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Understanding Value Adds in SurgeTK

Learn how to generate and manage household Value Adds.

Updated over 3 months ago

Value Adds are one-page planning visuals that help you clearly demonstrate the work you're doing for your clients. Each Value Add is topic-specific—like Net Worth, Buckets, Guardrails, etc.—and can be generated instantly inside a household or in bulk across many households during a Surge.

This article explains how Value Adds work, what data they depend on, how to generate them, and what you can do with them once they’re created.


What Is a Value Add?

A Value Add in SurgeTK is a standalone one-two-page PDF that focuses on a key area of a household’s financial life. These are designed for client communication—whether printed, emailed, or reviewed in meetings.

Examples of Value Add types:

  • Net Worth – Total household value based on assets and liabilities

  • Buckets – Asset allocation segmented by liquidity and time horizon

  • Guardrails – Retirement spending guardrails

  • Beneficiaries – Summary of accounts and beneficiary data

  • Homework – Surge meeting prep

Each of these has its own rules and triggers, and may or may not be available depending on your data.


Where Can You Access Value Adds?

You can generate and interact with Value Adds in two places:

1. Household View

Open any household and go to the “Value Adds” tab. Here you’ll see a list of Value Adds that are available (or unavailable) for that household.

Each card shows:

  • Value Add Name

  • Validation Warnings (if any)

2. Surge Tab (Bulk Campaigns)

Use this for generating Value Adds across many households at once. SurgeTK will validate each household's data, show you what’s ready, and allow for mass generation and review.


Inside a Single Value Add Page (Household View)

When you click into a single Value Add inside a household, you’ll enter the detailed view for that specific Value Add document.

This page is highly interactive and supports several important actions:

Add Notes

  • You can add custom advisor notes per Value Add.

  • These notes are saved at the household level and are not shown to clients unless explicitly shared.

  • Notes are useful for internal tracking (e.g., “Reviewed during Q2 call”, “Client had questions about cash allocations”).

Save

  • Clicking Save will save a frozen copy of the current Value Add as a timestamped record.

  • Snapshots are stored and can be accessed historically—even if data changes later.

  • This is ideal for documenting what was sent/discussed in a specific meeting or surge.

  • You can access value add snapshots through the dropdown that says 'Live' on the Value Add details page or within the Value Adds tab in the household details page.

Print or Export

  • Value Adds can be printed or exported as PDFs at any time.

  • The downloaded version includes your firm’s branding (logo, color) and the lead advisor’s name.

  • Works well for physical handouts or digital client portals.

  • When printing, remember to enable 'Background Graphics' in your print window to avoid any excluded imagery.


Visual Validation / Warnings

  • The Value Add tab will alert you if there’s missing or incomplete data that would affect accuracy.

  • Examples:

    • Buckets missing allocation on investment accounts

    • No beneficiaries detected for accounts

    • No accounts found for household

Warnings help prevent embarrassing omissions before sharing with a client.


Notes on Validation Logic

SurgeTK includes smart logic to help keep your Value Adds clean and compliant:

  • Buckets: Excludes cash-like accounts from needing allocation (checking, savings, CD, etc.)

  • Beneficiaries: Only shows a warning if neither insurance nor accounts have beneficiary data

  • No Accounts: If a household has no accounts, all Value Adds will have a warning.


Advisor Display & Branding

  • The Lead Advisor on the household will have their name shown on all Value Adds.

  • The firm logo and color are pulled from your settings under Firm Branding.

  • These assets appear on both in-platform previews and exported PDFs so its very important these settings are configured.


Tips & Best Practices

  • Start with Imports: Before working in the Value Add tab, ensure you’ve imported:

    • Clients & Households

    • Accounts

    • Beneficiaries

    • Insurance

    • Physical Assets

    • Liabilities

    • Billing Data

  • Use Snapshots Often: Snapshots are perfect for documentation and audit trails.

  • Leverage Notes for Handoff: Leave advisor notes for other team members reviewing the household later.

  • Avoid Regenerating for No Reason: Snapshots preserve the moment. Don’t overwrite unless the household’s data has truly changed.

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