The Standard Life Assurance Co. of Canada has licensed Morningstar Hypothetical Illustrator for use by its team of wholesalers.

The software is a part of a set of tools that integrate Morningstar technology and data for specific task-oriented applications. The Standard Life edition has been configured to include Standard Life’s marketing collateral as well as custom disclosures and logos.

Morningstar Hypothetical Illustrator is a Web-based software program that lets users build investment scenarios that illustrate how recommended portfolios would have performed historically, taking into account fees, specific investment amounts, and schedules. The reports illustrate past performance in relation to a benchmark, competing investment, or in the context of its contribution to overall portfolio performance, and include important details about asset class composition, sector weightings, and style diversification. These are based on each mutual fund’s portfolio holdings.

“This new tool from Morningstar builds on and improves on the existing Morningstar PALTrak platform we have been using,” says Mick Kelly, vp, sales, retail markets with Standard Life. “We will be able to develop customized presentations in a user-friendly format for our advisor partners, and the tool puts us at the leading edge of technology and service in the industry.”

“There is no time like the present to be proactive with clients and highlight investment opportunities, reinforce the value of long-term investing by showing the effects of dollar cost averaging, and discuss other important investing principles like asset class diversification, geographic exposure and sector exposure,” says Scott Mackenzie, president and CEO of Morningstar Canada.