Entering Data in Pathfinder

General data entry tips

To start editing a case, you first need to add one. For more information, see How to add a new case.
Before you start entering data in Pathfinder, you may find it helpful to read How to navigate in a case.
Every time you finish entering data in a field, it will be saved automatically.
If you log out, the data you have entered will be saved so you can return to it later.
Pathfinder's comprehensive modelling requires the right data to accurately estimate tax, legislation and government benefits. For more see Minimum data required for Pathfinder.

Entering data in the Current situation step

At the Current situation step (top menu), you should enter the details for items that the clients already have. It is similar to the information that you collect in a fact find. To model a case Pathfinder has certain data requirements, for more information see Minimum data required for Pathfinder.

Sub-step	What can be entered here (click links for more details)
Personal details	At the Personal details step, you can enter details for the following: Individual Dependants
Assets & Loans	At the Assets & Loans step, you can enter details for directly owned assets: Family home Investment Property Cash Shares/Managed fund Lifestyle asset Insurance bond Fixed interest (term deposits, government bonds) Annuity And you can enter the following direct liabilities: Unsecured loan (e.g. credit card, personal loan) Secured loan (e.g. home mortgage) HELP debt (a.k.a Higher Education Loan Programme debt, HECS debt) (i.e. education loans, also knows as HECS debts) Reverse mortgage
Super & Trusts	At the Super & Trusts step you can enter details for the following: Superannuation (a.k.a Super) (retail and industry super funds) SMSFs and their assets Trusts and their assets
Insurance	At the Insurance step, you can enter details for existing Life insurance products (Income protection, Life/TPD, Trauma). For more see Insurance.

Entering data in the Cash flows & Goals step

At the Cash flows & Goals step (top menu), you can:

Add income and expenses
Set options for the items you entered in the Current situation step (e.g keep or sell property)
Add new items (e.g. new property, new superannuation fund)
You can also create multiple scenarios, so you can compare different projected outcomes. For more, see How to make another scenario for comparison,

Sub-step	What can be entered here (click links for more details)
Top section	Scenario name field - Give the scenario a descriptive name Scenario notes - put notes about the scenario, such as how it is different from the another scenario Scenario description (for customer) - notes about the modelling and results that you would like included the the results documents. Analysis years - choose how many years you want to do the analysis for. For more, see How to set the number of years for analysis Duplicate the scenario so you can run another scenario for comparison. For more see How to make another scenario for comparison
Cash flows	At the Cash flows sub-step, you can enter details for: Income Expenses
Review Assets & Loans	At the Review assets & loans sub-step, you can set options for the items you entered at the Current situation > Assets and loans step (e.g. sell existing property) and also add new directly owned items. (e.g. invest in shares/managed fund). For more information, see the page for the relevant item: Family home (with a mortgage) Investment Property (with a mortgage) Shares/Managed fund HELP debt (a.k.a Higher Education Loan Programme debt, HECS debt) Insurance bond Fixed interest (term deposits, government bonds) Annuity
Cash reserve	At the Cash reserve sub-step, you can set a Cash reserve goal to keep aside funds for emergencies.
Retirement planning	At the Retirement planning sub-step, you can: Set the retirement age/date Set options for super contributions and pensions For more information, see Retirement planning goal (super contributions and pensions)
Review super funds & SMSFs	At the Review super funds sub-step, you can: Set options for existing super funds and SMSFs Add new super funds or a new SMSF For more information see Superannuation (a.k.a Super) and SMSF (Self-Managed Super Fund)
Review insurance	At the Review insurance sub-step, you can: choose when to close existing insurance add new insurance. For more information, see Insurance
Review Trusts	At the Review trusts sub-step, you can add instructions for our analysts when you submit the case to the Optimo Financial SDS.

For more information about scenarios see Tips for creating scenarios. Once you have entered your data, you can solve the scenario to get results and then go to the Results step.

Related pages

Other pages for getting started

Other related pages

Results step