Voyant comes packaged with default market assumptions from a third-party provider. We do this so you can begin using all of the software's functionality immediately, without being required to source a set of market assumptions first.
If your firm would prefer to use its own set of market assumptions and asset classes, you are able to add custom market assumptions to your subscription. This can be self-managed or added via a white label.
If self-managing, custom market assumptions can be added to your subscription in AdviserGo by the subscription owner or subscription manager or by a user who has been granted the Market Assumptions Setup role.
Market Assumptions added this way will be available to all users within the subscription.
To add custom Market Assumptions, you will need two spreadsheets in csv format. The investment averages file and the correlation coefficients file. More detail on how to format these correctly can be found here.
How to add market assumptions
Once you have the two files, either follow the steps below to upload the assumptions into AdviserGo or send the files to support@planwithvoyant.com to get them added as part of your white label.
1. Log in to your account in AdviserGo and go to the Home page.
2. Click Configuration > Custom Market Assumptions on the top menu (if you don't see this option, and you are a subscription owner or manager, please contact Voyant Support by emailing support@planwithvoyant.com).
3. In the Custom Market Assumptions screen, click the + button in the bottom right corner.
4. Name the assumptions and select whether or not they should be the default for new clients set up in AdviserGo using the Default Assumptions for New Clients dropdown.
Tip: Use as default or not - we recommend that you initially leave the Default Assumptions dropdown set to No. Check that the assumptions are working as expected by adding them to a test client case. Once you are happy with them, you can update this dropdown in the custom market assumptions to Yes. If Yes is selected, all new clients set up in AdviserGo will use the custom market assumptions. Existing client plans will not be affected and will continue to use their current assumptions unless you updated them manually (for instructions on how to do this, click here).
5. In the Assumptions Include Yield dropdown select whether or not the assumptions in your files include yield.
If Yes is selected, the interest or dividend yield in the assumptions will be deducted from the mean to get the capital appreciation rate. As an example, if the mean is 7% and the interest yield is 4% for a particular asset class in the csv file, the capital appreciation rate in the software for an account invested 100% in that asset class would be 3%, the yield would be 4% and the total return would be 7%.
If No is selected, the interest or dividend yield in the assumptions will be added to the mean to get the total return. As an example, if the mean is 7% and the interest yield is 4% for a particular asset class in the csv file, the capital appreciation rate in the software for an account invested 100% in that asset class would be 7%, the yield would be 4% and the total return would be 11%.
6. In the Assumptions Type dropdown select whether the assumptions in your files are Arithmetic or Geometric. Read more about this here.
7. In the Investment Averages File section, click the Choose File button, locate your investment averages csv file and click Open.
8. In the Correlation Coefficient File section, click the Choose File button, locate your correlation coefficient file and click Open.
9. Once both sections have a file selected, click the Done button.
10. The custom assumptions will now show in the custom Market Assumptions screen:
11. Click on the assumption name to view an overview of the assumptions.
Tip, updating assumptions - assumptions can be updated from the Custom Market Assumptions screen by opening the assumptions and clicking the Update Assumptions button or deleted by clilcking the bin icon next to the assumptions name. If assumptions are updated, plans which use them will change to use the new data. If assumptions are deleted, plans which use them will retain the deleted assumptions, but the assumptions will no longer be available to use in other plans.
Further reading
How to change the set of market assumptions a plan uses