Penny User Guide

What is Penny?

Penny is an AI-powered financial planning assistant built directly into Income Lab. It serves as a digital paraplanner, helping you analyze scenarios, uncover opportunities, and quickly answer complex planning questions.

Unlike standalone tools, Penny works with your actual client data inside Income Lab, so every insight is grounded in real numbers, not hypotheticals.

In simple terms: Penny does the research and analysis so you can focus on advising your clients.

Penny is especially powerful for turning plans into action. Whether you're analyzing a tax return, exploring Roth conversion strategies, or comparing planning scenarios, Penny helps you move from long-term strategy to real-time client decisions.

Why Use Penny?

Penny helps you turn complex financial planning into fast, actionable insights.

With Penny, you can:

• Upload and analyze 1040s and other documents in seconds
• Instantly summarize a client’s tax situation and key observations
• Explore marginal tax rates and Roth conversion strategies interactively
• Compare detailed strategies and see real tax impacts, bridging long-term plans to today’s decisions
• Identify opportunities across your entire client base with Practice Intelligence

And it’s not just tax—Penny also supports Medicare and ACA planning, IRMAA appeals, estate optimization, and more.

How Penny is Organized

Penny has three main modes:

Planning & Analysis

• Use this for deep analysis on a specific client or household. This is the primary way most users interact with Penny.

Practice Intelligence

• Ask questions across your entire book of business to uncover opportunities (e.g., “Which clients should consider Roth conversions?”).

Research

• Ask general financial planning questions without needing client data.

How to Get the Most Value from Penny

For the best experience:

1. Start with a structured tool (instead of chat)
2. Use tools to analyze specific scenarios
3. Use Ask Penny to explore follow-up questions
4. Use Practice Intelligence to find opportunities across clients

Penny Tools Overview

Planning & Analysis

Taxes

• Tax Planning Report - Get a comprehensive report of a client’s tax situation, including income breakdown and key insights.
• Scenario Comparison - Compare different financial decisions side-by-side to see tax impacts.
• Marginal Rate Explorer - Visualize the true tax rate on the next dollar of income, including hidden tax cliffs.
• Roth Conversion Analysis - Determine optimal Roth conversion strategies and understand the true cost.
• Estimated Tax Calculator - Calculate quarterly tax payments.
• W-4 Optimizer - Calculate optimal W-4 strategies based on earner details and projected tax liability.
• NUA Calculator - Evaluate Net Unrealized Appreciation strategies for employer stock.

Medicare

• IRMAA Appeal Calculator - Estimate savings and generate instructions to appeal Medicare surcharges.
• ACA to Medicare Transition - Plan coverage transitions and estimate healthcare costs before Medicare.

Estate Planning

• Beneficiary Classification - Determine what distribution rules apply to an inherited retirement account based on the beneficiary type. 
• Single and Multi-Beneficiary Optimizers - Find the most tax-efficient withdrawal strategy for inherited IRAs.
• Gift vs. Inherit - Compare gifting strategies vs. inheritance tax benefits.

Practice Intelligence

Find planning opportunities across all clients.

Client segments

• Dynamic - List of households based on conditions that automatically updates. 
• Static - List of households based on conditions that is updated manually.
• Manual - List of households created and updated manually.

View

• Total households
• Households by state
• Upcoming client birthdays
• Approaching retirement dates
• RMDs
• Guardrails

Search

• Ask for data across all segments/households
• Roth conversions: Find clients with favorable Roth conversion windows.
• Guardrail check: Identify clients closest to their lower-spending guardrail trigger.
• IRMAA risk: Find clients paying IRMAA surcharges or at risk of crossing an IRMAA tier.
• Upcoming RMDs: Find clients that will be paying Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) starting soon.
• Bracket check: Find clients with large tax-deferred balances relative to their current tax bracket.
• Employer plans: Find clients with significant 401(k), 403(b), or TSP balances.
• Medicare windows: Find clients whose Initial Enrollment Period (IEP) is approaching — starts 3 months before turning 65.
• SS Claiming: Find clients nearing their planned Social Security claiming age.
• Browse all data (CSV download available)

Research

• Get answers to general financial planning questions.

Ask Penny (chat)

• Ask follow-up questions or explore scenarios using natural language.

Common Questions

Can I trust the results?

Yes. Penny uses deterministic financial models for calculations. AI is used to interpret questions and explain results—not to perform math.

Does Penny replace my role as an advisor?

No. Penny supports your work by doing analysis faster, but you remain the decision-maker.

Can Penny prepare or file taxes?

No. Penny provides tax analysis and planning insights, but it does not prepare or file tax returns.

Can I use Penny without a client plan?

Yes. You can upload documents like a tax return or W-2 and get an analysis without creating a full plan.

Current Limitations

• Penny cannot edit or update Income Lab plans directly
• Some planning areas are still being expanded
• Uploaded documents are used for analysis but not stored
• Some advanced scenarios may require manual input

Best Practices

• Start with tools, then use chat for follow-ups
• Review outputs before sharing with clients
• Use Practice Intelligence regularly to uncover opportunities
• Combine Penny insights with your professional judgment

Summary

Penny is your AI-powered planning assistant inside Income Lab. It helps you analyze faster, uncover opportunities, and deliver better client outcomes, all while keeping you in control of the final recommendations.

Group Training

Need extra training for Penny? Join one of our weekly Penny group training sessions - available on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.