As chief technology officer, John provides strategic, operational, and programmatic support of our products to the greater Advicent organization, our partners, and the industry. He leverages his decades of software development and product management experience to define business and product strategies, work directly with clients in providing technology solutions, and build product and service delivery organizations that deliver results while meeting regulatory requirements.
In our latest release of NaviPlan® and its client portal, Advicent has provided updated tax calculations to reflect the changes introduced by the the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Additionally, we have added an "explore your options" functionality to the client portal, additional client report options, and other miscellaneous improvements.
2018 federal tax updates
Federal tax calculations in NaviPlan have been updated to provide the most up-to-date analysis. Some of the keys changes include changes to tax brackets and rates; standard deductions; personal exemptions; capital gains tax rates; and business and estate tax changes.
Income tax calculations have been updated as per the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) as well as values provided by the IRS for 2018. As part of the TCJA enhancements, users have the ability to plan for the TCJA changes to sunset as legislated or to assume they will continue indefinitely. This same support has been added to the Scenario Manager.
You can find more detailed information on these change by accessing the most recent release notes in the NaviPlan Learning Center.
"Explore your options" in the NaviPlan client portal
"Explore your options" is a new feature that empowers clients to analyze different tactics and develop a strategy for accomplishing their financial goals. When a plan has been published to the client portal, clients can navigate to the "goals" page of the portal and adjust variables such as goal date, lump sum savings, monthly savings, and goal expenses to see how simple but strategic strategy changes can impact their financial success.
In order to properly synchronize with this new feature, existing published plans must be unpublished and published back to the portal. This does not need to be done for newly published plans.
New client reports
NaviPlan includes several new client reports, each going into various detail on asset allocation earning rates, class weightings, and questionnaire responses. These new reports include:
- "Range of Returns" report
- "Current Portfolio Breakdown" report
- "Risk Tolerance Analysis" report
Other improvements
When planning for a disability goal, pre-retirement shortfalls can now be either ignored or factored into the scenario. This change allows for isolated planning that focuses solely on the disability or a more inclusive approach that factors in retirement planning as well.
The "Probability of Success" reports have been expanded to include additional tables and alternative scenarios.
We look forward to introducing additional enhancements to the newly improved NaviPlan and its client portal in the very near future. In the meantime, current users can learn more about these latest enhancements by accessing the NaviPlan Learning Center.