Kelley Rating (one asterisk = lowest, five asterisks = highest):

• Ease of navigation, design of interface and learning curve ****
• Instructional documentation and help system *****
• Carries out the goal of the product as advertised *****
• Overall usefulness *****

SunGard WealthStation is all about convergence. It presents a common interface for financial planning, asset allocation, proposals, account balancing and back-office operations. It is web-based, with a flexible, modular front-office platform that will interface with other accounting systems. It offers tools for client management, financial planning, wealth accumulation planning, retirement planning, investment management, asset allocation, data aggregation, trading, rebalancing, reporting, client access and compliance. Some calculations are goal-based and some are cash flow-based. For example, you may target retirement needs by focusing your WealthStation calculations on "at retirement" investment goals.

WealthStation includes a search filter for client files and maintains a list of the client's advisors. This product also allows entry of each client's assets, liabilities and other information.

This product gives you a high degree of flexibility in portfolio arrangement with risk tolerance settings, asset allocation weight, rebalancing and portfolio suggestions. Buy-sell requests trigger the trading component. It also allows a tax-sensitive approach, offers pre-profiled packages and permits a choice of investment vehicles.

Competitors

Competitors are Advent Solutions, InvestEdge ASP, and Odyssey Management Platforms.

What's It All About?

The WealthStation facility integrates financial planning and asset allocation capabilities from a common database, including data from back-office systems, thus avoiding redundant data input. This facility allows you to select financial planning packages ranging from quick plans to comprehensive plans:

• The "Foundations Series" is an introductory tool with 10 to 12 questions to establish client needs and goals. It covers topics such as asset allocation, planning for retirement and post-retirement, education for family members, and survivor planning.



• The "Planning Series" includes interactive data input and calculation modules for the advisor and client, with about 80 questions on financial planning issues such as allocation, retirement estate, insurance (life, disability and long-term care), financial statements, etc.



• The "Advisor Series" is in-depth planning at the highest level, covering education, estate planning, financial statements, retirement, stock options and other issues. This package generates a 100-page, detailed report based on 300 data elements.

WealthStation also provides a planning approach that it refers to as "Concepts." These include extensive facilities identified as Retirement, Needs Analysis, Estate Advisor, Cash Flow Consultant and AllocationMaster. Under "Retirement," for example, you will find tools for retirement planning, retirement advisors, IRA analysis, IRA conversion, lump sum pensions, net unrealized appreciation, and more.