Building plans in Engage is a simple process with the plan creation wizard. There are two ways of accessing the plan creation wizard.
- Through the "Action Items" widget on the dashboard:
- Via the "Clients" tab:
The plan creation wizard is intuitive and consists of five steps:
- Expenses
- Income
- Assets (+RMD)
- Insurance
- Taxes
Step One: Expenses
Under "Expenses" we ask advisors to report their estimated monthly client expenses (1) from now until retirement and (2) during retirement (with an optional third "Widowed phase"). One of the advantages of Engage is that the user interface is simple and easy to understand.
Add Detailed Monthly Expenses
That said, should the user choose so, they are able to expand the list of other expense options and even create/remove a custom expense field:
Step Two: Income
The idea is exactly the same as "Expenses" whereby advisors are asked to input the client's pre and post retirement monthly income. There is also the option to include a detailed monthly income breakdown.
Step Three: Assets
Engage uses "Straight-line" analysis. As such, we require users to indicate an Expected Rate of Return for all the asset accounts they'll be listing.
Here is how users can add/remove asset accounts:
Required Minimum Distribution (RMD)
RMDs or Required Minimum Distributions are amounts of money that must be withdrawn from an employer-sponsored retirement plan, traditional IRA, SEP, or SIMPLE individual retirement account (IRA) by owners and qualified retirement plan participants of retirement age.
The plan creation wizard will automatically detect and suggest previously created account type(s) that are eligible for IRS mandated Required Minimum Distribution (RMD). In our case, it is the 401(k) account that we created under Assets. So, we will check the box and move to the next step:
Asset Distribution Rank
The plan creation wizard will evaluate the Client record and if it detects more than one asset account it will ask the user to organize (rank) the distribution order by numbering the accounts, starting with "1" (highest priority).
For demonstration and tax efficiency purposes, below is how we ranked our accounts (Taxable>Tax deferred>Tax exempt):
Note: If not sorted, the system will rank your accounts by default based on the order of their creation sequence.
Step Four: Insurance
Life Insurance is not directly calculated into the plan. Life Insurance coverage is used to calculate potential shortfalls based on future expenses.
To add (or remove) an insurance plan, please move the "switch" toggle:
Step Five: Taxes
Taxes significantly impact your plans. Hence why we came up with the list of various attributes that contribute to your plan. You can find them under "Add Tax Option":
Congratulations! You now have successfully created your plan!
Once you name your plan and click "Next" you will be automatically redirected to the plan itself. To find this and other saved plans in the future, please navigate to the "Plans" tab next to the "Profile" of the client: