Connecting Financial Accounts

• An existing asset or liability — attach it to one you already track, so the connection keeps it current.
• A new asset or liability — Policy Stack creates it from the connection.
• Nowhere yet — keep the account visible without recording its balance.

The reported account type supplies a factual category, not a placement recommendation. Cash and investment accounts record as assets, credit accounts record as liabilities, and you confirm every destination. For account types that could be either, you also choose the record type.

During the first account review, set an account nickname independently from the asset or liability record name. The nickname is saved even when an account stays unlinked. To change an account name later, open Link to Net Worth or Change link, edit Account nickname, and choose Save name. Later institution updates keep your nickname.

Linking never overwrites your history. Every recorded balance stays. Unlinking keeps the institution connection but stops its balance from carrying into current Net Worth. An existing record returns to its latest manually recorded value, or its saved pre-link value when there is no manual entry; a liability created from the connection is excluded until it is linked again.

How Often Balances Update

Your institution controls when new balance data is available. Policy Stack records a new balance after an update arrives. There is no default manual refresh action for connected accounts.

An update is not necessarily instant. Initial syncing and later provider updates can take time, and institutions control when new data is available. The row states when syncing is delayed, when the last update is more than 90 days old, or when the institution connection needs attention. To change a balance you update yourself, return to Net Worth and choose Update recorded balances. That action does not refresh a connected account.

A manually entered balance stays in place until the next synced balance arrives.

Advisor and Practice Access

Household members can see the connected records. When advisor data sharing is active, the authorized advisor and eligible practice team members can see the canonical asset or liability under the permissions the household granted. A practice user with write access may complete non-balance liability details, but cannot replace a balance owned by the institution connection.

When a Balance Is Not Available

A row never shows a zero when it has no balance, because zero is a real balance and an absent one is not. Instead it states which of these happened:

• "No balance recorded yet" — the account is connected and the first balance has not arrived.
• "No balance available from this institution" — a refresh completed and the institution reported no balance for this account. Some institutions do not report one for every account type — investment and retirement accounts especially.
• "The recorded balance could not be read" — Policy Stack has a balance on file it could not read back. This is a Policy Stack problem, not the institution's.
• "No balance recorded" — another provider-sync state is stated on the row itself, as described below.

Only the second one describes the institution, and Policy Stack says it only after a refresh actually came back empty.

Other states you may see on a row, all stated as facts rather than judgments:

• Balance syncing is delayed — Policy Stack has not completed the latest provider update.
• The last update did not return a balance — the institution did not provide one.
• Non-USD balance — Policy Stack records US dollar balances today.

Repairing an Inactive Connection

An institution may make a connection inactive after a password change, revoked access, or a change to its sign-in requirements. When the row says the institution connection needs attention, choose Repair connection and complete the institution flow. Repair operates on the institution connection, so every account under it can resume syncing; existing Net Worth links and recorded balances stay in place.

If the provider cannot repair it, disconnect the institution connection and start a new one if the institution and accounts remain available.

Disconnecting

Disconnect on any row ends the entire institution connection. Every account under that connection stops syncing. Everything already recorded stays in your Net Worth history, and links to assets or liabilities are kept. Reconnecting requires starting a new institution connection.

Policy Stack is a tracking and visualization tool. It does not provide financial advice, recommendations, or opinions on what you should do with your banking system.

Policy Stack is independent of and is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by Infinite Banking Concepts, LLC or the Nelson Nash Institute.