To start with, the technical differences:
Voyant Adviser can be used on, or offline (provided you have set up offline mode on your machine), so it can be used when you are not connected to the internet. Voyant Adviser requires Java, so this must be installed on your machine, which explains why Adviser will not run natively on iPads, and other tablets which are not Java-enabled.
AdviserGo is entirely web-based, so it will only work when you have an internet connection. AdviserGo has touch screen functionality, and so is ideal for tablets but can be used on laptops and desktop computers. It also works on mobile phones (though it would be very small!).
Differences in functionality:
(Please note: we are developing AdviserGo's functionality all the time so this is a general guide. Please contact us so we can provide a more detailed and up to date review of the differences.)
In terms of usability, the two versions are interchangeable, so any clients you create/edit in Adviser can also be viewed in Go, and vice versa.
Goals and Expenses
AdviserGo has the added functionality of letting you see whether a client is able to meet certain financial 'goals' by entering an expense as a 'goal', i.e. an objective, and flagging whether, or not the clients are able to meet that objective.
You can change the priority of goals and expenses in AdviserGo by using the slider, something that isn't possible in Adviser.
Entering Information
There are some fields for technical information which may not yet be in AdviserGo, such as being able edit the market crash assumption or being able to untick 'limit contributions to allowance' for Money Purchase pensions. Please contact us if you are unsure about any of these fields and if they are available in AdviserGo.
Special Events
Both Adviser and AdviserGo have special events where you can model loss of income or multiple market crashes on the plan.
Let's See
AdviserGo has more interactive charts (you can deselect non-liquid assets on the Assets chart for example) and a larger chart area. In Let's See nearly the whole screen is for the chart.
It is also easier to compare the differences between two plans in AdviserGo either using Let's See - Compare Plans - Chart View with Year View on or List View.
There are some charts that are only in Adviser including 'assets by tax type', 'liquid assets', 'liquid non-pension assets', or 'plan worth'.
Legacy
Both Adviser and AdviserGo have immediate Legacy and Plan Legacy Scenarios. In AdviserGo you can easily compare two different plans on the same screen which isn't possible in Adviser.
Insights
AdviserGo has all the insights that Adviser has and some additional ones, for example - the 'Retirement Spending' simulation, which calculates, based on what already exists within the plan, how much the client can actually afford to spend in retirement (as opposed to what they tell you they would like to spend).
See also the Goal Priority Analysis Insight
What Ifs
AdviserGo has the added functionality of guided "What if" plan creation, taking you through the most common what if scenarios, as well as giving you the ability to create your own scenarios.
Reports
The report options in AdviserGo, include financial overviews, and also provide the option to generate a single report incorporating inputs from multiple plans/scenarios, simultaneously. There are other report features only available in AdviserGo such as:
- Generating reports on behalf of others: Adviser Go All Regions
- How to use the Data Extract Report in AdviserGo
There are some report sets that are only in Adviser at the moment, such as Overviews - Income and Expenditure.