The Strategy tab on a client's detail view turns their numbers into concrete ideas you can raise on a call - which strategies fit, when the timing is right, and an email you can send in a couple of clicks.
Opening The Strategy Tab
Open any client from the refinance or renewals page, then click the Strategy tab across the top of the detail view. The stat at the top right shows how many strategies surfaced and how many of those are recommended.
Strategies are built from what we already know about the client - home value, mortgage balance, equity, rate, and any debts or additional properties you've captured. The more complete that picture, the sharper the suggestions, so it's worth filling in the Equity and Debts tabs first.
Strategic Exit: The Best Time To Break
At the top of the tab, Strategic Exit plots the estimated prepayment penalty over the rest of the term, so you can see whether breaking the mortgage costs less now or after the penalty steps down.
A short banner always calls the timing - refinance now because the penalty is about to climb, refinance before a date, hold off until a date, or simply that refinancing now is fine because waiting changes nothing material. The same call appears as a flag on the Rate tab, but only when the penalty move lands within the next six months - a timing play a year out shows here, next to the full curve, without flagging the Rate tab. For how the penalty itself is calculated, see Understanding IRD Math.
If you've entered a manual penalty for this client, a note explains that the chart still plots the system estimate, so today's value can differ while the shape of the curve over the term stays the same.
Strategy Cards
Below the chart, each idea is its own card with a plain-language name and a one-line explanation of when it fits. A badge in the corner tells you how strongly it applies:
- Recommended - the client's numbers clearly support it.
- Worth reviewing - a good fit that's worth a closer look.
- Depends on client - viable, but it hinges on details only the client can confirm.
Each card shows a few illustrative projections built from the client's numbers - rough estimates to frame the conversation, not a formal quote.
Clients without much home equity or a HELOC still get foundational options, such as accelerating payments, switching lenders at renewal for a sharper rate, or setting up a readvanceable mortgage now to open the door to more strategies as the balance comes down.
Other Strategies
Every client is screened against the full strategy playbook, not just the ideas that surface. Below the main list, expand Other Strategies to see the rest - each marked Not a fit right now because the client's current numbers don't support it. Where the math still has inputs, the card shows the same live projections, and the same assumption editing applies. Review these carefully before raising one: the badge reflects today's data, and a strategy moves up into the main list on its own if the client's numbers change.
Adjusting The Assumptions
The projections run on default assumptions like a marginal tax rate, an expected rate of return, or a projection horizon. To see how a different assumption changes the math, click the chevron on any projection tile to reveal the formula and the inputs behind it, then edit a value - the numbers update live.
Changes apply across the cards while you're on the tab. Use Reset assumptions at the top of the strategies list to put everything back to the defaults.
Reviewing The Risks
Before you raise a strategy, click What are the risks? on its card. The panel lists the most important risks, the questions worth confirming with the client first, and a plain disclaimer that these ideas are illustrative and not advice. Where there's a trustworthy outside reference, a Learn more link points to it.
Sending A Strategy To The Client
When a strategy is worth putting in front of the client, click Review & send on the card. The email opens pre-filled with a client-friendly subject and explanation for that strategy, already personalized with the client's name. Edit the wording however you like, then send - it goes from your connected email so replies come straight back to you.