I apologise that this was crashing out with server errors. This was due to refactoring the code into PHP8.

Should be OK now, but let me know if you run into any issues.

The scenario analysis module is currently undergoing final testing and should be available within the next few weeks.

Regards,
Neil Telford

We are looking at alternatives for FEI owing to incresases in costs. Fintegrate allege they can match FEI in terms of comparison of funds etc. Has anyone compared them i.e. really road tested it?

Many Thanks

Rob Collins

Just interested to know what everyone pays for their FE analytics license? We're trying to figure out whether the renewal we've been offered is actually any good value.

Does anyone have any experience of using Advisory AI? For either the meeting note taker or the suitability report builder.

We are currently going through a due diligence process on AI tools and have been fairly impressed so far with them, but would be good to see if anyone has any first hand experience.

We are trying to look at incorporating more technology (including AI) into our firms systems and processes. There are a couple which have come up in discussion and was wondering if anyone currently uses these and has any feedback on them?

Fastrak:
https://www.sprintenterprise.co.uk/solutions/fastrak/

Thistle Initiatives Asset Migration:
https://www.thistleinitiatives.co.uk/services/asset-migration

The latter I think is relatively new service, so maybe not much feedback yet, but perhaps you have experience of the company behind it and their other services?

Many thanks
Wild

There will be a major update before the end of the year to do scenario analysis. i.e. if someone has several investment bonds and you want to take £x, is it more tax-efficient to do via withdrawals or segment surrender.

Just visit https://bondcalc.invidion.uk/

There is also a calculator for post-2024 Tax-Free Cash for who people who might get burnt. i.e. if someone has large public-sector pension accrual. See:

https://invidion.uk/post2024_tax_free_pension_lump_sum_and_death_benefits_reduction_calculator.php

Already looked at Defaqto and LangCat Analyser, but wondering if there is anything else?

Thanks

Past due diligence has shown Cashcalc and Timeline have less sophisticated actuarial modelling than some of the more expensive tools so not interested in these.

I have been asked to review what we use currently (Cashcalc and FinCalc) so I am comparing these to the following:

Voyant - Which I have used before.
Timeline - Which I haven't used before
I4c/Intelliflo Planning - Again never used before.

We are looking for a simple system to stress test retirement income (I'm currently thinking Cashcalc) and a more advanced system to carry out scenario analysis for clients who want to look at things in more detail (whcih I am currently thinking would be Voyant).

To be honest I can't really see past Voyant for the more complicated stuff.

I'm running a case where a 48 year old client is wanting to know if he can retire at 60 on £40k per annum on all of the above systems. The client has a couple of DC pensions and an old DB scheme however we don't know the projected benefits for the DB scheme at age 60.

So far Voyant seems to be the best at estimating the DB scheme, something Cashcalc and Timeline can't (or at least I can't work out how to do!).
Downside is the time taken to key in the details and having to add in asset class assumptions.

I4C/Intelliflo Planning doesn't seem to have much in the way of stress testing nor does it seem to be able to model randomised returns.

Timeline has loads of stress testing but carrying out different scenarios seems to be quite difficult, as does modelling things like using ISA allowances, selling businesses etc.

Am I missing anything?

We use Intelliflo as our back office system and Cashcalc as one of our cashflow systems (the other one is FinCalc).

We have previously tried using the Intelliflo Client Portal however none of the advisers particularly liked it and it was only really used to send secure messages and documents rather than using it to collect client data such as fact finds so it has fallen by the wayside.

I tried using the Cashcalc portal yesterday as a way of testing both the Cashcalc fact find and the link to Intelliflo and found it to be far better. Even linking the information back to I/O was pretty painless and much quicker than trying to fill in the Intelliflo Fact Find manually.

As a result we are now looking at using the Cashcalc portal as part of our client onboarding process.

Does anyone else do this and are there any drawbacks we should be aware of or top tips that you can share? The obvious one for me would be that Cashcalc wouldn't have live valuations but to be honest we aren't really planning to focus on this as the platforms we use tend to have their own client facing apps or websites.

Thanks

Peter

We are doing a bit of due diligence on our report writing software and wondered if anyone had any recommendations or could give us some feedback about software they use or have previously used.

We are currently using an inhouse custom built piece of kit, which very simply does the job of pulling the correct paragraphs from a bank saved in windows file explorer and drops them into a word template in the correct order. It works really well, but as the person who wrote the code is leaving, its now time to examine if other options would be more suitable going forward, as theres the potential business risk of not having someone who can fix it if it goes wrong.

I want something that we can personalise to our branding and also where the wording can be tweaked to match our tone of voice guide. It needs to feel like us and not like an off the shelf product.

I've got a demo of Genovo coming up and from reading through some of these threads have also come across ATEB and PPOL. Any others that I should also be considering?

Thanks

https://conquestplanning.fidelity.co.uk/help-support/videos/#tab-link

Seems to be a semi automated cashflow system powered by AI that produces some really good looking outputs.

Does anyone have any experience with this and if so what are your thoughts?

Should we be looking over our shoulders as I can see this as getting marketed as a paraplanner replacement?

There's functionality to have a work queue system running through IO, though I'm trying to find out how/if it can take into account that the overall workload may be split across multiple hubs, rather than all going into one long list for the business. Got a call in a couple of days, but wanted to see if anyone has any 'real world experience'.
Cheers
Tony

While I've been able to mitigate some of this, I'd be interested to know what website companies other people use, and whether these companies would be happy to take on the hosting of an existing site.

I'm not looking to update it as I'm happy with how it looks; I'd just like an idea of whether I'm already paying under the odds or whether it is time for a change.

I have seen a demo and like the idea of having the control to amend the factfind ourselves at no additional cost.

It also means Moneyinfo can be used as the client's sole portal. By using the XPLAN factfind, it would need to be sent via the XPLAN client portal, which could lead to 'portal overload' for the client.

I don't like the fact that you can't print a paper-based version of the Moneyinfo one. The need to do this shouldn't occur much and shouldn't be encouraged but I think the option should be there.

Shame there is no integration between Moneyinfo and XPLAN. This isn't expected to be imminent either.

Thanks for any thoughts and feedback.

Does anyone have any useful tips and tricks, and is there a way of overcoming the requirement to add data at the speed of light before the field closes down and you have to click on it again to complete the entry?!

I have to say, it feels quite clunky in comparison to what I am used to, and not at all intuitive

Does anyone know if it is still available, or failing that have an alternative solution?

We have had a go here and whilst the coding works, it plays havoc with the formatting of our letters. Xplan as yet, haven't been able to provide a solution, so I was wondering if anyone can offer any ideas from their own experiences.

Thanks.