Snap Projections is designed to make financial planning faster, clearer, and more collaborative for Advisors and their clients. In this training series, we walked through every core feature—from setting up new clients and entering data, to customizing cash flow, comparing scenarios, running stress tests, and generating professional reports.
Each video builds on the last, showing how Advisors can not only model accurate retirement projections but also create client-ready outputs that strengthen trust and improve decision-making. Whether you’re adding complex corporate structures, planning for couples, or fine-tuning assumptions, Snap provides both the flexibility and automation to support your practice.
Main takeaways from this article:
- Snap Projections gives Advisors a structured, repeatable financial planning process—from goal discovery and data gathering to implementation and review—that scales while staying client-first
- Accurate, complete data entry—including spousal and corporate details—supports reliable projections aligned with Canadian assumptions and standards
- Real-time planning pages, cash-flow management, scenario modelling and comparisons, and stress testing make complex trade-offs clear and strengthen client trust
- Automated recommendations and client-ready charts, SnapShot summaries, and full reports turn analysis into actionable strategies and confident decisions
- Ongoing support resources and simple rebasing keep plans current, show measurable progress, and reinforce the Advisor’s value over time
What is the financial planning process?
The financial planning process is a structured, iterative approach that helps clients move from identifying their financial goals to implementing tailored strategies and reviewing progress over time.
This step-by-step framework ensures that no critical detail is overlooked and allows Advisors to deliver holistic advice aligned with each client’s priorities.
Typically, the process includes:
- Establishing client goals and timelines
- Gathering financial data (income, expenses, assets, liabilities)
- Analyzing the current situation and identifying gaps
- Developing and presenting customized projections and strategies
- Implementing the plan through coordinated action
- Reviewing progress regularly and adjusting as needed
In Snap Projections, this process is supported through intuitive tools that allow Advisors to model various outcomes, test assumptions, and engage clients in meaningful conversations about trade-offs, risks, and opportunities.
By clearly showing the “why” behind every recommendation, Advisors can position themselves as trusted guides throughout the client journey.
Did You Know: Many Canadians feel uncertain about their long-term financial future—nearly two-thirds say they worry about not having enough savings to retire comfortably. A clear planning process can offer reassurance by turning those concerns into structured, achievable steps.
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Why having a financial planning process matters
A consistent planning process can be the foundation of a sustainable and client-centric practice. Without one, it can be difficult to scale efficiently, ensure compliance, or demonstrate value across different client situations.
At Snap, after a decade of working closely with Canadian Financial Advisors, we’ve found that the most successful practices share a common trait: a clearly defined process. It doesn’t have to be rigid or one-size-fits-all, but it does provide structure for delivering thoughtful advice and tracking progress over time.
Here are a few reasons why having a financial planning process matters:
- Builds sustainability for your practice: A consistent process supports long-term growth by reducing guesswork and increasing efficiency.
- Strengthens client trust: A repeatable approach fosters confidence, especially when clients see how your recommendations evolve with their changing needs.
- Helps clients avoid common pitfalls: When clients understand the strategy, they’re more likely to stay the course and avoid reactive decisions.
- Adds tangible value: A transparent, scenario-based approach shows clients the impact of different choices, improving their financial literacy and decision-making.
- Drives referrals and growth: Satisfied clients often share their experience with others, especially when they feel supported by a clear, personalized process.
- Improves team coordination: When everyone on your team follows the same planning steps, collaboration improves, and client service becomes more consistent.
Snap Projections helps streamline this process, making it easier to deliver advice that adapts to real-life changes while maintaining clarity and consistency.
Fast Fact: According to FP Canada’s latest survey, over half of Canadians say they worry about making the wrong financial decisions. A consistent process helps reduce that stress by building clarity and confidence in each recommendation.
Financial planning process: A complete walkthrough in Snap
Every Financial Advisor develops their own approach to building and refining financial plans over time. This section outlines each stage of the process and highlights the Snap Projections videos that bring them to life. Together, they show how to use Snap to create an efficient, repeatable workflow you can adapt as your practice grows, with additional resources to help you apply what you learn.
1. Establish client goals and timelines
Before entering any data, it’s essential to clarify what clients are working toward. Establishing goals and timelines sets the foundation for the entire plan — helping Advisors align recommendations with what truly matters to each client.
This stage involves discussing milestones such as desired retirement age, expected lifestyle, large purchases, and estate objectives. Advisors should focus on understanding both the quantitative (income needs, savings rate) and qualitative (values, priorities) aspects of the client’s goals.
By clearly documenting these objectives in Snap, Advisors can ensure every projection is purpose-driven and personalized.
Video: Identify client goals
Every great plan starts with the right questions. This video walks through the six core retirement income planning questions that guide every projection—covering when clients want to retire, how much they plan to spend, and which income sources will sustain them over time. You’ll also see how to account for factors like taxes, inflation, and investment risk to set realistic expectations from the start.
2. Gather financial data
After defining goals, the next step is to collect accurate, complete data on the client’s current financial picture. This includes income, expenses, assets, liabilities, insurance coverage, and any relevant business or family information.
It’s important to verify that all inputs are current, consistent, and aligned with assumptions like inflation and investment returns. Advisors should also take care to reflect real client behaviour — not just ideal scenarios — to maintain accuracy and trust.
In Snap, this step lays the groundwork for precise modelling and ensures all future recommendations are built on solid information.
Video: Set up the plan
This tutorial introduces the foundation of every financial plan: the data setup. You’ll learn how to create a new client profile, enter demographic and financial details, and customize assumptions such as growth rates and contribution limits. The tutorial also walks through Snap’s built-in questionnaire, designed to keep data collection efficient and structured.
A thoughtful setup ensures that your plan is accurate from the start and that your future analysis remains clear, compliant, and efficient.
Video: Add a spouse
Many clients plan as couples, so accurate joint projections are essential. In this video, you’ll see how to input spousal data, model joint accounts, split income and expenses, and include pension income splitting where applicable. Snap’s individual and combined views make it easy to illustrate how each partner’s decisions influence the household plan.
By incorporating both partners’ financial details, you can provide a complete, household-level perspective that reflects shared goals and real-life dynamics.
Video: Plan for corporations
For clients who own corporations, this video covers how to integrate corporate planning seamlessly. You’ll learn to enter CDA, RDTOH, and GRIP balances; track retained earnings; and model corporate investments, insurance, and dividends. Snap connects these distributions to personal plans so you can present a complete financial picture.
Adding corporate planning enhances your ability to deliver advanced, tax-efficient strategies for business-owner clients.
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| Snap Projections offers robust features for retirement income planning, cash flow modelling, corporate integration, and tax planning—all built for Canadian Advisors. |
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3. Analyze the current situation and identify gaps
With data in place, Advisors can now assess where clients stand relative to their goals. This analysis stage involves reviewing projected income, expenses, savings, and potential risks.
Advisors should identify funding gaps, inefficiencies, or overexposures — such as insufficient retirement savings, poor cash flow structure, or lack of liquidity.
The goal is to create a realistic picture of the client’s current path before suggesting changes. Snap Projections makes this stage interactive, allowing Advisors to explore scenarios in real time and visualize the impact of adjustments.
Video: Explore projections
The Planning Page in Snap is where analysis comes to life. In this video, you’ll learn how to adjust contributions, income, or expenses directly within the projection to show clients how different choices affect outcomes. The tutorial also covers testing ideas in real time—like accelerating savings, retiring earlier, or evaluating estate impacts—to make meetings more dynamic and client-focused.
Interactive projections help transform technical analysis into collaborative discussions that build client confidence.
Video: Manage cash flow
After building a base plan, managing cash flow is essential for turning theoretical projections into actionable strategies. This video explains how to use Snap’s Cash Flow Management defaults to automate contributions and withdrawals, while still allowing for fine-tuning based on client preferences. You’ll also learn when to override default sequences—especially when modelling decumulation or unique savings strategies.
Mastering cash flow management ensures plans remain practical, flexible, and directly aligned with clients’ daily financial realities.
Video: Stress test plans
Real-world uncertainty is inevitable, and stress testing helps clients prepare for it. This tutorial walks through how to model different economic environments—such as market downturns, inflation spikes, or changing rates of return—using both historical and randomized data. Advisors can then demonstrate best-, base-, and worst-case outcomes to contextualize risk and set realistic expectations.
Stress testing turns risk conversations into learning opportunities, helping clients understand that volatility can be managed, not feared.
4. Develop and present customized projections and strategies
Once you’ve identified the gaps, the next step is to create solutions. This stage involves comparing different planning scenarios, modelling strategies, and preparing to present them to clients.
Advisors should ensure each strategy aligns with the client’s values, risk tolerance, and long-term objectives. Visual communication is key — clients should be able to see how changes affect their plan immediately.
This is where Snap’s flexibility truly shines, allowing Advisors to model alternatives and present options that help clients make confident, informed decisions.
Video: Compare scenarios
Decision-making becomes easier when clients can visualize their options. This video demonstrates how to compare scenarios side by side—testing variations such as increasing savings, deferring CPP or OAS, or adjusting retirement timing. By quantifying trade-offs, Advisors can help clients weigh short-term flexibility against long-term stability.
Comparing scenarios makes the planning process transparent and collaborative, leading to more confident and engaged clients.
Video: Use automated recommendations
When gaps or shortfalls appear, Snap’s recommendation engine makes it simple to generate potential solutions. This tutorial shows how to apply automated strategies—like delaying retirement, reducing expenses, or increasing contributions—and instantly view the effect on projections. These features help keep conversations forward-looking and focused on possibilities rather than problems.
Automation saves time and creates a framework for constructive, data-driven discussions.
Video: Use automatic TFSA top-ups
This tutorial introduces Snap’s new TFSA Top-up feature, which automatically identifies available contribution room and transfers funds from non-registered accounts to maximize tax-free savings.
Advisors can control whether contributions draw from individual or spousal assets, and even fine-tune contribution sequencing between multiple accounts. The feature maintains tax neutrality and updates automatically each year, helping Advisors streamline planning while improving clients’ long-term tax efficiency and investment growth potential.
Video: Set up taxable income targeting
This tutorial demonstrates how to set annual taxable-income targets so Snap automatically aligns withdrawals to maintain smoother income and reduce future tax spikes or OAS clawback.
Advisors can experiment with different thresholds, compare results across multiple scenarios, and identify optimal long-term outcomes. The feature combines automation with full customization, allowing overrides for specific years or accounts. Ensuring TFSA and non-registered accounts exist enables Snap to reallocate surplus withdrawals efficiently.
Video: Create reports
Once your strategies are finalized, presentation becomes the next focus. This video walks through how to transform your data into client-friendly visuals using charts, summary tables, and SnapShot reports. You’ll also learn to generate full financial plans and presentation-ready PDFs that highlight key insights.
Effective reports don’t just present information—they tell a story that reinforces trust and strengthens decision-making.
Video: Use advanced planning tools
As your practice grows, you’ll encounter clients with unique or complex situations. This video explores Snap’s advanced capabilities, including support for DCPPs, FHSAs, RESPs, and charitable giving. It also shows how to use Advisor Notes for workflow tracking and how to export data for further analysis in Excel.
Leveraging advanced features lets you adapt your planning process to meet diverse client needs while maintaining efficiency and precision.
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5. Implement the plan
Creating a strategy is only half the job — implementation is where Advisors turn insights into results.
This step may involve coordinating with other professionals, ensuring client action items are followed, or monitoring initial progress after the plan is presented. It’s also where Advisors reinforce accountability and maintain communication to ensure clients stay on track.
Snap supports implementation through client-friendly visuals and easy-to-understand recommendations that empower clients to act with confidence.
Video: Access support
As you begin implementing plans in Snap, reliable support is key to staying efficient. This tutorial highlights how to access Snap’s dedicated Help Center, live onboarding, and screen-share sessions for technical or strategic guidance. You’ll see how fast, expert-led assistance can help resolve issues and keep your workflow uninterrupted.
Strong support ensures Advisors spend less time troubleshooting and more time delivering results to clients.
6. Review progress regularly and adjust as needed
The final stage of the financial planning process is all about maintaining momentum. Reviewing progress ensures the plan stays relevant as life, markets, and client priorities evolve.
Advisors should schedule periodic reviews to revisit assumptions, track progress, and rebalance strategies as necessary. Communicating these updates clearly demonstrates ongoing value and builds long-term trust.
Snap makes this process simple with tools for rebasing projections and comparing past and current plans.
Video: Update projections
When clients return for reviews, it’s important to update the plan to reflect current realities. This video shows how to rebase projections, incorporate actual income and asset data, and save updated versions for historical comparison. Regular updates provide a clear picture of progress and help maintain accountability.
Rebasing keeps your advice relevant, your projections accurate, and your client relationships strong.
Simplify your planning process with Snap Projections
Together, these features demonstrate how Snap Projections turn complex planning into simple, actionable insights that clients can understand and trust. Advisors can move seamlessly from data entry to scenario modelling, from “what-if” testing to presenting clear recommendations—all within one platform.
With tools that combine automation, customization, and professional reporting, Snap helps Advisors deliver clarity, save time, and strengthen client relationships.
Financial Advisors who build a repeatable planning process using Snap often find it easier to grow their practice, deepen client engagement, and adapt to new planning opportunities as they arise. Whether you’re just starting out or refining an established approach, Snap Projections can be a key partner in building a consistent, high-impact planning experience.
