When you create a new client case, each person in that case will be given a default cash account (e.g. John’s Cash, Susan’s Cash). These accounts, which are found on the Savings screen, are created by the software and cannot be deleted. Each default cash account will begin with an initial balance of £0 and serves as an empty container awaiting future cash inflows.
Modelled on a standard savings account, default cash accounts are designed to hold cash on hand. If at the end of a future planning year surplus cash remains after expenses are paid and contributions are made to savings and investments, the remaining cash may be swept into the owner’s default cash account, depending on the source of the surplus and other settings, which we will discuss in a moment.
Tip: If you are entering information about a client who has cash on deposit, we generally recommend that you enter these funds in a separate savings or current account and not in that person’s default cash account. Default cash accounts are meant only to serve as a temporary holding place for funds that are otherwise unallocated. These accounts do not have all of the features of a regular savings account and are handled differently in the cash flow, as we will discuss in a moment.
Once funds are swept into a default cash account, they will remain in this account until they are needed to meet expenses or you may set up a special sweeps rule (a special setting found under Advanced Settings) to automatically sweep funds out of surplus cash and into one or more accounts. The funds on deposit in these accounts serve as ready cash and will be the first stop for expense fulfilment, once annual cash inflows have been exhausted.
This surplus cash will be grown at the software’s default savings growth rate, which is set in Plan Settings >Inflation/Growth
Like any account in Voyant, you can edit growth settings for these default cash accounts, if necessary, open the cash account and adjust the interest rate. Settings set at the individual account level will override those taken initially from preferences.
Surplus Lump Sum Inflows
When lump cash inflows occur, the funds will be deposited into the owner's default cash account if they are not spent or deposited elsewhere – e.g. into a savings account, an investment or a money purchase.
Lump sum cash inflows include:
- Tax-free cash from money purchases,
- Lump sum payments from final salary schemes,
- Proceeds from liquidated properties/assets (items entered on the Property/Assets screen),
- Future windfalls (entered on the Windfalls screen),
- Surplus debt credits (from a new loan),
- Lump sum pay-outs from protection policies,
- Estate distributions at mortality,
- Lump sum payouts from pensions (money purchases, drawdown pensions) to survivors.
If these funds are proceeds from the liquidation of a jointly owned asset (e.g. a couple sells their home), the funds will be split between the owners and deposited into their respective default cash accounts, unless they are spent or deposited elsewhere.