Financial PathFinder

Technological advances should be making software less expensive and applications more efficient.  However, the Australian experience has software applications and platforms becoming more and more expensive and potentially out of reach of the average financial planner.  FinTech Australia Pty Ltd, developers of the ING A&P program, has utilised some of the most advanced software tools to develop a total financial planning platform called Financial PathFinder at a cost that can be easily absorbed by the financial planning community. 

Financial PathFinder is the latest generation of financial planning software that enables the adviser or paraplanner to develop comprehensive financial plans, simply, logically and efficiently.  One of the revolutionary features of the program is that it is able to retain records of every interview held with a client with minimal effort thereby coping with compliance demands effectively.  It also enables the adviser to create a variety of scenarios, each with different strategies, and the capacity to save each and every strategy for future reference.  This will alleviate extended disputation and cement compliance issues.

Financial PathFinder is a modular system consisting of a variety of financial planning applications and can be acquired as individual modules or in a complete suite, but all modules are interconnected. The modules are as follows:

	Client Management System*
	LifeLink and CorporateLink
	PensionLink**
	PlanLink
	MonitorLink
	Utility Calculators***

* Standard with all modules
** Linked to ING’s A&P software.
*** Range of technical industry calculators

Financial PathFinder contains a database of historical information on the managed investment industry and via a special Morningstar data feed, services in excess of 5,000 retail and wholesale funds with updates via the internet.  The user is also able to manually enter unique products and shares.  Infrastructure for the Australian share market has been enabled via a link to EzyCast (by OTSdata) as well as comparative insurance rates via Razar’s popular Compare program.

The utility calculators of Financial PathFinder are industry specific and contain applications like Termination Payment Surcharge, RBL’s (including transitional RBL’s), Recontribution strategies, cash flow projections and Capital Gains Tax and Gearing applications and many more.

Financial PathFinder comes with a library of researched articles taken from industry sources, which can be added to by the user.  It also has the capacity to update calculations when rates and thresholds change via a maintenance facility.

Financial PathFinder enables the adviser to value real property as part of a portfolio and together with the managed funds and share tracking facilities, makes it an ideal vehicle to report on self managed superannuation.

Another feature is the ability to maintain an Approved Product List. The Approved Product List (which incidentally, can be controlled by a Dealer) controls which products can be used in the design and implementation of an investment portfolio.  The entire product list can be used for comparison purposes.  Together with a unique Risk Profiling feature, a gearing facility and an historical asset class calculator, Financial PathFinder is ably supported by a host of graphic representations. All these combined tools enable comprehensive analysis, professional and easily understood reporting and measures up to the stringent compliance requirements laid down by ASIC.

Financial PathFinder as a complete suite therefore, offers a broad base of financial services applications to advisers and paraplanners alike, simplifies portfolio construction and efficiently produces professional reports.