Questions & Answers (Q&A)

Transcription

1 Questions & Answers (Q&A) This Q&A will help answer questions about enhancements made to the PremiumChoice Series 2 calculator and the n-link transfer process. Overview On 3 March 2014, we introduced PremiumChoice Series 2, offering significantly reduced administration fee rates and more ways for advisers to reduce the fees clients pay. Since that time, we ve identified opportunities for the enhancement of the Cost to Client Calculator, based on Adviser feedback. Please note that the Series 2 cost to client calculator provides an indicative view only. Final decision on whether to place a client in a Series 2 product should be based on discussion with your client, and considered review of information provided by the calculator. Contents Page General...2 How to Use...2 Troubleshooting...7 1

2 General Q. I d like to use the Cost to Client Calculator to determine if an existing client would be better off on Series 2 pricing. Can I do this through n-link? A. Yes, you can launch the new calculator from n-link. We ve replaced the old n-link calculator with an up-to-date Excel based calculator which launches from the Investor Account Details > Fees > Fees Summary screen in n-link. On this screen, the section called Series 2 Cost to Client Calculator (Data download) will enable you to launch the calculator. Q. What s the purpose of the Browse button for the Series 2 Cost to Client Calculator (Data download) in n-link? A. The Cost to Client Calculator needs to extract client and calculator data to perform its assessment of your client. The Browse button allows you to choose where on your hard drive or shared drive you would like to securely store the files required to complete this assessment. If you don t choose this folder yourself, the storage location will default to n-link s temporary folder on your hard drive. Q. Can I use the calculator to assess Series 2 opportunities for new clients? A. Yes. This enhanced Cost to Client Calculator will still be available via the Series 2 toolkit at investinfo.com.au/premiumchoice to perform calculations for new clients. Client information will need to be entered into the calculator manually. This calculator is the same as the one launched through n-link. It just doesn t launch a client data file along with the calculator. Q. Can I use the calculator to assess Series 2 SMSF opportunities for a new client? A. No. SMSF accounts are subject to a lot more variables than the standard Series 2 offer. How to Use Q. I m adding a new client. What is the minimum information I have to enter? A. As a minimum, when you opt to add a new client via Add / Delete Account you must enter: linking details (select Yes / No next to Use total balance of accounts? ): o when Yes is selected, the calculator will use the combined balances of all accounts entered to calculate the administration fee. If the account shouldn t be part of a family fee linking group, this will default to $0 o when No is selected, you can enter an arbitrary balance to use which pricing model you re comparing (for new clients this must be None ) whether you would like to use Management fee or ICR, and a cash balance. Q. The calculator is asking me to enable macros, should I do this? A. Yes. We ve built a number of automations into the calculator to make it easier for you to use. The calculator won t work if you don t enable them. 2

3 Q. The calculator is open, how do I use it to view my client s details? A. If you ve accessed the calculator through n-link you ll be able to import client details into the calculator. To do this, simply click the Import Client Data button in the open calculator window. You ll be able to open an excel spreadsheet containing data for your client. Q. There are accounts for other individuals included in my imported client data. Is this how the calculator is supposed to work? How do I remove them? A. Yes. This is how the calculator should work. It has imported details for your selected client, as well as any other client accounts that may form part of a linking group. This enables calculation of discounts based on total portfolio value. To remove a linked account from your display and calculation, simply click the Add / Delete Account button and select the account to be removed. Q. Does the calculator I m using include the latest investment management fees or ICRs for on-menu investments? A. Yes. If you ve just downloaded the calculator, it will include the latest investment management fees and ICRs for on-menu investment options. To ensure that you re always using the latest data, please ensure that you always launch the calculator from n-link or the Series 2 toolkit at investinfo.com.au/premiumchoice and don t use a version stored on your drive. The calculator won t include any investment management fees or ICRs for off-menu investments. You ll need to enter these yourself. To do this, ensure you re in Total Cost Calculator mode by selecting this from the white drop down box in the top left corner of the home screen. Then click Edit Account Details and enter the rates for off-menu investment options in the fields provided. See the Cost to Client Calculator reference guide for more detailed instructions on completing this step. Q. How will I know if the investment management fee or ICR for my client s investment option is on-menu or off-menu? A. If you imported your client information from n-link and the investment option is on-menu and you ve selected Total Cost Calculator mode on the home screen, you ll be able to see the investment management fee or ICR in the Edit Account Details section of the calculator. If you imported your client information from n-link and the investment option is off-menu, it will still appear in the Edit Account Details section of the calculator, but it won t have a value next to it. You ll need to add a value for all off sale investment options to proceed. If you re adding investment options for a new client, an error message will appear when you try to enter or search for an off-menu investment option. You can still add the option by clicking Add Off-Menu Fund when the search box appears. 3

4 Q. Can I add more than one investment option at a time? A. Yes. Ensure that you re in Total Cost Calculator mode by selecting this from the white drop down box in the top left corner of the home screen. When you select Add Options on the Edit Account Details screen, a search box will appear. You can search for all on-menu investment options and add one or more of these investment options to your client s calculations. You can do this by selecting the option and clicking Add, or just by double clicking the investment options you require. There s no need to submit each investment option individually. See the Cost to Client Calculator reference guide for more detailed instructions on completing this step. Q. Can I add an off-menu fund to the calculator for a new or existing client? A. Yes. In Total Cost Calculator mode, you can do this by clicking in the blank space at the bottom of the investments table in the Edit Account Details screen. When you enter the name of the fund or the APIR code, you ll be notified that the calculator couldn t find the fund in the on-menu list. You ll be redirected to the search box. To add the option anyway, simply choose the relevant Investment Option Type from the pre-populated list and click Add Off-Menu Fund followed by Submit. You ll need to enter your own rates for these investments. See the Cost to Client Calculator reference guide for more detailed instructions on completing this step. Q. I m using the Total Cost Calculator mode to perform my calculations. Is there a quick way for me to find out if the investment option I want to add is on or off-menu? A. Yes. Simply click in the blank space for Name or APIR code provided at the bottom of the list of investments in the Edit Account Details screen and enter the name of the option or APIR code. If the option is on-menu and you ve typed the exact name or APIR, it will be added immediately. If you ve typed a partial Name or APIR, the calculator will ask you to confirm that it has identified the correct investment by displaying the search box. If the option is off-menu, when you enter the name of the investment option or the APIR code, you ll receive a notification that the calculator couldn t find the investment option. From here, you can elect to add the option as an off-menu item. You ll need to enter your own investment management fee or ICR. Q. Can I search for funds in the Investment Options dialogue box? A. Yes. There are three ways to search the on-menu options in Total Cost Calculator mode: by Name by APIR Code by Investment Option Type To search by Name and/or APIR Code, enter the search terms and click Search by Name / APIR. To search by Investment Option Type, double-click the type in the list. Alternatively, you can double-click All Investment Options to show all on-menu investment options. After the search button is selected, all on-menu funds that meet your search criteria will be displayed. 4

5 Q. Can I choose whether I view ICR or Management Fee for my client s selected investment options? A. Yes. Ensure that you re in Total Cost Calculator mode by selecting this from the white drop down box in the top left corner of the home screen. On the Edit Account Details screen you'll see a highlighted box which can be set to either ICR or Management Fee for your convenience. Please note: When switching between ICR and Management Fee, the calculator is unable to do this for any off-menu investment options that you ve added. For off-menu options, you must make the change manually by entering a new rate over the one you entered previously. Q. Can I use the calculator s client reporting to show the benefit of linking an account? A. Yes. If you choose the option to Generate Report from the home screen, the report created will show the administration fee that would be charged if the account was un-linked. The report will also show the benefit of linking if you ve elected to link the client s account in your calculator set up. The Less Linking Benefit line shows what your client saves through linking. If you have multiple accounts, the Group Summary report can be produced to show a one page summary, including the benefit of linking, for all accounts you have entered. Q. What does Use total balance of other accounts in the Add / Delete Account section mean? A. This is referring to linking and is available in both Total Cost Calculator and Admin Fee Snapshot modes of the calculator. If you choose Yes and you have more than one account included in your calculation, this will link the accounts for fee calculation. If you choose No the account won t be linked with any other accounts you may have included in your calculator modelling. You can then input your own linked balance to use for calculation. This will be $0 by default. Q. Does the n-link calculator include growth pension accounts as part of its calculation? A. No. Some accounts won t be imported into the Series 2 Cost to Client Calculator as they aren t eligible for Series 2 pricing. These accounts include (but are not limited to) PremiumChoice Retirement Service Growth Pension accounts (pre- and post-december 2011) and accounts that are linked or aggregated across different fee models and badges. You should be mindful of this as, while Series 2 calculations will be correct, the comparison calculation of the client's current fees may not be exact. You ll therefore need to make adjustments for these account types before making recommendations to move a client s account into the Series 2 pricing model. 5

6 Q. Excluding the above, will all my client s other accounts be imported into the calculator from n-link? A. Not necessarily. The calculator will import all eligible accounts currently linked and/or aggregated to the primary account (the account from which the client details are downloaded). This means that if your client has accounts outside the linking and aggregation group of the primary account, they won t be imported. This ensures that the calculator doesn t make false assumptions about how accounts are currently priced. This may occur, for example, if your client has a pre-december 2011 account and a post-december 2011 account which aren t linked together. In these scenarios, use the blank calculator on the Series 2 toolkit at investinfo.com.au/premiumchoice so that you can input and edit your client s information more easily. Q. Will current adjusted minimum fee arrangements be imported into the calculator from n-link? A. Yes. These adjusted minimum fees will be imported into the calculator. In all other instances, the calculator will use disclosed fees for previous pricing models. Please note that adjusted minimum fees can t be applied to Series 2 pricing. This means you ll see if your client is better off in their existing model, inclusive of adjusted minimum fee arrangements, compared with the standard Series 2 pricing. Q. I ve made a client calculation and want to use it later; do I have to save the calculator? A. Yes. Your changes won t automatically be saved. We recommend saving a version of the calculator with the date and client ID you performed the calculation for. Remember that the rates (eg ICR < Management Fee) won t continue to be updated in any calculator saved to your desktop. You must re-launch the calculator from the toolkit or n-link to get latest rates. Q. Can I determine the actual difference in rebates to my client between previous pricing and Series 2? A. Yes. Visibility of current and potential investment management fees is provided in reporting for you to view. The impact of rebates is visible in the difference in investment management fees. 6

7 Troubleshooting Q. The calculator won t open, or is open but isn t working. Why? A. If you haven t elected to enable macros, the calculator won t work properly, and may not open. You ll need to go back to n-link and re-launch the calculator, ensuring that you enable macros when prompted. Sometimes (depending on the version of Excel you have) the macro enable option will appear as a button in the header of your Excel screen. Make sure you enable it if you see it. Q. I can t add or edit investment options for my client, why? A. You may have the calculator set in Admin Fee Snapshot mode instead of Total Cost Calculator mode. You can switch between the two by selecting the desired option from the white drop down box in the top left corner of the home screen. Q. What is the home screen? A. The calculator home screen is the first screen you see when the calculator launches. Q. n-link has stored a number of different versions of the same client data in the same folder. Is this an error? A. Not necessarily. You can perform your cost to client assessment as many times as you wish. Each time, n-link will determine whether you ve assessed this client before by checking your selected target folder for the client ID used. If a previous version exists for the same day, a new version will be created. This is denoted by a number at the end of your client file name (eg 2). If a previous version exists for another day, a new version will be created. This won t necessarily have a number at the end, but will have a different date. Q. An error message stating Rate could not be found for [x] has appeared and I can t proceed with my calculation or report generation, why has this happened? A. Your client has off-menu investment options which require you to enter the correct rate. If you don t enter a rate, the Cost to Client Calculator won t enable you to proceed to the next step. Q. An error message stating Please ensure that you have selected a fee linking option, a comparison option and whether to use ICR or Mgmt Fee has appeared, and I can t proceed with my calculation. Why has this happened? A. If you re in the Add / Delete Account section and are assessing whether a new or existing client would benefit from Series 2 pricing, you must determine: Whether linking applies (select Yes / No next to Use total balance of accounts? ) which pricing model you re comparing with (for new clients this must be None ), and whether you would like to use management fee or ICR. 7

8 Q. Why is there no linking benefit showing for one of my linked clients? A. It s likely that the account balance has reached the maximum or minimum cap and no further linking benefits apply. In Series 2, the minimum administration fee is $750 and the maximum is $3,700. Q. I ve made changes for a client in the calculator, but accidentally loaded another client file over the top. Can I get my original calculation back? A. No. Unfortunately if you ve overwritten your client details, you can t retrieve them and will need to start again. Q. I had trouble using the calculator after the first release because I had an old version of Excel. Will this be a problem going forward? A. No. We ve taken additional versions of Excel into account for this release and have tested to ensure that the same problems won t occur with this release. Q. I m having a problem with the calculator that can t be solved with this document, what should I do? A. Please contact your business development manager or MLC representative. They ll escalate the problem to our online support team for review and resolution. Q. I ve received a message that the calculator has a Run Time Error, what should I do? A. In the unlikely event that this happens, you ll need to completely close Excel so that there aren t any Excel windows open, then relaunch the calculator. Also, make sure that there aren t any other macro enabled spreadsheets running on your computer at the same time. If you continue to receive the error message after re-starting, contact your MLC representative, who will escalate the issue to the calculator maintenance team for review. Q. I m trying to import a client file into the calculator but it s not working. How can I fix this? A. This problem can happen if you ve opened and saved your client s n-link data file. You ll need to re-launch the calculator from the client s account in n-link and import a clean file. You can open and look at the file before importing, but don t save it or you may encounter this issue. 8