MoneyGuidePro Aligns Services With New Fiduciary Standard

PIEtech released the fourth generation of MoneyGuidePro to help financial advisers “develop and deliver quality financial plans on an unprecedented scale,” while also aiding compliance with the new fiduciary paradigm.

With an updated user interface, MoneyGuidePro now allows advisers to “leverage an efficient discovery process that enables a client or prospect to enter some or all of their data.” According to the firm, “this is a first,” giving advisers the ability to “scale quality plans broadly by providing as much client access to the software’s planning capabilities as the adviser wants.”

“With the Department of Labor’s (DOL) final rule release, financial planning is now inextricably linked to investment advice,” says PIEtech, the technology firm behind MoneyGuidePro. “MoneyGuidePro helps financial advisers meet the new DOL rule and get ahead of developing trends by elevating the quality of planning. [The fourth generation of the software] incorporates years of research with key features that can help advisers develop a deeper understanding of their clients’ expectations, concerns, and goals.”

By introducing behavioral components into the system, a detailed exploration of retirement expectations and concerns can help an adviser surface issues and worries of a client at the beginning of the planning process, “thereby identifying factors that may significantly impact investment and product recommendations.” To facilitate this, a new “drag and drop” goal interface now encourages clients to incorporate seven to eight goals per plan, “thus improving client engagement and ownership throughout the process. This is a significant breakthrough, as a larger number of goals equate to a better overall plan.”

PIEtech’s redesign of the software further places emphasis on “critical elements that are commonly overlooked by advisers.”

“Elements such as health care costs, Social Security, loss tolerance and longevity can play a critical role in whether clients achieve the retirement they want,” the firm explains. “Health care represents the single largest (and only mandatory) expense in retirement for most Americans, yet few advisers include this cost in financial plans. Medicare parts B and D, Medigap and out of pocket expenses are now automatically included in each financial plan through MoneyGuidePro’s Health Care Smart Goal.”

Another important new element is the “seamless Social Security analysis,” automatically part of the planning process under MoneyGuidePro, that helps clients select the most appropriate claiming strategy to meet their retirement goals. Finally, the new risk tolerance features allows the client, spouse, and combined household risks to be evaluated and tested. “This exercise can then help the client determine if the risk is appropriate based on how they would react to a simulated market downturn,” the firm explains.

More information is at www.moneyguidepro.com.