Using eMoney Advisor: The Technology Behind Comprehensive Financial Planning at Cannon Capital

"Do you have financial planning software?"

That's a question we hear from prospective clients regularly.

The answer is yes, but that barely scratches the surface of what it means.

Having software is one thing. Using it to deliver truly comprehensive, dynamic financial planning is another thing entirely.

At Cannon Capital Management, every client has access to eMoney Advisor, the same institutional-grade financial planning platform used by leading wealth management firms, private banks, and RIAs across the country.

But this isn't about having the fanciest technology. It's about what that technology enables us to do for you.

What Is eMoney Advisor?

eMoney Advisor is a comprehensive, cash-flow-based financial planning platform designed for complex financial situations. It's one of the most robust planning tools available to financial advisors—and for good reason.

According to recent industry analysis, eMoney remains the deepest projection engine available, allowing advisors to test trust distributions, charitable split-interest vehicles, stock option exercises, and state tax differentials in a single plan.

While competitors like RightCapital and MoneyGuidePro serve mass-affluent households well, eMoney was built specifically for the complexity that high-net-worth families face:

• Multiple income sources (W-2, business income, rental property, investment income)

• Stock compensation (RSUs, ISOs, NQSOs, ESPP)

• Complex tax situations (AMT, NIIT, state tax planning)

• Estate planning (trusts, generation-skipping strategies, wealth transfer)

• Multi-generational planning (supporting parents while funding children's education)

• Business ownership (succession planning, sale modeling, valuation scenarios)

  
  

If your financial life involves any of these elements, you need software that can handle that complexity accurately. That's why we chose eMoney.

What eMoney Does for Our Clients

1. Complete Financial Aggregation

Most people have their finances scattered across multiple institutions:

• 401(k) at current employer

• Old 401(k)s from previous jobs (often forgotten or ignored)

• Brokerage accounts at Fidelity, Vanguard, Schwab

• Bank accounts, credit cards, mortgages

• Real estate holdings, business interests, insurance policies

eMoney aggregates all of this into a single, secure dashboard. You log in and see your complete net worth—updated daily with real-time account data.

More importantly, we see it too.

This means we're always working with current information, not outdated spreadsheets from six months ago. When we meet, we're looking at the same data you are, updated overnight.

The client benefit: No more hunting down account statements before meetings. No more manual updates to Excel spreadsheets. Everything is in one place, always current, always accessible.

2. Real-Time Scenario Modeling with Decision Center

Here's where eMoney truly differentiates itself.

Traditional financial planning goes like this:

1. You meet with your advisor

2. You discuss a potential decision ("What if I retire early?")

3. Your advisor says "let me run the numbers and get back to you"

4. A week later, you get a new report

   
   

With eMoney's Decision Center, we model scenarios during our meetings and show you the impact immediately.

Common Scenarios We Model:

Retirement Planning:

• "What if I retire at 62 instead of 65?"

• "Can I afford to retire if the market drops 20% next year?"

• "What happens if I work part-time for 3 years instead of retiring fully?"

• "Should I take Social Security at 62, 67, or 70?"

Major Purchases:

• "What if we buy an investment property?"

• "Can we afford a $2 million home without over-extending?"

• "Should we pay cash or take a mortgage?"

Career Decisions:

• "What if I take this new job with lower salary but better equity compensation?"

• "Can I afford to take a sabbatical year?"

• "What if I go back to school for an MBA?"

Family Support:

• "What if we help our daughter buy her first house?"

• "Can we afford to pay for private school for both kids?"

• "What happens if we need to support my aging parents financially?"

  
  

In each case, Decision Center shows:

• Impact on your probability of success (Monte Carlo analysis)

• Changes to your projected net worth over time

• Tax implications

• Cash flow requirements

• Whether you're still on track for your other goals

  
  

Not hypothetically. Not "in general."

Your specific situation, with your specific numbers, updated in real time.

3. Deep Tax and Estate Planning Capabilities

This is where eMoney separates itself from simpler planning tools like MoneyGuidePro or basic retirement calculators.

eMoney can model incredibly complex tax and estate strategies:

Tax Planning:

• Multi-year Roth conversion strategies – We can model converting $X per year over 5-10 years to fill up your current tax bracket while avoiding Medicare premium surcharges

• Tax-loss harvesting opportunities – Track unrealized gains and losses across all accounts

• Charitable giving strategies – Model donor-advised funds, qualified charitable distributions, charitable remainder trusts

• Bracket management – Show exactly when you'll hit the next marginal bracket based on projected income

• State tax implications – Compare tax burden if you move from California to Texas, or New York to Florida

  
  

Estate Planning:

• Trust modeling – IDGTs, GRATs, CLTs, CRTs, dynasty trusts

• Generation-skipping transfer tax – Allocate GST exemption optimally across multiple trusts

• Wealth transfer strategies – Gift vs. bequest analysis, using exemptions efficiently

• Estate tax projections – Federal and state estate tax liability under current law

• Step-up in basis analysis – Compare holding assets until death vs. gifting during life

Most financial advisors can't do this level of planning because their software doesn't support it. We chose eMoney specifically because it can.

4. Secure Client Portal and Document Vault

Between meetings, you have 24/7 access to:

• Your financial plan – All projections, scenarios, and recommendations

• Net worth dashboard – Updated daily with account aggregation

• Cash flow tracking – Where your money is going (if you choose to link accounts)

• Progress toward goals – Are you on track for retirement? College funding? Home purchase?

• Document vault – Securely store wills, trusts, tax returns, insurance policies, estate planning documents

  
  

This isn't something we show you once a year during a review meeting and then lock away in a file cabinet.

Your plan is always available. Always updated. Always accessible.

And because it's secure and encrypted, you can share access with your spouse, your CPA, your estate planning attorney—anyone who needs to see your complete financial picture.

Real Client Examples

Let's look at how we use eMoney in practice:

Client Example #1: Tech Executive with Complex Equity Compensation

Client Profile:

• Age 42, married, two children

• Base salary: $250K

• RSUs vesting quarterly: ~$400K/year

• ISO stock options: 50,000 shares, strike price $10, current FMV $85

• ESPP participation: 15% of salary

What eMoney tracks:

• Vesting schedule for all equity awards (automatically pulled from account aggregation)

• Projected value based on stock price

• Tax implications of different exercise strategies for ISOs

• AMT exposure if exercising ISOs

• Concentration risk (employer stock is 60% of net worth)

• Optimal timing for sales and diversification

What we model in Decision Center:

• Exercise and hold ISOs vs. exercise and sell

• Impact of disqualifying disposition vs. holding for QSBS treatment

• Roth conversion opportunity in years with lower income (if he takes time off between jobs)

• Charitable giving with appreciated RSUs vs. cash

Outcome: Client exercises ISOs strategically over 3 years, stays under AMT threshold, qualifies for QSBS exclusion on $10M of gain, and donates $50K of appreciated RSUs to donor-advised fund—saving $40K+ in taxes while reducing concentration risk from 60% to 25%.

Client Example #2: Business Owner Planning for Sale

Client Profile:

• Age 58, married, no children

• Business: Regional HVAC company, 35 employees

• Projected sale price: $8M - $12M

• Current business value in net worth: $6M

• Outside investments: $1.5M

What eMoney allows us to model:

• Different sale prices ($8M, $10M, $12M) and structures (asset sale vs. stock sale)

• Tax impact of each structure

• Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS) exclusion eligibility ($10M federal exclusion)

• Post-sale investment strategy and income needs

• Whether they can retire immediately or need to work longer

• Estate planning with sale proceeds (gifting to nieces/nephews, charitable legacy)

What we show in Decision Center:

• At $8M sale: Can retire immediately with 95% probability of success

• At $10M+ sale: Can retire, travel extensively, and still leave $5M+ charitable legacy

• Optimal sale structure: Stock sale to qualify for QSBS = $0 federal tax on first $10M gain

• Post-sale strategy: Move $4M to diversified portfolio, keep $2M in private credit for income, gift $1M to family trusts

Outcome: Client has clarity on minimum sale price needed, optimal sale structure, and post-sale life. Moves forward with sale confidently knowing exactly what "enough" looks like.

Why This Matters: Planning vs. Reporting

Here's the fundamental difference between what we do and what many advisors call "financial planning":

Traditional approach (reporting):

• Annual meeting

• Advisor shows you a PDF report

• Report shows you're "on track" or "not on track"

• You file it away and don't look at it again until next year

Cannon Capital approach (dynamic planning):

• Semi-annual meetings (at minimum)

• We model real decisions you're actually facing

• We show you the tradeoffs between different paths

• Your plan updates continuously as life changes

• You have 24/7 access to your plan and can run your own scenarios

  
  

The difference isn't the math. It's the usability.

A financial plan that sits in a drawer isn't a plan—it's a report. A plan is something you use to make decisions.

eMoney enables us to turn planning from an annual event into an ongoing process.

Experience eMoney Yourself

If you'd like to see eMoney in action and experience what dynamic financial planning looks like, we're happy to walk you through it.

[Schedule a complimentary consultation]

Important Disclosure: This article is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. eMoney Advisor is a third-party software platform used by Cannon Capital Management to enhance financial planning services. Cannon Capital Management is a fee-only registered investment advisor. The examples provided are hypothetical and for illustrative purposes only. Actual client results will vary based on individual circumstances. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Consult with a qualified financial advisor about your specific situation.