Answers for your money

No. Ask Westara is a private analyst on books you already own — not licensed Anlageberatung, Vermögensverwaltung, or Steuerberatung in Germany. A general-purpose model is not authorised by BaFin, does not run a MiFID suitability process, and you have no Ombudsman or compensation scheme if an answer is wrong.

Westara the product is the same: software to organise and show your data. Charts, alerts, and AI output are non-binding help. You own every decision.

What it can do well (when the books are complete)

• Household cash — categorise income and expenses, spot leaks, plan vs actual, cash by account name
• Balance sheet — net worth on Overview, cash vs invested (equities, BTC), what you already logged
• Equity book — FIFO cost basis, realised vs open P/L, concentration and weights, which names moved the day
• Planning — point at variance, leftover to assign, one next place in the app
• Tax *literacy* — explain how rules such as FIFO, Vorabpauschale, or Verlustverrechnung *generally* work so you can apply them to *your* reports

What it must not do

• Tell you which insurance, ETF, or loan product to buy
• “Sell AAPL and buy this ISIN because it fits you”
• Suitability-based allocation or automated buy/sell signals aimed at you as a product
• Binding tax conclusions on your lots

The legal line (EU / Germany) Under MiFID II / KWG, investment advice is a *personal recommendation* on specific financial instruments that is based on your circumstances or presented as suitable for you. Generic information, education, and number-crunching on *your own historical data* usually sit on the other side of that line. Automated portfolio management or buy/sell signals as a product is the side that needs a licence.

BaFin and ESMA have warned consumers about AI tools that generate buy/sell signals: they are typically neither authorised nor supervised, and tips can be wrong or misleading. German tax advice applied to a concrete case is also restricted (Steuerberater). An LLM walking through “here is how the rules apply to these lots” can drift into that territory if it starts concluding for you.

Using Ask Westara on the slice already on screen is not xAI acting as your Anlageberater. Packaging the same behaviour as a commercial “AI advisor that tells you what to buy” would be a different business.

How to stay on the analysis side

1. Prefer structured books in Westara (import, Open Banking, Activity) over pasting screenshots into another chat.
2. Ask for calculations and *reasons*, not orders: “What drove last year’s realised P/L?” / “Which five holdings are the largest weights?” / “Where did Actuals diverge from the plan this month?”
3. Hard rule: no “buy or sell this ISIN.” If you want an opinion on allocation, ask for *options and trade-offs*, then decide — or take it to a Honorarberater.
4. Re-check tax, product, and legal claims against primary sources or a professional. Models invent rates and confuse jurisdictions.
5. Ask Westara sends a minimal slice to xAI under our DPA. Do not paste IBANs, statements, or a vault dump into a third-party chat.

Books quality Answers are only as good as the books: consistent categories, all accounts you care about (cash, credit, depot, BTC, employer plans you track), corporate actions in Activity, and dates that match how you booked them. Incomplete Activity means incomplete FIFO. Minimum fields, first reports, and a prompt contract: What books and questions make a useful household briefing?

Operating model Ask Westara prepares the briefing. A human owns the decision. That is also how licensed firms are expected to use AI — support, not unsupervised advice.

• How do I open Ask Westara? →
• What does Ask Westara send? →
• AI limits →
• Cost basis (Einstand) →
• Names and rules for an assistant →
• What books and questions make a useful briefing? →