MonestraMonestra
The Monestra Manual
Everything Monestra does, why it does it that way, and how to get the most out of it. Written for the version shipping today — not a roadmap.
Monestra is a private life and finance manager for Mac, iPad and iPhone. It keeps the whole picture — accounts, investments, possessions, policies, subscriptions, the people you pay, what you owe and what you are saving for — in one place that answers to nobody but you.
This manual is long on purpose. Monestra has opinions, and most of them are only useful once you know what they are: why the Checklist is the only screen that can be finished, why Radar refuses to forecast your balance, why an amount is never printed on a lock screen notification unless you ask for it. Every chapter tells you what a screen does, then why it behaves that way.
Getting started
What Monestra is
A private manager for the whole of your financial life — and a clear account of what it will never do.
02Installing and first launch
What Monestra asks you on day one, what it decides for you, and the four settings worth changing before you type anything.
03Finding your way around
The same app arranged three ways — a sidebar on Mac, a sidebar on iPad, and five slots on iPhone. Plus the one shortcut that skips all of it.
04Your first record
A ten-minute setup that gets the Dashboard telling the truth — in the order that makes the fewest figures wrong along the way.
The daily loop
Dashboard
Where you stand right now — net worth, how it got here, one tile per module, and what wants attention.
06Checklist
A month at a time of what is still unfinished — the only screen in Monestra with a notion of done, and the only one that writes.
07Radar
What your money is about to do, and when it gets heavy. A forward horizon built out of commitments you have already recorded — and honest about which dates it computed.
08Find and quick add
One shortcut that reaches every record, destination and action in the app — and parses "netflix 649 monthly" into a new subscription.
Your money
Accounts
Bank, cash, investment, credit card and loan balances — the foundation everything else in Monestra is measured against.
10Investments
A portfolio across every asset class, with allocation, return, and observations about concentration and staleness — never a recommendation.
11Assets
A register of what you own and use — with depreciation, warranty and service dates, the policy covering each item, and an encrypted document vault.
12Subscriptions
Recurring costs, normalised to a comparable monthly figure — with a payment ledger that books a late charge to the month it belongs to.
13Staff
The people you pay every month — salary, advances, festival bonuses, and whether this month is settled. A recurring, often-cash outflow no other module fits.
14Insurance
Every policy in one place, with cover totals, renewal and premium dates, and the things people forget — like a missing nominee.
15Goals
Savings targets and debt payoffs, with a contribution ledger of your own and an honest read on whether you are ahead or behind.
16Compensation
RSUs, options, ESPP and cash pay in one place — vesting schedules, an ESPP discount projection, and a single total-compensation figure.
17Travel
A passport of flags — where you have been and when. Deliberately not a budget tracker.
Insight and output
Value history
The app's memory of what a figure used to be — recorded automatically, correctable by hand, and never interpolated.
19Assistant
A private chat about your own figures, running entirely on your device. Currently in beta.
20Reports
A polished PDF of everything Monestra holds — or of any one module, at exactly the depth you choose. Generated on-device, exported behind Face ID.
Privacy and data
Lock, masking and privacy
Two different protections that are often confused — one keeps people out of the app, the other keeps figures off the screen. Plus an honest account of what neither one does.
22Market data and currency
The only feature in Monestra that touches the network. It ships off, it sends symbols and never amounts, and everything it does is written to a ledger you can read.
23iCloud sync
Your records on all your devices, through your own private iCloud database. What it guarantees, and the one thing it does not.
24Backup and restore
A sealed snapshot of everything, and a portable file you can put somewhere safe. Plus a reversible way to erase it all.
25Notifications
One governed reminder system for the whole app — per module, per event type, with your own lead time. Amounts stay off the lock screen unless you ask.
Reference
Settings reference
Six panes, every control in them, and what each one actually changes.
27Keyboard shortcuts
What a keyboard gets you on a Mac, and on an iPad with one attached.
28Troubleshooting
The things that actually go wrong, what causes them, and how to tell one cause from another.
29Glossary
Terms Monestra uses in a specific way, and what each one means here.