Patent Publication Number: US-2011066474-A1

Title: Method and System for for Financial Planning

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates generally to financial services. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and system for financial planning. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Financial planning web sites are known. Such web sites are typically operated by financial services firms and provide potential customers with some rudimentary tools for performing basic financial planning after inputting some data, such as age and annual salary, and parameters, such as, for example, desired retirement age and desired retirement income. The term “financial plan”, as used herein, means the analysis and/or projection of one or more aspects of a customer&#39;s finances. Further, the term “customer”, as used herein, includes both potential and existing clients of a financial services provider or any person that uses the financial planning web site. 
     These financial planning web sites are generally powered by one or more simplified financial planning calculators, or set of financial plan logic, that is non-complex and responsive. Once the customer is presented with the calculated results, he can print out a report and discuss it with a financial advisor. Many customers, however, do not have a printer readily accessible to them, or may be using a computer with a printer in a location such as at his place of employment, where he may not feel comfortable printing such reports on a shared printer. 
     Further, upon visiting a financial advisor, a customer needs to reprovide all of the same information that was inputted into the financial planning web site. Preferably, the customer has printed out a report, and the report indicates all of the customer&#39;s inputs so that the same information can be provided to the financial advisor. The financial advisor must then manually input the same information into a financial planning system to prepare more comprehensive financial plans for the customer, or to adjust the assumptions or parameters of the financial plan. This manual entry is time-consuming and is subject to transcribing errors. 
     If the customer did not print out the financial plan prepared by the financial planning web site, or if the printout does not include all of the customer inputs provided to the financial planning web site, the customer is typically asked for the same inputs by the financial advisor. The customer, however, may, inadvertently, provide different information. As a result, the financial plan generated by the financial advisor may likely differ. Again, such discrepancies confuse customers and do not instill confidence in the financial planning web site, the financial advisor or the financial planning system employed by the financial advisor. 
     Even if all of the same customer inputs are entered into the financial advisor&#39;s financial planning system, and if the same assumptions and parameters are employed, it is very likely that a financial plan produced by the financial advisor&#39;s financial planning system will differ from that prepared by the financial planning web site. Such discrepancies confuse customers and reduce their confidence in the results of both the financial planning web site, the financial advisor&#39;s financial planning system and the financial services firm. 
     Recently, at least one financial planning platform solution enables, upon a customer&#39;s request, pairing up of the customer with a customer support representative that is able to view the same screen information as the customer to answer any questions the customer may have regarding the simplistic functionality available through the financial planning web site. These solutions do not, however, contemplate how to reduce manual entry of customer inputs and the consistency of financial plans prepared by the financial planning web site and the financial advisor&#39;s financial planning system. 
     It is an object of the invention to provide a novel method and system for financial planning. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In accordance with an aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for financial planning, comprising: 
     preparing a first financial plan, via a financial planning engine executing on a server, for presenting to a customer via a customer interface; and 
     preparing a second financial plan, via said financial planning engine, for presenting to a financial advisor via an advisor interface. 
     Customer inputs provided via the customer interface for preparing the first financial plan can be received. The customer inputs can be stored and the first and second financial plans can be prepared using the customer inputs. 
     A third financial plan can be prepared via the financial planning engine for presenting to a lead manager via a lead management tool. 
     The customer interface and the advisor interface provide different levels of access to parameters used to generate the first and second financial plans. 
     The parameters customized via the advisor interface can be stored for use in financial plans presented on the customer interface. 
     The customer inputs can include personal data, projection parameters and economic assumptions. 
     In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided a system for financial planning, comprising: 
     a customer interface for performing financial planning, said customer interface enabling a user to provide customer input for generating a financial plan; 
     an advisor interface for performing financial planning, said advisor interface enabling a financial advisor to generate and revise said financial plan; and 
     a financial planning engine executing on a server for performing calculations for generating said financial plan for said customer interface and said advisor interface. 
     The financial planning engine can generate projection results, graphs and/or a report corresponding to the financial plan. 
     The customer interface can be provided via a financial planning web site. 
     In accordance with a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for financial planning, comprising: 
     receiving customer inputs from a customer interface; 
     storing said customer inputs in a database managed by a server; 
     preparing a first financial plan for presenting to a customer via said customer interface, said first financial plan being prepared using said customer inputs; and 
     preparing a second financial plan for presenting to a financial advisor via an advisor interface, said second financial plan being prepared using said customer inputs. 
     In accordance with yet another aspect of the invention, there is provided a system for financial planning, comprising: 
     a customer interface for performing financial planning, said customer interface enabling a user to provide customer inputs for generating a first financial plan; 
     a database managed by a server for storing said customer inputs; and 
     an advisor interface for performing financial planning, said advisor interface providing access to said customer inputs and generating a second financial plan using said customer inputs. 
     The advisor interface can permit modification to the customer inputs before generation of the second financial plan, the modifications to the customer inputs being made to the customer inputs in the database. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Embodiments will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the attached Figures, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  shows a schematic representation of a financial planning system in accordance with an embodiment of the invention and its working environment; 
         FIG. 2  shows a schematic diagram of the general architecture of the system of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  shows an example of possible workflow states during the promotion of a lead; 
         FIG. 4  is a flowchart of the general method of financial planning using the system of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 5  shows an exemplary home page of a customer interface of the system of  FIG. 1  for a customer; 
         FIG. 6  shows a retirement assessment introduction web page navigated to from the home page of  FIG. 5 ; 
         FIG. 7  shows a first customer input page of the customer interface of the system of  FIG. 1  for collecting data from a customer; 
         FIG. 8  shows a variation of the first customer input page of  FIG. 7  for spousal/partner data; 
         FIG. 9  shows a second customer input page of the customer interface of the system of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 10  shows an initial financial plan page of the customer interface of the system of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 11  shows the initial financial plan page of  FIG. 10  with a slide-out section; 
         FIG. 12  shows a goal achievement method selection page of the customer interface of the system of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 13  shows the initial financial plan page of  FIG. 11  after goal selection; 
         FIG. 14  shows the initial financial plan page of  FIG. 13 , with additional parameters exposed; 
         FIG. 15  shows a “Next Steps” page of the customer interface of the system of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 16  shows an exemplary report page illustrating financial plans prepared via the customer interface of the system of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 17  shows an information page printed with the report page of  FIG. 16 ; 
         FIG. 18  shows a data summary page that is printed with the report page of  FIG. 16 ; 
         FIG. 19  shows a contact information page of the customer interface of the system of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 20  shows a lead management control panel of the lead management tool of the system of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 21  shows a portion of the lead management control panel of  FIG. 20  during checking of a lead; 
         FIG. 22  shows a portion of the lead management control panel of  FIG. 20  during selection of a financial advisor; 
         FIG. 23  shows a lead assignment comment window of the lead management control panel of  FIG. 20 ; 
         FIG. 24  shows the lead management control panel of  FIG. 22  after assignment of the lead; 
         FIG. 25  shows a lead management window presented to a financial advisor by the lead management control panel of  FIG. 20 ; 
         FIG. 26  shows a portion of the lead management control panel of  FIG. 25 ; 
         FIG. 27  shows a personal contact information page of the advisor interface of the system of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 28  shows a first personal income page of the advisor interface of  FIG. 27 ; 
         FIG. 29  shows a second personal income page of the advisor interface of  FIG. 27 ; 
         FIG. 30  shows an assets summary page of the advisor interface of  FIG. 27 ; 
         FIG. 31  shows a retirement scenario details page of the advisor interface of  FIG. 27 ; 
         FIG. 32  shows a cover page of a revised report generated by the system of  FIG. 1 ; and 
         FIG. 33  shows another page of the revised report of  FIG. 32  showing two financial plans. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS 
     The invention relates to a method and system for financial planning. The customer data and parameters entered by the customer using a customer interface, such as a financial planning web site, are passed on or otherwise made available to an advisor interface used by the financial advisor so that the financial advisor can use the exact same customer inputs. In addition, both the customer interface and the advisor interface employ the same financial planning engine. In this manner, the financial advisor can reproduce the same financial plan using the advisor interface as prepared using the customer interface. 
       FIG. 1  is a high-level architectural diagram of a financial planning system  20  operated by a financial services firm and its working environment, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. The financial planning system  20  manages the financial planning and advice delivery process for the financial services firm. The financial planning system  20  is coupled to the Internet  24  and can be one or more server computers (or, more simply, “servers”) acting cooperatively to provide the desired functionality. Where there is more than one server in the financial planning system  20 , they can be proximate to one another or can be distributed across two or more locations. It is contemplated that each server can be one or more computers that cooperatively provide some functionality. 
     A customer can randomly access the financial planning system  20  using, for example, a personal computer (“PC”)  28  that is in communication with the financial planning system  20  via the Internet  24 . A lead manager and financial advisor access the financial planning system  20  via PCs  32  and  36  respectively. 
       FIG. 2  shows a number of components of the financial planning system  20 . A customer interface  104  provides a web interface for both client and non-client customers for providing the customer-facing functionality of the financial services web site. The customer interface  104  is in communication with an advice management service (“AMS”)  108 . As the backbone of the financial planning system  20 , the AMS  108  coordinates much of the functionality thereof. The AMS  108  is a data exchange interface in communication with an AMS database  112  managed by a server in the financial planning system  20 , and a lead management tool (“LMT”)  116  that executes on the same or another server. Additionally, the AMS  108  is in communication with a financial planning engine  120  and a financial planning database  124  managed by a server in the financial planning system  20  via an engine application programming interface (“API”)  128 . An advisor interface  132  is also in communication with the financial planning engine  120  and the financial planning database  124  via the engine API  128 . 
     The customer interface  104  provides non-client customers the ability to enter customer data, parameters and assumptions, perform some simplified financial plans, such as “what if” analyses, create reports and, optionally, indicate that they wish to be contacted by a financial advisor for follow up. The customer data can include personal data such as name, address, age, salary, etc. Customer parameters that are used to prepare the financial plans can include the customer&#39;s target retirement age, what level of risk he is comfortable with in his financial portfolio, etc. Assumptions include the rate of return on his investments, the rate at which his salary is expected to grow, etc. The customer interface  104  also has the ability to register customer interface interaction data, such as how long a customer spent on the site or page, how many times he interacted with controls such as sliders, what kind of interaction, etc. 
     The AMS  108  is a web service with approximately 30 public web methods. The web methods essentially fall into two areas: the provision of an interface to the calculation and report engines of the financial planning engine  120  to handle requests and responses for calculations and report generation, and the creation, modification and retrieval of client and plan information, history, alerts, workflow status and workflow events within the financial planning engine  120 . Both “areas” use a single, consolidated format for requests and responses in the form of proprietary data objects or EDS data, depending on what&#39;s appropriate for the requesting application. EDS is a proprietary data schema used for data storage and exchange throughout the financial planning system  20 . It is a common format for taking in requests (read), providing responses (write) and exchanging data (future functionality). EDS has elements for client information, accounts and holdings, assets, liabilities, insurance policies, incomes, expenses, and financial planning goals (such as, for example, retirement, education, or a major purchase), planning defaults, calculated results and financial advisor information. The financial planning engine  120  and financial planning database  124  can read in EDS to create clients and plans as well as write out EDS. 
     The customer interface  104  sends EDS data (planning inputs) to the AMS  108 , which then knows how to communicate with the financial planning engine  120  (via the engine API  128 ) to generate results and produce reports. When a contact form is filled out by a customer and he requests follow-up with a financial advisor, the customer data, parameters and assumptions are passed, along with the customer contact information, from the customer interface as EDS data for storage in the AMS database  112 . It is stored as EDS data in the AMS database  112  until it is promoted as a client and plan in the financial planning financial planning database  124 . Web methods for creating clients and plans in the financial planning database  124  are called on AMS  108  using EDS as the data input (this can be done by a custom application or using the LMT  116  as described below). 
     The customer interface  104  can be configured/customized to fit specific customer branding or for other goal analyses (since EDS covers more than just retirement). Additionally the architecture supports the writing of custom customer interfaces using Flash, XAML, HTML or other Rich Internet Application (“RIA”) technologies while still leveraging the full range of capabilities provided by the AMS  108 , the financial planning engine  120  and the LMT  116 . 
     The AMS  108  provides a layer of abstraction from the financial planning engine  120  so that new applications for interfacing with the financial planning engine  120  can leverage the financial planning engine, workflow functions and data stored within the financial planning engine  120  and the financial planning database  124  in a consolidated manner without having a deep knowledge of its inner workings or data format. 
     The LMT  116  allows for centralized or distributed review and assignment of leads collected from the customer interface  104 . The LMT  116  calls the AMS  108  for a list of leads stored in the AMS database  112  that returns lead data in the EDS format. As previously described, leads can be converted to clients and plans by the AMS  108  once promoted by the LMT  116 . Once a customer is promoted to become a client, the customer data, parameters and assumptions are transferred from the AMS database  112  to the financial planning database  124 . 
       FIG. 3  shows an example of the possible workflow states (new, assigned, deleted, etc.), the possible transitions among states (the arrows), the actions that cause the transitions (assign, reject, accept, etc.), and the roles who can perform those actions (user or manager) within the process. 
     At the heart of the financial planning system  20  is the financial planning engine  120 . The financial planning engine  120  performs and renders all financial calculations as well as assembles the financial planning reports. Where the financial planning engine  120  is generating a financial plan on behalf of one of the many user interfaces, such as the customer interface  104 , the user interface can be configured to provide base data, parameters and assumptions where not provided by the user. The financial planning engine  120  is designed to use the data, parameters and assumptions provided by the interface and use default parameters and assumptions where the interface does not provide the same. While varying levels are available through the various interfaces (i.e., the customer interface  104 , the LMT  116  and the advisor interface  132 ), the financial planning engine  120  leverages a single calculation and report engine to generate calculated results and financial plans. 
     The financial planning engine  120  generates reports detailing the financial plans, as well as the financial projections displayed in graphical format as required by the customer interface  104 , the LMT  116 , and the advisor interface  132 . In order to generate the financial reports, the financial planning engine  120  is provided a library of report page templates (including graphs) into which details of the financial plans and projection results can be inserted. Requests for financial plans and reports from any of the interfaces  104 ,  116 ,  132  include details regarding what kind of financial plan details and projection results are expected in response, and what pages are desired in the reports. In generating these reports, the financial planning engine  120  simply populates the selected report template pages and graphs with the financial plan calculations, as required. 
     The financial planning database  124  stores customer data, parameters, plan meta data, assumptions, and financial plan projection data previously generated for clients of the financial services firm. 
     The AMS  108  and the engine API  128  provide programming interfaces through which the financial planning engine  120  and the financial planning database  124  are accessible. The programming interfaces permit other applications to provide inputs, generate one or more financial plans using the inputs, and allows output of the financial plan(s) to the other applications. Workflow functionality for the creation, review and approval/rejection of financial plans is provided by the engine API  128  and the financial planning engine  120 . 
     The advisor interface  132  communicates with the financial planning engine  120  and the financial planning database  124  via the engine API  128  to enable a financial advisor to input various data and assumptions, select one or more financial plan projections to run and view the executed financial plan projections. The advisor interface  132  is a web application that is accessible via a browser or RIA application. 
     Just as with the customer interface  104  and the LMT  116 , the calculated onscreen results and printed reports for financial advisor-facing advisor interface  116  are generated by the financial planning engine  120 . 
     The general method  200  of financial planning performed by the system  20  will now be described with reference to  FIGS. 1 to 4 . In order to use the financial planning system  20 , a customer that is not a client of the financial services firm operating the financial planning system  20  logs onto his PC  28  and navigates to the customer interface  104  via a web browser. 
       FIG. 5  shows an exemplary home page  300  presented by the customer interface  104  for a financial services firm that is presented to a customer upon navigating to the financial services firm&#39;s website. Activation of a button  304 , by mousing over it and clicking it, causes the customer&#39;s PC  28  to be presented with a retirement assessment introduction web page  310 , as shown in  FIG. 6 . The retirement assessment introduction web page  310  provides a list of steps that can be followed to put together a financial plan. The steps are: (a) provide customer data and parameters; (b) view a financial plan based on the information provided in (a); (c) perform “what-if” projections to understand how the customer&#39;s financial plan from (b) can be altered; and (d) contact a financial advisor. 
     The customer selects to generate a financial plan and is presented with to a series of web pages by the customer interface  104  that enable the customer to enter in customer inputs (step  210 ). Activation of a button  314  labeled “Get Started” on the retirement assessment introduction web page  310  causes the customer interface to present a first customer input page  320 , as shown in  FIG. 3 , where the customer is asked to provide customer data, such as his age and salary, and some parameters, such as when he plans to retire and what his target retirement income is. 
     The term “customer inputs”, as used herein, includes, but is not limited to, customer data, such as age, salary, and contact information, and customer parameters, such as target retirement age, target retirement income, etc. Additionally, any assumptions provided by the customer can also be classified as “customer inputs”. 
       FIG. 8  illustrates the first customer input page  320  when an option to include a spouse in the financial plan is selected. In this case, the first customer data page  320  presents additional entry boxes for the spousal information. Activation of a “Next” button  324  or a second tab  328  at the top of the screen takes the customer to a second customer input page  330 , as shown in  FIG. 9 . The second customer input page  330  presents a number of places where the customer can enter information regarding his assets. 
     All of the customer inputs collected by the first and second customer input pages  320 ,  330  are temporarily stored, along with any customer interface interaction data, in memory by the customer interface  104  in association with the web session between the customer&#39;s PC  28  and the customer interface  104 . 
     Upon activation of a “next” button or a third tab  338 , the customer interface  104  sends a request for the financial projection to the financial planning engine  120  via the AMS  108  and the engine API  128 . The customer inputs collected and temporarily stored by the customer interface  104  are passed along with the request for the projection and whether or not a report is also required. The financial planning engine  120  receives the customer inputs accompanying the request, uses default assumptions where information has not been provided by the customer interface  104  and generates a financial plan. The financial plan is then returned to the customer interface  104  for presentation to the customer (step  220 ). 
       FIG. 10  shows an initial financial plan page  340  in which the customer is presented with his current financial outlook for retirement, and is notified of how much his retirement savings in this projection fall short of his retirement income goal, if at all. Activation of an “Explore Options” button  342  enables the customer to perform some additional financial plans via a slide-out section, as shown in  FIG. 11 . As shown, the customer&#39;s current financial plan slides to the left and the customer can then alter his parameters by manipulation of a set of controls  344  on the right side of the screen. All of the customer&#39;s interaction with the page is registered as customer interface interaction data. 
     Activation of a button  346  labeled “How To Achieve My Goal” takes the customer to a goal achievement method selection page  350 , as shown in  FIG. 12 . On the goal achievement method selection page  350 , the customer is presented with a number of variations to his parameters to assist him in meeting his retirement targets. As shown, the options include: (a) additional monthly savings; (b) a change to the target retirement income; (c) an additional target lump sum savings desired at retirement; and (d) a change to the target retirement age. As will be appreciated, these all represent modifications to the customer&#39;s parameters. 
       FIG. 13  shows the initial financial plan page  340  to which the customer is returned after selecting an option on the goal achievement method selection page  350 . As shown, the initial financial plan page  340  has been modified in response to the customer&#39;s change in parameters. Activation of a “More Options” button  348  exposes controls to change additional parameters, as shown in  FIG. 14 . 
     Activation of a fourth tab  349  at the top of the initial financial plan page  340  takes the customer to a “Next Steps” page  360 , as shown in  FIG. 15 . This page presents a print button  364  to print the prepared financial plan, and a follow-up button  368  that, if activated, indicates that the customer wishes follow-up from a financial advisor. If the customer activates the print button  364 , the customer interface  104  sends a request to the financial planning engine  120  for a report, along with the same customer inputs used to generate the financial plan. In response, the financial planning engine  120  regenerates the financial plan and then generates a report with the specified pages and returns it to the customer interface  104 . 
       FIG. 16  presents an exemplary printout illustrating financial plans for both the current basis and for the modified basis. 
       FIG. 17  shows an information sheet that is printed with the financial plans. The information sheet explains the effect of some factors that affect the financial plans. 
       FIG. 18  shows a data summary sheet that is also printed with the financial plans. The data summary sheet summarizes the customer data and parameters, and the economic assumptions used as a basis for the financial plans. 
     At this time, the customer can request follow-up from a financial advisor by clicking on the follow-up button  368  on the “Next Steps” page  360  of the customer interface  104  (step  230 ). 
       FIG. 19  shows a contact information page that the customer is presented with upon activating the follow-up button  368  on the “Next Steps” page  360 . Upon providing contact information and activating a send button on the contact information page, the customer inputs, projection(s) and customer interface interaction data are then stored in the AMS database  112  and made available to the LMT  116  (step  240 ). As will be appreciated, only if the customer wishes to proceed are the customer inputs and customer interface interaction data “committed” to the AMS database  112  from the customer interface  104 . 
     The LMT  116  can access the customer inputs and financial plan projection data and graphically present them to a lead manager (step  250 ). In addition, if desired, the LMT  116  can request that the financial planning engine  120  generate the report that the customer may have viewed. 
       FIG. 20  shows a lead management control panel  370  of the LMT  116  that is accessible from a portal or launched from an executable on the user&#39;s desktop. The lead management control panel  370  has a lead list pane  372 , a lead search pane  374 , a lead graph pane  376  and a lead inputs and assumptions pane  378 . The lead list pane  372  indicates the status of each lead (i.e., whether the lead has been assigned to a financial advisor or not) and the last date that the lead record was modified. The lead search pane  374  facilitates location of a lead. The lead graph pane presents a visual representation of the financial plan(s) for the lead selected in the lead list pane  372 . The lead inputs and assumptions pane  378  provides a summary of all the customer inputs and assumptions used to generate financial plans for the lead. 
       FIG. 21  shows a portion of the lead management control panel  370  wherein a lead is checked to determine if the lead is already an existing client of the financial services firm. 
       FIG. 22  shows a portion of the lead management control panel  370  wherein the LMT  116  has processed the customer inputs to determine at least one factor that characterizes the needs of the customer, and then selects a subset of all financial advisors using the key factor(s). In this case, the key factor used is location. The contact information of the lead is used to locate financial advisors proximate to the customer. An “Assign Lead” button  379  permits the lead to be assigned to a financial advisor for follow-up. 
       FIG. 23  shows a lead assignment comment window  380  that pops up upon activation of the “Assign Lead” button  379  of the lead management control panel  370 . 
     Using the customer inputs and the financial plan(s) generated for a customer, the lead manager assigns a financial advisor to follow up with the customer (step  260 ). In addition to any processing performed by the LMT  116 , the lead manager can review the customer inputs and financial plans to identify key factors that characterize the needs of the customer. Such key factors can include, but are not limited to, location, portfolio size, age of customer, years to targeted retirement age, income level, target retirement income shortfall, level of sophistication, etc. Additionally, the LMT  116  and/or the lead manager may also consider financial advisor-specific factors such as conversion rate (from leads to clients), “busyness”, etc. 
     Upon assignment of a customer to a financial advisor, the lead is stored in the AMS database  112  and the AMS  108  alerts the financial advisor assigned to the customer. 
       FIG. 24  shows the lead management control panel  370  once the lead is assigned to a financial advisor for follow-up. 
       FIG. 25  shows a portion of the lead management control panel  370  presented to a financial advisor by the LMT  116  after assignment of the lead. As shown, upon activating an “accept” button  382 , a pop-up comments window permits the financial advisor to provide commentary to the lead manager. 
     Upon receiving the customer inputs and financial plans, the financial advisor contacts the customer (step  270 ). At this time, the customer can provide more detailed personal data and parameters to the financial advisor in order to refine the financial plans. The financial advisor enters in any additional customer inputs into the advisor interface to refine the financial plans previously prepared for the customer (step  280 ). 
       FIG. 26  shows a portion of the lead management control panel  370  as presented to the financial advisor. A “New Client” button  390  enables the financial advisor to promote the customer to become a client. 
     When a customer is promoted to become a client, their data stored in the AMS database  112  is transferred to the financial planning database  124  and the financial advisor can now access the customer inputs from the advisor interface  132 . 
       FIG. 27  illustrates a personal contact information page  400  generated by the advisor interface  132 . As can be seen, the personal data from the AMS database  112  has been transferred to the financial planning database  124  and now populates the personal data page  400 . 
       FIG. 28  shows a first personal income page  410  that is also automatically populated using the customer inputs in the financial planning database  124 . In addition, the annual earnings increase rate is presented. 
       FIG. 29  shows a second personal income page  420  similar to the first personal income page  410 , except that lists the personal income of the client&#39;s spouse or partner. 
       FIG. 30  shows an assets summary view  430  summarizing the assets of the customer. 
       FIG. 31  shows a retirement scenario details page  440  where the financial advisor can modify the parameters for the financial plans. This can be done with the customer present and while exploring the parameters with them. 
       FIG. 32  shows a cover page  500  of a financial plan report that is prepared by the financial advisor. 
       FIG. 33  shows a (vertical) side-by-side graphical comparison of the results of the initial and subsequent financial plans that forms part of the financial plan report prepared by the financial advisor. 
     The various interfaces can be provided with applications to which non-browser clients can connect to have the same functionality as described herein. 
     While, in the above-described embodiment, the customer inputs are stored in a number of places, it will be appreciated that the customer inputs can be stored in a single location or database. 
     While the system is described as a set of computers coupled together, those skilled in the art will appreciate that other configurations can be used without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, a single computer could provide all of the functionality. 
     The above-described embodiments are intended to be examples of the present invention and alterations and modifications may be effected thereto, by those of skill in the art, without departing from the scope of the invention, which is defined solely by the claims appended hereto.