contents...this webinar has been approved for 1-cpd point by: • financial planning association of...

Course Notes: Financial Mappers Webinar (01): What makes good cash flow modelling software?

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Contents

INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................... 3

Accreditation: 1-CPD Point ......................................................................................................................................... 3

7-Day Access to Financial Mappers Pro ....................................................................................................................... 4

Complete CPD Assessment ......................................................................................................................................... 4

WEBINAR NOTES ........................................................................................................................................ 5 Slide 1: Welcome ........................................................................................................................................................... 5 Slide 2: Introduction – Definition of cash flow modelling software .............................................................................. 6 Slide 3: Components of good cash flow modelling software ......................................................................................... 7 Slide 4: Video demonstration of Financial Mappers Pro ............................................................................................... 8 Slide 5: The Essentials .................................................................................................................................................... 9 Slide 6: Fast and Flexible – Toggle between options ................................................................................................... 10 Slide 7: Percentages allow dynamic calculations ......................................................................................................... 11 Slide 8: Offer Alternative methods to increase flexibility ............................................................................................ 12 Slide 9: Short video ...................................................................................................................................................... 13 Slide 10: Present and Future Values ............................................................................................................................ 14 Slide 11: Financial Targets ............................................................................................................................................ 15 Slide 12: Lifestyle Goals and Milestones ...................................................................................................................... 16 Slide 13: Asset Allocation: % and $ value ..................................................................................................................... 17 Slide 14: Asset Allocation: % of Growth Assets & Investment Profile ......................................................................... 18 Slide 15: Statistics ........................................................................................................................................................ 19 Slide 16: Report Builder – Customized reports ............................................................................................................ 20 Slide 17: Report: Plan Overview................................................................................................................................... 21 Slide 18: Report – SOA (Statement of Advice) ............................................................................................................. 22 Slide 19: Client Review – Plan Dashboard .................................................................................................................... 24 Slide 20: Client Review – Reports ................................................................................................................................ 25 Slide 21: Recommended Reading ................................................................................................................................ 26 Slide: 22: CPD Points -SurveyMonkey .......................................................................................................................... 27 Slide 23: Contact Information ...................................................................................................................................... 28 Slide 24: Question 1 ..................................................................................................................................................... 29 Slide 25: Question 2 ..................................................................................................................................................... 30 Slide 26: Question 3 ..................................................................................................................................................... 31

EVALUATION FORM ................................................................................................................................. 32

LEARNERS COURSE MATERIALS ......................................................................................................... 33

Additional Optional Reading ..................................................................................................................................... 33

Software Access ........................................................................................................................................................ 33

GETTING STARTED GUIDE .................................................................................................................... 34

ProConnect Client .......................................................................................................................................................... 34

My Plans List ............................................................................................................................................................. 37 Practice Plan ................................................................................................................................................................ 37


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Plan Management Area ............................................................................................................................................ 39 1. Planner ..................................................................................................................................................................... 39 2. Returning to Plans List ............................................................................................................................................. 40 3. Other Plan Management Pages ............................................................................................................................... 40 4. Header Button Options ............................................................................................................................................ 40

Starting Position ....................................................................................................................................................... 43 Create Your Starting Position ....................................................................................................................................... 43 Changing the Starting Position ..................................................................................................................................... 46

Plan Creation ............................................................................................................................................................ 47

Videos ....................................................................................................................................................................... 51


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Introduction Welcome to this webinar. The webinar is intended to demonstrate the features of cash flow

modelling software which will assist the financial adviser or accountant in their practice. The

webinar is presented by Glenis Phillips, SF FIN, the designer of Financial Mappers.

She will use Financial Mappers Pro as the tool of demonstration.

However, one does not need to be using or Financial Mappers or thinking of purchasing the

product to benefit from this webinar.

Accreditation: 1-CPD Point

This webinar has been approved for 1-CPD Point by:

• Financial Planning Association of Australia (FPA)

• Association of Financial Advisers (AFA)

If you are a member of FINSIA, they will accept a certificate issued to you by one of these

organizations. There may be other organizations who do the same.

Please note that application was made to the SMSF Association, but accreditation was rejected on

the grounds that they only give accreditation for matters relating to compliance aspects under

superannuation legislation.


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7-Day Access to Financial Mappers Pro

For those who are actively seeking new cash flow modelling software, or want to follow the follow

these notes later with access to the Sample Plan used in the webinar, you are most welcome to

have a free 7-day trial, commencing the day of the webinar. If you join any future webinars, your

access will be re-activated for you to use. Please note that you will be given access as a ProConnect

Client of our demonstration platform, which is a fictitious company called Good Advice, and your

adviser will be Ben Cantrell, who will invite you to be a ProConnect Client. A Getting Started Guide

is at the end of this document.

Please contact me, with a request and note the Webinar – Webinar 01.

[email protected]

As this webinar is offered as an “On Demand” webinar, you will not be able to ask questions.

However, if you do have questions, please use the Contact Page and place in your heading the

Webinar Reference. https://www.financialmappers.com.au/contact/

Complete CPD Assessment

After watching all the webinar, you should return to the Financial Mappers Webinar Page, to

complete your SurveyMonkey questionnaire. You are required to have a pass rate of 80%. Make

sure you complete your contact details and the organizations for which you wish to be accredited.

Your certificate will be emailed to you, once you have successfully completed this assessment. If

the certificate does not arrive within 48 hours, please contact me:

[email protected]

The reference for this webinar is: Webinar 01.

mailto:[email protected]

https://www.financialmappers.com.au/contact/


https://www.financialmappers.com.au/webinars/


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Webinar Notes

Slide 1: Welcome

The presenter will speak directly to the audience in a welcoming explaining what will be covered in

the webinar.

At time of registration for the webinar, participants will be given access to the Financial Mappers

Pro Masterclass documents and the recommended reading from the documents is: “Budget,

Transaction Account & Investment Plan”. They will also be given access to the Webinar Notes,

if the form of the PowerPoint submitted, with notes attached to each slide.

In addition, at the time of registration, participants will be offered a 7-day free access, as a “Client”,

in the demonstration Financial Mappers Pro platform called “Good Advice”. This will allow

participants to review the content of the webinar or make plans for themselves, if they choose. If

they later join another webinar their account will be opened for them to access for a further 7-day

period.

During the webinar, all screenshots will be sourced from the Sample Plan “Our Joint Plan”, in

Financial Mappers. This is a 10-year plan, showing the last 5-years of the Savings Phans and the

first 5-years of the Retirement Phase.


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Slide 2: Introduction – Definition of cash flow modelling software

As people seem to define cash of cash flow modelling as two separate things, the definitions will

be explained (Financial Mappers does both):

Definitions

• The process of assessing your current and forecasted wealth, along with inflows (income)

and outflows (expenses) to enable a picture of your finances both now and in the future.

• The process of assessing your current and forecasted wealth, under different economic

circumstances.

In terms of giving financial advice, the adviser can run through the model live with a client allowing

you to address any major concerns, including what the client must do to achieve their objectives.

The second definition often associated with cash flow modelling is the ability to take that model

and stress test it is using different economic cycles or changing the rates for Income, Capital

Growth and Loans.


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Slide 3: Components of good cash flow modelling software

While it is essential to include all Personal Cash Flows, these should be maintained separately, but

with accounts which interlink the personal and investment cash flows. In this case, the interlinking

accounts are Budget, Transaction Account and Retirement Income. With the Investment

Assets, these should be sub-categorized into Investments, Retirement Accounts and Home

Ownership.


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Slide 4: Video demonstration of Financial Mappers Pro

This 16-minute video will be used to demonstrate all the features of cash flow modelling software

using Financial Mappers Pro. (This is the most time efficient means of advisers understanding how

good cash flow modelling can work)

Please note there have been a number of major upgrades to the software since this video was

produced.


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Slide 5: The Essentials

Using the Sample Joint Plan, (Financial Mappers) The essentials of will be listed and then each

issue discussed in the following slides.

• Fast, Flexible and Dynamic

• Present & Future Values

• Financial Targets

• Lifestyle Goals and Milestones

• Asset Allocation

• Statistics

• Reports – Including SOA

• Client Reviews


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Slide 6: Fast and Flexible – Toggle between options

Activation of Tick Boxes allow entries to be included with one tick, without the need for re-entry. For example, In the Salary module, you can activate and deactivate the complete module. This may be useful if a client is considering working part-time in a second job. In the Superannuation Drawdown, all the parameters can be set, but the plan can now be considered before and after activation of the drawdown.

The Dropdown lists give all the options an adviser is likely to require. In the Income, the inputs for a Salary are different to that of Other Income. Other Income allows the adviser to include income sources such as a Family Trust, Business or Investment Fund, where the adviser does not want to include the value of the income source. In the Drawdown of Superannuation, having three methods of drawdown allows the adviser to choose the option which best fits the client. The adviser can demonstrate three options, showing the results one at a time in a matter of seconds.


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Slide 7: Percentages allow dynamic calculations

Using percentages, allows the software to automatically recalculate. To demonstrate, the example of allocating the Savings from Salary, as a percentage has been selected. This feature is important because it allows the automation of calculations so that the entries dependent on other factors will automatically adjust. In allocating the savings from Salary, the program, must first allocate previously committed costs, in this case the Home and Investment Loan Expenses (Net of Rents). If the that loan cost is changed by changing loan parameters, then the balance to allocate to other investments and superannuation contributions will also change. Using a percentage for this allocation, allows automatic re-calculation without user intervention.


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Slide 8: Offer Alternative methods to increase flexibility

All too often, software will offer limited alternatives. The software should allow the adviser to deliver the clients’ plan according to the client’s requirements. While it is much faster to just allocate 5% of unallocated salary savings to Superannuation, some advisers may want to say to their client; “I want you to contribute $3,000 a year to your Superannuation as a Pre-Tax Contribution.”

Using this method, the contribution value is not dependent on the available funds, after allocation of loan expenses. The funds not allocated to specific accounts and that allocated to loan expenses is deposited into the Transaction Account from where the $3,000 contributions will be withdrawn. The adviser needs to ensure that there are enough funds in the Transaction Account to fund the contribution.


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Slide 9: Short video

Glenis will talk you through the process of adding a new loan to increase loan costs and then

assign a fixed dollar value to John’s Personal Superannuation Contributions.


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Slide 10: Present and Future Values

Explaining the time value of money to clients has always been a problem. The option to toggle

between Present and Future Values allows the adviser to quickly say: “The graph indicates that

when you retire, you have chosen to draw down in Today’s Dollar Value $100,000 for the first two-

years. However, at the time you retire, these values will have increased at the rate of Inflation. So,

the “Future Value” graph, is showing the actual amount will be $113,141 in the first year.

Another example is the Total Value of Net Investments and Retirement Funds. For each year of the

plan, the allocation is displayed. (This plan has a 5-year Savings Phase and a 5-Year Retirement

Phase).


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Slide 11: Financial Targets

Some adviser’s may ask their clients for their Financial Targets for various time periods.

Alternatively, they may ask their client, how much income they want from their Investments and

Superannuation at the start of retirement. This leaves the adviser with the need to convert that

Income Target to a Value of Investments and Retirement Accounts. For many achieving Home

Ownership, free of debt will also be a high priority.

Other financial targets which the adviser may want to address is the Asset Allocation and Statistics

such as the Real Return on Investments and Maximum Debt Servicing Ratio.

The complete set of Financial Targets allows the adviser to monitor all these critical ingredients of

the plan. The adviser may achieve the Asset’s Target, but in order to achieve that target, the asset

allocation may be too reliant on one asset class or too much debt. Likewise, a high Real Return on

Investments, may reveal that riskier investment types have been employed to achieve the

Investment Target. Thus, Risk Profile may not align with the Risk Tolerance indicated by the client.


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Slide 12: Lifestyle Goals and Milestones

Lifestyle Goals represent a mini savings plan for large personal items, such as buying a car or

having the occasional overseas holiday.

For adviser’s dealing with average income earners, assisting with the budgeting of the client’s

personal financial needs is likely to free up more money for investments. If the adviser can

demonstrate that personal costs should be saved for, rather using personal loans, the client may

be better situated to fund more investments.

Milestones are personal events, such as having a baby, taking a gap year or the purchase of major

items such as buying a car, home or investment property.

Having the client indicate these Milestones, allows the adviser to cater for these expenses in the

plan.


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Slide 13: Asset Allocation: % and $ value

In August 2019, the ATO issued a statement that they would be writing to SMSF Trustees and their

auditors, where their records indicate that the SMSF may be holding 90% or more of their funds in

a single asset class. This is a timely reminder, that your software should be able to accurately

describe the asset allocation for investments, retirement funds and the total.

Here the assets are divided into 8-categories, with the Defensive Assets displayed in shades of

blue. The graphs include the Asset Allocation for Investments, Retirement Accounts and the

Combined Values.

These graphs project the value for each year in both percentage of fund and dollar value of fund.


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Slide 14: Asset Allocation: % of Growth Assets & Investment Profile

The Percentage of Growth Assets in each year of the plan, assists the adviser is aligning the composition of the plan, with what the adviser considers an approximate Risk Profile. The Investment Profile divides the allocation according to Percentage of Growth Assets but divided in 5-broad categories representing 20% allocations from Aggressive to Low Growth. There is one additional category of No Growth, where all the assets are held in Defensive Assets.

In the Sample Plan, the Investment Profiles are listed as the same for Investments and Retirement Accounts. The bottom left-hand graph displays an example where the Investments have an Aggressive Investment Profile and the Retirement Accounts, a Balanced Profile. This results in the total plan being a High Growth Investment Profile.


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Slide 15: Statistics

Return on Investments, including Retirement Accounts, is an important statistic which should be

included for the plan. The Nominal Return should be discounted for Inflation to give a Real Return.

It is from this value the total plan can be assessed in terms of whether the real returns are above

that which is generally accepted as an appropriate return on investments, without increasing the

plan to a very high-risk recommendation.

The Debt Servicing Ratio needs to be monitored to ensure the plan is not using excessive levels

of debt and thus increasing risk to achieve the required financial targets.

The Income as a percentage of the Target Income will indicate during the Savings Phase if the

client is on target to reach the desired Retirement Income at the start of the Retirement Phase and

monitor this percentage as the draw down progresses.


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Slide 16: Report Builder – Customized reports

Advisers often find the reports in cash flow modelling software restrictive. Each person has a preferred style of communicating with clients. Therefore, looking for software which allows the adviser to create a template for a specific style of report should be paramount.

In this example, the reports can be designed for adviser use only, or where the adviser has chosen to share the plan with the client, reports for both the adviser and client can be created. Thus, they have a common ground where they can communicate about the outcomes of the plan.


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Slide 17: Report: Plan Overview

In Section 1, Net Worth, the report has included both “Placeholders”, (Name and Age of Client)

and “Calculated Answers” in the text section. In addition, two SmartPanels have been added to

show graphs of the Net Investments and Retirement Accounts in both Present and Future Value.

The second section, Objectives, the information on the Objectives chevron, for that plan has been

included in the report.


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Slide 18: Report – SOA (Statement of Advice)

The FPA is has set for this year’s White Paper at the FPA Congress, the increased use of digital

tools including the production of a digital SOA. Financial Mappers has this capability now.

The adviser can use the Report Builder to develop their own version of an SOA. This SOA will

consist of several elements.

The first element is withdrawing information from the plan. This information is delivered in the form

of “Text Panels” and “SmartPanels”. SmartPanels may be graphs or tables of information

designed for use in reports. There are over 140 SmartPanels in Financial Mappers. One of these

panels is a signing page. In addition, the adviser can create Text Panels for information, which is

applied to every SOA, using that template.

The second element is 15-Free Text Panels called the SOA Editor. ere the adviser can format

each panel and add information specific to this client and this plan. Recommended headings have

been included, but the name of each panel can be changed.


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The panels are called:

• Executive Summary

• General Information about Client and Partner

• Estate Planning

• Attitude Towards Investing

• Investment Planning

• My Advice

• Scope of Advice

• Improving your Money Management Skills

• Fees and Costs

• Commissions

• Insurance Recommendations

• Commissions paid on Insurance Policies

• What this document is about

• Attachments

The title page can be customised using a comprehensive set of “Placeholders”. This can include a

Profile for the adviser writing the SOA. This profile, not included in the example, can include

photo, qualifications, experience and contact details.

Shortly Financial Mappers will have an interactive model of the eSOA on the website. You will be

invited to comment on what features you would like to see in the delivery of an interactive SOA.

Our model will also allow the adviser to conduct Client Reviews using reports created with the

Report Builder.

There will be a Client Portal, where the adviser can ask clients to review either their eSOA or

Client Review reports.


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Slide 19: Client Review – Plan Dashboard

On this Dashboard, 8-elements have been displayed in the form of dials. Use the slider to reach

any year and review the values. For detailed inspection and discussion, a graph for each dial can

be displayed.

This is the perfect place for the adviser to review the plan as it is developed and the perfect place

to commence a client demonstration of the recommended plan.

With the new interactive SOA and Client Review, this dashboard will be included.


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Slide 20: Client Review – Reports

In addition to reports created by the company, there are many reports which can be used in

Financial Mappers. These are all designed for specific purposes. It is easy to change information

in the plan and then generate a new report to check the results. This can be done while the client

is in a meeting.

Check how easy it is to change data and generate the results while constructing your plan or

demonstrating to your client.

Our latest report: Compare Two Plans, allows the comparison of two plans for different nominated

periods.


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Slide 21: Recommended Reading

For those who would like to know more about Financial Mappers and its cash flow capability, the

Masterclass document Budget, Transaction Account and Investment Plan Cash Flows is

recommended.

Link to all Masterclass Documents: https://www.financialmappers.com.au/trial-sequence-

pages/masterclass/

https://www.financialmappers.com.au/trial-sequence-pages/masterclass/

https://www.financialmappers.com.au/trial-sequence-pages/masterclass/


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Slide: 22: CPD Points -SurveyMonkey

To receive your CPD points, you need to complete the survey with a pass rate of 80%. Do not forget to advise which organization you wish to received accreditation.


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Slide 23: Contact Information

For more information please contact me directly:

[email protected]

Phone: 1300 162 945

Additional information can be found on the website:

https://www.financialmappers.com.au/


https://www.financialmappers.com.au/


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Slide 24: Question 1

Plans can have a length of 5-years to 50-years. Plan information which is entered remains as part

of the plan as you expand and collapse the length of plan displayed to client.


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Simply export the data from any CRM as a CSV file and then map the fields to the CSV file for

Financial Mappers.

In addition, Sean Harrison of Advice Builder, has developed a Bridging App to export directly

from X-Plan to Financial Mappers. There is a small fee to that company for the service.

Sean will make Bridging Apps for another CRM, when requested. His contact details are:

Sean Harrison ([email protected])



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An SMSF Account can have two members. There are three account types – Cash Account (1),

Shares Managed Funds (1) and one account for each Property and loan.

The program will allocate the assets according to the:

• Three main accounts – Cash, Shares and Managed Funds, Property

• Eight sub-categories

• Investment Profile – 6 categories

• Percentage of Growth Assets.


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Evaluation Form These will be emailed as a SurveyMonkey form. Participants must watch the webinar and gain an 80% pass rate on the Evaluation Form to be issued with the CPD Points Accreditation. The certificate will be emailed to you on completion of the assessment. These are the questions which you can access on the Financial Mappers Webinar Page. https://www.financialmappers.com.au/webinars/

Ques 1

An Activation Box is used to:

• Start the software session

• Include or exclude a module of information for plan development

• End the software session

Ques 2

Which if the following would not be considered a Lifestyle Goal?

• Saving for a holiday

• Saving for a car

• Saving for a home deposit

Ques 3

Which of the following are Milestones?

• Personal event such as having a baby or taking a gap year

• Major purchase such as buying a car or home

• All of the above

Ques 4

To give a complete assessment of your client’s needs, investment targets should be set for:

• Investments

• Home ownership

• Superannuation


Ques 5

Personal and Investment Cash flows are separated in the software. Which of the following is considered a personal cost?

• Insurance

• Car loan payments

• Credit Card payments


https://www.financialmappers.com.au/webinars/


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Learners Course Materials

Additional Optional Reading

Masterclass Document: Budget, Transaction Account and Investment Plan Cash Flows (4,145

words)

https://www.financialmappers.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Budget-Transaction-Account-and-Investment-Plan-

Cash-Flows.pdf

Software Access

In addition, each participant will be offered a free 7-day access as a ProConnect Client to the

demonstration platform, Good Advice. Here participants can review the plan used in the webinar

or make plans for personal use.

This account can be re-opened by the facilitator, should they enrol in other webinars.

https://www.financialmappers.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Budget-Transaction-Account-and-Investment-Plan-Cash-Flows.pdf

https://www.financialmappers.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Budget-Transaction-Account-and-Investment-Plan-Cash-Flows.pdf


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Getting Started Guide This Getting Started Guide is intended to those who wish to access the Financial Mappers as a

ProConnect Client on the Financial Mappers Pro demonstration platform for a fictitious company called “Good Advice”.

ProConnect Client

The Getting Started Guide for a ProConnect client is the same as that for the D-I-Y investor who has purchased a single use version of Financial Mappers. The difference is the ProConnect Client can receive shares shared by the adviser, or plans created or amended by the client and shared with the adviser. In the following example from the Good Advice, platform, this fictitious client is called Carol Vinny and her adviser is called Ben Cantrell.

To share a plan with the adviser, the client selects the plan (Green Tick) and clicks on the Manage Sharing button.


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If the adviser, Ben Cantrell, has sent a message to say he has shared a plan, the client clicks on the button Plans Shared with Me and makes a copy of the plan.


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Once the copy has been made, ownership of the plan is transferred to the client. The client can then rename and amend the plan as required. In addition they can share back to the adviser an amended plan for further consideration.

My Plans List

Practice Plan

When you open Financial Mappers, you will land on the My Plans page.

Your account has one plan already in your “My Plans” list, called the “Practice Plan”.

Click on the Practice Plan.


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Plan Management Area

1. Planner This will take you to the Planner page in the Plan Management Area, with the Practice Plan

loaded, as you can see by the Plan name at the top of the screen. The navigation chevrons show

you which part of the Plan Management Area you are in at any time. Your current page is shown

by a green chevron.

The Planner page is the main hub used to enter the details of any plan. The Practice Plan has

already been created for you so you can explore the entries made by clicking on the various icons

and elements on the Planner page. You can test what happens if you make changes to this

Practice Plan.


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2. Returning to Plans List To return to your list of plans at any time, click the Plans List Icon at the top left of any Plan

Management Area page.

3. Other Plan Management Pages

Click on each of the navigation Chevrons in the Plan Management Area to see what has been

entered or reported for the Practice Plan. When you get to the Reports, select and generate a

Report for the plan, for example Plan Summary.

4. Header Button Options

Finally click on the name of the Account holder in the top right hand corner of the page header to

see the items on the drop-down list.

Account Details


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If you want to create plans that include a partner, enter this information in Account Details.

This is also the page where you can change your email address and password.

Please Note: The name of the Principal account holder is permanent and CANNOT be changed.

Sample Plans

If you go to the drop-down menu under your name and select the Sample Plans option, you will

find a list of other Sample Plans. To explore any of these, click the adjacent copy button, and a

copy will be created and added to your “My Plans” list. You can also download the adjacent PDF

Tutorial for any selected and copied sample plan.


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A good way to quickly learn all the features of Financial Mappers is to use the tutorial to create

each of the plans. By the time you have finished the plans, you will have the skills to maximize the

value of Financial Mappers in growing your wealth and managing your money.


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Starting Position

The Starting Financial Position is the plan owner’s actual financial position at the point in time

when any plan starts. It is accessed from the button beneath the account holder’s name on the

screen header.

The details entered in this area can be optionally included in any new plan you create, which

means you don’t have to keep adding this information for every new plan.

Create Your Starting Position

Enter all the details of your current personal and investment cash flow and holdings:


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Changing the Starting Position There are two types of changes that can be made, once a Starting Financial Position is created for

your Account:

1. Amendment of Details. This means changing, adding to, or deleting from items previously

entered.

2. Reset. This means removing ALL entries, so that there is nothing in the Starting Financial

Position.

** IMPORTANT **

Any changes made to the Starting Position will not change details in any PLANS that have been

created prior to the point in time when the Starting Position changes are made.

The changes to the Starting Position will only be included in New Plans (made after the changes) when this plan creation option is specified.

There is no history kept of changes to the Starting Position. Whatever it is currently set to, is what is used for new plans when the above option is selected.


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Plan Creation

On the My Plans page, to create a plan you can choose from these two options:

1. New Blank Plan

2. New Plan from Starting Financial Position.

When New Blank Plan is chosen, your current financial position will need to be entered into the

new plan, before the future investing entries are made. With this option your current financial

position information will ONLY apply to this plan.

When New Plan from Starting Financial Position is chosen, the new plan is pre-filled with all

information that has been set up, or recently updated, in the Starting Position area.

Complete the name of the plan (or alter it, if creating using New Plan from Starting Financial

Position) and choose whether the plan type will be a Savings (Investment) Plan, Retirement Plan

or a Lifetime plan which is a combination of both. You can also make a joint plan if you want to

include your partner in the plan.


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Complete the remainder of information requested.

When you click “save”, you will be taken to the Planner Page in the Plan Management Area.

We suggest that you select the Objectives, then Targets navigation chevrons and complete this

information, however you can do this at any time. You will find it useful to have a written

description of what outcomes you want your plan to achieve. And this is what the Objectives area

is for. The Targets is for the specific numeric outcomes you want your plan to achieve. The

information in these areas will be imported into some of the Reports so it is a good idea to

complete, to add meaning to your Reports.

When creating your plan, there are some important things to understand:

• There are two cash flow systems. The first is Personal Cash Flow, where all monies flow

through the Budget. The second is the Investments, including your Home, where the

money flows through the Transaction Account. It is very important to ensure you have

sufficient funds in both the Budget and Transaction Account to pay for your entered costs.

You need to ensure that the balances in both these areas are not overdrawn. When

creating an investment or retirement plan, you need to keep checking the funds in the

Transaction Account.

• From the Salary, or Salary Allocation to Investing icons on the Planner page, you

allocate a percentage of your Gross Salary, to fund the cost of home and investment

loans, together with any savings you may want to allocate for other investments.

It is important to understand that this takes the specified amount every year from your

Budget (as an expense) and puts these funds into the Transaction Account. This

provides much of the future funds to then invest with in your plan.

The Salary specification could also been used to enter income from other sources such as

a Family Trust. In this case you will simple create a new “salary” item that is really income

from this other source.

• There are two methods of purchasing assets.


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1. The Salary Allocation Investment Plan on the Planner page, should be used to

allocate your investable funds nominated in the Savings from Salary area. Use this

method to create a multi-year investment plan quickly. This method only uses the funds

allocated from Savings from Salary area each year. It is very important for you to

know that these invested funds do NOT show in the transaction account. They do

show up in the model reports.

2. The alternative option is to purchase assets directly using any asset account, for

example – going to the Shares section of the Assets block and entering specific

amounts for specific years. When you do this, the entered amount is then withdrawn

from the Transaction Account in the year selected for the purchase.

• There is one method for selling assets.

To sell any particular asset, go to the specific asset in the Asset Block and enter the

amount you wish to sell, in the year you wish to sell. The sale funds are deposited into the

transaction account.

• When you are in the Retirement Phase of a plan you can nominate how much you require

for living expenses each year. This amount is entered as Retirement Income. You will

need to allocate how much of your retirement accounts and other liquid assets you want to

draw down each year (in each of these areas of the Planner). This money is transferred to

your Transaction Account. The money nominated as the Retirement Income is then

withdrawn from the Transaction Account and deposited into the Budget each year.

• When you have completed your plan, check the Key Indicator Graphs, at the top of the

Plan Outcomes report. Generally, these graphs will indicate if you have forgotten to do

something, like spend more than you earn or not allocate funds to the Investment Plan or

Retirement Plan.

Financial Mappers is modelling software working on a year by year basis. In order to maintain

the ease of use and dynamic nature of the software these rules are applied.

• Assets are considered to be purchased at the start of the year. and sold at the end of the

year in the Transaction Account. Thus if you want to sell your current home and buy a

new one in Year 5, you would sell the current home at the end of Year 4, so the funds are

in your Transaction Account at the start of Year 5, to purchase the property.


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• Generally you enter all future costs in Today’s Dollar or Present Value. The Inflation rate

is used to calculate Future Value amounts. The default inflation rate is 2.5%.

• You will sometimes be asked to enter values as a percentage. For example if you want to

sell some of your share portfolio, you will be asked to nominate a percentage. The same

applies when you are allocating funds in the Salary Allocation Investment Plan. This

allows the values to adjust when you make other changes to your plan.

After you have completed your plan, you can Compare Results, with your initial Financial

Targets and those achieved in the Targets area. You can then use the slider in the Review area,

to check the results of 8-major outcomes of your plan for any one year.

Finally try some of the 18 Reports you can generate to give you quick, short and plain English

answers.


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Videos

The following videos are available on the Financial Mappers website, please follow the link and

watch them NOW. https://www.financialmappers.com.au/using-financial-mappers/

https://www.financialmappers.com.au/using-financial-mappers/