In this video, we take you on an in-depth exploration of the advanced features of Voyant financial planning software. Whether you're a seasoned financial advisor or just getting started, this tutorial will help you harness the full potential of Voyant’s sophisticated tools.
Transcript
One of the first things I recommend is turning on Inline Help. You can do this by clicking the silhouette icon in the top right corner, selecting Preferences, and switching Inline Help on. Once enabled, you’ll notice highlighted, underlined words throughout the software. These links give you quick access to detailed help information on each topic directly within your plan.
Another useful option in Preferences is the ability to hide your dashboard chart. This can be helpful when reviewing a client’s plan—you can focus on verifying the data before diving into a cash flow conversation.
On the Dashboard Chart, a few features are worth pointing out. In the Goals section, you can click Show Timeline to jump directly to the timeline screen. From there, you can hover over or select goals to highlight them, move events on the fly, or even add new events or goals—all while in conversation with your client. You can then return straight to the dashboard.
In the Savings & Investments and Retirement sections, you’ll see a Show Overview option. This provides a different view, including an asset allocation breakdown and where funds are currently allocated. The same applies to the Retirement view.
On the right-hand side of the dashboard, you’ll find widgets—quick graphs that summarize key information, such as assets by type, assets versus debts, or overall asset allocation. You can also toggle to a bar chart view if you prefer.
Another handy navigation shortcut: anywhere you are in a plan, clicking the Voyant logo on the left will take you back to your Client List.
Next, let’s look at the Timeline screen and talk about Goals. In Voyant, goals are one of the most powerful planning tools. A goal is simply a trackable expense. While there’s no strict rule about what counts as an expense versus a goal, entering an item as a goal gives you a visual tracker that shows whether it can be achieved in the plan.
We recommend entering major retirement spending and key milestones as goals. For example, one unique option is the Net Worth Goal. Unlike other goals, this isn’t tied to an expenditure—it’s a way to test net worth at any point in the plan. Say the client wants a $1 million net worth by age 65. You can set that as a goal and easily see if they’re on track.
There’s also an Insight called Goal Priority Analysis. This lets you temporarily remove certain goals from the plan to see how it affects the outcome. For instance, if clients aren’t quite meeting their retirement spending goals, you could test removing a down payment gift to their son. You’ll see a comparison between the original and the adjusted scenario, which can spark a valuable conversation: how important is it to fully meet spending goals versus making that gift?
In Reports, you’ll find options like the Financial Summary, Retirement Summary, and Events and Goals Report—all useful when discussing goals with clients. You can also create custom report sets. Click the plus button, give your set a name, and it will be saved for easy reuse. You can also set time spans for detailed reports—for example, focusing on just the next five years of cash flow and assets.
Back in the Timeline, you also have the ability to add Stages. By default, plans include Pre-Retirement and Retirement. But you can create additional life stages for more accuracy—for example, adding a “Traveling Years” stage between ages 65 and 75. Each stage can be named, colored, and adjusted as needed.
For events on the timeline that don’t have amounts attached, you can quickly add them during client conversations. For example, if a client hopes to buy a boat at age 70, add an event for it now. Later, when the cost is known, tie it to a Milestone Goal. This way, both the event and financial impact are tracked.
On the Charts screen, there are additional features worth noting. Turn on the Legend and Details to see what’s driving cash flow each year. Switch to the Assets chart and hover over bars to see year-end values. You can also zoom into a specific stage, such as Accumulation or Early Retirement, or toggle Real Money mode, which removes inflation adjustments to show values in today’s terms.
Finally, let’s look at Insights. For example, running the Annual Savings Insight calculates the additional annual savings needed to eliminate shortfalls. Once it’s run, you can compare the client’s current plan with the adjusted scenario side by side.
I hope this walkthrough was helpful. If you have any questions, click the name of your client in the top right, select Request Support, type your question into the text box, and share client access.