I’ve been busy the last few months enhancing the planning tool I’ve developed, R-Map Planner, and building a home for it on the web where planners and civilians alike can find out about it and license it. So I’ve been a bit absent here from posts recently (no cheering!), part of the time division that comes from being a one-man band, even one assisted by massive quantities of technology.
The R-Map project started a couple years ago because none of the tools available in the trade use lifecycle financial planning—what I call “Lifetime” planning—as the underlying method for analyzing household finances and creating a long-term financial plan.
Before I started building R-MAP, I found a few tools that used ‘goals-based’ planning, which is similar to lifecycle planning, but even those are investment-centric. None embraced a broad range of techniques for funding goals and lifetime planning. And none of them looked at the household balance sheet and the impact of human and social capital on lifetime financial planning.So I started building my own tool. Now a couple years and a hundred or so dev versions later, and through a half-dozen released versions, R-MAP has evolved into a comprehensive tool for planning a 75-year lifetime.
In short, it’s a versatile, powerful tool for doing lifetime financial planning—for setting a course and keeping on track. And for me, an important by-product of building the tool is that I have come to a fuller understanding of the full lifecycle planning method. Win-win—a tool up to the task, and planner better able to use a powerful tool!
There’s still plenty to improve, future releases, new features, and so forth. But my time division is opening up a bit, so I’m back here. And will also be blogging about how to use R-MAP over at www.rmap-planner.com as well.
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Meanwhile, send me an email if I can be of service!
—Michael Lonier, RMA℠
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Michael Lonier, RMA℠ is a Ramsey-based lifetime financial planner and retirement income specialist. Email him for more information at mlonier@lonierfinancial.com On the web at www.LonierFinancial.com