PlanPlus for Students

Background on PlanPlus for Students

PlanPlus for Students is a web-based financial planning software designed for integration with educational programs at universities, colleges or other professional institutions. Today’s financial planning world has many students graduating with CFP designation, but who have little professional experience producing plans or working with clients. In response to this gap between theory and practice, PlanPlus for Students provides the perfect combination of tools to meet the Financial Planning Standards Board’s (FPSB) new requirements for competency-based accreditation. Instructors can incorporate document production, real client experience, and the FPSB Competency Profile using this straightforward assessment strategy and PlanPlus for Students.

PlanPlus for Students is based on the professional software PlanPlus Planit, and as such offers many means for comprehensive analyses:

• Engagement Agreements – report to engage client and solidify nature and scope of planning relationship
• Present Value and Rate of Return Calculators – show time value of money for periodic/irregular cash flow
• Historical Returns Illustration – shows asset class performance over certain period in graph or chart form
• Loan Amortization – view detailed schedules for various calculations on mortgage and debt payments
• Education Planning – use costs of worldwide educational institutions in planning for education needs
• Retirement Needs Analysis – retirement calculator with government benefits, investments and pensions
• Detailed Investment Assets – subsets of universe of product data, which map into an asset-based portfolio
• Risk Profiling – map clients’ tolerance to specific types of risk using proven questions and risk-value matrix
• Asset Allocation – portfolio analysis using historical return and Modern Portfolio Theory for various classes
• Security Selection – implement target portfolios by assigning subsets of investment assets to accounts
• Investment Policy Statement – detailed document defining how investments are to be managed
• Income Tax Analysis – tax schedule based on current country-specific income tax tiers and allowances
• Needs on Death and Disability – calculate insurance needed to replace income as part of a life goals plan
• Life Goals-Based Analysis – integrate asset allocation, annual tax calculations, account treatment, long-term objectives, insurance proceeds and client preference to create a detailed strategy
• Personal Financial Strategy – life goals analysis calculating financial shortfall and creating model strategies
• Estate Planning – calculate estate value for beneficiaries after asset disposition, distributions and taxes
• Integrated Financial Plan – estate, critical illness and long-term care considerations on top of Personal Financial Strategy elements, integrated for a holistic life goals analysis
• Action Plans – document component illustrating a long-term implementation plan for a real client

Accompanying the PlanPlus for Students online software is the 130-page Student Workbook providing instructional case studies and practice exercises for students. The Workbook incorporates the software and document production process with real-life situations so students learn to problem-solve and apply classroom knowledge. The Student Workbook comes with a 60-page Instructor’s Answer Guide for reference and/or to facilitate presentation techniques. These educational features will be explained in more detail in the next section. In addition to the education-focused Workbook is a wealth of existing Web Advisor training, including over 20 hours of eLearning videos where a CFP Professional explains everything from PlanPlus Planit basics to advanced planning tips. There is also a 80-page Student User’s Guide, informative FAQ’s and Email Quick Tips. There is also the option to include the textbook “Personal Financial Planning” by Kwok Ho and Chris Robinson, where PlanPlus for Students can be used to solve examples and exercises through each chapter.

PlanPlus Planit and hence PlanPlus for Students are multi-jurisdictional international tools and offer financial planning solutions for over twelve countries. The software is multi-currency and multi-lingual, with screens and documents in English, French, Spanish and Chinese (Mandarin). Planning features like income taxes, allocation indices and government benefits may also be specific to your planning jurisdiction or country. Student Workbooks are have been created for Canada, Malaysia, Malaysia (Islamic), Singapore and the United Kingdom.

As an online tool, PlanPlus for Students has been setup for simple use by instructors and students, with the ability to be accessed from any computer with a User ID and password, and convenient administrative features. To ease student registration, a “Class ID” allows instructors to control student registration, or allow students to self-register. Instructors can also track their students’ activities on the software at an institutional or class level – from clients added, calculators used and documents produced.