Click here 
to view an interactive video of the Hypothetical Portfolio Illustration.
Hypothetical illustrations are useful for showing potential or existing clients how your recommended portfolios would have performed historically, taking into account taxes, fees, and specific investment amounts and schedules.
The Hypothetical Illustration tool is accessible from two locations within the system. The most direct way to launch the hypothetical illustration tool is to go to the menu bar and select Tools, Hypothetical Illustration. The tool can also be launched from the Portfolio Management tab, Accounts area. Simply place a check next to the account and from the toolbar above the grid, select Action, Create Hypothetical Illustration from account. The advantage to selecting the tool from this area is the investments tied to this account are automatically loaded into the hypothetical illustration.
When working with the Hypothetical Illustration tool, move back and forth between the tabs to enter as much information as you want. The only thing you MUST enter in order to generate a report are the investments you want to include. When you are finished entering the information, click the Generate Report button located on the toolbar at the top of the screen.
Investments Tab - Define which investments to include in your final hypothetical illustration.
Buy Tab - Enter allocation methods, initial investment amounts, and time periods for all of your investments.
Advanced Buy/Sell Tab - Enter subsequent investment amounts and add one-time or systematic transfers from one investment to another.
Reinvest/Rebalance Tab - Enter reinvestment and rebalancing options on this tab.
Fees Tab - Modify the illustration to include deductions for fees.
Taxes Tab - Specify the taxes to apply to the portfolio. Be sure to zero out all tax rates if you're creating a tax-free portfolio.
Report Options Tab - Set the options to specify the kind of hypothetical report and/or other supplemental reports.
Save/Save As/Save Locally - You can save items online (within the application) or locally (on your hard drive or network). If you save them locally, you can e-mail them or copy them anywhere you want.
To save your settings online
Click the Save button from any step in the tool. The Save dialog box appears.
Type a name for your file (up to 100 characters).
Click OK. Your file appears in the Open dialog box. When you open the file later, all of your saved inputs (including your security selections) appear. You can also add the file to a folder.
Note: Any time you make changes to an item that has been saved online, click the Save button to maintain them. If you would like to change the name of the file or save it locally, click the Save As button.
To save your settings locally
Click the Save Locally button from any step in the tool. The File Download dialog box appears.
Click Save. The Save As dialog box appears.
Enter a name for the file and navigate to the location on your computer where you want to save the item. Note: Be sure to remember the file name and location, you will need them when you retrieve your settings later.
Click Save. The file is saved to the specified location, with the extension .xml. You can open it again any time from the Open dialog Box by clicking Browse and navigating to your local files. Because the local .xml files are encrypted, you can only view them using File > Open.
Note: If you have already saved the item online once, and then you change some settings and choose to save locally, you must also save online for the settings to be updated online. If you save settings locally, and then make changes and save them online, the local settings will not be overwritten.
View Illustration
Click the View Illustration button to view a line graph that reflects your current settings. Cursor over the lines to view projected values for the portfolio, benchmark, and net amount invested.
You can click and drag to move the preview window within the frame of the main hypothetical illustration window. To close the preview, click the X button in the upper right-hand corner.
Generate Report
Click the Generate Report button to compile the hypothetical illustration and open the PDF in a new window.
Update Preferences
The Preferences window allows you to set both General and Hypothetical Illustrations global preferences. These settings apply to any new hypotheticals that are created.
Tip: If you often use the same inputs when creating hypothetical reports, you can save a lot of time and effort by creating a set of Preferences. Preferences allow you to stipulate which settings appear by default whenever you start a new hypothetical.
Add/Edit Note
You can add a note to the hypothetical illustration or edit an existing note.
Export
This button exports the Investment Detail table to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.