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Your firm has a handful of things it will never put in a plan, whatever the client’s situation or however a request is phrased. Write those down as guardrails, so no plan anyone at your firm builds can cross them.

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Where you set them

Open Settings → Planning and select Base template, the first entry under Plan templates. The never-do list sits directly below Hazel instructions.
  • Adding a rule. Select + Add a rule, which shows “Never recommend variable annuities” as the shape to aim for. Type your rule and press Enter, or click away and it saves anyway. Escape drops what you typed.
  • Suggestions. Beside that button sit four common rules. Select one and it joins your list, then drops out of the row.
  • Removing a rule. Each row carries an X at the right. A row cannot be edited in place, so to reword a rule, remove it and add the new wording.
The four suggestions:
  • Never recommend variable annuities
  • Never push a conversion into a higher IRMAA tier
  • Never assume Social Security benefits are cut
  • Never recommend leverage or margin
Every change saves as you make it.

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The two rules that ship

Your firm starts with two, and both apply until you remove them:
  • “Never recommend a specific named security or ticker.” A plan can still recommend an allocation change or a category of holding, but it will not name an instrument.
  • “Never propose a Roth conversion that pushes the client into the next IRMAA tier.” IRMAA is the income-related surcharge that raises a client’s Medicare Part B and Part D premiums, and a conversion that clears a tier line can cost more in premiums than it saves in tax.
You can remove either one.

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How guardrails differ from instructions and assumptions

Hazel treats a guardrail as a hard rule, declines a request that would break one, and names the rule that request ran into. They are rules Hazel follows rather than a mechanical block, so if you ever see a plan cross one, tell whoever manages your firm’s planning settings.

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Writing a good one

Good guardrails

“Never recommend surrendering an in-force life policy.”“Never model borrowing against a retirement account.”

Not guardrails

“Be conservative.” A preference. Put it in instructions.“Use a 90% success threshold.” A number. Put it in Solver assumptions.“Always include an insurance section.” Structure. Build it into the plan design.
Test each one:
  1. Would you accept an exception in any client situation? If yes, it is guidance. Write it as an instruction.
  2. Could a colleague tell whether a plan broke it? If not, it is too vague to hold.
Keep the list short. Two to six rules is usually enough, and past that some entries are really instructions or assumptions.

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Personas and single plans

Guardrails are firm-wide. Nothing on a persona drops one of yours: whichever persona Hazel matches a household to, every firm rule still applies. For a rule you only want for one kind of client, write it in that persona’s Hazel instructions, which Hazel weighs as strong guidance rather than an absolute limit.

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Checking which rules a plan was built under

Open the plan’s Appendix and read the Applied settings block. Its Guardrails row lists the rules that applied, and Set by names where each came from: your firm, or the matched persona where that persona added its own. See Where numbers come from. The record travels with the plan version, so an older version shows the list as it stood then. A rule you add today applies to plans built from now on. To bring an existing plan under it, ask Hazel in chat to update the plan, or use Regenerate on the household’s Financial Planning tab.

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Where to go next