Review Detail
Overall rating
3.5
Company
4.0
Interface
2.0
Integration
2.0
Pricing
3.0
Monte Carlo Simulation
4.0
Taxes
5.0
Asset Allocation
4.0
LTC-College Planning
4.0
Estate Planning
3.0
Naviplan Extended- the most robust (for now)
We don't use the estate planning functionality. I gave it three stars because I had to put in a rating, and I haven't done enough research on other systems to know if Naviplan is better or worse in this area.
User Review
The Good
I think Naviplan Extended is the most robust cash flow based system available.
Quite a bit of control over inputs. There is an important balance to strike between too little control and too much control which can lead to a forecasting tool being too unwieldy. They've done a pretty good job of striking it right here.
Income tax calculations are excellent for a forecasting tool, though we still have to go to BNA for current year tax planning. We would also do the same thing with other systems that we have seen.
Assessing potential insurance needs for life and LTC works very well as there are settings to adjust both income and expense items individually in the event of death or LTC events for one or both individuals for married couples.
What Naviplan calls workflow is nice, allowing for locking down "finished" plans so they don't get accidentally edited when running what ifs. I think I'd call this plan management rather than workflow.
Good control over setting asset allocations which is particularly important for Monte Carlo calculations, which are also good.
Quite a bit of control over inputs. There is an important balance to strike between too little control and too much control which can lead to a forecasting tool being too unwieldy. They've done a pretty good job of striking it right here.
Income tax calculations are excellent for a forecasting tool, though we still have to go to BNA for current year tax planning. We would also do the same thing with other systems that we have seen.
Assessing potential insurance needs for life and LTC works very well as there are settings to adjust both income and expense items individually in the event of death or LTC events for one or both individuals for married couples.
What Naviplan calls workflow is nice, allowing for locking down "finished" plans so they don't get accidentally edited when running what ifs. I think I'd call this plan management rather than workflow.
Good control over setting asset allocations which is particularly important for Monte Carlo calculations, which are also good.
The Bad
The interface is rather cumbersome and dated. Not only does it feel like web 1.0, but as happens with a lot of software, it feels like the company is reluctant to readdress user workflow (data input, analysis, reporting etc), preferring to tack on additional screens and settings to address functionality weaknesses as they were/are discovered.
Still rather surprising that they don't seem to have any plans to provide decent customization of reports and report packaging. So we can't match the output to our processes without transferring to RTF and manually manipulating which is a really bad idea due to potential for errors.
Having to run reports to see results of calculation is so 1990s (or even 1980s). It slows down the analysis process as you have to adjust settings, then run reports often multiple times for multiple time periods to make sure cash flow items are being calculated correctly especially for years where the client has events like retirement or the start of social security. Naviplan lost points here when they went to the browser interface. They could improve this drastically with the latest browser front end controls if they are certain they want to stay with a browser front end.
Still rather surprising that they don't seem to have any plans to provide decent customization of reports and report packaging. So we can't match the output to our processes without transferring to RTF and manually manipulating which is a really bad idea due to potential for errors.
Having to run reports to see results of calculation is so 1990s (or even 1980s). It slows down the analysis process as you have to adjust settings, then run reports often multiple times for multiple time periods to make sure cash flow items are being calculated correctly especially for years where the client has events like retirement or the start of social security. Naviplan lost points here when they went to the browser interface. They could improve this drastically with the latest browser front end controls if they are certain they want to stay with a browser front end.
The Bottom Line
We use a cash flow based approach for most of our forecasting for a few reasons.
First, if a client is going to run into a cash flow problem, we want to try to identify it as far ahead as possible.
Second, we believe the most important data points for tracking client's progress are their income and expenses. These are the areas where clients have the most control. Trying to assess progress only according to net worth can promote a boom and bust attitude that is too driven by short term market volatility- when the markets are hot there's less need to save and vice versa for bear markets.
Third, our investment management process involves assessing clients' risk capacity which is a function of expected cash flows to and from investments in relation to the value of their investments. A cash flow based forecasting tool allows us to do this.
For our firm this means that Naviplan Extended continues to be the best choice for us due to the robustness of the input and calculations. However, our most recent investigations into other cash flow systems has us closer to a change than we have ever been.
First, if a client is going to run into a cash flow problem, we want to try to identify it as far ahead as possible.
Second, we believe the most important data points for tracking client's progress are their income and expenses. These are the areas where clients have the most control. Trying to assess progress only according to net worth can promote a boom and bust attitude that is too driven by short term market volatility- when the markets are hot there's less need to save and vice versa for bear markets.
Third, our investment management process involves assessing clients' risk capacity which is a function of expected cash flows to and from investments in relation to the value of their investments. A cash flow based forecasting tool allows us to do this.
For our firm this means that Naviplan Extended continues to be the best choice for us due to the robustness of the input and calculations. However, our most recent investigations into other cash flow systems has us closer to a change than we have ever been.
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