Help, one step at a time

Start a plan and choose the right workspace

1. Open the home page and choose Try a sample first to explore fictional data, or Continue with Google to sign in.
2. Open your individual workspace. An existing household profile on this device reopens automatically. Adviser access requires a trusted adviser role and an explicitly selected client profile.
3. In My private plan, use Create your household plan for a new profile. Give it a recognisable name without unnecessary account identifiers.
4. Enter assets, income, spending, debts and goals. Use consistent balance dates. Use Edit or Edit inputs to change the values behind calculated figures; apply the form to update the plan.
5. Your signed-in profile saves automatically after changes. The header shows Saving… and then Saved privately on this device. Sample browsing does not overwrite a private profile.

Before editing or exporting, check whose profile is open. Changing a page or URL never grants adviser privileges. You must be signed in before opening or saving private profiles.

If you cannot find a saved plan, first check that you are using the same site address, browser and browser profile. A local preview and the final domain have separate browser storage. Do not clear browser data while investigating.

Related: Saving and recovery, Exporting reports.

Save privately, back up and recover your plan

Routine local saving encrypts your plan automatically. You do not need to choose a cipher or set up encryption yourself.

Save and reopen

Your signed-in profile saves automatically after you apply valid changes. Check the header for Saved privately on this device. The app saves pending changes before switching profiles, closing the profile or signing out. A storage error leaves your latest changes visible and offers Retry save; keep the page open until saving succeeds or export a backup.

Reopen using the same browser profile and site address. An individual's existing plan opens after sign-in. Adviser clients are selected explicitly. Sample calculations remain temporary until you create or open a private profile. The current alpha does not keep a server copy of your financial plan.

Closing the workspace hides its contents; it does not lock your computer. Someone using your unlocked browser profile may be able to reopen the plan. Use your operating-system screen lock on shared or unattended devices.

Create a recovery path

Keep an encrypted backup and its separate recovery code. Store them so that loss of the device does not also destroy the only backup and code. Test a recovery with fictional data first and confirm that the restored dates and balances are correct.

An encrypted backup is different from a JSON, XML or PDF export. Those ordinary exports contain readable financial information. They are useful for portability or sharing, not substitutes for encrypted backup storage.

If something goes wrong

• A different browser cannot see my plan: local storage is not synced between browsers.
• I cleared site data: recovery requires a suitable backup; do not assume signing in will restore local encryption keys.
• I lost the device and have no backup: the alpha has no server copy to recover.
• I want to move to the final website: create a backup before changing origin, then test the supported recovery flow at the new address.

Never send real financial files or recovery codes in a bug report. Use a fictional example that reproduces the problem.

Sign-in and privacy boundaries

Google sign-in uses identity metadata, not your financial plan. Local encryption does not protect a plan from an unlocked or compromised browser. Sign-in cannot recover information or keys that were never uploaded; keep an encrypted backup and its separate recovery code. Financial plans are not automatically synced to a company server.

Import a statement without changing your plan by accident

Current supported paths: explicit CSV layouts and selected readable-text CAMS/CDSL CAS files reviewed locally. The separate CAS review accepts text or PDF; encrypted PDFs request a password locally without storing it. This is not universal bank/CAMS/NPS compatibility. Scanned PDFs require OCR, which is not provided. Review every diagnostic; unsupported rows must not silently become holdings. USD plans do not accept these INR-only imports.

1. Open Local imports.
2. Select the matching layout: bank, CAMS-style mutual-fund transactions, NPS-style transactions, or a supported holdings layout.
3. Choose YYYY-MM-DD or DD/MM/YYYY, matching the file.
4. If needed, map the file's exact column headers to the required fields.
5. Choose the CSV and select Review locally.
6. Check rejected rows, duplicates, dates, signs and scheme names before accepting.

What the layouts expect

• Bank: date,description,debit,credit. A valid transaction has a positive debit or credit, not both. A transfer is not automatically spending or income.
• Normalized mutual-fund/NPS transactions: date,scheme,type,amount,units,nav, with type values appropriate to the selected layout.
• Holdings: holdingId,name,valuationDate, plus closingBalance or units,nav. An existingAccountId can map a holding to an existing investment account.

These are defined import layouts, not a claim that every institution's export matches them. Keep an untouched original and prepare a separate normalized file if necessary.

Prevent duplicate wealth

Imported transaction history is not automatically a forecast. Review any explicit proposal to create or replace a holding. If an investment already exists in the plan, map it rather than adding a second copy. Holdings used as opening balances must match the plan's opening date.

PDFs, encrypted statements and scanned pages are not accepted by this CSV workflow. Do not rename a PDF to .csv. NPS records also do not establish when withdrawals are legally available.

For testing, use synthetic files. Do not put real statements, PANs, account numbers or passwords in a repository or issue.

Track mutual funds, SIP schedules and dated NAVs

ArthaCanvas separates intended investment schedules from actual transactions and valuations.

Record what actually happened

Enter or review each mutual-fund transaction with its scheme, type, date, amount and units. Check purchase, redemption and switch directions carefully. Reconcile opening units and subsequent activity with the statement before relying on the balance.

A SIP schedule represents planned instalments. It does not place an order, debit a bank account or create units for an instalment that did not happen.

Review a valuation

Use the exact scheme and plan/option identifiers. Direct and regular plans, and growth and distribution options, must not be matched merely because their names look similar.

The prototype supports local review of AMFI-format NAV data. It does not provide a verified automatic live-price connection. Check each selected NAV's own date; the file date alone does not prove every row is fresh. NAV data are not intraday market quotes.

Official reference: AMFI NAV download.

If the number looks wrong

Check missing redemptions, duplicate imports, a mismatched plan/option, stale NAV and whether a holding was counted both in the portfolio and the opening plan. Do not repair a reconciliation problem by changing assumed future returns.

Commercial reuse of a data feed needs its own rights review; the existence of a public download does not establish unrestricted redistribution permission.

Compare your plan with dated actuals

A baseline is a saved reference plan. Actual observations should be compared with that reference, not silently overwrite it.

1. Review the plan inputs and save a baseline.
2. Record actual balances with their observation dates and account identities.
3. Record contributions for the comparison period and indicate whether coverage is complete.
4. Inspect missing information before interpreting any variance.
5. If circumstances have changed, create or document a revised plan while preserving the earlier reference.

Edit each month’s budget and actual spending

Open Cash flow and choose a year. Every month in your plan has an Edit button, including future years.

• Enter that month’s planned income, required expenditure and discretionary expenditure. These amounts replace the corresponding recurring schedule for that month only. They are applied at the start of the month’s active planning period; goals, debt payments and investment transfers stay separate.
• Leave a planned field blank to use the recurring schedule again. Enter 0 when the planned amount is zero.
• Record actual income and expenditure separately, with the date through which you have recorded them. Leave unknown actuals blank; zero means none. Future actuals cannot be entered.
• Actuals are observations: they do not change your forecast, account balances or fixed planning baseline. Compare the same categories and period; expenditure here excludes goals, debt payments and investment transfers.
• Use Download monthly ledger for a CSV containing planned and actual amounts. It names the currency and stores exact minor units (100 paise per INR or 100 cents per USD). Blank actual cells remain blank. Full JSON/XML plan exports also retain these records.

Use the other input buttons in the monthly editor to change account balances and returns, recurring schedules, goals, debts or inflation. Opening and closing forecast balances are recalculated from those inputs.

Read the comparison correctly

• Gross assets are not net worth; net worth also considers liabilities.
• Plan variance is a difference from the expected balance, not an investment return.
• Missing observation means unknown, not zero.
• Incomplete contributions are a subtotal, not a complete period result.
• Balance comparison needs matching scope and the required period-end date.

If the screen reports an incomplete period, add the missing dated evidence instead of estimating it as a confirmed actual. For a holding whose statement is delayed, leave the gap visible.

A new contribution can put the balance ahead of plan even when market performance was weak. Review cash flows before drawing conclusions about investment success.

Related: Plan-versus-actual explanation.

Export a report, restore a plan or prepare an email

Prepare the report

In Plan summary, choose Set report names. Check the individual's name and, if appropriate, the optional financial planner's name. These fields label the report; they do not verify professional credentials.

Use Download PDF report for a formatted personal financial plan with a cover summary, starting position, monthly cash flow, goals and progress, and protection and next steps. The report uses your saved plan inputs and current projection. Missing optional details are identified in the report; sample figures are never substituted. Longer tables continue on additional pages.

The PDF is created on your device and uses images to preserve the report layout and fonts. Print / Save PDF provides the workspace print view when selectable text is needed. Open the downloaded file and check names, charts and figures before sharing.

Export or restore plan data

Export JSON and Export XML produce version-1 ArthaCanvas plan files. Import XML / JSON plan validates a compatible file and asks for confirmation before opening it as a new private plan. Review the imported details and check the automatic save status.

A PDF report cannot restore the underlying plan. Nor can arbitrary XML from another provider. The XML format is an ArthaCanvas envelope containing escaped plan data, not a universal financial interchange standard. Unsupported versions or unsafe XML constructs should be rejected, not worked around by removing validation.

Prepare an email

1. Review Edit contact details for the active client.
2. Download or save the correct PDF and inspect it.
3. Select Prepare email with PDF and check the recipient again.
4. In your email application, attach the reviewed PDF manually and send it yourself.

The handoff opens a draft only. It does not automatically attach, upload or send the PDF. If no mail application opens, use your normal mail service manually.

PDF, JSON and XML exports are unencrypted. Share only the intended person's file with the intended recipient. For recovery rather than sharing, use an encrypted backup.