As ultra-high-net-worth clients get closer to their sunset years, concerns over minimizing potential estate taxes become a very real question. NaviPlan® financial planning software can help answer those concerns with its various estate strategy and modeling options.
Estate planning is an additional module available in level-2 plans that allows for various estate strategies, quick action reports, client reports, and is accessible for alternative plans within the Scenario Manager. If greater estate strategies are needed, the advanced estate module may also be turned on. This advanced module takes the standard estate options and adds additional, more complex strategies along with additional reporting. Whichever fits your need, turning on the module is the first step to start planning.
Navigating the estate planning process
As you go through the estate planning process, it’s important that accurate assumptions are set in place. These assumptions are unlike your regular client assumptions and focus specifically on estate needs. Additionally, you can create an estate questionnaire within the assumption page to help gain insight into what a client is already doing for their estate questions.
From assumptions, various strategies can be applied for analysis. Funded trusts, estate expenses, gifting, will inclusion, bequests, and others are all available. Depending on what has been modified, the estate graph will dynamically update as changes are made on the Estate Strategy page. This will provide a line chart of how much will be available within the estate, and separate lines breaking down where it’s all going. This line chart is a quick way to assess if the applied strategies are working towards ideal estate goals.
NaviPlan continues to excel from an estate planning perspective because of rapid development towards the most modern estate strategies and tax laws. Amongst other enhancements in 2018, NaviPlan has rolled out updates to allow for differing scenarios pertaining to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 as well as the ability to model estate strategies that rely on Intentionally Defective Grantor Trusts (IDGTs).
Once an estate plan has been created, review the numbers with the various Quick Action estate reports. These reports showcase yearly estate changes, the details of trust, end of plan amount transfers, and more with various levels of detail depending on your needs. Compared with the line chart, these reports dive deeper into where an estate plan is headed, and are great tools for understanding how the estate’s net worth is changing.
Once everything is complete and alternate strategies are applied, you’re able to deliver clients a modern, easy to read, and powerful estate client report. Choose the reports that best describe their current situation, through various graphs, charts, and informative article documents. A detailed, yet easy to read client report builds trust with clients and helps them understand how everything plays out in their estate scenario.
For more information on NaviPlan’s estate planning and other features, click here.