Recommended end to end workflow

To help save you time when building projections, this article outlines:

• The most common features used in Snap.
• The order that they're typically used.
• Where to access the features.
• Why each feature is useful.

The first step of the engagement is to gather information about your client. This is often obtained through a combination of:

• Any existing information you have on file (e.g., CRM data, investment account details).
• Information the client can provide you directly (e.g., account balances, salaries).
• Information that you gather from client discussions (e.g., goals, preferences).

A common approach is to ask your client to complete as much of a questionnaire as they're comfortable with. The goal is to gather the simple information (e.g., account balances, salary) to save time in follow up meetings, while making the ask of the client as manageable as possible. You can choose to pre-populate the document with the information you already have (e.g., from your CRM), or let the client know to leave it blank, or have them fill it out again to verify nothing has changed.

Once you have the base data, you can then meet with the client to gather the more detailed information (e.g., their goals, preferences, clarification to initial data provided).

You can download a customizable short or long financial planning client questionnaire from our dedicated article.

Once you have a completed client questionnaire, or a combination of files that represent the client's current situation, you can upload the document(s) to the AI Import Assistant available from the top-left corner of the Clients page.

The AI Import Assistant will extract relevant information from your client files and notes and use it to complete the Scenario Setup pages of a new client scenario. It also provides a summary of what was done (e.g., the values entered into Snap, any missing information or clarification required) so that you can proceed with any next steps.

This is an optional step. You can also enter your client data directly using the Scenario Setup pages in the next step.

If you've used the AI Import Assistant, you'll want to review each page of the Scenario Setup to confirm they're set up as you'd like. If you're entering the data directly, you'll start with the Client page and work your way through the available client information.

The first seven sections of Scenario Setup (Client to Gov't Benefits) are applicable to most scenarios. The remaining four sections (Insurance to Corporations) can be used as needed for specific client cases.

There are more detailed instructions for entering information in the Scenario Setup in our Creating Your First Projection article.

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Once you're finished the Scenario Setup, you can proceed to the Planning Pages to review the information and make any remaining edits.

The most common edits on the Planning Page include:

• Adding Contributions to Financial Assets using overrides.
• Adjusting rates of return or asset mix in future years (e.g., at retirement).
• Making one-off adjustments (e.g., lump sum Debt payments, investing the proceeds from a Real Asset sale).

You can then review the:

Planning Pages

Charts

Additional Detail Tables

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Once the base scenario has all of the client's information and you're comfortable with the results, you can then use the Recommendations feature to explore alternative options for your client.

Financial Recommendations will provide alternative strategies (e.g., government benefit timing, Financial Asset Contributions and Withdrawals) to help maximize their Estate After Tax and provide the greatest level of resources for the projection.

Lifestyle Recommendations will help provide alternative options to get the projection on track (e.g., saving more while working, spending less in retirement, delaying retirement) or provide ways to use up a surplus balance (e.g., spending more in retirement, retiring earlier). You'll typically want to calculate the Lifestyle Recommendations once you've created an optimized scenario using the Financial Recommendations feature.

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If you create multiple scenarios (e.g., you run the Financial Recommendations feature and create a projection for the optimal scenario) you can compare them using the Compare Scenario tool.

This tool can help better understand what's happening in your scenarios and why one may be preferred to the other (e.g., it has a higher Estate After Tax in most years of the projection).

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Before proceeding with the preferred scenario, you can run a Monte Carlo analysis to demonstrate the variability that the client should be prepared for going forward. While the preferred scenario may leave the client with a projected surplus, that assumes the client receives consistent, expected returns over time. If their returns are lower than expected, or they experience a bad sequence of returns (e.g., low returns at the start of retirement), they may need to make changes in the future or face the risk of running out of money.

As a note, you can run Monte Carlo analysis on multiple scenarios. For instance, you may use Monte Carlo analysis as part of your decision making process for selecting the preferred scenario in the step above. If two optimized scenarios have similar expected outcomes, but one has a better Success Probability (from the Monte Carlo analysis), you may choose to proceed with the plan that has lower volatility.

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Anywhere along the process (e.g., after running the Monte Carlo analysis and receiving a worse than desired Success Probability and Goal Balance), you may choose to return to an earlier step to adjust the projection (e.g., go back to Lifestyle Recommendations and apply the Required Savings to increase the client's savings before retirement).

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Once you're comfortable with the optimized and stress tested scenario, you can then create a custom Client Report to share the information. There are two steps to creating a custom report:

1. Select which pages you want to include in the report.
2. Customize the individual report pages for any comments or adjustments.

1. To figure out what pages to include in the report, you can use Report Preview to review each section for the information included. There are three ways you can present the same information depending on your preference. You can use a Snapshots summary (a simplified version), a chart, or a table. Depending on your and your client's preferences, you may choose to use one, two, or all three of these for each topic (e.g., cash flow, net worth).

We have several resources with recommended pages to include:

• Common Templates for Client Report and Snapshots
• Sample reports

Once you've selected your desired pages for inclusion, you can save the Report Builder settings as your Default going forward.

2. You can then use the Report Editor to adjust individual pages. For instance, you can select what is included in a Chart by toggling items in the legend. You can add Comments to individual pages, and select whether you'd like information provided in Real or Nominal dollars.

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In addition to the most common features mentioned above, there are a wide range of dedicated tools in Snap to help you as needed in your projections.

a. Corporations

You can model operating businesses and/or holding companies to demonstrate income, salaries, expenses, investments, insurance, debts, dividends, notional account balances, and more. You can use as much of the functionality as required for your client's situation without needing to use all available fields.

b. Insurance Policies

You can enter insurance policies for life, critical illness, and disability.

c. Insurance Needs Analysis

Illustrate to clients whether they have enough insurance coverage in place. If they don't you can help determine the additional insurance coverage required and what type of policy would be most appropriate (e.g., 10 year term, whole life).

d. RESPs

Model your client's RESP balances to help maximize CESG, track expected future education costs, and understand how much of the spending need is covered by assets in the RESP.

e. Portfolio Settings

You can customize the taxable income characteristics of your client's non-registered assets. For instance, you can specify how much of their investment income is interest, Canadian dividends, foreign dividends, realized capital gains, and deferred capital gains.

f. Income Tax Settings

Model Additional Tax Credits, Tax Deductions, and Taxable Benefits to help customize the projection. These are used in cases with:

• Disability tax credit.
• Home Buyers' Plan (HBP).
• Work car allowance.
• Self-employment.

g. Charitable Donations

Demonstrate personal cash, in-kind, and insurance based donations and the tax benefits available to your clients.

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