Financial Planning

• Superior financial needs analysis (FNA) capabilities
• Transparent process with all calculations accounted for
• Unique, scientific approach to determining financial needs
• Actuarially sound model to determine shortfalls or surpluses
• Transparent and adjustable inflation and interest rate assumptions
• Matches needs against insurance cover and investments
• Tax accommodated

Investment Management

• History of portfolio values
• Investment schedules and reports
• Net yields and total investment performance

Customer Relationship Management

• Database segmentation
• Marketing and client communication
• Distribution of newsletters and invitations

Practice Management

• Administration
• Financial accounting
• Money collection
• Automated commission tracking

Case Study

LPJ Financial Services

LPJ Financial Services was founded in 2007 as a company within the larger LPJ group, which includes financial projects, general business consulting and equity funding.

Liana Ahrens Teixeira, Director of LPJ Financial Services, is a Certified Financial Planner and has been a finalist in the prestigious Financial Planner of the Year competition.

Financial Planning

Liana’s approach to financial planning is unique in that she incorporates the principle of matching clients’ portfolio construction with their future spending pattern. Figures are derived from a detailed and actuarially sound cash flow model that delivers a scientifically calculated result in terms of financial shortfall or surplus.

“PROFIDA, our financial planning software of choice, supports a scientific approach,” says Liana.

“The financial planning process within PROFIDA applies interest and inflation rates assumed on a long-term basis to the input of income and expenses and assets and liabilities. All values are automatically calculated for the financial planner, removing the need to manually calculate and capture these figures. This input and all calculations can be refined in terms of the proportion of income or expenses to be maintained in case of death, severe illness, disability and retirement.”

PROFIDA matches financial needs against assurance cover and invested amounts. It settles liabilities and computes a result of either a shortfall or surplus, taking into consideration the client’s tax situation.

Says Daniel Putra, Managing Director of the PROFIDA Team: “This approach is very different to other FNA systems which base their calculations on the input of an estimated need, resulting in an estimated shortfall or surplus. Based on feedback from the field, people mostly under-estimate their needs for death and disability but over-estimate what they will require for retirement, meaning that clients and advisers alike might lose out when advice is based on estimated figures”.

Says Liana “What I like most about PROFIDA’s financial planning process is its transparency. All numbers used during calculation of the financial plan are accounted for in detailed reports. For my clients I use one of the short, to-the point reports. Assumptions for inflation and interest rates, for example, are not hidden and can be changed if required.

“Fine-tuning, for example, determining which asset to sell in the case of a life-changing event, can be made together with the client before synchronising changes on the advisers’ laptop with data in the office.”

Investment Management

PROFIDA keeps a history of portfolio values, either downloaded via Astute or manually captured. According to Liana, “This is very useful in terms of with the schedule and investment reports I send out to my clients on a quarterly basis.”

The PROFIDA investment report populates historical data to show investment values over the last four quarters. The same figures are used to calculate and display the net yields and total performance of investments.

“The net yield value not only provides me and the client with information on how well the investment is doing, it also comes in handy when comparing investments to loans and bonds for my clients. It is an invaluable tool for clients’ loan restructuring and helps my client to understand market fluctuations in the context of net performance,” adds Liana.

Practice Management

Open, effective and immediate communication is LPJ’s trademark. “We have regular client events, conferences and network breakfasts. PROFIDA assists with the processing of bulk invites and newsletters sent either via mail or email,” explains Liana.

Clients can be segmented into different categories according to the frequency of reminders for reviews.

Future use

Any commission-related earnings received by LPJ from financial houses are offset against the client’s fee account. Says Liana: “At the moment we handle accounting data and the running of debit orders for service fees manually.

”However, we intend employing PROFIDA’s functionalities for commission administration, financial accounting and money collection as well,” says Liana. These will automate the process of tracking commission and debiting the client’s account with the service fees.