
d) How to add a stage
e) How to rename a stage.
f) What are events and stages used for. Why time with stages and events?
g) Do not overplay stages.
h) How to add events, ad hoc, to the planning timeline as you make entries on the data
entry screens.
NOTE ‐ Segue to PowerPoint ‐ How are the Time panels used on the various screens.
3. Time Panels
Use differs depending on the item we are dealing with. Where we can apply defaults we do, but what we are timing varies from screen to screen and sometimes based on the type of investment, for instance, that you are entering.
a) Employment and Other Income – When income begins and ends. Defaulted to Start and
owner’s Retirement Event
b) Windfalls – When milestone income will occur (single event)
c) Savings and Investments (except life funds) – Contribution periods
d) Investments, Life Funds – Purchase and Liquidation
e) Pensions – Contribution periods
f) Property/Assets – Period of ownership, purchase to liquidation. Liquidation may also be
scheduled when needed (primary residences excluded) or based on owner age
g) Debt – Debt start event, no end event needed. Calculated based on payments and terms of
debt
h) Protection - Term and Whole Life – Single Start event. If policy is already in effect, specify
Start date.
i) Protection - Employee Benefit Term and Income Protection. Linked to employment and
defaulted to employment start end dates for policy coverage
j) Protection - Income Protection (personal policy), Critical Illness - Start and End Dates for
policy coverage and premium payments
k) Protection – Long Term Care – Policy Start date
l) Taxes – Not used. The time panel should be disabled on this screen.
4. Linking
a) Linking as a concept – What does it mean when items are linked?
b) Employment income can be linked to pensions for contributions. Contributions
generally come only from the linked income source.
c) A property/asset can be linked to expenses, debts, and event incomes, for rental
properties.
d) Debts are linked automatically to a payment expense, a general expense, created by
the software.
e) Employee benefit protection policies (term and income protection ) are linked to
income
f) People are linked to items in the plan, in general. In this sense they own the items they
are related to (events being an exception).
g) Use caution when deleting items that are linked. May receive a prompt asking whether
the linked item should also be deleted.
5. Cash Flow
a) What happens to cash during the planning year?
b) The general flow of cash in a planning year is:
1. Gross income is calculated.
2. Pre-tax contributions are made to pensions. 3. Taxes are paid.
4. Expenses are paid.
5. Regularly scheduled contributions are made to savings and investments. 6. One-time transfers are made between accounts.
7. All remaining surplus funds are swept into the owner's default cash account. These funds may include surplus income, depending on whether the "Transfer Excess
Income / Credits" preference is selected on the Preferences screen > Plan Preferences > Calculation Settings
8. Finally, if a rule is set to sweep funds from the dedicated account, on the account's Annually Sweep Balance to Other Accounts panel, these funds are swept out of the default cash and into one or more investment or savings accounts at the very end of the planning year calculations.
6. Savings and Investments
a) Dedicated cash accounts, as discussed in cash flow sequence. A prelude to estate
planning. Division of funds among plan participants.
b) Contributions – These are not expenses – they aren’t listed with expenses and
they don’t result in shortfalls - and where they fall in the annual cash flow. Where to see account contributions in the Let’s See details.
c) The Time panel and how it is used to set contributions
d) Savings order – how this hierarchy is established. The Savings order preference.
e) Pay Before Expenses - Rescheduling contributions – how in special cases expenses
can be moved up in queue before income, and treated essentially as high priority expenses.
f) Show where contributions are shown on the Let’s See charts
g) Are contributions expenses? No, although pre-tax pension contributions are rolled
into the total expenses figure shown in the basic view of the Let’s See legend.
h) Where to see savings in the Let’s See
i) Discuss how to transfer funds and considerations when attempting to transfer
funds from surplus or default cash accounts (issue with timing, funds are only swept into the default cash account as a next to last step in the planning year).
j) Draw Downs – How to schedule forced withdrawals from savings and investments
k) How is cash drawn when needed and from what types of accounts? This is why in
many years in the charts, income and expenses are equal.
m) Create a rainy day fund – prevent withdrawals? Withdrawal limits
n) Creating a savings account for a specific purpose - discuss how to prevent
withdrawals and how to link the expense (or expenses) to a specific account – use for example, an education savings account – Young Couple who plan to have a child and set aside funds for the child’s education.
7. Demonstration - Regular Contributions from Investment to ISA
a) Pulling funds from one account to another on a regular basis – for example moving
funds from an unwrapped investment into an ISA, up to the maximum allowed contribution.
b) To arrange for regular transfers between an unwrapped investment and an ISA,
use the software’s draw down facility to pull funds from the unwrapped investment first into cash. You may then use contributions to move these funds into an ISA.
8. Discussion - Special Considerations when Dealing with Life Funds
a) The Time Panel is used to set the start and eventual liquidation dates of the life
find. In between, draw downs can be scheduled.
b) Segmentation, tax optimization for life funds and turning it off.
c) Life funds liquidated due to tax optimization calculations performed by the
software.
9. Employment
a) Other Income – Catch-all screen for various taxable cash inflows
b) Show how to schedule a one-off income (e.g. an inheritance) through the
milestones or other income screen
c) Considerations for Business Owners – Dividends. How to handle proceeds from
10. Pensions
a) What happens to money purchase funds if no draw down schedule is set for the
(they are not crystallized / taken as tax free cash) – Annuitization panel
b) Considerations for setting pension draw downs, unsecured pensions versus
annuitizations.
c) Pension contributions are not treated as expenses and are not listed among them
in the Let’s See chart although they are included in the total annual expense roll up on the Let’s See chart, basic view.
d) Where to view pension contributions in the Lets See charts details
11. Property and Related Debts
a) Mortgages – linking a debt to a property. Discuss how an expense is created
automatically on any debt, including mortgages, and it is this basic expense that can be stepped up or down.
b) Model an interest only mortgage
c) What happens when a home is sold – mortgage is first paid off, if the proceeds
will cover it, and the profit will be deposited at least initially to the account of the property owner(s)
d) Co-Owned Assets - Click both owners if a property/asset , expenses, etc. is
co-owned.
e) Assets/Property – Scheduling a New Purchase – when this is ticked a one off
lump sum purchase expense is created for the new purchase.
If a debt is linked to the new purchase, proceeds from the debt will be used to pay for the purchase, at least in part, depending on the cost and the amount of the debt.
This one off purchase expense will appear as an expense on the Let’s See chart in the year the purchase is scheduled but will not appear on the Expenses screen.
a) Timing - Property liquidation using the timeline, by owner age, or when needed
b) Consideration - Property Related Expenses – When an expense should be linked to a property (other than a debt payment) and when not to do so.
In cases where the expense would carry on even after the liquidation of the property. You probably do not want to reenter expenses that would end, if linked, when the property is sold. Instead, if the expense will change, step it down or up when the property is sold, using the step up / step down facility.
c) New Feature - Details, scheduling a payoff event. If payoff cannot be made in
scheduled year, shortfall will occur, as an alert, and payment will be stepped down again to previous level.
d) Step up payments on principal to begin payoff of an interest only loan
12. Expenses
a) Expenses can be generalised – rolled into general living expenses -
b) Expenses – defaulted to be owned by primary and secondary client in plan.
Ownership is important when modelling early mortality. If an event truly relates only to one person, be certain to only select that person for purposes of mortality modeling.
c) Expenses – Discuss the order, priority, in which they are taken. Does the screen
they are entered on matter?
d) Expenses are fulfilled in the following order.
Pension contributions are taken from gross income, prior to expense fulfillment. 1. Taxes
2. Insurance Premiums 3. Asset Purchases 4. Investment Purchases 5. Secured Debt Payments 6. Unsecured Debt Payments 7. Expenses - Basics
9. Expenses - Leisure 10. Expenses - Luxury 11. Expenses - Milestones 12. Expenses - Legacy
e) NEW FEATURE - Linking expenses to specific payment sources. What does this mean and how does it work?
f) CONSIDERATION – When to link expenses to property and when not to.
Linked expenses will be removed from a plan when a property is liquidated. In most cases, leave unlinked unless expense is truly property specific. In most cases use step-up-step down to adjust expense amounts.
g) Stepping expenses up or down by stage or event.
h) Time – How to schedule a one-off expense.
13. Protection
a) Life insurance – Term policies. How to enter an existing policy.
b) Don’t double enter premiums. If you have a term policy, for example, with a
critical illness component. Enter both on respective screens but account for premiums on only one.
c) Linking protection to repayment of debt
d) How to run simulation and need analyses for Life Insurance, Income Protection
and Long Term Care coverage.
14. Presenting to the Client
a) What are the best speaking points in the software when presenting to the client?
– Timeline, Let’s See, and to a lesser extent the General Overview and Reports.
b) Discuss the detailed vs. simple views in the lets see charts
c) How to lock chart scrollbar in place.
d) Discuss how to interpret the rollup figures on the Let’s See cashflow chart,
simple view. Unallocated cash. What does this mean.
e) Discuss the tabs of the Let’s See charts and where to find details about income,
expenses, debts, property, etc.
g) Discuss how to show to your client how expenses are calculated, how these are the red underlay of the chart, and how they are exposed when there is an income shortfall.
h) SHOW NONE – Demonstrating underlying expenses
i) Discuss how one-by-one income sources can be layered upon the chart and
discussed with your client.
j) CASH FLOW - Tax deducted at source and subsequent tax credits in the Lets
See charts
k) TAX TAB - Unpaid tax – what is this? Taxes that can’t be accounted in by the
PAYE calculations. Taxes on dividends and investments collected through notice of assessment, collected in the following year.
l) Items hidden from Cash Flow - Make mention that insurance payouts are a
hidden item in the charts but will be added with rollout of IHT. Generally hide from cash flow transfers between investments – i.e. annuitized funds (not new money, repurposing existing funds)
m) Simulations - Doing quick analyses of the plan using the Let’s See simulation tools
15. Scenario Building – The Basic Mechanics of Base Plans and What-If Scenarios
a) Discuss the mechanics of base plans and what-if scenario building.
b) How information is inherited from base plans to child scenarios
16. The Voyant Overview
a) A quick link to all plan items / A quick view of information that has changed in a
what-if plan
b) Tracking is only shown for what if plans, the base plan providing the basis for
comparison.
c) How to revert or restore information changed in a what-if back to its original
17. Reports
a) Discussion of system preference and where to find report data, including charts
and PDF output on your computer. How to change this directory if necessary.
b) New report options, default assumptions, real money charts, action items
c) Reports – show example of new downloadable Excel report.
18. Visiting Your Client Offsite
a) Offline Mode – How to set up offline mode.
b) Considerations when using.
19. Voyant Consumer – Inviting Clients to Access Plans Online
a) How to invite clients to access plans via Voyant Consumer.
b) Demonstration of end-to-end the invitation process using an unlinked client plan
c) Where to find number of invitations sent, accepted, and how to rescind them.
d) Interview Mode - How to turn wizards on or off
e) How to set up a remote view session via Voyant Community
20. Plan and Client File Management
a) Nomenclature – Plans, Scenarios, and Client Files
b) Plan Management:
c) Deleting what-if scenarios
d) Renaming what-if scenarios
e) The Quarterly or Annual Review with your client. Selecting or promoting a new
action plan. Creating a new base plan. Updating the plan during future meetings with the client (plan management)
f) Controlling what-if visibility for client access via Voyant Consumer. Base plan is
always visible.
PART 2: Afternoon Session – Scenario Building Workshop
Group Input – Scenario suggestions for discussion? Suggested Scenarios
a) Downsizing a Home – Selling a home and buying a new one (late career)
b) Model an early mortality in a what-if plan, outside of the life insurance need
simulation
c) Modeling other insurance payouts in a what if plan
d) Refinance a mortgage
e) Model a redundancy or change in employment – stepping down or ending
employment
f) Change of Employment “early retirement” date, prior to age 55 – suggestion,
leave Retirement event associated with pension payouts
g) Sale of business. No entrepreneurial relief yet.
h) Taxes and the high wealth client – The Foster Plan? ALSO – Asset Allocation
comparisons in scenarios, and viewed in Let’s See charts. Default vs. Account Specific Allocation
i) Fund Charges and their impact on wealth. Comparing these in plans via
preferences or account specific settings. PETER’s suggestion
j) Purchase and sell a vacation property – discuss how CGT is handled on the sale
of an asset and how this is rolled into a capital gains item on the tax worksheet. Also mention that proceeds from the sale of a primary residence are exempted from CGT.
k) Compare projected investment returns based on asset allocation – model using
default asset allocation – discuss the three levels of asset allocations.
l) Late career – adjusting expenses for the empty nest
Resources: Educational Resources and a Place to Voice Your Suggestions Mention resources currently available and those coming. Forums, help desk, tip emails and occasional webinars to discuss new features. Soon to be released, complete help, series of manuals, and online video demos.
Coming Soon?
IHT – Estate Planning. Preview and discussion.
Voyant Consumer –Full rollout of consumer including customised linking allowing users to access via links from adviser websites rebranded versions of the software. When implemented, only the initial account creation forms and invitation would remain Voyant branded. ALONG WITH REBRANDING – strengthens your firm’s brand
Other user requests
Closing with Opportunity for One-to-One Questions and Answer with Trainers
