First Financial Software Inc. (www.fplan.com), the
developers of FPLAN Pro Advisor+, FLPAN QuickPro, recently announced
that the it will cease operations on December 31. According to a
company spokesperson, the firm, which has been providing financial
planning software to planning professionals since 1982, is closing
because "in order to continue, the programs would have required a total
restructuring of their underlying technology."
First Financial Software, after consultation with a
number of software firms, has negotiated a special arrangement with
Brentmark Software (www.brentmark.com ) on behalf of FPLAN users.
Under the terms of the deal, current FPLAN users will receive a free
copy of PFP Notebook, Brentmark's financial planning software, which
usually retails for $595. The software will include a free conversion
kit, allowing advisors to migrate data from FPLAN to PFP.
In addition, Brentmark will ship registered FPLAN
users two other Brentmark programs: Pension Distribution Planner ($249
retail) and Estate Planning QuickView ($249 retail). All three programs
will include three month's maintenance. At the end of the free
maintenance period, users can elect to pay an annual maintenance fee
for those programs they wish to continue using ($199 annually for PFP
Notebook and $59 each for Pension Distribution Planner and Estate
Planning QuickView). "Inactive" FPLAN users are eligible to receive the
Brentmark software package at a 40% discount.
Since Brentmark will not be receiving a list of
FPLAN users until the first week of 2005, it may be mid-January before
FPLAN users begin receiving their "free" software kits.