4 Things Your Financial Planning Software Should Do

3. It fully integrates.

Many financial planning tools claim to integrate with the other software in your tech stack, but it's important to look at how well they integrate. Good financial planning software integrates fully, so when you update the assumptions for a client, the software computes and displays the changes across all aspects of the strategy and updates the results. 

This may seem like a given, but all too frequently, integrations share data between software products, but don't share assumptions, which can lead to client outputs that are at best hard to reconcile and at worst, contradictory. 

4. It offers support.

The best software in the world isn't the best for you if you don't know how to use it. Most tech tools have an onboarding process and a way to contact customer support, but we all know that some customer support teams are better than others. Before you add a new tool to your tech stack, ask about training and how to contact the support team. 

Ideally, contact the support team during a trial period to get a feel for the level of support you will receive over the course of the relationship. You want to make sure that customer support is a priority and that you won't become just another number. That way, when you do need help, you won't have to send an email and wait two days for a response when your meeting with your client is in three hours.

Remember, good software can and should make financial planning easier. While every software won't work for every advisor, one of the best ways to see if a tool will work for you is by reading reviews from other financial planners and by testing the software out for yourself. Many software companies offer free trials. Take the time to sift through the different tech options and find the right software for your financial planning practice.

Joe Elsasser is the founder and president of Covisum, a financial technology company focused on creating software that improves lives through better financial decisions. Covisum helps financial advisors serving mass-affluent clients in or near retirement and powers some of the nation's largest financial planning institutions.