Create Your Own Financial Plan with Financial Fate:
Financial Fate is financial planning software designed for use by the general public. Financial Fate, now a free download, walks you through preparing a realistic financial plan for yourself and requires no special training, yet is detailed enough for financial planners to use to prepare financial analysis for clients. Financial Fate tells you at a glance if your money management practices will lead you to being financially solvent for life or if you need to make some changes to avoid bankruptcy.
Financial Fate Gives You a View of Your Financial Future:
As data is entered in Financial Fate, you see your ending net worth change on lower left side of the display. The ending net worth number reflects the funds left over at the proposed end of life; if you have a spouse, the end of life variable is for the longest-lived person. To see net worth in today's dollars, just hover your mouse over the tool tip question mark. As you enter your financial data into Financial Fate, your ending net worth amount changes dynamically.
Required Financial Documentation:
Click on What You'll Need when you first start Financial Fate to determine what financial documentation you need to get started on designing your own financial plan. This financial documentation includes, but is not limited to, recent credit card statements, income tax returns, and your social security statement. Financial Fate even tells you how to get a social security statement if you do not have one.
How to Get Started with Financial Fate:
Financial Fate starts with a financial plan populated with $50,000 in income, so you can click around right away to see how the software works. Get started by entering the year and ages for you and a spouse, then change the income data to reflect your own income and you are on your way to being able to looking into your financial future.
Financial Fate starts out easy-to-use and maintains that ease with tool tip question marks next to data entry fields. Use your mouse to hover your cursor over a tool tip to get further explanation of what information Financial Fate needs you to enter.
Getting Around Your Financial Plan in Financial Fate:
The on-screen interview in Financial Fate walks you through completing your financial plan. Start by entering personal information, then click Next at the bottom of the screen to move forward in the financial plan. The Back button will take you back in the financial plan and you can enter comments or reminders for later reference by clicking on the Comment button. You can also move to any one of the 10 financial planning topics in Financial Fate by clicking on a topic in the left navigation bar, then clicking on a tabbed subsection that neatly organizes each financial planning topic.
Financial Fate is Fully Verifiable:
Financial Fate shows you the data that is used to generate reports, so you always have verifiable and transparent information. Being able to determine how financial data is used takes the mystery out of using the financial reporting to improve personal finance decision making, and it teaches you how one financial decision impacts others.
Financial Fate makes the assumptions that go into calculations transparent as well. Click on Assumptions at the bottom of many personal finance topics to view assumed percentages used in calculations and change those assumptions when appropriate.
What-If Scenarios for Your Financial Plan:
Financial Fate not only gives you a realistic picture of your financial future, it is also an excellent tool for running
What-If scenarios to help with financial planning after you establish your financial plan. For example, you can try using different contribution amounts to 529 college plans or different mortgage options to see the impact these would have on your financial planning into the future.
Financial Planning Reports:
Financial Fate reports show immediate and future effects of financial decisions:
- To-Do List: Suggested financial activities implemented in the first year of financial planning.
- Cash Flow Plan: Year-by-year cash flow reporting.
- Investment Plan: Investments details, shows the effect of liquidating assets.
- Asset Allocation: Year-to-year recommendations for for retirement funds, educational funds, and regular taxable funds and stocks.
- Balance Sheet: Personal balance sheet lists year-by-year assets, liabilities and net worth.
- Estimated Income Taxes: Personal taxes each year into the future.
Financial Fate Financial Planning Software Review:
Aydren Simmons and Monty Hothersall of Financial Modeling Solutions, Inc. are on a mission to empower people with active involvement in their own personal financial planning at a reasonable cost.
Simplified Financial Planning
Personal finance topics in Financial Fate are well-organized with tabbed sub-topics, and tool tips offer enough assistance with determining what to financial data should be entered. Financial Fate offers email and telephone support for anyone who should need additional help.
The amount of time required to complete a financial plan with Financial Fate depends on how extensive your personal finances are. A recent college grad will typically have less information to enter than a married couple with three children and a vacation home.
Your Financial Planning Results
Results from Financial Fate are a very close approximation and forecast of the results of your financial decisions. Because Financial Fate is not designed to give you exact results, tax code updates will only be available in the event significant changes are made to tax laws. You can change your personal income tax rates and other assumptions in the software to fit your situation.
Backing Up a Financial Plan
Be sure to always back up data in any financial software you use. To back up a data file in Financial Fate, click on Import & Export on the upper left and follow the directions given.
Financial Fate is Recommended
I am very impressed with the level of detail Financial Fate offers in the financial plans it produces. This detail results from the amount of personal finance data entered, and I recommend you enter all the information you have to get the most accurate look at your financial future.
Financial Fate is intended for use as an informational tool and does not provide any specific legal, investment or tax advice. While no crystal ball exists to tell you exactly how financial decisions will play out in the future, Financial Fate produces a realistic financial planning forecast that can be reliably used for short-term and long-term financial planning.
Financial Fate is now a free download. Visit the Financial Fate Web Site for more information and to download Financial Fate.
