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I Love Topanga posted:You just blew my mind. I teach this to every entry level Associate in public accounting that I work with and no one has ever heard of this. To be fair, I learned it when I was an intern at a small private corp.
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Apr 29, 2014 22:23
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Bloody Queef posted:Look for transposition errors the easy way! What the gently caress? I believe you because you sound very credible, but can you explain why this is true? I don't have an example handy to try it out for myself. It's like seeing the rule of 72 for the first time. 
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May 4, 2014 21:04
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tuyop posted:What the gently caress? http://ine.scripts.mit.edu/blog/2011/06/the-rule-of-9s/
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May 4, 2014 21:35
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Man, I've got a balance in one of my dozens of hidden categories. Is there any way to find which category it is without unhiding them all?
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May 12, 2014 19:39
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tuyop posted:Man, I've got a balance in one of my dozens of hidden categories. Is there any way to find which category it is without unhiding them all?
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May 12, 2014 20:24
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I did the little 10-day YNAB investment newsletter and it was helpful. Ultimately the dudes suggested company was Betterment.com, mostly cause they're passive, goal-oriented, and only require $100/mo automatic deposits. (No $3000-$5000 starting). Anyone. Else have experience with them? Looks like their portfolio consists of a mix of Vanguard funds and other stuff. I can move this to the investment thread if it should be there.
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May 13, 2014 00:26
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How would y'all handle a one-off store credit card that is going to be paid off immediately and then likely never used again? We bought a bed, and they offered free delivery and pickup of the old one if we got their store card, because they think they're getting their claws in us or something. You can pay $70 and get a 3-month extension on the zero interest! And every six months they randomly select a customer and pay off their entire card! What a bargain! You can't afford not to spend more and then delay payments! This is not a card that will ever be in circulation. We might keep it open just to help our credit rating (we have one other low limit card which is paid off every month), but it just feels gross to add it to the on-budget accounts. I'm not sure I want it even wasting space in the off-budget accounts. Should I treat it as I would a utility bill?
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May 13, 2014 02:26
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If you're going to pay it off and never use it again, I wouldn't even put the card itself into a budget line. Just budget the purchase itself, pay it off and don't use it again.
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May 13, 2014 02:43
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Old Fart posted:How would y'all handle a one-off store credit card that is going to be paid off immediately and then likely never used again? I think we'd put that in our cash account. It holds all sorts of weird stuff.
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May 13, 2014 05:05
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What's the best way to handle cash back rewards on a credit card? Just as income? Or do you just make a reconciliation transaction?
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May 29, 2014 14:15
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I just input mine as income, seems like the easiest way.
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May 29, 2014 14:16
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It's income. It's new money entering your budget. http://www.youneedabudget.com/support/article/credit-card-points-and-rewards crimedog fucked around with this message at 14:26 on May 29, 2014 |
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May 29, 2014 14:24
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How do you guys handle investments in YNAB? I have my investment accounts as non-budget accounts, so when I do a transfer from my checking account to an investment account, it shows up as an expense which just doesn't sit right with me. However, if I include investment accounts as budget accounts, then unrealized gains/losses will count as income/expenses, which also seems weird.
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May 29, 2014 17:02
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My investment accounts are off-budget. I make a budget line item for my Roth IRA, say $350/month. When I make my monthly transfer, it uses that budgeted $350 and transfers it to my off-budget account. Then on the first of the month, I'll do a manual balance adjustment to account for the market gains/losses. My employee stock purchase account is off-budget as well. It is funded directly from paycheck deductions, so I don't bother tracking that money in YNAB other than manually adjusting the balances on the first of the month. Same with 401k.
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May 29, 2014 17:08
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Stephen Smith posted:How do you guys handle investments in YNAB? I have my investment accounts as non-budget accounts, so when I do a transfer from my checking account to an investment account, it shows up as an expense which just doesn't sit right with me. However, if I include investment accounts as budget accounts, then unrealized gains/losses will count as income/expenses, which also seems weird. You have it set up right currently. Who cares if it "sits right"? It's not money you can use for bills and expenses, so it shouldn't be on your budget accounts. It still shows up in your 'net worth' line, if that matters to you.
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May 29, 2014 17:16
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It's not showing up as an expense. It's showing up as an outflow. Moving money from checking to an off budget account is an outflow from your budget. It helps to change your thinking from "expense" to "outflow".
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May 29, 2014 17:27
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Stephen Smith posted:How do you guys handle investments in YNAB? I have my investment accounts as non-budget accounts, so when I do a transfer from my checking account to an investment account, it shows up as an expense which just doesn't sit right with me. However, if I include investment accounts as budget accounts, then unrealized gains/losses will count as income/expenses, which also seems weird. I handle it by keeping my investment account off-budget. In my monthly budget, there's a category simply called 'Investments' - each month I fill it from the 'available to budget' figure like I would anything else. Each month I look over the account and reconcile the value as appropriate. This way it'll count towards your net worth; but as it doesn't affect your budget, the up and down-swings in value won't appear as an expense or income on the 'monthly spending' reports, either. [e] Also, using this method, any contributions you make from your bank to the investment account should naturally match your budgeted amount - the only expenditure you'll see is you 'paying' the investors. In effect, your investment contributions disappear into a black hole - but when you later reconcile the investment account value, it will have increased with your contribution. spincube fucked around with this message at 17:34 on May 29, 2014 |
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May 29, 2014 17:29
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so I could say that I finally figured out what this god damned cube is doing. Get well Lowtax.
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I've only been using this for a short time and its amazing the ease of mind it gives me to be on top of my finances and not feel like I'm playing Russian roulette every time I log into my bank account. Cheers for the YNAB suggestion!
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May 29, 2014 18:04
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I categorize investments as outflowing income because in my mind. They came in with the paycheck income, but they were never meant for the budget.
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May 29, 2014 18:54
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GAYS FOR DAYS posted:What's the best way to handle cash back rewards on a credit card? Just as income? Or do you just make a reconciliation transaction?
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May 30, 2014 18:26
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Is there a report that shows you how much money you've transferred between accounts? I'm trying to figure out how much money I've moved into savings/pre YNAB debt accounts. I figured out a way using the transactions but it's still annoying that way.
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May 31, 2014 23:15
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Veskit posted:Is there a report that shows you how much money you've transferred between accounts? I'm trying to figure out how much money I've moved into savings/pre YNAB debt accounts.  I really wish YNAB allowed custom reports.
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Jun 1, 2014 00:07
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After falling off the bandwagon for 2.5 months, I just got all my individual accounts caught up and reconciled. I feel like I spend way more time in individual accounts than actually looking at the budget screen, I know I'm doing this wrong. I have about $3k between savings and checking at the moment and YNAB says I'm over budget by $1500. Usually on the first day of the month I enter how much I expect to spend on each category (which explains the giant overbudget I guess). I'm doing it backwards, aren't I? I'm tempted to just start fresh, but don't want to lose out on 6 months of spending data I've captured.
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Jun 1, 2014 21:11
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Kind of. Of course, the point of YNAB is to budget money only once you have it. I budget in YNAB months out in advance, though. I get paid once per month and my pay is almost always exactly the same. There are small variances, but I know how much I will get a few days in advance - so I just tweak it a bit once I know for sure. This way works much better for me than waiting until I get my pay. I like to see how my various savings goal will build up if I stay on track. Keeps me motivated.
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Jun 1, 2014 21:40
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Once you get to rule four and start living on last months income, budgeting becomes so much easier.
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Jun 1, 2014 23:20
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GAYS FOR DAYS posted:Once you get to rule four and start living on last months income, budgeting becomes so much easier. Our rule 4ing sucks, I'm going to start splitting pays into income for this month and income for next month. No more huge buffer category tricking us into overspending! *buys $40 worth of fruit bushes, not properly budgeted*
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Jun 1, 2014 23:51
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Rule Four changes everything. Get to it ASAP.
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Jun 2, 2014 01:53
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Old Fart posted:Rule Four changes everything. Get to it ASAP. So when do you fill in your budget? Say you get paid $2000 twice a month, spend $1000 on rent, $1000 on your car payment, and $2000 on groceries. Assuming you aren't to rule 4 yet, would you budget $500 to rent and car, $1000 to groceries each time you get to paid?
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Jun 2, 2014 02:09
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I just fill it in as I get it, starting with the most important categories. But it doesn't really matter cause you're not spending that money til next month anyway.
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Jun 2, 2014 02:25
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Name your known payments something like "rent - 800" and budget up to that with what you have on hand. Got your first paycheck? Put 400 in rent, and whatever else you need. If you have rule 4 done, you can just do 800.
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Jun 2, 2014 02:25
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Dantu posted:So when do you fill in your budget? Say you get paid $2000 twice a month, spend $1000 on rent, $1000 on your car payment, and $2000 on groceries.
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Jun 2, 2014 02:40
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I get paid on the 15th and 30th/31st of every month. I can budget my entire month with one of my semi-monthly paycheques, so I just fill everything out for the following month on the 31st. The paycheque I get on the following 15th gets dumped into either savings or debt repayment categories. I have a $5k category called 'Debt Repellent,' which is my emergency fund, though I also have categories built up with money categorized for 'Medical,' 'Car Maintenance,' etc. I'm not sure if this is doing Rule 4 correctly, but it's working for me...
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Jun 2, 2014 03:08
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I can't wait to hit rule 4 bleh.
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Jun 2, 2014 03:15
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Dantu posted:So when do you fill in your budget? Say you get paid $2000 twice a month, spend $1000 on rent, $1000 on your car payment, and $2000 on groceries. If I'm not at Rule 4, then I'm doing a lot of juggling. It sucks. But one thing I do is cut back where I can and put as much as I can towards the buffer. I'm very strict with putting at least 25% of my income to buffer and emergency funds. Usually more. NEVER LESS. This gets budgeted before anything else, or at least before "quality of life" categories. Getting to Rule 4 (or is it Step 4?) is easier than you think. Rent is usually due first of the month. You budgeted June's rent with May's income. So that's already there. Just gotta save up enough to handle the rest of your expenses. And even with other bills, just because you receive it in May doesn't mean it needs to be paid in May. See what's not due until June. Boom, you're that much closer to budgeting a full month ahead. It's just so nice to have a big chunk of cash to budget all at once, and pay bills all at once. And you don't have to worry about overages, because even if you need to do some re-balancing, your income perpetuates the buffer. It's a whole different ballgame once you get there.
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Jun 2, 2014 03:22
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So, the balances of all your categories should equal the balance of your physical accounts at any given time, correct?
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Jun 2, 2014 14:10
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The big number at the top should be zero at all times. Every dollar has a job. At least, that's how most people do it. There are other ways to use it, but I recommend budgeting to zero as the easiest method.
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Jun 2, 2014 14:31
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Dantu posted:So, the balances of all your categories should equal the balance of your physical accounts at any given time, correct? No, because you can add transactions that you know about, but that haven't cleared yet. That reduces the category balance, and the "Working Balance" YNAB displays, while the physical account balance hasn't updated yet. The "Cleared Balance" field in YNAB should always match though, if it doesn't, you need to clear transactions and/or reconcile that account.
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Jun 2, 2014 15:21
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Tamba posted:No, because you can add transactions that you know about, but that haven't cleared yet. That reduces the category balance, and the "Working Balance" YNAB displays, while the physical account balance hasn't updated yet. As soon as a transaction gets added to an account, it subtracts from account balance and category balance. Clearing is just for reconciliation. Unless you're using a setting that I'm not. The total of my category balances have always equaled my account balances, so Dantu posted:So, the balances of all your categories should equal the balance of your physical accounts at any given time, correct? Correct, as far as I know.
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Jun 2, 2014 16:43
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tuyop posted:As soon as a transaction gets added to an account, it subtracts from account balance and category balance. Clearing is just for reconciliation. Unless you're using a setting that I'm not. No, that's correct. But there are cases where you add a transaction to YNAB, that hasn't actually hit your account yet (for example when you order from amazon, you get charged when they ship it, not when you complete the order). In those cases, the cleared balance equals the actual account balance, while the working balance and the category balances are what's left over when that transaction goes through.
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Jun 2, 2014 17:56
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So basically, the categories are like little virtual accounts, right? I've been getting really hung up on where the money physically is, for example I'd transfer to a savings account and it wouldn't let me assign it to a category unless I moved the savings account off budget, and I'd get frustrated.
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Jun 2, 2014 18:23
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