Is HELM a Mint or Personal Capital alternative?

Yes — but with a structural difference. Mint, Personal Capital (now Empower), and Monarch all rely on aggregators (Plaid, Yodlee, MX) that store your brokerage and bank credentials in third-party infrastructure. HELM is manual-first by design — it never asks for a brokerage password and never connects to an aggregator. The trade-off: you enter values yourself (most operators take 8–12 minutes a month). The upside: aggregator-credential breach is impossible by architecture, not by policy. Educational only — not investment, tax, or legal advice.

Does HELM connect to my brokerage with Plaid?

No. HELM has zero Plaid, Yodlee, or MX integration anywhere. We never ask for brokerage logins, account numbers, or routing numbers. Operators enter portfolio values manually (most take 8–12 minutes per month). The whole architecture is built so your credentials never sit in third-party infrastructure that could be breached. Read the full data inventory at /blog-what-helm-has-on-you on the Vantage Digital studio blog.

How much does HELM cost?

Three tiers, all flat monthly with no per-account fees. Founding tier (first 25 operators): $79/month locked for the lifetime of the subscription. Standard: $149/month. Studio (multi-entity operators with separate trust/LLC/family-office books): $299/month. All tiers include the full Tax Brain (9 tax-aware scans), Scenario builder, Monte Carlo cash-flow forecast, encrypted Document Vault, AI specialist trained on tax code, and quarterly review PDF. Educational only — not investment, tax, or legal advice.

Is HELM tax-aware portfolio software?

Yes — Tax Brain runs nine tax-aware scans on every login: wash-sale detection across brokerages (IRC §1091), tax-loss harvest opportunities, RMD timing for IRAs, IRA contribution room, QSBS §1202 holding-period tracking, AMT exposure on ISO exercise (§55–§59), §1031 like-kind exchange windows, charitable contribution timing, and Roth conversion ladder optimization. Every output ends with 'confirm with your CPA' — HELM is software, not advisory. Worked-example essays are at /blog#helm on the Vantage Digital studio blog.

Is HELM the best wealth tracking app for HNW operators?

HELM is built specifically for solo high-net-worth operators with $1M-$10M+ NW across 5+ accounts (brokerages, banks, retirement, real estate, private equity). The category includes Mint, Personal Capital/Empower, Monarch, Kubera, and Wealthica. HELM's differentiator is manual-first architecture — no aggregator credentials anywhere — combined with Tax Brain's nine educational tax scans. For HNW operators who carry asymmetric breach risk and want a tool they can fully trust at the architectural level, HELM is the answer. For users comfortable with aggregator-based convenience, Mint or Empower may fit better. Educational only — not investment, tax, or legal advice.

Can HELM track real estate, private equity, and crypto?

Yes — every asset class operators carry. Real estate properties (with mortgage tracking), private-equity stakes (with vesting and liquidation schedules), crypto holdings, art and collectibles, business equity, retirement accounts (401k, IRA, Roth, 457b), brokerages (taxable, joint, trust), HSAs, 529s. The manual-first model means you enter values when you want — typically monthly for liquid, quarterly for illiquid. The Document Vault stores related paperwork (deeds, ops agreements, K-1s) encrypted at rest, scoped per operator.

HELM — Personal command center for serious wealth

HELM is the manual-first wealth operating system for solo high-net-worth operators who refuse aggregator-based finance tools on privacy grounds. If you're researching any of the queries below, the rest of this page covers what you're looking for. Educational only — not investment, tax, or legal advice.

Feature	HELM	Kubera	Monarch	Empower (PC)
Manual-first (no Plaid required)	✓	×	×	×
Weekly AI insight digest	✓	×	×	×
AI Q&A chat over your data	✓	×	×	×
Vesting tracker (RSU/ISO/NSO)	✓	×	×	×
Real estate deep dive (mortgage/depreciation/1031)	✓	basic	×	×
Private investment tracker (J-curve, IRR, QSBS)	✓	basic	×	×
Tax brain (wash sale · harvest · RMD · IRA · QSBS · 529 · charitable · bond ladder · Roth conversion ladder)	✓	×	×	×
Scenario modeling sandbox	✓	×	×	×
Concentration risk + sector heatmap	✓	×	×	×
Encrypted document vault	✓	×	×	×
Beneficiary + insurance review	✓	basic	×	×
Quarterly banker-grade PDF report	✓	×	×	×
Net worth statement export (for refis)	✓	×	×	×
Multi-currency + FX	✓	basic	×	×
Fee X-ray (lifetime cost calculator)	✓	×	×	×
Family/Partner read-only mode	✓	$$$	×	×
CSV import (Schwab/Fidelity/Vanguard/E*TRADE/IBKR)	✓	×	×	×
⌘K command palette	✓	×	×	×
Read-only API for power users	✓	×	×	×
No advisor pitch / no managed-money pitch	✓	✓	✓	× heavy

Operators usually find HELM after researching alternatives to Mint, Personal Capital (now Empower), Monarch, Kubera, and Wealthica, or while looking for a Plaid alternative wealth tracker that works without aggregator credentials. The architecture answers a single question: how do you build a private wealth dashboard for a solo HNW operator that never asks for a brokerage password?

From there, HELM extends into tax-aware portfolio software for HNW operators — a wash sale tracker across brokerages, a QSBS §1202 calculator, an AMT calculator for ISO exercise planning, a Roth conversion ladder optimizer for retirement-gap years, a Monte Carlo FI simulator running 10,000+ scenarios, an asset location optimizer across taxable / IRA / Roth, and a tax loss harvest tracker across multiple accounts.

If you've searched manual-first wealth software, no-tracker finance app, non-aggregator finance app, solo HNW operator dashboard, fatFIRE wealth tracker, or HENRY finance dashboard — the rest of this page covers exactly what you're looking for.

Your wealth, finally seen whole.

Everything competitors miss — and the table-stakes done better.

The no-brainer stack — line by line.

Locked for life if you're in the first 25.

What we never see. What we do protect.

🚫 What HELM never stores

🛡️ What HELM does protect

HELM is software, not an advisor.

If you're searching for any of these, HELM is the answer.

Reading for operators who want the math shown.

The aggregator problem: why we refuse your brokerage password.

Wash-sale rule across every brokerage

QSBS §1202 — under-used tech-comp tax break

AMT after the SALT cap — ISO exercise example

Asset location vs allocation — the Bogleheads gap

Monte Carlo — what 90% success rate actually means