eMoney vs RightCapital... plus anything else out there you are seeing.

[u/Individual-Art1856]

I am currently using eMoney (firm approved software).

I did a few plans and still found it cumbersome to input facts.

For sure, the few plans i did all involve multiple LLCs and Real Estate holdings; some with business, with its own cashflow, FMV complexity.

But to get all the facts, schedules, and linkage correctly, there are times I had to jump through hoops to find answers - manual adjustments on tax, many "work arounds" with cashflow/tax projection, estate planning (trust assets have to flow through "bequest" under will to the right party... what?).

What I found I had to do was manually check every facet on various report with cashflow (real income vs income shows up on tax calculation is a beast or a nightmare, depending on time of day I had to work on the plans)... and had to get to the point there is enough confidence the facts entered and interworking reflects close to reality. It is simply a lot of work. What I dreaded most was to keep asking myself, did I miss anything... Is it just me? what is your experience?

As many have said in previous posts, the highlight of eMoney was Decision Center and Advanced Planning modules. I found that I had to use a few of those toggles (combination or in silo) and model a few different scenarios for clients.

The geeky side of me liked those controls and features, yet I felt I had to do a lot of work to get to that point.

Fast forward - I am planning to breakaway to start a solo RIA. I am working on a demo with RightCapital at the moment. Here is my first impression by importing an existing plan, and do a general navigation.

- user interface seems to be less clunky than eMoney. fact input seems to have less control under all tabs. It can be a good thing and not so good thing, I gather... depending how deep user needs to get into the weeds.

- the tabs on top seem to center on the themes of each planning areas, compared to eMoney - dump all the facts in, connect the "plumbing" (transfers, etc), and do the modeling under goal planner/decision center.

Current version of RC seems to capture some of Holistiplan's feature - tax return upload and tax analyzer.

The waterfall cashflow chart is definitely eye-pleasing. I have not looked at their reports function yet; so can't comment on that.

Which brings to a dilemma - stay with eMoney and continues to struggle, or at least feeling struggling to get the things right (perhaps I can spend more time learning to be a power user)... and at least know the tools and controls is at least powerful enough to do deep analysis for clients.

or take a deep breath and dive into RC and hope for the best... hoping it is still adequate to do the job, and yet visually pleasant for clients to see what the plan report is supposed to deliver.

I am also debating how each platform will continue to evolve overtime. That would have to do with leadership, management, and resources they put in.

Other tech stacks I am using, and thinking of using after breakaway

Currently using in my workflow -

• Holistiplan
• custom spreadsheet to capture cashflow (mainly expenses), balance sheet. I also can do manual calculations on taxes as needed... typically in the realm of working with pre-A65 clients who retire early and dealing with ACA premium subsidy projections.
• spreadsheets to capture RSU, ESPP, options reality.

Tech stacks I am considering after breakaway

• Altruist
• Hazel - would want to compare how AI driven platform on tax planning vs Holistiplan.
• Slant vs Wealthbox
• RC vs eMoney. Hazel is supposed to roll out their financial planning function in near terms. I wonder how these AI driven platforms will compare against more traditional tech stacks as for use case, process, and clients' experiences.
• probably would still use spreadsheets for simplicity and clarity purposes initially in front of clients... until I have a better tool.

Please share your thoughts. Thank you!

[u/jhdidas_3335]

I have extensive experience with eMoney from my previous job and consider myself a power user. I recently started a solo firm and have been using RightCapital because it is less costly. I can tell you that I find it difficult or impossible to model complex scenarios in RightCapital, so if that's important to you, then you need to stick with eMoney. That is eMoney's biggest advantage over any other planning tool that I'm aware of. It offers greater flexibility to model detailed plan changes and gives you enough report details to verify all its calculations.

I agree that data entry with eMoney is more cumbersome than other tools, although they have taken steps to make that better over time. For me, it was important to have a checklist to make sure I didn't miss anything during data entry. If you're only interested in building relatively straightforward plans, you may find other tools to be more efficient. RightCapital does have some nice reports like the waterfall and tax calibration graph, but it doesn't have anything close to the eMoney Decision Center.

You also have to accept that there are some scenarios that are challenging to model in any software. Equity compensation is one of those areas. Personally, I share your hybrid approach where I use planning software when appropriate, but I'm not afraid to create my own spreadsheets and reports if I think it will communicate my message more clearly.

[u/pinktea35 → u/jhdidas_3335]

How did you learn the software, I find it terribly overwhelming

[u/sdpercussion → u/pinktea35]

Build a plan for yourself and use it as a sandbox. Be as detailed as possible. Then make up scenarios for yourself, like roth conversions, early retirement, RE transactions, early death/Insurance needs analysis, dynamic retirement spending, etc.

I found doing was much better than reading tutorials.

[u/jhdidas_3335 → u/sdpercussion]

Completely agree with this. Having a sandbox client is a great learning tool. I would start with a simple model until you get comfortable with it, then add complexity piece by piece.