Ghost Financial User Guide

1.1 Downloading the App

Ghost Financial is available on the Apple App Store for iPhone and iPad. The app requires iOS 17 or later.

1. Open the App Store on your iPhone
2. Search for "Ghost Financial"
3. Tap "Get" to download (the app is free to download)
4. Open the app once installed

1.2 Creating Your Account

1

Choose Your Sign-In Method

Ghost Financial offers two ways to sign in: Sign in with Apple (recommended) or email/password. Sign in with Apple is the fastest and most secure — it uses your Apple ID's built-in security features including Face ID and two-factor authentication.

Tips

• ‣Sign in with Apple lets you hide your real email address if you prefer privacy
• ‣If you choose email/password, use a strong unique password
• ‣Your account is secured by Supabase Auth with encrypted password hashing

4

Arrive at Home

After onboarding completes, you land on the Home screen — your command center. You'll see the Ghost Financial logo, a personalized greeting (e.g., 'Hi Solomon'), and a grid of 18 feature tiles. The bottom tab bar provides quick access to Home, Dashboard, Savings, Subscriptions, and Settings.

1.3 Profile Completion Prompt

If you didn't complete your income and pay frequency during onboarding, a yellow banner appears on the Home screen: "Complete Your Profile". Tap it to set your income now — this is required for budget calculations, Ghost Score, and cash flow projections to work accurately.

2.1 Header & Greeting

The Home screen begins with the Ghost Financial logo and a personalized greeting like "Good Morning, Solomon". Below that, if your income is not yet set, a prominent yellow "Complete Your Profile" banner appears (tap it to navigate to Settings > Profile).

2.2 Feature Grid (22 Tiles)

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Navigating the Grid

The Home screen displays 22 features in a 2-column grid, organized into logical groups. Each tile has a colorful icon and label. Tap any tile to navigate to that feature.

Tips

• ‣The grid scrolls vertically — scroll down to see all 22 features
• ‣Features you use most often are also accessible from the bottom tab bar
• ‣Long-press any tile to see a tooltip with a brief description

2.3 Quick Stats Card

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Monthly Overview at a Glance

Scroll to the bottom of the Home screen to see your Quick Stats card. This shows four key numbers updated in real time: your monthly income (from your profile), total spent this month (from all transactions), bills paid this month (how many recurring payments have been charged vs total active), and your safe-to-spend amount (what you can still spend without going over budget or overdrafting).

Tips

• ‣Quick Stats pull data from Budgets, Recurring Payments, and linked bank accounts
• ‣If you haven't set your income yet, the income field will show $0 — set it in Settings > Profile
• ‣Safe-to-spend updates automatically as new transactions come in
• ‣Tap any stat card to navigate to that feature

2.4 Tab Bar

All 22 features are available in the tab bar. On iOS, the first 5 tabs appear in the bottom bar, and everything else goes into the "More" tab. You can rearrange which tabs appear in the bottom bar by tapping "Edit" in the More screen.

• Home — The feature grid and quick stats (the main hub)
• Dashboard — Net worth, budget health, account balances, recent transactions
• Savings — Savings goals, plan builder, affordability calculator, and progress tracking
• Recurring — All your recurring payments and price change alerts
• Settings — Profile, notifications, subscription management, legal, security, and account controls
• More — All remaining features: Accounts, Budgets, Credit Cards, Line of Credit, Loans, Calendar, Insights, Ghost AI, Transactions, Quick Add, Tax Docs, News, Library, Import, Export, Family, Profile

3.1 Net Worth

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Understanding Your Net Worth

The top card shows your total net worth — the sum of all your assets minus all your liabilities. Assets include chequing accounts, savings accounts, TFSAs, RRSPs, FHSAs, and investment accounts. Liabilities include credit card balances, mortgages, HELOCs, car loans, and personal loans. The number updates every time you refresh your linked accounts.

Tips

• ‣Pull down anywhere on the Dashboard to refresh all account balances
• ‣Net worth is calculated from linked accounts only — manual accounts included too
• ‣A negative net worth is normal if you have a mortgage — it doesn't mean you're in trouble
• ‣Net worth changes over time as you pay down debt and build savings

3.2 Cash Flow Health Indicator

Below net worth, Ghost displays a cash flow health indicator showing three zones:

• Healthy — Income exceeds fixed bills by 20%+ (breathing room)
• Tight — Income exceeds fixed bills but by less than 20%
• Deficit — Fixed bills exceed income (structural problem requiring attention)

3.3 Budget Health Card

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Safe-to-Spend on Dashboard

The Budget Health card shows your safe-to-spend amount, how much you've spent vs your total budget this month, a progress bar showing overall budget usage, and your daily spending pace. This card only appears if you have at least one budget set up. The safe-to-spend number is 'cash-flow aware' — it considers your actual bank balance, not just budget limits.

Tips

• ‣If you have linked bank accounts, safe-to-spend uses the LOWER of your budget remaining or your actual cash available
• ‣The daily pace shows how much you can spend per day for the rest of the month and stay on track
• ‣Green = on track, Yellow = watch it, Red = over budget

3.4 Accounts Overview

The Accounts card lists every linked and manual account with its current balance. Each account shows the institution name, account name, balance, and when it was last synced. Tap "Link Bank" to connect a new account via Plaid.

3.5 Recent Transactions

The bottom of the Dashboard shows your 5 most recent transactions with merchant name, category icon, and amount. Income transactions show in green, spending in the default color. This gives you a quick glance at recent activity without navigating to a full transaction list.

4.1 Linking a Bank Account

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Start the Connection

Navigate to Accounts (from Home grid or Dashboard). Tap 'Connect a Bank' or 'Link Bank'. This opens Plaid Link — a secure, industry-standard bank connection service used by thousands of financial apps including Venmo, Robinhood, and Wealthsimple.

4.2 Manual Import (No Bank Linking Required)

Don't want to link your bank? No problem. Ghost offers two ways to import transactions manually:

1

CSV Import

Download a CSV (spreadsheet) export from your bank's website. Most Canadian banks offer this under 'Download Transactions' or 'Export'. Then open Ghost, go to Import (from Home grid), tap 'Import CSV', and select the file. Ghost automatically detects the format (TD, RBC, BMO, Scotiabank, etc.) and imports all transactions with dates, amounts, and merchant names. Each transaction is auto-categorized (groceries, dining, transport, etc.).

Tips

• ‣TD exports as CSV from EasyWeb > Account Activity > Download
• ‣RBC exports from Online Banking > Account > Download Transactions
• ‣Most banks let you choose a date range — export at least 30 days
• ‣Ghost auto-detects column formats: date, description, amount (or separate debit/credit columns)

4.3 Refreshing Balances

Pull down on the Dashboard or Accounts screen to refresh all account balances and sync new transactions. Ghost shows when each account was last synced (e.g., "Updated 2h ago"). Balances are from your bank's last reported data — there may be a slight delay for pending transactions.

5.1 Budget Overview

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The Budget Screen

The main Budgets screen shows, from top to bottom: a month picker (navigate between months), a Cash Flow card (income vs fixed bills), the True Safe-to-Spend card, a Category Donut Chart showing where your money is going, a Monthly Overview with total budgeted vs spent, a Spending Heatmap calendar, and your individual budget categories grouped by type (Essentials, Lifestyle, Financial).

Tips

• ‣The Cash Flow card only appears if you've set your monthly income in Profile
• ‣Pull down to refresh spending data from your latest transactions
• ‣The donut chart only shows categories where you've actually spent money

5.2 Understanding Safe-to-Spend

Ghost calculates your safe-to-spend using a formula that considers multiple constraints:

The app tells you which constraint is binding: "Limited by your budget caps" (you have cash but your category budgets are the bottleneck), "Limited by your bank balance" (your budgets say you can spend more but your bank says otherwise), or "Limited by your income" (no linked accounts, using income as the ceiling).

Below the safe-to-spend number, you'll see a daily rate: how much you can spend per day for the remaining days in the month and stay on target.

5.3 Cash Flow Card

The Cash Flow card shows three numbers side by side: your monthly Income (green), your Fixed Bills (recurring payments normalized to monthly), and your Discretionaryincome (what's left after fixed bills). A health indicator tells you where you stand:

• Healthy — Income exceeds fixed bills by 20%+ (breathing room)
• Tight — Income exceeds fixed bills but by less than 20%
• Deficit — Fixed bills exceed income (structural problem)

5.4 Creating a Budget

1

Add a Budget Category

Tap the '+' button in the top right of the Budgets screen. You'll see a grid of available categories: Housing, Groceries, Dining, Transport, Health, Shopping, Entertainment, Insurance, Travel, Education, Childcare, Subscriptions, Personal Care, Pets, Charity, and Taxes. Categories you've already budgeted are hidden. Tap a category to select it.

Tips

• ‣Income, Transfers, and Uncategorized are excluded — they're not spending categories
• ‣If Ghost has 3+ months of your spending history, it will suggest an amount: "You averaged $X/mo — tap to use"
• ‣Start with your biggest spending categories first (housing, groceries, transport)

5.5 Budget Templates

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Quick Setup with Templates

Don't want to set up each category manually? Tap the grid icon (left of the '+' button) to open Budget Templates. Choose from three pre-built templates that automatically create multiple budget categories scaled to your income:

5.6 Reading Budget Progress

Each budget category shows several pieces of information:

• Category icon and name — e.g., the cart icon for Groceries
• Percentage or "Over by $X" — how much of your budget you've used, or how much you've exceeded it
• Progress bar with pacing marker — the colored bar shows how much you've spent. The yellow vertical line is the pacing marker — it shows where you should be based on the day of the month. If the bar is behind the yellow line, you're on track. If it's ahead, you're spending too fast.
• Spent of limit — e.g., "$342 of $500"
• Pace status — "On track", "Ahead of pace", or "Over budget"
• Rollover amount — if rollover is enabled, shows how much unused budget carried from last month

Progress bar colors: Green = under 75%, Yellow = 75-99%, Red= 100%+. When you go over budget, the bar extends with a red overflow section and shows "Over by $X" instead of a percentage.

5.7 Budget Detail View

5.8 Ghost Move (Budget Reallocation)

5.9 Spending Heatmap

5.10 Month Navigation

5.11 Editing & Deleting Budgets

To edit a budget's limit or enable rollover, long-press the category row and tap "Edit", or tap the slider icon in the budget detail toolbar. The edit sheet lets you change the monthly limit and toggle rollover (which carries unused budget from the previous month into the current month). To delete a budget, long-press and tap "Delete".

5.12 Category Donut Chart

The "Where It's Going" donut chart shows a visual breakdown of your spending across all budget categories. The center shows your total spent, and the ring is divided by category. A legend on the right lists the top 5 categories with their amounts. Categories with no spending are excluded.

5.13 Family Shared Budgets

Each budget has a privacy toggle. When enabled, the budget is visible to your family members. All family members' budgets contribute to the household's combined cash flow calculations. You can toggle sharing per budget — some can be private while others are shared.

5.14 Smart Advice Card

The Smart Advice Card appears at the bottom of your Budgets screen and analyzes your spending holistically:

• 50/30/20 Rule analysis — Compares your actual Needs / Wants / Savings breakdown against the 50/30/20 target percentages
• Budget vs. actual status — Overall summary of how you're tracking across all categories
• Over-budget category callouts — Specific categories where you've exceeded your limit are named and highlighted
• Current month pace check — Whether you're spending ahead of or behind the ideal daily pace for this point in the month
• Unbudgeted income gap — Identifies if a portion of your income has no budget assigned (money with no plan)
• Cash flow health advice — Tailored suggestions based on your current financial posture

Canadian tips included:the 50/30/20 rule as a starting framework, paying yourself first (automate savings on payday), tracking daily expenses (the average Canadian spends $200+ per month on coffee and lunches), and budgeting for annual costs that don't appear monthly (property tax, car registration, insurance renewals).

6.1 Creating a Savings Goal

6.2 Savings Goal Detail View

Each goal shows: a progress bar with percentage complete, amount saved vs target, target date, monthly savings amount, projected completion date, and a savings trajectory graph. The graph compares your actual savings progress (colored line) to your projected savings (dashed line) over the next 12 months. Tap any goal to see this full detail view.

6.3 Plan Builder

The Plan Builder shows you three savings scenarios based on your actual financial data:

• Aggressive (30%) — Save 30% of disposable income. Shows specific category cuts (e.g., cut dining by 50%, shopping by 50%).
• Moderate (20%) — Save 20% of disposable income. Balanced cuts across discretionary categories.
• Relaxed (10%) — Save 10% of disposable income. Minimal lifestyle impact.

Each plan shows the monthly savings amount, timeline in months, estimated completion date, and a detailed breakdown of which spending categories to reduce and by how much — all based on your real spending data.

6.4 Budget Linking

Optionally "activate" a savings plan to automatically adjust your budget limits. For example, if the Aggressive plan suggests cutting dining by $150/month, activating it will reduce your Dining budget by that amount. You can deactivate at any time to restore your original budgets. By default, goals are projection-only — budget linking is opt-in per goal.

6.5 Can I Afford It?

Enter any price tag and Ghost shows you the full financial impact: whether you can afford it today, your cash position after the purchase plus upcoming bills, how it delays each of your savings goals, which budget categories would be affected, and your remaining income this month. This isn't a simple yes/no — it's a complete ripple-effect analysis across your entire financial picture.

6.6 Overall Savings Health

At the top of the Savings screen, Ghost shows your overall savings health: how much you've saved this month (income minus spending, auto-calculated), your savings rate as a percentage, designated savings account balances, and total progress toward all active goals.

6.7 Smart Advice Card

The Smart Advice Card at the bottom of the Savings screen gives personalized guidance based on your actual savings data:

• Savings rate assessment — Excellent (20%+), Good (10–20%), or Needs Improvement (under 10%)
• Emergency fund check — Whether you have 3–6 months of expenses covered (the standard Canadian recommendation)
• Goal progress highlights — Motivational callouts for goals that are ahead of schedule or nearly complete
• Completed goals celebration — Recognizes when you've hit a savings milestone
• Savings momentum tracking — Whether your savings rate is improving, steady, or declining month over month

Canadian tax-smart tips included:maximize your TFSA first ($7,000/year limit in 2025 — tax-free growth and withdrawals), contribute to your RRSP for a tax deduction (reduces taxable income), use the FHSA if you're a first-time buyer ($8,000/year, tax-deductible contributions and tax-free withdrawals for a home purchase), consider high-interest online banks for your savings (EQ Bank and Tangerine consistently offer top rates), GIC laddering for guaranteed returns, and setting up automatic transfers on payday before you can spend the money.

7.1 Adding a Credit Card

7.2 Credit Card Overview Card

At the top of the Credit Cards screen, Ghost displays an overview card with: your combined credit limit across all cards, combined current balance, and your overall utilization percentage. The utilization bar is color-coded:

• Green (<30%) — Excellent utilization (shows good credit health)
• Yellow (30-70%) — Moderate utilization (acceptable but watch it)
• Red (>70%) — High utilization (may impact credit score)

7.3 Individual Card Details

Each card shows: issuer name, last 4 digits, current balance, credit limit, due date, rewards type, annual fee, and an individual utilization bar. The utilization bar uses the same color coding (green/yellow/red) based on the card's specific utilization percentage.

7.4 Making a Credit Card Payment

7.5 Editing & Deleting Cards

Long-press any card to see a context menu with three options: Edit (update the card's name, issuer, last 4 digits, balance, limit, interest rate, minimum payment, or annual fee), Make Payment (record a payment against the card), and Delete (permanently remove the card). All changes sync to family members immediately.

7.6 Family Shared Cards

Credit cards are automatically visible to all family members in a household. When you add a card, your family members see it on their Credit Cards screen. This helps partners stay aware of household credit utilization and debt. When you make a payment, the updated balance is visible to all family members. Card editing and payment recording is available to the card owner.

7.7 Smart Advice Card

At the bottom of the credit cards list, Ghost displays a Smart Advice Card with dynamic advice based on your actual card data:

• Overall utilization status — Green (under 10%), Good (under 30%), Warning (30–50%), High (50–70%), Critical (70%+)
• The 30% Rule — Explanation of why keeping utilization under 30% protects your credit score
• Per-card warnings — Specific cards over 30% or over limit are called out by name
• Highest interest card — Identifies your most expensive card and recommends the avalanche method (pay highest rate first)
• Minimum payment warning — Shows the combined total of all minimum payments due

Quick Tips (Canadian-specific):pay your statement balance in full each month, set up autopay for at least the minimum, request credit limit increases to lower utilization, don't close old cards (keeps your credit history length), and space out credit applications (each hard inquiry affects your score).

7.8 Lines of Credit Overview

Track HELOCs, personal lines of credit, and business LOCs all in one place. The Lines of Credit section shows your total balance, total limit, available credit, and overall utilization across all LOCs. Secured LOCs (like HELOCs) are shown with a lock icon; unsecured LOCs are shown with an arrows icon.

7.9 Adding a Line of Credit

7.10 Line of Credit Payment

7.11 Editing & Deleting Lines of Credit

Long-press any LOC to see a context menu with three options: Edit (update all fields including name, lender, limit, balance, rate, rate type, minimum payment, due date, frequency, secured status, and active/inactive status), Make Payment, and Delete. Deletion requires confirmation and removes the LOC and its linked recurring payment.

7.12 Line of Credit Smart Advice

The LOC Smart Advice card appears at the bottom of your lines of credit list and provides dynamic advice based on your actual data:

• Utilization status across all LOCs
• Secured vs. unsecured breakdown (HELOCs identified separately)
• Highest rate LOC identified (avalanche method recommendation)
• Variable rate warnings (alerts you when rates could rise)

Canadian-specific tips included:the Smith Manoeuvre (using a HELOC to invest in non-registered accounts for a tax deduction on interest), daily interest calculation (LOC interest accrues daily, not monthly), keeping utilization low ahead of mortgage renewal, considering fixed-rate conversion if you're rate-sensitive, and not treating available credit as spending money.

7.13 LOC Payment Schedule

Set your payment frequency (Weekly, Bi-weekly, Semi-monthly, Monthly, Bi-monthly, or Quarterly) when adding or editing a LOC. When a minimum payment amount and due date are both set, Ghost automatically creates a recurring payment with the correct frequency. This recurring entry then appears in your Recurring Payments tab and on the Payment Calendar.

7.14 Family Shared Lines of Credit

All LOC data syncs across family members via Row Level Security. Any family member can view, edit, and make payments on shared lines of credit, keeping your household debt picture complete and up to date.

8.1 Adding a Recurring Payment Manually

1

Track a New Recurring Payment

Tap the '+' button from the Recurring screen. Enter: the payment name (e.g., 'Rent', 'Netflix', 'Car Loan'), amount (e.g., $1,500), category (choose from 18 built-in categories or create a custom category with an SF Symbol icon), billing cycle (Weekly, Bi-weekly, Semi-monthly, Monthly, Bi-monthly, Quarterly, Annual), and next billing date. Toggle whether it's currently active. Tap 'Save' to add it.

Tips

• ‣Annual payments are divided by 12 for your monthly budget impact
• ‣Weekly payments are multiplied by 52/12 (about 4.33) for monthly calculations
• ‣The next billing date is used for the Payment Calendar
• ‣You can add inactive recurring payments to track services you've paused

8.2 Built-In Categories

Ghost includes 18 built-in categories for recurring payments: Rent, Mortgage, Vehicle, Loan, Insurance, Utilities, Phone & Internet, Streaming, Music, Cloud Storage, Gaming, Fitness, News, Productivity, Food Delivery, Childcare, Membership, Other. You can also create custom categories with a custom name and SF Symbol icon from a palette of 100+ icons in 11 groups.

8.3 Billing Cycles & Semi-Monthly Support

Ghost supports all common billing cycles: Weekly, Bi-weekly, Semi-monthly, Monthly, Bi-monthly, Quarterly, Annual. For semi-monthly (twice per month), you pick two payment days (e.g., the 1st and the 15th). Ghost automatically handles edge cases: if you pick the 31st and a month has only 28 days (February), Ghost clamps it to the last day (28th) automatically.

8.4 Auto-Detection from Transactions

8.5 Last Payment Date Flow

If you're adding a recurring payment but aren't sure when the next one is due, you can enter "When did I last pay this?" and Ghost will auto-calculate the next payment date based on your billing cycle. For example, if you entered "Last paid on March 10" for a monthly payment, Ghost automatically sets the next payment to April 10.

8.6 Price Change Alerts

When you update a recurring payment's price, Ghost remembers the old price and shows a price change alert card at the top of the Recurring screen. For example: "Netflix charged you $22.99 this month, which is $3 higher than last month." This helps you catch silent price increases from services that gradually raise their fees.

8.7 How Recurring Payments Affect Your Budget

Your total active recurring payment cost (normalized to monthly) feeds into several calculations throughout Ghost:

• Cash Flow card — recurring payments are your "Fixed Bills"
• Safe-to-Spend — upcoming unpaid recurring payments are subtracted from available cash
• Payment Calendar — recurring payment due dates appear on the calendar
• Bill paid status — Ghost checks if a recurring payment has been charged this month by matching merchant names in your transactions

8.8 Auto-Cancel Banner (Coming Soon)

A "Coming Soon" / Ghost Pro feature will automatically cancel recurring payments after they reach zero balance or a set end date. For now, you can toggle 'Active' off to pause a recurring payment or delete it entirely.

8.9 Editing & Deleting Recurring Payments

8.10 Family Shared Recurring Payments

Recurring payments are visible to all family members in a household. When you add a recurring payment, your family members see it on their Recurring screen. This helps partners stay aware of household fixed expenses and due dates. Recurring payment details are read-only for family members — only the owner can edit or delete.

8.11 Loan Auto-Creates Recurring Payment

When you add a loan with a monthly payment amount, Ghost automatically creates a corresponding recurring payment entry. For example, if you add a mortgage with a $2,000/month payment, Ghost adds a "Mortgage" recurring payment with $2,000 monthly. You can edit or delete this recurring payment independently.

8.12 Smart Advice Card

The Smart Advice Card at the bottom of your recurring payments list provides dynamic insights based on your actual subscription and bill data:

• Monthly and annual spend awareness — Your total active recurring spend shown monthly and annualized
• Top spending category breakdown — Which category of recurring payment costs you the most
• Subscription creep warning — Triggers when your annual recurring total exceeds $3,000, prompting a review
• Inactive subscription reminders — Flags services you've paused but are still paying for
• Price change alerts — Highlights recent price increases detected on your recurring payments
• Upcoming end date notifications — Warns you of subscriptions ending within 30 days

Canadian tips included:review subscriptions quarterly (the average Canadian wastes $150/month on unused services), bundle services where possible, use annual billing for 15–20% savings, and negotiate telecom rates annually (Bell, Rogers, Telus are all negotiable).

9.1 Viewing Your Loans

1

Loan Dashboard

The Loan Auditor screen shows all your loan documents. Each card displays the file name, lender, loan type, and a consumer score badge (0-100). Green badge = good terms, Yellow = caution, Red = concerning. Loans without a score show 'Pending'. Tap any loan to see its full details. Long-press to delete.

9.2 Adding a Loan

1

Choose Your Method

Tap 'Add Loan' to see two options: 'Upload Document' (AI-powered extraction from a PDF or photo) or 'Enter Manually' (type in the details yourself). Both methods result in a scored loan with full detail view.

9.3 Loan Types

Ghost supports seven loan types: Mortgage, Car Loan, HELOC, Personal Loan, Line of Credit, Student Loan, Other.

9.4 Upload a Document (AI Analysis)

1

Choose a Source

Tap 'Upload Document' to see two options: 'Choose PDF' (select a loan agreement PDF from Files) or 'Take Photo' (photograph a paper loan document). Ghost extracts the text using OCR, then sends it to Ghost AI for analysis.

9.5 Manual Entry

1

Enter Loan Details

The manual entry form has three sections: Basic Info (document name, lender, loan type selector), Loan Details (amount, interest rate with fixed/variable toggle, term in months, amortization for mortgages, monthly payment, first payment date), and Fees & Protection (lender fees, prepayment penalty toggle + percentage, insurance required toggle + monthly amount). Fill in what you know — all fields except the document name are optional. Ghost auto-calculates remaining balance based on your first payment date and any extra payments made.

Tips

• ‣If you enter amount, rate, and term, tap "Calculate Payment & Interest" to auto-calculate your monthly payment and total interest cost
• ‣For mortgages, the term (e.g., 60 months / 5 years) is different from the amortization (e.g., 300 months / 25 years)
• ‣Ghost scores the loan automatically based on whatever details you provide
• ‣First Payment Date is used to calculate your estimated remaining balance

9.6 Estimated Balance Calculation

When you enter your first payment date, Ghost automatically calculates your estimated current balance by subtracting all payments made since inception. The Estimated Balance card shows: remaining balance, percentage of loan paid off, and months of payments remaining.

9.7 Extra Payments Toggle

If you've made additional payments beyond your scheduled payment amount, toggle 'Made additional payments?' and enter the total extra amount. Ghost uses this to recalculate your remaining balance and adjust the payment planner scenarios.

9.8 Loan Detail View

Tapping a loan shows its full detail view with: a score gauge (circular progress with color-coded rating), sub-scores for Interest Rate, Fees, Terms, and Protection (each out of 25 points), a Loan Summary card with all the key numbers, a Fees & Protection card, and AI-generated insights (e.g., "Excellent interest rate for this loan type", "High prepayment penalty — consider negotiating").

9.9 Payment Planner (Amortization & What-If)

From any loan with an amount and rate, tap "Payment Planner" to access the amortization calculator. This shows a full payment schedule (monthly or yearly), a balance chart showing your loan payoff over time, and what-if scenarios: "What if I pay an extra $25/month? $50? $100?" Each scenario shows how much faster you'd pay off the loan and how much interest you'd save. Use the custom slider to try any extra payment amount.

9.10 Consumer Score Explained

The consumer score (0-100) evaluates how consumer-friendly your loan is based on four factors, each worth 25 points:

• Interest Rate (25 pts) — Compared to current Canadian market averages for that loan type
• Fees (25 pts) — Lender fees as a percentage of the loan amount
• Terms (25 pts) — Based on loan term length and whether the amortization is reasonable
• Protection (25 pts) — Prepayment flexibility, penalty severity, insurance requirements

Overall rating: Green (70-100) = good deal, Yellow (40-69) = caution, Red (0-39) = concerning terms.

9.11 Editing & Deleting Loans

9.12 Family Shared Loans

Loans are visible to all family members in a household. When you add a loan, your family members see it on their Loan Auditor screen. This helps partners stay aware of household debt and interest costs. Loan details are read-only for family members — only the owner can edit or delete.

9.13 Smart Advice Card

The Smart Advice Card at the bottom of your Loan Auditor screen gives you a comprehensive view of your total debt picture:

• Total debt overview — Sum of all loan balances and combined monthly payment obligations
• Highest interest loan — Identifies your most expensive loan and recommends the avalanche method (pay it down first to minimize total interest paid)
• Prepayment penalty warnings — Alerts you if any of your loans carry prepayment penalties before you make extra payments
• Variable/adjustable rate exposure — Flags how much of your total debt is at variable rates and vulnerable to rate increases
• Loan insurance cost breakdown — Shows the monthly cost of any optional creditor insurance across your loans
• Total interest you'll pay — Projects the total interest cost across all loans at current payment levels

Canadian-specific tips included:make lump-sum prepayments on mortgage anniversary dates (most lenders allow 10–20% annually without penalty), use accelerated bi-weekly payments to shave years off your mortgage, consider refinancing at renewal if rates have dropped, and keep your total debt-to-income ratio below 40% for mortgage qualification.

10.1 Ghost Score

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Your 50/30/20 Score

The Ghost Score is a 0-100 rating that measures how closely your spending follows the 50/30/20 rule: 50% of income on Needs (housing, groceries, transport, health, insurance, childcare), 30% on Wants (dining, shopping, entertainment, travel, personal care, pets, subscriptions), and 20% on Savings. The score gauge shows your overall rating, and three bucket bars show how each category compares to its target.

Tips

• ‣A perfect 100 means you're exactly at or under 50/30/20
• ‣The Ghost Score requires monthly income to be set — update it in Settings &gt; Profile
• ‣Savings is calculated as: Income - Needs Spending - Wants Spending
• ‣Score labels: 75+ = On Track, 50-74 = Needs Attention, below 50 = Off Track

10.2 Spending Anomalies

Ghost compares your current month's spending in each category to your 3-6 month average. If any category is 30%+ above average, Ghost shows an anomaly alert card with: the category name, current spend vs average, percent above normal, and the top 3 merchants driving the increase. This catches things like an unusually expensive month for dining or a surprise insurance charge.

10.3 Spending Trends

The Spending Trends view shows your total spending over the last 6 months as a bar chart. See month-over-month changes and identify patterns. Access it from the Insights screen.

10.4 Weekly Digest

The Digest card shows a quick summary: total spending this month vs last month, the percentage change, your top spending category, and how many anomalies were detected. This gives you a 10-second health check of your finances.

11.1 What Ghost AI Can Do

1

Your Canadian Finance Assistant

Ghost AI is a conversational assistant specialized in Canadian personal finance. It knows about TFSAs, RRSPs, FHSAs, RESPs, Canadian tax brackets, provincial differences, the mortgage stress test, and more. Ask it anything about your finances — it uses your actual financial data (income, spending patterns, budget status) to give personalized answers.

Tips

• ‣Try the suggested prompts to get started: TFSA room, RRSP deadlines, mortgage stress test
• ‣Ghost AI remembers your conversation within a session — ask follow-up questions
• ‣Tap the pencil icon in the top right to start a new conversation
• ‣Your conversation history is automatically purged after 90 days for privacy

11.2 Example Questions

11.3 Important Disclaimer

Ghost AI will never: recommend specific stocks, ETFs, or investments; guarantee returns; provide tax filing advice; or tell you to make specific financial decisions. It will: explain financial concepts, help you understand your spending, answer Canadian tax questions, and suggest general strategies.

12.1 Transaction List & Search

12.2 Quick Add (Manual Entry)

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Add a Transaction Manually

Go to Quick Add from the Home grid. Enter the merchant name, amount, select a category from the grid, and set the date. Toggle whether it's income or an expense. A 'Recent Entries' section shows your last 10 manually added transactions with swipe-to-delete support. An entry count banner at the top shows how many you've added this month. Tap 'Add Transaction' to save.

Tips

• ‣Quick Add transactions feed into budgets, insights, and the Ghost Score just like bank-linked ones
• ‣Use this for cash purchases like farmers markets, parking meters, etc.
• ‣The category you select determines which budget the transaction counts against

12.3 Editing & Recategorizing Transactions

12.4 Why Recategorization Matters

Auto-categorization works well for most transactions, but some merchants span multiple categories. A purchase at Walmart could be groceries, household items, or electronics. By recategorizing, you ensure your budget tracking is accurate. Your Ghost Score, spending insights, and anomaly detection all improve with correctly categorized transactions.

12.5 Family Shared Transactions

Transactions inherit their sharing status from their parent account. If your "TD Chequing" is shared with family, all transactions in that account are visible to family members. If your "RBC Savings" is private, nobody sees those transactions.

13.1 Calendar Grid

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See What's Due

The Payment Calendar shows a monthly calendar view with all your upcoming subscription payments, recurring bills, loan payments, line of credit payments, credit card payments, and pay days. Pay days appear with green numbers and green dots. Bill due dates appear with cyan dots. Navigate between months using left/right arrows at the top. Ghost intelligently projects payments based on their billing cycle: weekly payments show 4-5 dots per month, bi-weekly show 2-3 dots, semi-monthly show 2 dots, monthly show 1 dot, and bi-monthly/quarterly/annual payments only appear in the correct months.

Tips

• ‣All payment sources feed into the calendar: recurring payments, loans (auto-created), lines of credit (auto-created), and credit cards (auto-created)
• ‣Weekly and bi-weekly payments correctly show multiple occurrences per month
• ‣Quarterly and annual payments only show in the months they actually occur
• ‣Pay days come from your Settings &gt; Profile income settings
• ‣The calendar helps you avoid overdrafts by seeing when large payments cluster together

13.2 Cash Flow Status Card

Below the calendar, Ghost displays a Cash Flow Status Card showing your "Low Point" — the lowest balance you'll reach before your next pay day. The card is color-coded: red (you'll go negative), yellow (tight), or green (healthy). This helps you see whether you have enough cash to cover all bills due before your next pay day.

13.3 Cash Flow Timeline

Below the status card, Ghost displays a chronological timeline of all your income and bills for the month. Each event shows: the date, type (pay day or bill), amount, and running balance. Pay days are shown in green with your income amount. Bills are shown in red with the payment amount and your balance after that payment. If you're in a family group, pay days show both members' names (e.g., "Solomon — Pay Day $5,000", "Sarah — Pay Day $4,500") and the household combined income is used for balance calculations.

13.4 Smart Money Moves

When your projected surplus (income minus bills for the month) is greater than $50, Ghost shows a "Smart Money Moves" card suggesting how to allocate the surplus: 50% to Savings, 30% to Extra Loan Payments, 20% to Emergency Fund. This helps you make the most of surplus cash flow.

13.5 Upcoming Payments Section

A section below the timeline lists all upcoming payments for the month with their total. This gives you a quick overview of total obligations.

13.6 Family Member Pay Days

In a family group, all family members' pay days appear on the calendar (labeled with each person's name) and in the timeline. The household combined income is shown and used for cash flow calculations, helping you coordinate household finances.

14.1 CRA Notice of Assessment Tracking

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Track Your Tax Information

The Tax Documents feature stores your CRA Notice of Assessment (NOA) information: RRSP deduction limit (contribution room for next year), TFSA room, net income, total income, and tax payable. This is the only place in Canada where your TFSA and RRSP room is tracked outside of CRA My Account.

14.2 Adding a Tax Document

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Enter NOA Details

Tap '+' to add a new Notice of Assessment. Select the tax year, then enter your RRSP deduction limit, TFSA room, and net income. These values come from your CRA NOA — you receive one every year after filing your tax return. Ghost stores this information securely and uses it to power AI answers about TFSA/RRSP contributions.

Tips

• ‣Your RRSP room is on page 1 of your NOA, line 1 or near the top
• ‣TFSA room isn't on the NOA — check CRA My Account online for your current limit
• ‣Keep one entry per tax year for a historical record
• ‣Ghost AI can use this data to answer: "Should I contribute to RRSP or TFSA?"

15.1 Browsing the Library

Navigate to Library from the Home grid. Articles are organized by category: Getting Started, Tax Planning, Investing Basics, Debt Management, Banking, Credit, Saving Strategies, and Financial Planning. Tap any article to read the full content. A search bar at the top lets you find articles by keyword.

15.2 Article Features

Each article includes: title, category tag, publication date, estimated read time, cover image, full article text with formatting, related articles section, and sources/citations. Articles are written for Canadian readers and include Canadian-specific information (TFSA, RRSP, provincial tax rates, etc.).

17.1 Creating a Family Group

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Set Up Your Household

Go to Family from the Home grid. Tap 'Create Family'. Enter a name for your family group (e.g., 'Solomon Family'). You become the owner. Ghost generates a 6-character invite code that you can share with your partner.

17.2 Inviting Members

After creating a family, you can invite members two ways:

• By email — Enter your partner's email address to send an invite. They'll see the invitation in their Ghost app.
• By code — Share the 6-character invite code in person or via text. Your partner enters it in Ghost to join instantly.

17.3 Invite Code Details

Invite codes expire after 24 hours. You can regenerate a new code anytime from the Family screen. This security measure prevents codes from being used far in the future if compromised.

17.4 Joining a Family

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Join with a Code

Go to Family and tap 'Join Family'. Enter the 6-character invite code your partner shared with you. Tap 'Join' — you're instantly added to the family group with access to whatever they've chosen to share.

17.5 Privacy Controls

Privacy is the core of Ghost's family sharing. Every account and budget has an individual sharing toggle:

• Toggle ON — This account/budget is visible to your family members (read-only — they can see but can't modify)
• Toggle OFF — This account/budget is completely invisible to family members. They don't know it exists.

Transactions inherit their sharing status from their parent account. If your "TD Chequing" is shared, all transactions in that account are visible to family. If your "RBC Savings" is private, nobody sees those transactions.

17.6 Shared Data Sync

All shared data syncs in real-time across devices. When you add a shared transaction, it appears instantly on your partner's app. When they update a shared budget, you see the change immediately. This ensures you're always working with the latest household financial data.

17.7 Household Dashboard

When in a family group, the Dashboard shows household-level data: combined net worth (from all shared accounts), combined budget health, and shared transactions. Private accounts are excluded from household totals.

17.8 Managing Family Members

As the family owner, you can remove members from the Family screen. Removed members lose access to all shared data immediately. Members can also leave a family group voluntarily from their own Family screen.

18.1 How Profiles Work

18.2 Creating Profiles

18.3 Using Profiles Day-to-Day

18.4 Managing Profiles

18.5 Profiles vs. Family Sharing

Financial Profiles and Family Sharing are independent features that work alongside each other:

• •Profiles separate YOUR data into different contexts (personal, corporate, etc.). Only you can see and switch between your profiles.
• •Family Sharing lets you share specific items with family members. Shared items are visible to family regardless of which profile they belong to.
• •Your wife won't see your Corporate profile's data unless you explicitly share specific items via Family Sharing.

19.1 Profile

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Edit Your Profile

Go to Settings > Profile. Update your first name, last name, pay frequency (Weekly, Bi-weekly, Semi-monthly, Monthly), and Income Per Pay — the amount you actually receive each pay cheque. Ghost automatically calculates your monthly total based on your frequency: Weekly ×4.33, Bi-weekly ×2.17, Semi-monthly ×2, Monthly ×1. A 'Monthly Total' line shows the calculated amount in real time as you type.

Tips

• ‣Enter what you take home each pay cheque — not your annual salary or monthly total
• ‣Ghost calculates the monthly total automatically based on your pay frequency
• ‣If your income changes, update it here and your budgets/scores will recalculate automatically
• ‣Your province affects tax-related AI answers

Enter what you receive each pay cheque. Ghost calculates your monthly total automatically.

19.2 Pay Days Section

The Pay Days section adapts to your selected pay frequency:

• Monthly — Pick your pay day (1st-31st of each month)
• Semi-monthly — Pick two pay days (e.g., 1st and 15th)
• Bi-weekly — Pick your next pay date; Ghost calculates all future dates
• Weekly — Pick your next pay date; Ghost calculates all future dates

For semi-monthly, if you pick the 31st and a month has only 28 days (February), Ghost automatically clamps it to the last day of that month.

19.3 Security & Biometrics

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Face ID / Touch ID & PIN Management

Go to Settings > Security. You'll see your current biometric status (Face ID or Touch ID On/Off) and a toggle to enable/disable it. Below that is your PIN — you can reset your PIN or view PIN help. Ghost uses a 30-second grace period: if you switch to another app to reference information and return within 30 seconds, the app stays unlocked and you won't lose any data you were entering. After 30 seconds in the background, Face ID or PIN is required to unlock.

Tips

• ‣Face ID/Touch ID is optional but highly recommended for convenience
• ‣Your PIN is stored securely in the iOS Keychain — Ghost never sees it in plaintext
• ‣If you forget your PIN, you can reset it by signing out and back in
• ‣The 30-second grace period means you can safely switch apps to check amounts without losing your progress

19.4 Notifications

19.5 Subscription Management

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Ghost Pro

The Subscription section shows your current plan status. Ghost Pro ($12.99/month or $99.99/year) unlocks bank linking, unlimited AI chat, loan analysis, detailed insights, family sharing, and more. Tap 'Upgrade to Ghost Pro' to subscribe via the App Store. You can also restore purchases if you previously subscribed on another device.

19.6 Legal & Support

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Access Legal Documents and Help

The Legal section provides direct links to: Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, Security page, this User Guide, and Help & Support (FAQ + contact). The app version number is also displayed here.

19.7 Account Management

At the bottom of Settings, you'll find two actions:

• Delete Account — Permanently deletes your account and all associated data. This action cannot be undone. Ghost will delete all your data within 30 days as required by Canadian privacy law (PIPEDA).
• Sign Out — Signs you out of the current session. Your data remains intact and you can sign back in anytime.