Planning

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Overview

Planning helps your team turn portfolio ideas into clear actions. Use it to set investment goals, track progress against measurable targets, keep a watchlist of companies you are considering, and record planning conversations in one place.

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Before you start

Agree the planning outcome you want to track, who owns it, and what measure will show progress. This makes goals easier to review later.

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Basic and advanced use

• Basic use: create goals, track progress, and keep a focused watchlist.
• Advanced use: combine risk tolerance, portfolio-linked metrics, progress updates, market context, and planning notes for recurring reviews.

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Planning dashboard

Open Planning to see a compact working view of your plan and the market context around it. Stock search sits at the top, so you can move directly to a listed company, ETF, or fund while preparing for a review. The Planning workstreams row takes you directly to:

• Goals for measurable portfolio outcomes and progress.
• Allocation targets for the portfolio mix you are working towards.
• Notes for research, decisions, and review conversations.
• Tasks for actions and follow-ups.
• Benchmarks for shared market and return comparisons.

The row also shows the current number of active and completed goals, open tasks, and watched investments. These counts are presented together so you can assess the planning workload without opening separate summary tiles. Below the workstreams, use the market tables to compare movers by price, daily change, market value, and trading volume. Your watchlist shows current price movement alongside each investment, while the news table keeps the publisher, headline, and publication time aligned for quick scanning. Treat market information as research context, not as an instruction to buy or sell. Use the Planning page at the start of a review meeting to confirm the intended direction, identify outstanding work, and then discuss relevant market developments.

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Tasks and follow-ups

Open Planning > Tasks to see actions raised by your team or created from other InvestSync work, including planning notes and portfolio reconciliation. The summary at the top separates open, completed, and dismissed tasks. Use the matching tabs to focus the list, then:

• Select Mark done when the action is complete.
• Select Dismiss when the action is no longer needed.
• Select Reopen when a completed or dismissed task needs further work.
• Select New task to record a new action, owner, due date, or reminder.

Overdue tasks are clearly marked. Review open tasks during regular portfolio meetings so decisions continue through to completion.

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Benchmarks

Benchmarks are shared targets your organisation uses when reviewing portfolio value growth. They can appear on the Dashboard and in Benchmarking Analytics reports. Open Planning > Benchmarks to add or update the list. Owners and admins can save:

• S&P 500.
• A listed stock.
• CPI plus a margin, such as CPI + 2%.
• A fixed annual target, such as 7%.

CPI benchmarks use the organisation country by default, and you can choose another country when needed. Mark a benchmark as shown on the dashboard when it should appear in the dashboard benchmark card.

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Investment goals

Goals are best for outcomes such as increasing portfolio value, improving income, reducing concentration, or preparing for a liquidity event.

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Create a goal

1. Open Planning > Goals.
2. Select Create investment goal.
3. Add a clear goal name, owner, target date, and summary.
4. Choose the first metric you want to track.
5. Enter the current value, target value, and measurement period.
6. Save the goal.

Good goal names are specific, for example “Grow portfolio market value to $1m” or “Reduce exposure to a single sector below 20%”.

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Set risk tolerance

The goals page includes an organisation-wide risk tolerance. Choose the option that best describes the shared investment posture:

• Conservative: focus on capital preservation and steady returns.
• Balanced: blend growth with stability.
• Growth: accept higher volatility for longer-term gains.

Review this before adding major goals, so targets match the team’s appetite for risk.

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Track metrics

Each goal can have a primary metric and supporting metrics. Metrics can be:

• Manual: you enter progress yourself.
• Portfolio: the value follows available portfolio measures.

Use manual metrics for judgement-based targets, such as “review completed” or “allocation reduced”. Use portfolio metrics for figures that should stay aligned with your holdings.

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Record progress

On a goal card, you can:

• Select Record progress to update a manual metric.
• Select Add supporting metric when one measure is not enough.
• Select Add update to record what changed, current status, confidence, and the date.
• Move goals between active, completed, and archived views.

Progress notes are useful for explaining why a goal is on track, at risk, or off track.

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Allocation targets

Allocation targets are saved plans that describe the portfolio mix you want to work towards. Plans are stored with full version history, so they survive across devices and sessions, and drift against the live portfolio is always visible. Use this page when you are preparing a review, testing a future scenario, or discussing a change in risk profile. When opening an allocation plan, you may briefly see placeholders while the current portfolio, discussion, and approval details load.

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Plans and scenarios

The workspace supports multiple plans side by side:

• Active plan — the plan the organisation is currently working towards. Only one plan can be active at a time; use Set active to promote a plan.
• Scenarios — draft plans used to compare options, such as a conservative plan against a growth-focused plan. Use Duplicate as scenario to branch from an existing plan.

Switch between plans with the chips above the workspace, or select New plan to start a fresh draft seeded from your current allocation.

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Set targets

1. Open Planning > Allocation targets.
2. Give the plan a name, risk profile, and objectives.
3. Set each category’s target percentage with the slider or input.
4. Add a short rationale where a target needs context.
5. Add optional subcategory budgets where a category needs more detail.
6. Select Save plan (or Save version on an existing plan).

Targets should add to 100%. The Target total tile offers a Balance shortcut that scales every target proportionally when the total is off. Categories you hold but haven’t planned appear as highlighted rows you can add with one click. Subcategory budgets are optional. Use them when a category needs more detail, such as splitting income assets into short duration bonds, credit, and cash-like holdings. Budgets are measured against the total portfolio, and the editor warns when they exceed their category’s target.

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Drift analysis

The workspace continuously compares the plan against your live portfolio:

• Portfolio drift — how far the whole portfolio sits from target (half the sum of absolute category drifts).
• Drift from target — per-category bars showing overweight and underweight positions, with the approximate trade needed to close each gap.
• Current vs target — a two-ring chart with today’s portfolio inside and the plan outside.

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Version history

Every save records a numbered version with who saved it, whether it was AI-assisted, and an optional change note. Open Version history from the plan actions menu to review or restore an earlier version — restoring copies the old targets forward as a new version, so nothing is overwritten.

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Work with AI

The AI collaborator sits on the right of the workspace. Describe your goals, time horizon, and risk appetite in plain language — or start from one of the built-in prompts — and the AI proposes a complete plan that lands directly in the editor, marked with AI badges and rationales. The AI knows your current allocation, existing categories and subcategories, active planning goals, and the organisation’s risk tolerance. It reuses your existing categories before proposing new ones, and flags any genuinely new sleeves it suggests. Iterate conversationally: ask it to trim a category, fund an increase from somewhere specific, or make the plan more defensive. Each proposal replaces the draft targets (with an Undo available in the toast), and nothing is stored until you save a version. Review AI proposals before saving. Treat them as planning support, not a final recommendation. By default the AI only works with your existing categories and subcategories. Use the AI may suggest toggles in the chat panel to let it propose new ones — anything new is only created in InvestSync when you save the plan, and the save dialog lists exactly what will be created first. Proposals are always normalised to total exactly 100%; any corrections are shown beneath the proposal in the chat.

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Collaborate and approve

The Discussion tab next to the AI collaborator holds the plan’s conversation. Post updates, @mention teammates (they’re notified), and attach supporting documents. The discussion also appears in Planning → Notes, labelled with the plan’s name. Use Request approval of the latest version to ask the organisation to sign the plan off. Everyone is notified and any member can approve or reject — except the requester, who can’t decide their own request. Approvals are recorded against the specific plan version with who decided and when. Rejecting requires a short reason and closes the plan out: the plan is archived and its discussion locked, while the versions, conversation, and decision stay on record for audit.

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Watchlist and market context

The Planning page includes a watchlist for companies or tickers you are monitoring before taking action.

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Add to the watchlist

1. Open Planning.
2. Search by company name or ticker.
3. Select Add beside the result.
4. Use the star icon for high-priority items.

Select a watchlist item to view its planning stock page. Remove items once they are no longer relevant. Starred watchlist items also appear on the main Dashboard so priority companies stay visible during reviews. If market data is temporarily unavailable, refresh the page later to see the latest prices.

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Research a listed investment

Select a ticker from your watchlist, market movers, or search results to open its research page. The page brings the information needed for a planning discussion into one view: The page frame appears immediately while the latest market and portfolio information loads, so you can see that the selected investment is opening without waiting on a blank screen.

• Use the stock search at the top to move directly to another listed investment.
• The latest available price, daily movement, market capitalisation, and trading ranges.
• Price history over one month, three months, six months, one year, or five years.
• The compact market snapshot shows earnings per share, dividend yield, beta, trading volume, and other key figures without opening another panel.
• Any matching investments already held by your organisation, including their combined market value and unrealised result in the organisation reporting currency.
• Available analyst price targets and rating counts.
• Recent headlines and reported insider activity.

Select Add to watchlist when the investment should remain visible during future reviews. Select Start note to record questions, research, or a decision against that ticker. Use AI research to explore portfolio fit, compare the investment with existing holdings, test a bull and bear case, or identify key risks. You can also ask for an opportunity screen in plain English, such as “high-dividend stocks” or “lower-volatility healthcare companies”. Opportunity screens appear as a table showing the available price, daily movement, market capitalisation, P/E ratio, dividend yield, and beta. Tick up to four rows and select Research selected to compare those candidates or examine one company in more depth. AI output and screening results are research support rather than recommendations. Check important figures, company announcements, and source information before making an investment decision.

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Use market context

The dashboard also shows risers, fallers, and recent market news. Treat these as prompts for research, not as instructions to buy or sell. Record any decisions or questions in planning notes so the team can see the reasoning later.

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Planning notes

Use planning notes to keep discussions attached to investments, tickers, entities, custodians, custodian portfolios, documents, or broader themes. Notes are helpful for:

• Capturing meeting outcomes.
• Recording why a goal was changed.
• Keeping research comments beside the relevant investment.
• Discussing agreements, minutes, custodian records, or entity records after they have been filed in Documents.
• Creating a shared history for future reviews.

Use Documents as the main place to store final files. Use planning notes for the discussion, decision trail, follow-up actions, and team context around those files. The notes list is ordered by latest activity, so recently updated conversations stay at the top. Add a clear thread title, such as “Board meeting notes” or “Custodian agreement review”, so the record is easy to recognise later. Use search to find a thread by title, investment, ticker, entity, custodian, document name, teammate, or recent comment. Use the tabs to move between active threads, private drafts, closed threads, and archived threads. Filter thread tabs further to focus on investments, corporate records, opportunities, planning topics, or followed threads. Select a thread to open its focused conversation page, where you can reply, review the history, manage reminders, and view related files. The top of each thread shows the title, linked topic, when it was last updated, how many messages, reminders, and files it contains, and who has been involved. Use this summary to check whether you are in the right conversation before adding a reply or follow-up. Planning notes follow your chosen light or dark appearance. The list, thread view, editor, files, reminders, and actions stay on consistent backgrounds so long conversations remain easy to scan. Turn on Private thread when a planning note is for your own working record. Private threads are only visible to you, do not appear in other teammates’ note lists, and do not send mention alerts to other people. The person who created the thread can change this later from the Actions tab. When writing a note or reply, use the editor toolbar to format text, add lists, quote decisions, and include links. You can paste Markdown meeting notes into the editor and InvestSync will format headings, lists, links, tables, and emphasis for you. You can also paste images directly into the editor or insert them with the image button. Pasted images appear straight away and save in the background. Select an image to resize it directly on the image before saving. For longer records, open the full editor from the new thread window. The full editor gives you more space, lets you queue multiple supporting documents, and keeps drafts private to you until you publish the thread. Inside a thread, use the tabs to keep the discussion separate from the record history. The Thread tab shows the conversation with replies nested under the comment they respond to, while History shows when the thread was created, replies were added, and mention emails were sent. Use Closed and Archived to review or change whether the thread can receive new replies and whether it appears in normal thread lists. Use Set reminder when a note needs follow-up at a specific date and time. Choose the teammates who should receive the reminder. Reminder times use your current timezone when you set or adjust them. When a reminder becomes due, InvestSync sends recipients an in-app notification and email with a link back to the thread. You can adjust a reminder, append extra context, or delete it from the Reminders tab while the thread remains open. If your Microsoft calendar is connected, you can also add the reminder to your calendar or schedule a follow-up meeting after saving the reminder. Meeting invites can include organisation members, external email addresses, and an optional Microsoft Teams link. Use the Actions tab to update the thread title or when a thread no longer needs active discussion. Closing a thread keeps it visible but stops new replies until it is reopened. Archiving removes it from normal thread lists while keeping the record available by direct link. Deleting a thread is permanent and is only available to authorised team members.

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Good habits