Insurance & Financial Review — organized by the CFP Board 7-step planning process. Anchored in fiduciary standards and grounded in 4-domain financial planning.
$200,000 or 200k).John (45) and Jane (43) live in Florida, married filing jointly. John earns $250,000, Jane earns $85,000. They have $100,000 in savings and are saving $500 a month. 2 kids ages 8 and 11. Monthly expenses $9,500. Mortgage $350K at 6.5%. Life insurance $500,000. Retirement age goal 65. Expecting 7% return.has $100,000 in savings for the lump sum balance, and saving $500 a month for the monthly contribution."Paste my meeting notes — give me the full plan."The big one. Free-text meeting notes → parsed client profile + income-gap math + color-coded protection status + categorized recommendations across LBS, Power of Zero, Jackson, Pacific Life, asset protection, and behavioral finance. Print-ready for the client file.
PHASE 1 → ALL PHASESCROSS-METHODOLOGY"Where will I end up if nothing changes — and where could I be if we help?"4 inputs · 30 seconds · side-by-side projection of current path vs. with-our-plan. This is the opener that earns the rest of the meeting.
PHASE 1 STARTER30 SECONDS"Will my money keep up with inflation?"Show how inflation erodes purchasing power. Powerful opener.
CONCEPTOPENER"What do I think I know that's actually wrong?"Interactive myth/reality assessment. Disarms common assumptions.
CONCEPTOPENER"What financial problems am I ignoring?"Checklist-scoring tool — identifies which financial symptoms the client is experiencing.
DIAGNOSTICOPENER"Is my financial life organized or chaotic?"Physical/temporal disorganization — uncovers the chaos a financial plan can solve.
DIAGNOSTIC"Should I invest before I'm protected?"The framework that protection comes before accumulation. Foundation for the rest of the meeting.
FOUNDATION"What does a complete financial plan actually cover?"Interactive visual — Protection, Assets, Liabilities, Cash Flow.
FRAMEWORK"What economic forces are working against me?"Macro factors impacting financial planning — taxes, inflation, debt, market behavior.
CONTEXT"How do I present this to a client?"Practice tool for delivering the cost-of-living opener with confidence.
PRACTICE"What's the complete meeting workflow?"Discovery → fact-find → strategy → implementation → review.
PROCESS"Where is my money actually going each month?"Basic (4 buckets) · Standard (10) · Detailed (26) — pick the depth that matches the meeting. Donut chart + benchmark badges + "run Quick Trajectory with these numbers" button.
PHASE 2 STARTERBUDGET"What does my complete financial picture look like right now?"Snapshot assessment — captures the client's current financial picture in a single view.
SNAPSHOT"What am I actually worth — assets minus debts?"Foundational fact-finder number. Shows financial direction over time.
CALCULATOR"Where is my money going every month?"Income vs expenses with category-level tracking.
CALCULATOR"How much flows in and out by category?"Categorized income/expense capture — structured for cash flow design.
WORKSHEET"What does my lifestyle actually cost?"26-category expense tracker with donut chart.
WORKSHEET"How much goes to taxes, debt, and savings?"Tax profile, wealth-building projection, six economic forces.
REPORT"How do small changes compound over decades?"Interactive impact analysis — small variable changes, big long-term differences.
EXPLORER"What's my complete financial story?"Comprehensive narrative builder — captures the client's full financial story.
NARRATIVE"What does my personalized financial review say?"Builds the client's personalized Insurance & Financial Review summary.
SUMMARY"What does the client actually want — and on what timeline?"SMART goals across retirement, education, real estate, lifestyle, charity, business, emergency fund, debt-free date. Prioritized, time-bound, dollar-quantified. Print-ready for client file.
PHASE 2.5CFP STEP 2 CFP / Series 65"How much volatility can the client take without bailing?"13 weighted questions across 6 categories. Score → Conservative / Moderate / Aggressive bucket → recommended portfolio allocation. Required documentation under Series 65 fiduciary standards.
PHASE 2.5FIDUCIARY Compliance"Which hat am I wearing on this recommendation?"Fiduciary (RIA) · Best Interest (Reg BI) · Suitability (Insurance). Per-hat disclosures, checklist, and printable signature block. Documents the standard applied to each recommendation.
PHASE 2.5COMPLIANCE"What's the formal, defensible insurance need number?"The CFP textbook methodology — PV of needs (final expenses, income replacement, education, legacy) minus existing resources. Documentation-ready output for the client file.
CFP STANDARDFIDUCIARY"What is my economic value to my family?"The floor calculation for life insurance coverage.
CALCULATORCORE"How much insurance covers the income gap?"How much is needed to replace lost income for the family's lifestyle period.
CALCULATOR"What coverage do I have vs what I need?"HLV reference, dynamic policy cards, coverage gap visual.
REPORT"Should I buy term and invest the difference?"Investment-only vs. term + invest comparison.
COMPARISON"What does permanent life insurance actually do?"The 16 features of permanent life insurance — interactive explorer.
EDUCATION"Are there gaps in my home, auto, or umbrella coverage?"Property and casualty observations.
REPORT"Can I afford to self-insure this risk?"The future value of self-insuring risks. Real cost reveal.
CALCULATOR"Do I have a will, POA, and healthcare proxy?"Checklist for legal foundation.
CHECKLIST"Which dollars go in which tax bucket?"Power of Zero / CFP tax-aware portfolio construction. Maps asset classes to taxable / tax-deferred / tax-free buckets for maximum after-tax wealth. $400K rule built in.
CFP / SERIES 65TAX-AWARE Series 7"Where does this allocation sit on the efficient frontier?"Markowitz mean-variance: expected return, std deviation, Sharpe ratio, tangency portfolio, Capital Allocation Line. Formal investment-planning tool.
CFP / SERIES 7MPT ChFC"How much does buying high / selling low actually cost?"DALBAR / Carl Richards behavior-gap visualization. The 3.5pt/year advisor-alpha argument. ChFC behavioral finance.
CHFCBEHAVIORAL"Which cash flow strategy produces the best outcome?"Hub page linking the six cash-flow comparison scenarios.
HUB"Should I change where I'm saving?"Current vs alternate savings vehicle comparison.
COMPARISON"Is permanent life better than term + investing?"Taxable savings + term life vs permanent life solution.
COMPARISON"Should I be in tax-free or tax-deferred accounts?"Tax-deferred vs tax-free accumulation comparison.
COMPARISON"Which retirement income approach keeps more money?"Conventional vs tax-diversified retirement income.
COMPARISON"Should I pay off debt fast or invest the difference?"Accelerated payoff vs standard + invest difference.
COMPARISON"Should I pay extra on my mortgage or invest instead?"Extra payments vs standard + invest difference.
COMPARISON"Am I ready for retirement?"Comprehensive retirement planning dashboard.
DASHBOARD"Do I want legacy, lifestyle, or both?"Legacy vs Lifestyle balance, three strategies overview.
FRAMEWORK"How do inflation and taxes erode my retirement?"Inflation, tax, sequence-of-returns risk calculator.
CALCULATOR"What's the probability my plan actually works?"Probability-based retirement success analysis (70%+ target).
CALCULATOR"How do I protect assets during drawdown?"Asset protection vs linear drawdown analysis.
CALCULATOR"How do I minimize taxes on 401(k) withdrawals?"Tax-efficient qualified plan distribution strategies.
CALCULATOR"Should I annuitize or take systematic withdrawals?"Annuity vs systematic withdrawal comparison.
CALCULATOR"How much do I actually need to live on in retirement?"Lifestyle needs calculator for retirement income.
CALCULATOR"What happens to my wealth when I'm gone?"Estate and legacy planning tools.
REPORT"How does cash flow design affect retirement income?"Cash flow design meets retirement income — combined view.
SCENARIO"How does my current strategy compare to the alternative?"Current vs alternate insurance strategy comparison.
SCENARIO"What are the advanced benefits of restructuring?"Advanced comparative benefits analysis.
SCENARIO"What's the full picture across all domains?"Insurance scenario with full protection/assets/liabilities view.
SCENARIO"Solve any time-value-of-money problem"HP-12C style. Enter any 4 of N/I/PV/PMT/FV and solve for the missing one.
UNIVERSAL"How much will my investment grow to?"Project investment growth with regular contributions.
TVM"What's a future dollar worth today?"Discount future sums back to present value.
TVM"What's my monthly payment?"Loan payments with full amortization, extra-payment analysis.
LOANS"What rate of return am I actually earning?"Solve for interest rate on any investment.
TVM"What's the true return on this investment?"IRR for any cash flow series — investments, projects, policies.
IRR"How much goes to interest vs principal?"Detailed amortization with principal/interest breakdown.
LOANS"How does long-term saving compound?"Long-term wealth accumulation with multiple variables.
CALCULATOR"How much does my 401(k) grow with employer match?"Contribution analysis with employer match modeling.
RETIREMENT"What are my multi-period cash flows?"Multi-period cash flow analysis tool.
CALCULATOR"How much do I need to save to hit my goal?"Goal-based funding illustration.
CALCULATOR"Should I borrow from my policy or a bank?"Cash-value lending vs traditional borrowing analysis.
CALCULATOR"What's my actual investment performance?"Track real returns with monthly deposits/withdrawals.
PERFORMANCE"Should I take the DROP or keep working?"Florida Retirement System DROP plan analysis.
SPECIALTY"What's the REAL cost of buying cars my whole life?"Cash outflow + opportunity cost. The wealth leak clients don't see.
FINANCIAL CONCEPTOPPORTUNITY COST"How much is minimum-payment debt really costing me?"4 payoff strategies: minimum, fixed, avalanche, snowball.
FINANCIAL CONCEPTDEBT"Can I afford to send my kids to college?"Cost projector for up to 4 children with education inflation and funding gap.
FINANCIAL CONCEPTEDUCATION"How much do I need to save for retirement?"Thermometer gauge, savings growth, gap calculator.
FINANCIAL CONCEPTRETIREMENT"How long will my retirement money last?"Withdrawal rate simulator with color-coded portfolio health.
FINANCIAL CONCEPTWITHDRAWAL"Is this rental property a good investment?"Cap rate, cash-on-cash, IRR, DSCR. Year-by-year projection.
FINANCIAL CONCEPTREAL ESTATE"Is my 10% average return really 10%?"Volatility drag demonstrator. Quick mode, manual mode, Monte Carlo.
FINANCIAL CONCEPTVOLATILITY"Which financial strategy is actually better?"Universal A vs B: Roth vs Traditional, term vs perm, any two strategies.
FINANCIAL CONCEPTCOMPARISON"What does my complete business picture look like?"Business planning overview & assessment — the entry point.
OVERVIEW"What business data do I need to gather?"Structured data-collection for business clients.
FACT-FIND"Where does my business stand today?"Current-state assessment of business strategy.
SNAPSHOT"Should I keep or sell my business?"Continuation vs sale framework — the foundational succession question.
FRAMEWORK"What is my business worth?"Business sale planning and valuation.
VALUATION"How do I plan for business continuation?"Business continuation planning.
CONTINUATION"What if I lose my most important employee?"Key person risk assessment and insurance calculator.
CALCULATOR"How should I handle business debt?"Business debt strategy analysis.
CALCULATOR"What benefits make sense for my employees?"Employee benefits planning tool.
BENEFITS"Which retirement plan is right for my business?"Solo K, SEP, SIMPLE, Cash Balance comparison.
RETIREMENT"How do I compensate and retain key executives?"Executive compensation and benefits planning.
EXECUTIVE"Should my business pay for my insurance?"Business-paid insurance strategy and tax treatment.
STRATEGY