Are you getting the most out of....Transact

In the first of a new series, IFAonline reveals the tools and features you may not know about on your favourite platform. This week we look at Transact...

Money Map

Transact offers advisers a lifetime cashflow modelling tool called MoneyMap. This enables IFAs to quickly calculate whether clients' current investments are on course to finance their future as they enter retirement or semi-retirement.

Data including client risk profile, savings, state benefits and planned retirement date is modelled forward until retirement. Advisers can change investment details after client reviews.

A detailed full-page report, along with illustrations and spreadsheets, can be produced in just eight to ten minutes.

The tool is continually enhanced in line with pension regulations, incorporating changes in income tax and capital gains tax, for example.

AssetMap

This provides a snap short of a portfolio's asset allocation. It enables advisers to x-ray a client's existing portfolio and view underlying assets to ensure they are in-line with client risk profiles.

The tool also makes it easier to create a model portfolio using passive investment funds which replicate the same portfolio structure with lower charges.

Qualifying Savings Plan

Transact head of marketing Malcolm Murray says not many advisers realise the wrap offers a Qualifying Savings Plan (QSP).

The QSP, launched in 2009, is an additional solution for advisers who are planning potential sources of income for their clients in later life.

The primary tax benefit of the QSP, which must run for ten years, is that investment returns are taxed at the rate applicable to life insurance companies, rather than the investor's own personal tax rate.

The proceeds of the plan are then free of any further personal tax liability on the investor.

"This is becoming more widely understood as a potential planning tool for people who are going to need income later in life to replace a diminishing earned income," said Transact head o f marketing Malcolm Murray (pictured).

Other things Transact offers....

- CGT tax calculator enabling advisers to make historical calculations for CGT (not limited to assets purchased through the platform)

- A 'Pickup Page' feature allows both advisers and clients to stop any unnecessary paper communications and elect to have stored electronic correspondence.

-Free white-labelling allowing advisers to put their company logos on the Transact wrap viewed by clients.

-Demo site to enable advisers to 'test drive' the Transact service, the platform offers a visiting adviser capability via its marketing website at www.transact-online.co.uk on the 'Request a Demonstration' page.

-The wrap also says it is also willing to make almost any fund available, including access to institutional funds.

Transact was the first wrap to launch in the UK market back in 2000. The wrap's current AUM is £10.5bn. It has 4,800 individual IFA clients and runs 100,000 portfolios.

The wrap is powered by its own technology and has a client services team numbering more than 150.

To visit the Transact website click here