Financial planning is research-intensive. Before a comprehensive plan update, a CFP or financial planner needs to verify contribution limits, check current bracket thresholds, research planning options specific to the client's situation, model scenario outcomes, and assemble a set of recommendations that are coherent, compliant, and client-appropriate. That research work frequently consumes more time than the planning software run itself.
This is where Claude Cowork fits for financial planning — not as a replacement for planning software like MoneyGuidePro or eMoney, but as the research and documentation layer that surrounds it. Cowork handles the data gathering, the scenario narrative framing, the regulatory fact-checking, and the planning document drafting — while your planning software handles the numerical modelling. The result is financial planning research that takes advisors from 4-5 hours to under 90 minutes per client engagement.
For the broader set of workflows that Claude Cowork enables in an advisory practice, see our complete guide on Claude Cowork for financial advisors. For the deployment side of this, our Cowork deployment service handles setup for planning practices within 3-4 weeks.
The Five Core Financial Planning Research Areas Where Cowork Saves the Most Time
1. Regulatory and Contribution Limit Research
Every planning engagement requires checking current IRS limits — contribution limits for 401(k), IRA, HSA, and 529 accounts; income phase-out ranges for deductions and credits; Social Security thresholds; Medicare premium brackets; RMD tables. These change annually and require verification before any planning recommendation.
A Cowork session with a "2025-2026 Planning Reference" document loaded eliminates the annual ritual of tracking down updated limit tables. Better still, Cowork can cross-reference a client's income and account situation against these limits automatically, flagging which planning strategies are available to them and which they're phased out of.
Time saved: 25-40 minutes per client engagement that requires this research.
2. Social Security Optimisation Research
Social Security claiming strategy is one of the highest-impact planning decisions for many clients, and one of the most research-intensive. When to claim, whether to coordinate with a spouse, how to think about break-even analysis, whether delayed claiming makes sense given health status — these require specific calculations and a clear recommendation narrative.
Cowork can't replace a dedicated Social Security optimisation tool, but it can generate the research framework and narrative that surrounds the analysis — helping planners structure the scenario comparison and draft the recommendation memo in half the usual time.
Time saved: 45-60 minutes per engagement requiring detailed Social Security analysis.
3. Estate Planning Preliminary Research
Pre-estate planning research — identifying whether the client needs a trust, which type, what the tax implications are at their asset level, whether current beneficiary designations are aligned with their stated wishes — is time-consuming to assemble from scratch. Cowork can generate a structured estate planning checklist tailored to a client's situation in minutes, flagging the highest-priority issues to address in the next plan update.
Time saved: 30-50 minutes per client requiring estate planning preliminary analysis.
4. Tax Efficiency and Roth Conversion Analysis
Roth conversion analysis requires checking the client's current bracket, projected future brackets, account balances, time horizon, and whether the conversion fits within a specific tax window. The research to frame this conversation — which years represent conversion opportunities, what the tax cost is directionally, how it interacts with Medicare premium thresholds — takes 45-90 minutes manually. Cowork structures this research in under 20 minutes with the right prompts.
Time saved: 30-60 minutes per client requiring Roth conversion analysis.
5. Business Owner Planning Research
Business owner clients require more complex planning research: qualified business income (QBI) deduction eligibility, retirement plan options (SEP, SIMPLE, defined benefit), exit planning considerations, buy-sell agreement reviews, and succession planning flags. Assembling this research for an initial or annual review takes 2-3 hours manually. Cowork can produce a structured business owner planning research memo in 45-60 minutes.
Time saved: 60-90 minutes per business owner client review.
The 4-Step Cowork Financial Planning Research Workflow
The 4-Step Cowork Planning Research Workflow
Load Client Context and Trigger Areas
Open a Cowork canvas session. Load the client's most recent financial plan summary, account statements, tax return summary (or the fields that matter: income, bracket, filing status), and any life event notes from your CRM. Set the session objective: what specific planning questions need to be answered in this engagement?
Run the Planning Research Pass
Run the "Planning Research" skill. This skill applies a structured research template to the client context — checking relevant contribution limits, identifying planning opportunities (Roth window, HSA eligibility, QBI, etc.), flagging estate planning triggers, and noting any legislative changes since the last plan review that affect this client's situation.
Build Scenario Narratives
For each scenario the planner wants to model (early retirement, Roth conversion, business sale, etc.), run a scenario prompt to have Cowork frame the key variables, directional impacts, and recommendation considerations. This output feeds into the planning software run — providing the narrative framing before and after the numerical analysis.
Draft Planning Recommendation Summary
After the planning software run is complete, load the results and run the "Planning Summary" skill to draft a client-ready recommendation document — structured sections, plain-language explanations, prioritised action items. The advisor reviews and adds any relationship-specific context, then approves for client presentation.
Key 2025-2026 Planning Reference Data to Load into Your Cowork Skill
Building a "Planning Reference" document and loading it permanently into your Cowork Planning Research skill ensures every research session has access to current limits without requiring the planner to look them up. Here are the key data points to include for 2025-2026 engagements.
| Planning Area | 2025 Limit / Threshold |
|---|---|
| 401(k) / 403(b) deferral limit | $23,500 |
| 401(k) catch-up (age 50+) | $7,500 ($11,250 for ages 60-63 under SECURE 2.0) |
| IRA contribution limit | $7,000 ($8,000 age 50+) |
| Roth IRA MAGI phase-out (MFJ) | $236,000 – $246,000 |
| HSA contribution limit (family) | $8,550 |
| Annual gift tax exclusion | $19,000 per recipient |
| Federal estate tax exemption | $13.99 million per individual |
| Social Security wage base | $176,100 |
| QCD limit (from IRA, age 70½+) | $105,000 |
| RMD start age (SECURE 2.0) | Age 73 |
Load this table (updated annually) into your Planning Reference document. When you run a planning research session, Cowork uses these figures to cross-reference the client's situation rather than requiring the planner to look them up each time.
Copy-Paste Prompts for Financial Planning Research
Prompt 1 — Comprehensive Planning Research PassWhat Cowork Replaces vs What It Supplements
Being precise about this prevents advisors from expecting Cowork to do things it can't — and from underestimating what it can.
Cowork replaces: The manual time spent looking up contribution limits, phase-out ranges, and regulatory thresholds. The blank-page drafting of planning research memos. The repetitive assembly of scenario comparison frameworks. The time spent formatting planning summaries into client-presentable documents.
Cowork supplements (but does not replace): Dedicated planning software for numerical modelling (MoneyGuidePro, eMoney, RightCapital). Specialised Social Security analysis tools. Tax preparation software. Your judgment about which planning recommendations are right for a specific client given relationship knowledge that isn't in any document.
The advisor who runs Cowork well uses it as the research and documentation layer, feeding into planning software for precise calculations, then using Cowork again to draft the client-facing output. That end-to-end workflow — research → model → document — is what brings planning research time from 4-5 hours to under 90 minutes per engagement.
For an analysis of what this time savings translates to in terms of client capacity and revenue, see our Claude Cowork ROI for financial advisors article. For the tips that make the biggest day-to-day difference across the whole advisory practice, see our 7 Cowork tips for wealth management.