No matter what else may happen in 2005, the markets for personal financial planning are set to explode. It's not just the Bush administration's announced plans to overhaul both Social Security and the income tax systems. Nor is it just that an economic upswing and low interest rates are pushing the stock markets back up to pre-2000 levels. There are certain fundamental changes taking place in the software industry, and in the markets for financial planning software in particular. Three trends are notable at the beginning of this year: * The software is going online. In addition to traditional application software provider eMoneyAdvisor, MoneyTree and EISI have both moved strongly into Web-based services. Other software vendors must carefully weave between the obvious advantages of an online service and the wishes of subscribers, who may not want to move so quickly onto the Internet. But the trend has an air of inevitability about it.

* Consolidation is taking place, particularly at the economy end of the business. Some software programs have been retired, others have disappeared, and some - like FPlan - have been acquired.

* The software itself is getting overhauled. Most of the packages reviewed here have been enhanced or tweaked just in the last few weeks, and other changes are in the works for many packages. This means that the software companies are secure in their customers, and that they are committed to their products.

It will be interesting to see how these trends play out against the backdrop of major national policy changes, and how the publishers of financial planning software fare in their efforts to move to better, faster and more effective planning systems.

VENDOR INFO * AdvisorPlatform 4.0 eMoney Advisor 1001 E. Hector St., Ste. 401 Conshohocken, Pa. 19428-2395 Phone: (888) 362-8482 www.emoneyadvisor.com Pricing: Annual pricing option -- $1,300 to $1,500 per advisor seat license; $300 to $350 per client seat. Monthly pricing option -- $299.00 per month (one advisor seat license, five client seats). * NaviPlan Emerging Information Systems Inc. 500-330 St. Mary Ave. Winnipeg, Man. R3C 3Z5 Phone: (888) 692-3474 www.naviplan.com Pricing: NaviPlan Standard Offline (one year) -- $625; NaviPlan Extended Offline (one year) -- $1,125. * PFP Notebook 2005 Brentmark Software Inc. 3505 Lake Lynda Drive, Ste. 212 Orlando, Fla. 32817-8327 (800) 879-6665 www.brentmark.com Pricing: Single-user license (includes six months of maintenance) -- $595; thereafter, annual maintenance -- $199. 10-user site license (includes six months of maintenance) -- $1,190; thereafter, annual maintenance -- $398. * PFP Relief 6.0 AccountantsWorld 140 Fell Court Hauppauge, N.Y. 11788 (888) 999-1366 www.accountantsoffice.com Pricing: $495; annual maintenance -- $250. 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | next Advertisement Related Articles Jailed Russian Oil Execs Point Finger at PwC Employer Expectations of Accountants Change FASB Retools Pension Plan Standards New Taxonomy Proposed for U.S. GAAP Reporting Texas CPAs Critique Financial Instruments Standards NSA Opposes AICPA on Tax Preparer Exemptions IRS Releases Health Care Tax Credit Form IRS Shows Small Businesses How to Deal with Audits Treasury to Test Tax Refunds on Debit Cards Revenues Flatlined at CPA Firms IRS Expects to Register 1.2 Million Tax Preparers Advertisement Special Offers We're sorry. Your computer must be equipped with a browser capable of rendering HTML 4.01 and running JavaScript. In your browser, you must enable JavaScript. In addition, you should enable style sheets. Prev 1 of 1 Next Editors' Picks Stakes grow higher for worker classification Tackling the problem would reduce federal, state and local tax gaps Jackson Hewitt Tries to Stay in RAL Business Jackson Hewitt president and CEO Harry W. Buckley tried to reassure investors that the tax prep company has been looking for banks to cover its entire refund anticipation loan business, which took a major hit last tax season when its main partner, Santa Barbara Bank & Trust, was forced by banking regulators to get out of the RAL business. Wealth Magnets: The 4th Annual Ranking of CPAs by AUM Facing volatile markets and uncertain regulation, planners focus on clients WebCPA Twitter Page Check out WebCPA's Twitter page, WebCPAtweets, and Accounting Tomorrow's Twitter page Join WebCPA on Facebook Check out the WebCPA and Accounting Tomorrow pages on Facebook. Advertisement Quick Poll Sponsored By: Should private companies have their own set of accounting standards? Yes No Not sure or see results See Recent Polls About Us  |  Contact Us  |  Advertise with us  |  Privacy Policy  |  Terms of Use  |  Site Map © 2010 Accountants Media Group and SourceMedia, Inc. All rights reserved. SourceMedia is an Investcorp company. Use, duplication, or sale of this service, or data contained herein, is strictly prohibited.