Under the Present Baseline Scenario, we have grouped the “present” reports. These reports show your client what might happen if they continue on with the present assumptions and growth rates of their various assets.
The Overview reports are a good place to begin. As soon as you click on Overview, MasterPlan projects all that your client owns, earns, and owes for up to 99 years or to life expectancy. It then displays a Baseline Overview Situation window giving you a “bird’s eye view” of this clients' situation. Use the scroll bars to scroll into the future until life expectancy. This window does not include all the items from the report, but a selected set so that you can decide if you want to proceed further, or if you need to go back and correct some data entry.
Notice that at the bottom of the window there are several report buttons: Cash Flow, Summary, Detailed, and Text Report.
Cash Flow: This shows some summary information as we project out the client’s situation to life expectancy. It shows the balance of the asset or liability at the end of the first year of the projection and how that item affects cash flow. It also shows you how many years we projected into the future. This is not meant to be a report that you give to your client, but an opportunity for you to view what has happened. The what-if companion window is especially helpful when you do a what-if projection, because it is easy to track the what-if buys, sells, and refinances.
Summary: This is a one-page summary report that summarizes the income, income tax, cash flow, liquidity, retirement plan, and net worth situations. You can start it in any year from now to life expectancy. Most planners print 5 years at a time to give to their clients.
Detailed: This is the detailed audit trail report that lists every item with its description, so you can track it year by year. As you view the detailed report, notice that you can see how each item contributes to the results. You will see if the numbers come from a specific asset or from the Tax and Cash Flow form. Notice the income in Line 1, the allowed portion of the self-employment tax in Line 7 (Adjustments To Income), the phaseout of some of their itemized deductions in Line 12, and the allowance for exemptions in Line 14.
In fact, you may notice that Lines 1 – 20 cover the Demo Family’s tax situation, and lines 21 – 28 covers their cash flow.
Text Report: This report is only for the first year of the projection. It reads a template file and merges this client’s information with the template. Only those paragraphs that apply to this client’s situation will be included in the report.
When you click on the button for the summary, detailed, or text report, you will see the Report Output Options box:
