Connections
Adding Accounts, Explained
How to connect your banks, brokerages, credit cards, and exchanges to the platform - and how to keep those connections healthy over time.
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Welcome
The platform is only as useful as the data flowing into it. Connected accounts are how balances, transactions, positions, and liabilities enter the system. The more complete your connections are, the more accurate your dashboard, reports, and entity-level views become.
This guide focuses on traditional financial accounts connected through Plaid and on the account management workflows that keep those connections healthy over time.
Traditional institutions usually enter through Plaid, while crypto uses wallet addresses and exchange APIs, and some assets still require manual entry. Even though the setup methods differ, all of them eventually feed the same portfolio reporting system.
What is Plaid?
Plaid is the connection layer that links Spiegel Financial to your bank, brokerage, credit card, and some loan accounts. When you connect an institution, Plaid retrieves balances and transaction data on the platform's behalf.
- Read-only access - Plaid and Spiegel Financial can read balances and transactions, but cannot move money, place trades, or change account settings.
- Your credentials do not come to us - You authenticate through Plaid's interface, not directly through Spiegel Financial.
- Broad institution coverage - Most major US banks, brokerages, and credit card issuers are supported. Unsupported institutions can still be tracked with manual holdings when needed.
Plaid data is usually refreshed on a schedule rather than in true real time. For time-sensitive decisions, always cross-check the institution directly.
Adding an institution via Plaid
Use + Add Account to connect a new bank, brokerage, or credit card institution through Plaid.
Step 1 - Search for the institution
Type the name of the bank, brokerage, or card issuer you want to connect.
Step 2 - Log in through Plaid
Complete the institution login inside Plaid's secure connection flow rather than entering credentials into Spiegel Financial.
Step 3 - Complete multi-factor authentication
If the institution requires a code, approval prompt, or security challenge, finish that step before continuing.
Step 4 - Choose the accounts to share
Select the checking, savings, brokerage, card, or loan accounts you want to make available inside the platform.
Step 5 - Confirm the connection
Once Plaid finishes the handoff, the institution and its accounts begin syncing into Spiegel Financial.
If an institution is not available in Plaid, you can still track positions from that institution manually on the Holdings page while waiting for direct support.
Assigning accounts to entities
Every connected account should be assigned to the right entity - personal, trust, LLC, foundation, or other ownership structure. This is what makes entity-level reporting work correctly across the dashboard, holdings, and exports.
- Entity assignment controls ownership reporting - Balances and transactions roll up to the selected entity once assigned.
- Unassigned accounts still sync - The platform can still collect data, but the account will not be categorized properly in entity-based reporting.
- Assign early - Making the assignment during the same session as the connection avoids cleanup later.
A good operating habit is simple: every time you connect a new account, assign its entity before leaving the page.
Connection statuses
- Connected - The connection is healthy and syncing on schedule.
- Syncing - A refresh is actively in progress.
- Reconnect Required - The institution needs you to authenticate again, often because credentials changed or the session expired.
- Failed - The last refresh attempt did not complete successfully. This may be temporary or may require re-authentication.
- No data - The connection exists, but balances or transactions are not yet being returned.
The most important operational distinction is between healthy connections and stale ones. If a connection is not healthy, portfolio numbers can quietly drift out of date.
Common workflows
Initial onboarding
Start with your primary checking account, then add brokerages, credit cards, and any major liabilities. After each connection, assign the account to the correct entity.
Monthly connection health check
Review your linked institutions once a month and clear any reconnect or failed states before they leave your data stale for too long.
Add more accounts from the same institution
If you open a new account at an already-connected bank or brokerage, revisit that institution's connection flow and add the new account rather than treating it like an entirely unrelated institution.
Remove an account
If an account should no longer appear in the platform, remove it from Spiegel Financial without affecting the underlying institution account itself.
Year-end entity audit
Before tax season or reporting deadlines, confirm that each connected account is assigned to the right entity so downstream exports and entity summaries remain clean.