FAQs

Question: How can I use the software as a general financial planning tool?

Answer: Many people have told us that the software is so good that they would like to use it for general financial planning.

It is actually quite easy to do this.

To use the software for planning outside of the divorce context, do the following:

- Where you enter the parties' names, set the first party's first name to be both parties' names. So, for example, if the parties' names were "William and Mary," you would enter as the first party's first name: William and Mary.

- Enter all of the couple's incomes and expenses as the incomes and expenses for the first party. For example, if both parties have wages, enter them as two separate jobs for the first party.

- If the combined wage incomes are over the FICA threshold, go to View/Edit Taxes and override the FICA entry with the actual combined FICA. You would have to do this for each year.

- If there is social security income, manually figure the total and enter it for the first party. If necessary, override individual years' payments where only one spouse is collecting.

- In the asset allocations, allocate all assets 100% to the first party.

- As the filing status, specify a filing status for the current year of Married Filing Jointly and for future years of Filing Joint with New Spouse.

- If you have a defined benefit pension, enter the birth date of the 2nd party on the Background Info Screen and specify that the pension is that party's, but allocate the pension 100% to the first party. Set the date started in the plan to be after the date of marriage.

- On the Forms & Reports > More Reports screen, specify that you would like to show reports only for the first party.

That's it!

The software's reports will now reflect the couple's projected cash flow and net worth.