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EISI’s pre-eminent planning tools in the top quartile, reports Celent
Celent LLC, a research firm in Boston, recently evaluated 15 retirement-planning applications for their ability to handle the post-accumulation planning phase. Included in Celent’s detailed ABCD Vendor View report, which looks at Advanced Technology, Breadth of Functionality, Customer Base, and Depth of Client Services, were EISI’s industry-leading applications: NaviPlan Standard, NaviPlan Extended, and Profiles Professional.
Writes Robert J. Ellis, Senior Analyst, Celent, and author of Retirement Income and Distribution Planning: “NaviPlan is often cited as the pre-eminent financial planning tool for the mass affluent (Standard model) and high net worth (Extended model) client segments. NaviPlan is primarily an enterprise solution, utilized by larger clients such as Prudential and TIAACREF. Furthermore, Fidelity has announced that NaviPlan will be the planning system incorporated into its new WealthCentral product for Fidelity advisors in 2008.”
The report goes on to describe retirement distribution planning features in NaviPlan Standard version 11. Regarding future development plans, Ellis states: “NaviPlan regularly canvasses its user base of over 150,000 planners to make sure the product continues to meet the changing needs of the planning community. The latest version, 11.0, reflects recent concerns regarding retirement asset withdrawal order, longevity risk and healthcare. The next version, 11.2, due out in April, 2008, will have upgrades in the area of guarantee withdrawal benefits on variable annuities, new nonstandard asset liquidation orders including specific asset redemption strategies, and the ability to adjust savings strategies. Also in development is a Retirement Progress Report to allow the client to see how they are tracking against the plan.”
Ellis discusses EISI’s Spring 2008 release of Profiles Professional version 9.0, in which advisors will be able to create multiple retirement scenarios for varying retirement age, need, reallocation, and hard asset sales. Version 9.0 will also enable advisors to perform a stress test on their plans with the addition of Monte Carlo simulations. “One of the most unique aspects of Professional,” writes Ellis, “is the ability to create five phases of retirement in the Comprehensive mode. For each phase, expenses can vary and portfolio allocations can follow suit.” Version 9.0 will also provide flexibility with designating monthly expenses, splitting planned retirement expenditures into two categories, and assigning separate inflation rates.
For its ABCD Vendor View, Celent shows at-a-glance the relative position of the individual software programs. In terms of client base, each separate contract with a client was considered as a single client. This means that a contract with a two-person planning shop is equivalent to a relationship with a major firm. To gather information for its report, Celent looked at help desks, training, online tutorials, and best practices conferences.
See Celent’s ABCD Vendor View diagram and report summary: http://www.celent.com/PressReleases/20080226/DRIP.htm
For another perspective on the report, read Retirement Income: Retirement Software Evolution by Davis Janowski in Investment News.
