TOTAL Online’s What-If system is off to an impressive start. Advisors are jumping in, leveraging the new system to explore planning options, bring awareness to the significance of changing assumptions, and deliver transparency to the long-term impact of taking action.
As expected from a What-If system, the basic planning assumptions are included, with the ability to show what happens if changes are made to retirement ages, saving amounts, spending amounts, inflation, rates of return, etc.
TOTAL Online’s powerful What-If system provides the ability to go well beyond the basics. Over 150 planning variables available for adjustment, aligning with TOTAL’s highly flexible, comprehensive financial planning capabilities.
What exactly can TOTAL Online’s What-If system illustrate? The list is long, but here’s a start, highlighting the top 50 planning variables advisors can control within the What-If system.
50 Plan Changes to Explore Using TOTAL Online’s What-If System:
- Change retirement ages
- Change life expectancy assumptions
- Change asset return assumptions (at any age)
- Change current value of any asset
- Change rate of return of any asset
- Change additions to any asset (at any age)
- Schedule withdrawals from any asset (at any age)
- Add new assets
- Model a Roth conversion
- Sell a residence (at any age)
- Purchase a residence (at any age)
- Show residence sale and replacement (at any age)
- Explore residence replacement financing strategies
- Sell a rental property (at any age)
- Change rental property income
- Change rental property expenses
- Model purchase of a rental property
- Explore stock option exercise methods
- Explore stock option sales dates
- Change stock option application rate assumptions
- Add new stock options
- Add new stock grants
- Change debt balances
- Change debt payments
- Change debt interest rates
- Explore balloon debt payoffs
- Add new debts
- Change earned income (upcoming feature – at any age)
- Change earned income increase rate assumptions
- Explore Social Security strategies
- Reduce percent of Social Security benefits available
- Change pension start age
- Change pension benefits
- Explore pension survivor strategies
- Adjust other income item assumptions
- Add other income items, single year or recurring
- Change life insurance death benefits
- Change life insurance premiums
- Add life insurance policies
- Model relocating to a different state (at any age)
- Change any expense amount (at any age)
- Change inflation assumptions on any expense amount
- Model staggered spending cuts
- Adjust other expense item assumptions
- Add other expense items, single year or recurring
- Explore differing education costs amounts
- Change education cost inflation assumptions
- Adjust the percent of education expense passed to the plan
- Explore adding additional years of education cost
- Add education costs
Advisors planning with TOTAL Online are loving the power of this new feature and have shared all kinds of ideas and scenarios they are modeling with the What-If. Let us know how you are using the What-If by adding a comment to this blog.
Learn More about TOTAL Online’s What-If system:
Visit moneytree.com/What-If
Training resources including user guides and videos are available explaining the What-If system to jump start your ability to take advantage of this new feature.
