Understand the plan before you act.

01 / Start here

The mental model

Clearflow does not simply total what happened last month. It simulates what may happen next across your accounts, income, expenses, savings, debts, and transfers.

Every result should answer four questions: What is expected to happen? When will it happen? What does it cost? What changes if I choose another safe path?

02 / Build the picture

First-time setup

Start with enough information to produce a useful forecast. You can refine the plan later; incomplete information is better than invented information.

1. Choose your base currency. Use the currency in which you want balances, forecasts, and comparisons displayed.
2. Add at least one account. Enter the current balance and account type. Include the account where income arrives and required payments are made.
3. Add debts. Enter the balance, interest rate, minimum payment, due date, and any planned overpayment. Do not add a guessed minimum when the lender statement is available.
4. Add recurring income and expenses. Use the actual schedule and start date. Include rent, utilities, subscriptions, insurance, food, transport, and other obligations that affect cash timing.
5. Add savings and goals only after obligations are represented. A goal is useful when its target, date, and funding amount reflect what you can safely set aside.
6. Review Terms & Accuracy. Confirm that you understand the forecast is an estimate and that payment amounts and due dates must be checked against your statements.

03 / Read the horizon

Dashboard

The Dashboard is the starting point for the current plan. Read the safety message before the headline numbers.

Cash safety

The latest point in the forecast where required activity remains covered before the next scheduled income.

Next best step

A plain-language action selected from the current forecast, such as reviewing a shortfall, adding missing data, or comparing strategies.

Debt-free target

The projected date when modeled debts reach zero under the active plan. It changes when balances, rates, schedules, or payments change.

Upcoming

The dated activity that will change account balances. Use it to understand why available cash is lower than a simple balance suggests.

04 / Compare tradeoffs

Debt strategies

Strategies are comparisons, not automatic instructions. Select a strategy to inspect the result, then make it active only after reviewing its safety and tradeoffs.

What the comparison means

• Minimum Payment Only pays lender minimums without planned extra payments.
• User Planned Overpayment follows the extra amount you assigned to each debt, without automatic rollover.
• Snowball targets the smallest balance first for faster account-level wins.
• Avalanche targets the highest interest cost first and may reduce total interest.
• Momentum or Smart Pilot can use freed payment room and available cash according to the active safety rules.

Compare these fields

Debt-free date shows timing. Interest shows projected cost. Principal and extra paid show where the money goes. Cash shortfall identifies the first projected date where the path cannot cover required activity. End liquidity shows the remaining modeled cash at the end of the window.

05 / Decide what to do next

Suggestions

Suggestions translate forecast conditions into possible actions. They are deliberately optional: Clearflow explains the reason, but you remain in control.

Open a suggestion to see the relevant dates, amounts, urgency, and the forecast change it is intended to make. Create a goal, open the upcoming window, or dismiss the suggestion only after reading the details.

Cash-safety suggestions take priority over generic optimization. A recommendation to save, buy, or pay extra should preserve required bills, minimum debt payments, and the active safety buffer.

06 / Inspect the timeline

Ledger and transfers

The Ledger is the dated explanation of the forecast. Use the range controls to inspect the next 30, 60, or 90 days, the debt-free window, or a custom range.

• Use Include Past when you need to compare confirmed history with projected activity.
• Filter by account to follow a running balance or isolate the account where a payment occurs.
• Read each row as a dated event: the source, destination, amount, and resulting account impact.
• Use Transfers to make money movement explicit. A transfer changes where cash sits; it is not income and should not increase total household cash.
• When a result looks surprising, start at the first unexpected ledger row and work forward. The first divergence usually explains the later outcome.

07 / Keep it honest

Report Card

Report Card is where expected activity becomes confirmed actual activity. Use it after income arrives or a payment clears.

1. Open the expected event and compare it with the bank, card, or lender statement.
2. Enter the actual amount and confirm the actual date where needed.
3. Record underpayments, overpayments, fees, or skipped activity instead of silently editing the original expectation.
4. Re-run or review the forecast so future balances and recommendations reflect reality.

Keeping expected and actual values separate makes the plan explainable. It also shows where a forecast changed because life changed, rather than because the app rewrote history.

08 / Use the results

Making decisions with Clearflow

Use this order whenever you are deciding whether to pay extra, save, buy something, or change a schedule:

1. Check the first future date that becomes tight.
2. Protect required expenses and minimum debt payments.
3. Keep the buffer you consider necessary for real life.
4. Compare the safe options by timing, interest, liquidity, and payoff delay.
5. Choose the option you understand and can maintain.
6. Confirm the plan against real statements before sending money.

09 / Important limits

Accuracy and safety

Clearflow is planning and forecasting software, not financial, legal, tax, investment, or accounting advice. Forecast quality depends on the quality of your inputs.

10 / When something looks wrong

Troubleshooting