Understand the numbers
Wealthboard keeps source records separate from the interpretations built on top of them. That separation prevents a report, goal, or estate plan from silently changing an account balance.
Accounts hold the current replayed value
An account starts with an opening balance. Later events are replayed in date order:
- transactions add to or subtract from the balance;
- a valuation sets the balance to an absolute amount at that point;
- later transactions continue from the valuation.
Editing or deleting a supported event recalculates the affected account.
A position-tracked account instead replays broker cash and ordered quantity events, then values each instrument with the latest price effective on or before the requested date. Missing prices or rates mark the result incomplete rather than turning unresolved exposure into zero.
Transactions and valuations answer different questions
Use a transaction when an economic event changed the holding: a deposit, withdrawal, fee, interest payment, purchase, sale, or debt payment.
Use a valuation when you learned what an asset was worth on a date. A valuation is not a contribution or investment return by itself.
Transfers do not change net worth
A transfer creates paired records in two of your active asset accounts atomically. It moves value inside your portfolio; it does not create a contribution or return. For different currencies, enter the actual destination amount or let the Go service derive it from your exchange rate effective on the transfer date.
Source currency and base currency
Every account keeps its own currency. The user setting called Base currency is only the common reporting currency.
Exchange rates are:
- private to one user;
- effective-dated;
- stored as precise decimal strings;
- never silently borrowed from another user or a later date.
If a rate is missing, Wealthboard reports an incomplete total rather than inventing one.
Linked goals read account balances
A linked account is the source of truth for goal progress. Wealthboard does not copy that balance into a contribution record. An unlinked goal instead uses its own manually maintained current amount.
Current goal reads use the account's cached value. Cross-currency links remain incomplete even when reporting rates exist, and position price-quality warnings are not propagated into goal progress. Check the linked account and use matching currencies; see Goals.
Forecasts and scenario comparisons are estimates based on the configured contribution plan and assumed return. They do not modify account history.
Estate plans read the same accounts
The estate planner stores instructions and percentages, not another financial ledger. Indicative gift displays use:
- the cached account value;
- the share of the asset that belongs to the estate;
- primary or residual allocation percentages.
The current estate endpoints do not perform complete effective-dated position valuation or exchange-rate conversion. Base-currency summaries omit foreign-currency values and must not be treated as a complete estate valuation. An updated source value can change the live estimate, while a retained summary's source snapshot remains unchanged.
Archive is not delete
Archiving an account or institution preserves its history. It removes the item from normal active choices but does not erase the underlying financial record. Archived accounts are omitted from live estate views, so review their estate instructions before archiving rather than relying on a live warning.