FAQs – Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. RazorPlan offers a 30-day Free Trial for new users. The free trial provides access to all areas of the software (Standard or Advanced versions) with only a few limitations (e.g. restricted Insurance Illustration importing, Razor Leads, and file sharing). All reports printed during the trial will include a “TRIAL” watermark. After 30 days, you can subscribe to continue using RazorPlan without these trial limitations.

RazorPlan is a web-based financial planning software designed for Canadian financial planners. It uses key client information and innovative algorithms to automatically perform intuitive calculations, helping advisors quickly analyze a client’s financial needs and demonstrate the value of their advice. RazorPlan can generate multiple types of reports for different planning situations (from quick annual reviews to comprehensive financial plans). It also allows building scenarios to compare the effects of different strategies on savings, net worth, taxes, and estate outcomes.

Upgrading to Advanced is straightforward. In the Your Account settings, use the “Upgrade Today” option to change your subscription to RazorPlan Advanced. Upgrading will immediately add the Advanced features to your account (e.g. unlocking the Life Insurance data entry section and other advanced modules). When you upgrade, the system automatically pro-rates your billing: any unused portion of your current Standard subscription is credited toward the Advanced subscription cost. Tip: You can find the upgrade button under the Billing tab of the Your Account window, and any applicable refund for the remaining time is calculated automatically.

The Decumulation Optimizer is available via the “RazorPlan with Decumulation” version of the software. If you initially subscribed without Decumulation, you cannot enable this feature yourself through the interface. To add Decumulation to your current subscription, you will need to contact RazorPlan support and request an upgrade to the Decumulation version. The support team will assist in upgrading your account so that the Decumulation Optimizer feature becomes available.

For security and licensing reasons, you cannot directly change the registered name or email on your RazorPlan account via the interface. These fields are locked. If you require an update (for example, due to a name change or if you need to transfer the account to a different email), please contact RazorPlan support for assistance. The support team can update your account name or email on the backend as needed.

RazorPlan uses a guided step-by-step data entry wizard for each client file. The Data Entry process is divided into up to 7 Steps, covering 30+ sections of client information. Each step focuses on a specific aspect of the plan (e.g. Personal Info, Income, Assets, Insurance, etc.), and each section includes on-screen help for guidance. You can also add detailed Planning Notes in each section to document assumptions or client details. RazorPlan Advanced users have all steps enabled, whereas Standard users will notice some advanced sections (like Capital Needs or detailed Insurance inputs) are not accessible. The software ensures you input only the key information needed – using default assumptions for the rest – so you can efficiently build a plan.

RazorPlan does not allow entering multiple separate accounts of the same type for one client. If a client has more than one account of a given type (for example, two RRSPs or multiple non-registered investment accounts), you should combine them and enter a single aggregated value. This combined entry should use the total of all those accounts. The same approach applies to related inputs like cost base or contribution amounts – aggregate them for each account category. By grouping assets together, RazorPlan simplifies the plan while still accounting for the total value. (Exception: Different account types, like an RRSP vs. a Locked-In RRSP, may have separate fields in the software if applicable. But multiple of the same type are always entered as one.)

Entering a Whole Life policy requires a RazorPlan Advanced subscription (this advanced insurance need analysis is not available in RazorPlan Standard). In Data Entry Step 5: Insurance, add a new Permanent Life Insurance item and set the Illustration Type to “Import Data”[22]. RazorPlan does not directly calculate Whole Life values from simple inputs – instead, you will import an actual insurance illustration (typically via an Excel spreadsheet) to accurately reflect premiums, cash values, death benefits, etc. You can obtain this illustration spreadsheet from the insurance carrier’s software or request it from the insurance company. When importing: ensure the file is in “.xls” format with row 1 as column headers, and include yearly rows of data for Premium, Death Benefit, Cash Value, and Adjusted Cost Base (ACB) (ACB is required for corporate policies). Once imported, RazorPlan will use those values in the plan projection. (Importing Whole Life data can be complex – if you need help preparing the file, contact RazorPlan support for assistance.)

To include a future inheritance (a lump sum the client expects to receive in the future), use the Other Income section. In Step 2: Income, go to the Other Income tab and open the Drill-Down window for Other Income. There you can enter the inheritance amount and specify the year(s) it will be received. RazorPlan allows you to enter the inheritance as a one-time amount or spread it over multiple years. Once entered, the inheritance will be treated as additional income in those future years of the plan. (Remember to enter it only in the client’s Other Income if it’s personally received, or in the spouse’s Other Income if appropriate.)

RazorPlan does not have a dedicated input for an investment loan tied to an asset. In other words, there is no direct way to link a liability to a specific investment and have the software automatically manage loan repayments from investment withdrawals. However, you can simulate the effect of an investment loan with a couple of manual steps:

• • Enter the loan and the investment separately: Input the loan as a liability (e.g. a personal loan or line of credit in the Debt section) and the borrowed money as added value in the investment asset. This reflects the increased investment and the debt on the balance sheet. But note, RazorPlan will not inherently “pay off” the loan using the investment, so the loan balance will persist unless you model payments.
  • Model interest-only or interest+principal payments: One approach is to include the loan’s interest payments as an extra expense. You can do this by adding a recurring Lifestyle Need equal to the interest (use the Lifestyle Needs drill-down to add a custom expense). This will reduce cash flow for loan interest. The loan principal, however, would still remain.
  • Simulate principal repayment (Advanced feature): If you want to show the loan being paid off from the investment, a workaround is available for Advanced users. You can create a Capital Need entry (in Step 1: Capital Needs) in the year of repayment, and specify the source of funding as the investment account. Essentially, you’re telling RazorPlan “in year X, withdraw $Y from the investment to cover a need” – that need being the loan payoff. This will cause the investment value to drop by that amount in that year, simulating a lump-sum loan repayment.

Keep in mind these are manual modeling techniques. RazorPlan will not automatically tie the loan to the investment or stop the loan once “paid.” You’ll need to coordinate the entries. If this becomes too tricky, reach out to support for guidance.

If you leave Active Lifestyle at $0 (meaning the client initially says they have no specific retirement spending goal), RazorPlan will automatically calculate an optimal lifestyle amount instead of accepting $0. This design is to prevent errors (a $0 retirement need can break some calculations) and to provide a useful planning insight. Essentially, the software interprets $0 as “unspecified,” and then computes the maximum sustainable retirement lifestyle that the plan’s assets and income can support without shortfalls. The result is that $0 is overridden by a positive dollar amount – which you can view as a suggested retirement spending target for the client given their resources. This helps advisors discuss a reasonable lifestyle with clients who “don’t know how much they’ll need” in retirement. If you truly want to force a very low retirement spending value, you could enter a minimal number (like $1) instead of $0, but generally it’s better to let RazorPlan suggest a figure or to enter the client’s desired budget.

No – RazorPlan will always reinvest surplus income in retirement by default. In the retirement phase, if the client’s guaranteed incomes (government benefits, pensions, etc.) and withdrawals exceed their lifestyle needs in a given year, the software assumes the extra money is saved (reinvested into the portfolio). There isn’t a toggle to turn this off. The logic is built-in to reflect that if a client doesn’t spend all their income, it remains in their estate.

If your goal is to show the client spending that excess instead, the only way is to manually increase the lifestyle need values during retirement. In other words, you could inflate their passive or active lifestyle target so that little or no excess remains. This would force the projection to use up the income. Other than adjusting the retirement lifestyle amount, there is no direct feature to have “excess income” automatically diverted to extra spending – it’s always assumed to go back into investments by the program’s calculations.

Why do the Lifestyle Needs in the results show a higher value than what I entered?
If you notice the projected Lifestyle Needs (expenses) are higher than the base amount you input, there are a few possible explanations (the software may be adding other requirements on top of the base need):

• • Inflation: All lifestyle needs are automatically grown by the inflation rate you’ve set. So if you entered $50,000 as an annual need and inflation is 2%, in future years the displayed lifestyle need will be higher (e.g. ~$51,000 next year, and so on). The inflation adjustment will make needs in later years larger than the initial input, which is expected behavior.
  • Drill-Down entries: You may have additional expenses entered via the Lifestyle Needs Drill-Down (for specific years or one-time needs). These drill-down items are added on top of the main Lifestyle figure. For example, if you added a $10,000 vacation in a certain year, that year’s lifestyle need in the projection will be $10K higher than the base need.
  • “Cash Flow ON” additions: If Pre-Retirement Cash Flow is ON in the settings, RazorPlan will automatically add certain expenses to Lifestyle Needs: specifically, any debt repayments, insurance premiums, or investment savings contributions will be counted in lifestyle. This could make the total lifestyle spending appear higher because those outflows are included in the lifestyle number. (If Cash Flow is OFF, you have control – you can choose in data entry whether to include or exclude those items from lifestyle. But with it ON, they are always included by default.)

In short, the Lifestyle Needs output is comprehensive. It starts with your base entered needs, then on each year layers in inflation growth and any additional obligations or discretionary spends that the software knows about. If the number seems unexpectedly high, check the factors above. You can review the Lifestyle drill-down report or details to see the breakdown of what makes up the total lifestyle figure in a given year. Adjusting settings (like turning Cash Flow off to manually control what’s included) can also give you more precision if needed.

RazorPlan can produce several report types to present the plan to your clients. The main report formats are accessible via the Reports button on the toolbar when you have a client file open. When you click Reports, it opens the Report Generation window, where you can choose from three primary report options:

• • Full Report: A comprehensive financial plan report. The Full Report is customizable – it includes multiple document sections (e.g. Balance Sheet, Cash Flow, Insurance Analysis, etc.) and you can select which sections to include. By default, it can include everything: an Executive Summary, detailed analyses, and even results from any Applications used (like RESP, Budget Planner outputs). The Full Report is ideal for a complete plan deliverable. You have the ability to check or uncheck particular documents within this report before generating it.
  • Retirement Number Report: A focused report centered on retirement planning metrics. This option is more streamlined and has only one main category of documents to include (largely related to retirement income and goal feasibility). It’s useful if you want to give a client a quick readout of their “retirement number” – e.g. the income they can sustain or the shortfall/excess relative to goals.
  • Focused Planning Report: This is a comparison report for scenario analysis. Rather than including all documents, you choose two scenarios – usually the Baseline (current plan) and an Improved scenario – and it will generate a report comparing them. The Focused Planning report automatically picks the relevant comparison charts/tables and doesn’t allow picking individual sections; it’s pre-set to show a side-by-side of the two chosen scenarios. This is great for presenting an “Option A vs Option B” outcome (like Retire at 65 vs Retire at 60, or Plan with Insurance vs without Insurance, etc.).

To create a report:

1. Open the client file and click Reports on the top toolbar.
2. In the Report window, select which type of report (Full, Retirement Number, or Focused Planning).
3. If Full or Retirement Number, check off the specific documents or analyses you want to include (or “Select All” to include everything). If Focused Planning, choose the two scenarios to compare.
4. Click Generate. RazorPlan will compile the PDF report based on your selections. Once generated, you can view it on-screen, save it, or print it.

All reports are generated as PDF documents, which you can then provide to your client. You can create reports at any time; it’s often wise to generate a Full Report for your records or compliance after inputting data, and a Focused report when comparing strategy alternatives.

RazorPlan’s File Sharing feature allows you to collaborate with other advisors by granting them access to one of your client files. To share a file with another user:

• • 1 – Enable sharing on both accounts: First, both you (the file owner) and the other advisor need to have sharing enabled on your accounts. By default, sharing is OFF for all users. To enable it, open Your Account and in the Settings tab turn File Share = “On”. Once enabled, you will see a Share button (icon) appear on your RazorPlan toolbar within client files.
  • 2 – Initiate sharing: Open the client file you want to share and click the Share button on the toolbar. In the sharing dialog, enter the other advisor’s email address (the one associated with their RazorPlan account) and click “Add.” If you want to give them access to all client files in your database, you can check “Share all Plans with this user” before clicking Add. Otherwise, leave it unchecked to share just the current file.
  • 3 – Access granted: The other user will be added to the list of shared advisors for that file. They will now see this client file under their account and can open it on their end. Shared users can view and edit the client data, run scenarios, and print reports – essentially co-planning on the same file. However, they cannot delete the client file (only the owner can delete). Note: Only one user can have a shared file open at a time; if you both try to edit simultaneously, you’ll get a notification – you’ll need to take turns making changes.

Removing access (un-sharing): If you decide to revoke the other advisor’s access to your file, you (as the owner) can remove sharing. Go back to the Share dialog (Share button on that client file) where the shared user is listed. Click the “Edit” (or options) next to that user’s name and choose “Remove Sharing.” Save or confirm, and that user will no longer be able to open your client file. (Their name will disappear from the shared list.) If a file was shared with them, it will also disappear from their client list once removed.

Alternatively, if you are the one who had someone else’s file shared with you and you no longer need it, you can remove it by simply deleting that file from your client list – this only removes the shared link on your side and does not delete the actual file for the owner or other shared users.

Sharing is a powerful collaboration tool – it grants full access to the data, so only share with trusted colleagues. If you want to disable all sharing at once, you can toggle File Share “Off” in Your Account settings, which will sever all sharing links from your account (both incoming and outgoing).

Yes. RazorPlan provides a Forward Scenario option as a lighter-weight alternative to full file sharing. When you forward a scenario, you send a copy of that scenario’s data to another user, rather than giving ongoing shared access. This is useful if you want to get a second opinion or have someone work on a scenario without risking changes to your original client file.

To forward a scenario, open the client file and go to the scenario you want to share (for example, a retirement alternative scenario). In the scenario management or share dialog, choose the option to Forward Scenario and enter the other advisor’s email. The other advisor will receive that scenario as a new client file on their side (often marked as a forwarded plan).

The key differences between forwarding and sharing are: – Forwarding sends a disconnected copy of the scenario. The other advisor can modify it freely, but those changes won’t flow back to your plan (and vice versa). It’s essentially a snapshot in time. – Sharing is live collaboration on the same file – any changes they make are on your file directly.

Forwarding ensures there’s no risk your original data gets altered or deleted by the other user. It’s a safer choice when you only need to share a particular scenario result. To use Forward Scenario, both parties should still have File Sharing enabled on their accounts. Once forwarded, the recipient can view and experiment with that scenario as an independent plan on their account. If needed, they could later forward it back or share insights without ever touching your original client entry.

Customizing disclaimers is done through the Report Settings in the Your Account window. There, you have fields to enter your own compliance text. RazorPlan allows for two disclaimer fields – one for English and one for French. You can use these to include any required wording (for example, a disclaimer about projections not being guarantees, or your firm’s compliance statement). If you produce bilingual reports, fill in both fields accordingly (English disclaimer, and French disclaimer). If you only need one language, you can use just the English field.

When you generate a report, the custom disclaimer you provided will appear on the report (usually on the cover or the footer of each page, depending on report format). This ensures your reports meet compliance standards. In addition to disclaimers, you might also want to include your licensing information (e.g., “Mutual Funds provided through ABC Dealer”) in the disclaimer field if required by your compliance department.

Remember to also update your Report Title and branding (logo/cover) as needed in the same settings area, so the entire report package looks professional and compliant with your company’s guidelines. Once set, these will apply to all reports you generate moving forward.

The “TRIAL” watermark appears because the plan was created under a Free Trial account. This mark is automatically applied to all reports generated during the 30-day trial period. To remove the TRIAL watermark, you will need to activate a paid subscription to RazorPlan. Once you subscribe (either to RazorPlan Standard or Advanced, monthly or annually), the watermark will no longer appear on new reports.

Unfortunately, you cannot remove the watermark from reports that were already generated while in trial. You would need to regenerate those reports after your account is upgraded to a full subscription. If you’re still within the trial and need to present a plan to a client, be aware the watermark will be there until you subscribe.

In short: the solution is to subscribe to RazorPlan – the watermark is the only functional difference in outputs between the trial and paid version (aside from minor feature limits). After subscribing, reprint the report and it will come out clean.

No – once a client file is deleted in RazorPlan, it cannot be recovered. Deletion is permanent. There is no “undo” or trash bin for client files, and RazorPlan support cannot restore a deleted file either. Because of this, be very careful when deleting any plan. Only delete files that you are sure you no longer need. For compliance or record-keeping, it’s a good idea to keep files rather than delete them, or at least download a Full Report PDF before deletion if you must remove a client from the system.

If a file was shared with you by another user and you removed it (as described in the Implementation section), that only removed your access – the original file still exists with the owner. In that case, you could ask the owner to re-share it if needed. But if you were the owner and you deleted it, it’s gone. You would have to recreate the client file from scratch if you still need it.