When building financial plans in Voyant, one of the most important choices you’ll make is how to model the growth of savings, investment, and pension accounts. The software gives you two options:
Fixed Growth Rates
Market Assumptions (based on an asset-allocated portfolio)
These methods aren’t mutually exclusive; you can use either one on its own or a combination of both within the same client plan. The approach you choose will shape not just the numbers in the plan, but also how you frame investment growth with clients.
Why This Matters for Advisers
Choosing between fixed growth rates and market assumptions isn’t just a technical setting in Voyant; it directly impacts client conversations, confidence, and the value you bring as an adviser.
Fixed growth rates are simple, transparent, and useful when you want to model accounts that don’t move with the market, or when you need a clear, predictable baseline.
Market assumptions, on the other hand, give you a richer, more realistic picture, incorporating risk, volatility, and the probability of different outcomes.
Most advisers use a mix of both. For example, you might model cash savings or guaranteed products with a fixed rate, while applying market assumptions to investment portfolios. This balance lets you show clients both certainty where it exists and uncertainty where it matters, helping them see the resilience of their plan under different conditions.
Ultimately, how you set these assumptions affects:
Client confidence – Do clients feel their plan is reliable, even in tough markets?
Advice conversations – Can you illustrate both security and risk in a way that resonates?
Your value as an adviser – Are you demonstrating not just what could happen, but the full range of possibilities, and how your advice protects them?
Fixed Growth Rates
A fixed growth rate can be applied to any savings, investment, or pension account. It works best for accounts that aren’t expected to fluctuate with the market in the short term, for example, deposit-based products, structured or with-profit accounts, or investments with some form of capital protection.
By default, accounts entered via the Savings screen use fixed growth. Returns are assumed to be given, though this setting can be turned on or off as needed.
With fixed growth, the account grows strictly according to the rate you enter (minus fees). It’s deterministic—there’s no variation unless you change the rate yourself.
Market Assumptions
Using market assumptions unlocks Voyant’s full market-based functionality. Instead of one fixed rate, growth is modeled based on:
The account’s asset allocation
The assumed long-term returns of the chosen asset classes
This allows the software to reflect real market behavior, showing a probabilistic range of outcomes: from potential losses to potential gains, with most results clustering around the mean.
Understanding the Probability Distribution
Voyant assumes investment returns follow a normal distribution (bell curve). This means:
~68% of returns fall within 1 standard deviation (SD) of the mean
~95% fall within 2 SDs
Nearly all outcomes fall within 3 SDs
Each point on the curve represents a percentile:
The mean return sits at the 50th percentile
−1 SD sits at the 16th percentile
+1 SD sits at the 84th percentile
This framework is especially useful for stress testing and risk modeling. Using the language of percentiles gives you a clear way to explain whether returns are good, poor, or average relative to the asset allocation.
Market-Based Insights in AdviserGo
AdviserGo includes several tools that rely on these market assumptions:
Loss Capacity, Market Crash, and Major Loss – Test how much a plan can withstand in a downturn, or model the effect of a sudden correction.
Monte Carlo – Run hundreds of randomized simulations to test the likelihood of plan success under different return sequences.
Performance – Quickly adjust assumptions up or down, either by percentages or by percentile shifts.
Historic – Map real market history (e.g., FTSE All Share 1900–2019) onto your client plan.
Each of these tools provides a different lens for helping clients understand how market behavior could affect their financial future.
Fixed Growth vs. Market Assumptions
| Aspect | Fixed Growth Rates | Market Assumptions |
|---|---|---|
| How it works | A single, user-defined growth rate is applied consistently. | Growth is based on asset allocation and long-term asset class assumptions. |
| Type of outcome | Deterministic – account grows at the exact rate entered (minus fees). | Probabilistic – outcomes vary, modeled around a mean with a range of possible returns. |
| Best for | Cash savings, deposit-based products, guaranteed or protected investments. | Investment portfolios subject to market fluctuations. |
| Strengths | Simple, transparent, easy to explain. | Realistic, reflects risk/volatility, allows stress testing. |
| Limitations | Ignores uncertainty and risk; may oversimplify. | More complex to explain; outcomes are not guaranteed. |
| Client story it tells | “Here’s a steady, predictable return.” | “Here’s the range of possible outcomes and how your plan holds up.” |
Bringing It All Together
The choice between fixed growth rates and market assumptions is more than just a software input; it’s a way to shape client understanding, demonstrate resilience, and highlight the value of your advice. By blending both approaches, you can give clients clarity where outcomes are certain and perspective where uncertainty is unavoidable.