Transcript:
Advanced Features in AdvisorGo
In today's training, I will be walking you through some of the advanced features in AdvisorGo that are easily missed.
Enabling Inline Help
First, if you haven't done so, I recommend turning on your Inline Help. You can do this by navigating to the silhouette icon in the top right corner, selecting Preferences, and enabling Inline Help.
By doing this, you'll see highlighted, underlined words throughout the software, giving you easy access to help information on various topics within your plan.
Hiding the Dashboard Chart
Another option in Preferences is to hide your Dashboard Chart. This can be useful if you want to focus on the data within the plan before discussing cash flow with your client.
Exploring the Dashboard Chart
In the Dashboard Chart, one useful feature is the Show Timeline option in the Goals section. Clicking this will take you directly to the timeline section, where you can interact with each goal, move events on the fly, and even add new events or goals while conversing with your client.
In the Savings and Investments and Retirement sections, you’ll find a Show Overview option. This provides a different view of the information, including a breakdown of asset allocation.
Widgets on the Dashboard
On the right side of your dashboard, there are widgets that provide quick graphs of your client's plan. You can see assets by type, compare assets versus debts, and view overall asset allocation. You can also switch to a bar chart view if you prefer.
Navigating with the Clickable Logo
An important navigation feature is that you can click the Voyant logo on the left side to return to your client list at any time.
Using the Timeline Screen
Now, I want to focus on the Timeline Screen and discuss Goals. Goals are powerful tools for planning, serving as trackable expenses. There is no hard rule about what constitutes an expense versus a goal, but goals allow for visual tracking to determine if clients can achieve their objectives.
For instance, incorporating a client’s retirement spending as a goal helps visualize their progress. A unique goal in Voyant is the Net Worth Goal, which isn't tied to an expenditure but allows you to track net worth during the planning process. If a client wants to achieve a million-dollar net worth by age 65, you can enter this goal, set it as a start event, and click Done. This will help you assess whether they’re on track.
Goal Priority Analysis
We also have an Insight feature for Goal Priority Analysis, which allows you to test the impact of removing certain goals from the plan. For instance, if a client isn’t meeting their retirement spending goals, you might remove a down payment gift to see if it helps them achieve their objectives.
Creating and Using Report Sets
In reports, you will find a Financial Summary Report, a Retirement Summary, and an Events and Goals Report. These highlight the goals in the plan, making them valuable during client discussions.
Another easily overlooked feature is creating your own report set. Click the Plus button, name the report set, and it will allow you to automatically select those specific reports in the future.
You can also specify a time span for detailed reports. If you want to discuss cash flow and assets for a specific period, enter the desired time range and click Done to generate your report.
Adding Stages to Your Plan
You can add different stages into your planning using the Stages option. By default, it includes pre-retirement and retirement stages, but you can create custom stages to reflect life’s multiple phases.
For example, set a stage from age 65 to age 75, giving it a name and color. You can rename any stage by clicking on it and editing the name.
Quick Event Additions
For any events on the timeline that don’t have amounts tied to them, you can quickly add those while conversing with clients. Click the Plus button, select Events, and choose the appropriate icon. For example, if they hope to buy a boat, you can add that to their timeline with a future date.
Then, tie this event to a goal by creating a milestone goal for the boat purchase, adding the amount when known, and linking it to the event icon you already placed on the timeline.
Exploring the Charts
In the Let's See screen, check out the chart options. Here, you can turn on the legend to view detailed information about cash flow. This lets you see what met the cash flow requirements each year. In the assets chart, hovering over any bar reveals the expected year-end assets.
You can adjust the chart view to focus on specific stages, such as accumulation and early retirement, and you can activate a real money view to eliminate inflation growth for clearer comparisons.