Cashflow and spending

How do I add a bank account?

The first time you open Cashflow, a card at the top introduces the tab. Tap its button, “Add an account”, or close it and it stays gone.

Add a bank account or credit card first. Every transaction and statement attaches to one. For each you record the type, the bank or issuer, whose it is, the last 4 digits, and an optional balance with its date. The last 4 digits let the app match a statement to the right account, so fill them in. A credit-card balance is money you owe, so it is left out of “Sync to tracking”.

Once an account has a balance, “Sync to tracking” copies it into Tracking’s cash figure in one tap. Cash on a brokerage statement is included too, so an account with only broker cash can sync as well, and it counts once in net worth. Removing an account keeps its transactions. They just lose the link to it.

How do I add a transaction by hand?

For a cash purchase, or anything you want logged before the next statement, add it by hand: account, “Money in” or “Money out”, amount, date, description and category.

“Choose a category” opens a list with a “Search categories” box that shows only categories that fit the direction. “Money in” offers income ones. “Money out” offers everyday spending ones, plus a Transfers group for moving money between your own accounts, which counts as neither income nor spending. Typing a description pre-fills a suggested category. A category you pick sticks, so a later statement import never overwrites it. Tap any row to reopen and edit it.

Missing a category? Tap “Add category” in the picker. The “Categories” button on “Where your money goes” lets your household add, rename, hide or archive categories.

The Transactions list on a larger screen shows every matching row, grouped by month with a count. Filter it by period (All time or a month), account or category, or search it.

How do I import a bank statement?

There is no bank login or live connection. You upload the statement PDF your bank already sends you.

Reading it works two ways. Some DBS, OCBC, UOB, Citi, Trust and GXS statements have a dedicated reader built for their layout, so those come back most reliably. Any other bank, or a layout not seen yet, goes through an AI reader instead.

The import sheet runs in five steps: Upload, Check, Review, Changes and links, and Done.

Step 1: Upload

The account defaults to “Detect from statement”, which matches the card or account number on the file to one of yours. If a statement does not match an account you picked by hand, the app asks “Is this the right account?”. An account it does not know can be added on the spot with “Add account”, so you can import before setting any up.

Whose it is shows as “For You · account”, with a “Change” button, so there is usually nothing to choose. In a couple, either of you can import for the other, and either of you can upload a joint account’s statement. An already-imported file is flagged immediately, before the app spends time reading it.

Step 2: Check

A card leads with “The statement adds up”, or “Off by” an amount and “A transaction may be missing”. The opening balance plus every transaction should equal the closing balance. “Show page” opens that page of the PDF on your device, and “Add missing transaction” fills the gap.

The card also says whether a dedicated reader or AI read the file. Some statements print no closing balance, and the card says so. Under it, “Check the balance” lets you use the statement’s number or keep the app’s.

Step 3: Review

Only rows that need a look are shown, one at a time: “Amount unclear”, “Date unclear”, “Possible duplicate”, or a row the app could not categorise. For each you can “Confirm”, “Edit”, “Exclude”, or mark it “Not on statement”. “Show on statement” opens the page, with Previous page and Next page buttons.

The rest sit in one fold, such as “44 transactions look fine”, grouped by merchant. Rows from an earlier import are folded under “already imported”, so they are not added twice. Flagged rows you leave unchecked still import, marked “Suggested”.

Step 4: Changes and links

This lists what is new this month, including rows that match something you added by hand. Under “Money between your accounts”, a transfer the import paired shows as linked. Where the app is not sure, choose “Link transfer” or “Not the same”.

Step 5: Done

It shows how many transactions were imported and how many were flagged to review later. A “Next up” list follows: the next account to upload, or “Done for now”.

How do I fix a category?

Change a row’s category in Review or on the Transactions list, and the app asks how far the change reaches:

• Just this one. Only that transaction.
• Apply to all (merchant) transactions. Every row from that merchant that you already have, plus future imports.
• Always categorise (merchant) as (category). A rule your household keeps from the next import on. Earlier rows stay as they are.

Categories come from a curated list of Singapore merchants first, then your household’s saved rules, then the reader’s best guess. A row the app is unsure of carries a “Suggested” chip. Tap it to confirm or change. CPF top-ups and credit-card bill payments are not counted as spending, and a card payment can show “Link this card to avoid double counting”.

How are transfers and refunds handled?

The app pairs a transfer between your own accounts, or to a broker, by account number and a window of a few days. A linked pair counts as neither income nor spending, and a transfer to a broker counts as investing. Leftovers show above the Transactions list as “possible transfers to confirm”, where you choose “Confirm” or “Not a transfer”. Unlinking a pair sends both sides back for you to categorise.

A refund that matches a purchase shows “Refund · offsets a matched purchase” and reduces that category’s spending.

What if the statement will not import?

A read failure names its kind. A file it cannot parse (“try a different file”) and a service that is down (“try again in a minute”) call for different responses, so they never share one message.

A password-protected PDF asks for its PDF password on the spot, then “Open file”. The password is used for that read only and is never stored. If you let us keep a hard-to-read statement, we keep an unlocked copy so it can be read again without the password. Statements up to 10 MB and 20 pages can be read. If saving fails, the sheet says “Couldn’t import. Check your connection and try again.”

Does the app keep my statement?

Usually not. After a statement that was hard to read (an AI read it, it does not add up, or some rows were read with low confidence), the Done step offers to keep a copy so the Perfingo team can improve how that statement is read. The card is titled “We’ll keep this statement to read it better”, or names your bank.

We keep the full PDF, names and account numbers included, until you ask us to delete it. Only the Perfingo team sees it. To opt out, tap “Don’t keep it”, and the file stays on your device. “Keep it” undoes that. The offer never appears when you import for a partner, or when an advisor imports for a client.

What about brokerage statements?

Brokerage statements use the same door, from a different screen. A broker’s statement carries positions and trades, not a cash balance, so it is read by different rules and imported from Investment or Tracking. Upload one here and the sheet says “This is a brokerage statement” and offers “Continue in Investment”. See Importing a brokerage statement.

Which statements are still to upload?

A bar at the top of Cashflow reads like “June statements · 2 of 3 in” and lists “Still to upload” with an “Upload” button for each account. On a phone it is a “Statements” row that opens a sheet. Each account on the Accounts card shows “June statement needed” or “Up to date · June ✓”, and a badge such as “1 statement to upload” appears on the menu. Home and the monthly check-in show the same count.

Choose “Skip June” for an account if a statement is not coming. “Import history” shows which months are in. When everything is in, you see “All June statements in” and when the next month’s statements arrive. Missed an older month? No need to go back. The plan only compares months you have imported.

How does my spending compare with the plan’s budget?

“Where your money goes” breaks real spending down by category, as a donut and a ranked list, scoped to this month, the last 30 days, or year to date. “Budget vs actual” measures this month’s spending against each of the plan’s groups, as a progress bar showing how far over or under you are. Tap a group you have overshot to jump to it in Expenses, real spending carried along.

The two cards use different categories for the same money: detailed everyday ones for the donut (dining, groceries, transport), and the plan’s broader groups for the budget (Housing, Living, Insurance, Taxes, Children, Liabilities). Each detailed category rolls into one broader group.

Transfers between your accounts, credit-card bill payments and savings are not spending. Refunds reduce the category they came from, so a category cannot go below zero. CPF top-ups are not spending either, but they count toward the plan’s CPF top-up line when you compare against the plan.

Below the groups, an “Investing” line compares “Plan: $X a month” with what actually went into investments. It says how much more or less than planned, “On plan”, or “Not in your plan”. In a personal view this card says “Budgets are set for the household. Switch to Us to compare with your plan.”

What does the month chart show?

The Cashflow chart shows money in vs. money out each month as paired bars, with the “out” bar split by category and a net line over the top. Hover or tap a month to read its In, Out and Net, and how it compares with the month before. While some statements for the latest month are still missing, that month shows “STATEMENTS · 2 OF 3 IN” with faded bars, and the chart says it is not compared with the previous month until they are in.

Below it, “Upcoming from your plan” lists everything the plan expects (premiums, goals, housing and loan payments, taxes, planned savings), split into dated “Coming up” one-offs and “Every month” recurring items. A goal on the list carries a coloured dot for feasible, tight or out of reach.

How do Us, You and Partner work on Cashflow?

On a two-person plan, Cashflow has an “Us” and per-person toggle. It opens on you, showing your own accounts plus joint ones. It is a view of the numbers, not a privacy setting, and it applies to this tab only. Choose Us to see the household. See Planning as a couple.

Who can see my spending?

An advisor’s access to your plan does not automatically include your spending. Sharing cashflow is a separate choice, on top of whatever else they can see. Until you switch it on, they see “Spending isn’t shared” in place of the screen. When it is on, they can read it but not upload: statements are the household’s to import.

It is the same with a partner on a couples plan: what each of you sees and changes is its own setting, not all-or-nothing. See Managing your advisor’s access and Planning as a couple.