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Henrik Zetterberg posted:That's basically my "oh poo poo I got laid off but still have a mortgage to pay" fund. Should I be splitting it into two categories: 6-month emergency fund and savings? Well the 6 month OH poo poo fund is step 4 of the ynab, which is going out and paying for your future values. So you basically take all the money in your emergency fund, and say ok, April mortage is XXXX and you put hte dollars in that, then go down the list till you hit the end, then rince and repeat until September. That gives you a forecast of hwo much you'd spend each month if you had a poo poo hit the fan event. You're budgeting for all your expenses for 6 months so you can forecast better than just having a vague "emergency" fund. THEN you create your emergency buffer, which is just for like small things that you really couldn't plan out, or family loans, ect. That shouldn't be too much money, probably like 500-1000 tops. Then all that left over money can be used for retirement, or budgeting it for vacations and fun things, because you already have 6 months of expenses budgeted. You need to give your dollars better values than "savings" or "emergency". Better to have categories for your off budget retirement accounts and rainy day accounts than "Emergency Savings". OVERALL it looks like you have 18K left over after you max out your Roth IRA. That's 3k in expenses per month that you're expecting. So you take that money and budget up to 3k into each month to september. Veskit fucked around with this message at 18:40 on Mar 4, 2014 |
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Mar 4, 2014 18:36
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Wait, really? I thought YNAB suggested not forecasting expenses and entering them ahead of current period. Seems like you could calculate monthly expenses based on average of last 6mo, multiple by 6 (or hey take the sum of last 6mo) and that is your efund target amount. You could subtract out non-essentials, user discretion required.
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Mar 4, 2014 22:11
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SiGmA_X posted:Wait, really? I thought YNAB suggested not forecasting expenses and entering them ahead of current period. Seems like you could calculate monthly expenses based on average of last 6mo, multiple by 6 (or hey take the sum of last 6mo) and that is your efund target amount. You could subtract out non-essentials, user discretion required.
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Mar 4, 2014 22:15
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100 HOGS AGREE posted:It's not really forecasting if you're allocating money you already have though, technically! Yeah if it's money you have on hand, it's ok and within the philosophy. They just don't want you entering paychecks ahead of time.
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Mar 4, 2014 22:48
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Your Dead Gay Son posted:Yeah if it's money you have on hand, it's ok and within the philosophy. They just don't want you entering paychecks ahead of time. I'd avoid doing this, personally. Another YNAB rule is to 'roll with the punches', so if the poo poo does hit the fan you can say 'no problem!' and shuffle your budget for that month around to suit. If you're allocating your cash beyond the next month, each alteration you need to make will have a butterfly effect on everything you've planned for down the line. Hence why you can't allocate income in YNAB beyond the next month: even if you're not living from payday to payday, you're still building a pile of cash to live on for next month, every month. ...which is why I'm mystified that the periodic feature request threads on the YNAB forums seem to miss the point of the software and method so spectacularly. You Probably Need Slightly More Advanced Financial Software To Track Your Investment Portfolio doesn't roll off the tongue though
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Mar 5, 2014 00:13
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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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That's true, and I agree. But for some things like your monthly bills, you're pretty much GONNA pay the rent. But I wouldn't budget out my everyday expenses, that's for sure.
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Mar 5, 2014 00:21
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spincube posted:I'd avoid doing this, personally. Another YNAB rule is to 'roll with the punches', so if the poo poo does hit the fan you can say 'no problem!' and shuffle your budget for that month around to suit. If you're allocating your cash beyond the next month, each alteration you need to make will have a butterfly effect on everything you've planned for down the line. Isn't avoiding doing this breaking rule 4, which is the whole point of ynab to actually get you to save for the future? Am I missing something?
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Mar 5, 2014 00:48
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Veskit posted:I would try and go 6 months out with that emergency savings and assign that money to future dollars. It can give you a more accurate view of what your money is going to be doing. This is "step 4" of the YNAB method. Edit: whoops, a page behind.
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Mar 5, 2014 02:48
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Old Fart posted:Is that Step 4? I thought they just wanted a month ahead. I went many months out when I was sporadically employed, and it helped me stay ahead of the langoliers, but if you have steady income and savings, I'm not sure if there's value in that. Seems like a lot of work. *scratches head* Ok so rule 4 isn't go budget as far out as you want, but only a month out. BUT, I still believe the software wants you to do this considering that it won't let you budget a paycheck to be received 2 months out, and it does let you budget out the money you have as far as you want. Isn't budgeting the next 6 months in YNAB effectively coming up with a poo poo goes horribly wrong buffer plan?
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Mar 5, 2014 02:58
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..you guys are overcomplicating. 1) RULE 4 is "Live on last month's income". Meaning if you get paid March 1 and March 15, you mark both of those as "Income for April" because you've got enough of a buffer in your checking account to pay for everything in March without spending March's paychecks. 2) You *can* budget however far in advance you want, and mark Income for whatever date in the future you want. That's just not part of the YNAB 'system'. You shouldn't budget for money you don't have on-hand.
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Mar 5, 2014 03:02
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Me in Reverse posted:..you guys are overcomplicating. I don't see the point to forecast every budget item 6 months out, in general. I can take my monthly expenses and multiple by 6 and come up with what I need for the next 6 months. Every non-monthly expense (insurance, for example) is accrued monthly and paid every 6-12mo, at least in my budget, so monthly rate * 6 = 6mo rate, monthly rate * 12 / 26 = paycheck rate, etc.
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Mar 5, 2014 03:11
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100 HOGS AGREE posted:It's not really forecasting if you're allocating money you already have though, technically! It's effectively the "what if I only get paid sporadically" Self-Employment (or Elementary Schoolteacher Who Gets Paid Wages For The Whole Summer In Mid June) scenario. We'll go with a teacher being paid US Median Income-ish ($36,000/year gross, 30% taxes) who needs to budget for the summer. 1. You get paid a lump sum ($6300 net) for June, July, and August. Your next paycheck is 1 September. 2. You enter this entire thing as an inflow when you get paid on 1 June as Income for June. 3. Budget to zero ($2100) for June. 4. Create a "Deferred Income" category. 5. Budget $4200 in the Deferred Income category in June. 6. In July, budget -$2100 in the Future Income Category. This sets your July Available to Budget figure to $2100 and your August Future Income category is $2100. (see where this is going?) 7. Budget to zero for July. 8. In August, budget -$2100 in the Future Income Category. This sets your August Available to Budget figure to $2100 and your September Future Income category to $0. 9. 1 September, you get paid $2100. If the poo poo hits the fan, and you need to tap into your 6 month emergency reserve, you'd follow the same process. If you've got 6 months income in your emergency reserve, you'd start by putting $12,500 in your Deferred Income category, then budget out monthly from there. Kenny Rogers fucked around with this message at 03:18 on Mar 5, 2014 |
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Mar 5, 2014 03:16
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Edit: ^^^ yeah, I was basically in that situation when I was forecasting out.Veskit posted:Isn't budgeting the next 6 months in YNAB effectively coming up with a poo poo goes horribly wrong buffer plan? Right now, if poo poo went wrong, my monthly budget wouldn't look how it does when poo poo is going right. But when I was on the edge of poo poo going wrong, looking many months ahead was very helpful, especially as the finish line got further and further away. For me right now, doing a YNAB budget that far ahead would distract me from focusing on the current months. I'd rather just have savings accounts. I have basic living expenses in different master categories from quality of life expenses, so it's easy to see at a glance how much I need for a basic six month slush find. But if it works for you, then go for it. When I did it, it was a nice security blanket and helped me see the big picture a bit better.
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Mar 5, 2014 03:21
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I'm wondering how you guys handle getting change back when paying with cash. I hate carrying coins around with me, so if I pay for anything with cash and get some coins back, I usually just dump them in a jar at home and forget about it until the jar is too full to deal with, and then deposit it at the bank. Should I just create a seperate account titled something like "coins" and when I get change, leave the full dollar amounts in my "cash" account, and put the coins in the "coins" account? I worry I'm going to end up thinking I have more cash on hand than I really do, because I don't carry around a big jar of pennies to the store with me. Or am I just being really loving pedantic about this? I already have a separate account for "quarters" for when I need to do laundry. Also, I'll be interested in seeing my reports at the end of this month, as it will be the first month that accurately portrays my monthly income. January is when I bought YNAB, and it was a 3 paycheck month, so my income for that month looked huge, and February I got my tax return.
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Mar 5, 2014 15:13
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I think people handle it different. You could do a "jar" account and transfer the money as you put in, or I believe I saw one goon who rounded all cash purchases up to the nearest dollar for tracking purposes, then put the change in the jar and have a nice surprise however long it takes to fill it up.
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Mar 5, 2014 15:16
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Gothmog1065 posted:I think people handle it different. You could do a "jar" account and transfer the money as you put in, or I believe I saw one goon who rounded all cash purchases up to the nearest dollar for tracking purposes, then put the change in the jar and have a nice surprise however long it takes to fill it up. I rarely make cash transactions though because if I can put it on my credit card I'll do so. If I had to do quarters for laundry I'd make it a category instead of a budget account.
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Mar 5, 2014 16:21
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Does anyone have suggestions on how to handle splitting a dinner bill? I have a 'Restaurants' sub-category in a 'Luxuries' master. Say I go out for dinner, and it costs $60 total. I'll end up putting $60 on my CC, while my date/friend gives me $30 cash. So far I've just been listing $60 as a Restaurant outflow, and then counting the $30 as new income for the month. Is there a better way to do this? Maybe with split transactions or something?
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Mar 5, 2014 22:07
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Grouco posted:Does anyone have suggestions on how to handle splitting a dinner bill? What I do is charge whatever goes on the card to the Restaurants category. Then, I make a separate transaction for the cash, however instead of logging it as income, I log it as an inflow in Restaurants rather than an outflow. This has the benefit of not only keeping your actual spending in the category accurate, but also keeping your cash balance and card balances accurate too.
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Mar 5, 2014 22:12
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LogisticEarth posted:What I do is charge whatever goes on the card to the Restaurants category. Then, I make a separate transaction for the cash, however instead of logging it as income, I log it as an inflow in Restaurants rather than an outflow. This has the benefit of not only keeping your actual spending in the category accurate, but also keeping your cash balance and card balances accurate too. Yup, this is what I do too. I just paid $2400 for hoodies/tshirts and stuff for 2 of my hockey teams and stuck that in my Clothing category, which is obviously way over my monthly Clothing budget. As everyone paid me for their junk, I didn't log it as income for this/next month, rather just putting an inflow for my Clothing category. After everyone paid me, I was only negative on the stuff I bought for myself.
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Mar 5, 2014 22:21
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Great, that seems like the way to go. Thanks!
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Mar 5, 2014 22:22
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E: shoulda read the rest of the new posts before posting - we all do it the same way! Sorry for the worthless triple post!Grouco posted:Does anyone have suggestions on how to handle splitting a dinner bill? I played with splitting the expense into 2 transactions (both in the same dining category) and having the one commented as 'BuddyName lunch' the same dollar amount as the inflow, but that was more effort than I wanted to apply for not gain. I can tell that -22 and +12 from 2 transactions means that my net expense was 10.
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Mar 5, 2014 23:08
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I budget $50/month toward medical expenses, but just had an unexpected medical expense. It wasn't too terrible, but it was $600 (being switched to a high deductible plan sucks balls) so I had to dip into my emergency fund. Do I categorize this as a medical expense, or count it against my emergency fund category? Right now I categorized it as Medical, then the carry-over negative balance subtracted from my "available to budget next month." I plan to put a negative number for my emergency fund contribution next month to make up for it. Does that sound right?
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Mar 14, 2014 19:03
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Henrik Zetterberg posted:I budget $50/month toward medical expenses, but just had an unexpected medical expense. It wasn't too terrible, but it was $600 (being switched to a high deductible plan sucks balls) so I had to dip into my emergency fund. Do I categorize this as a medical expense, or count it against my emergency fund category? I don't think there's really a right answer. Just take out 600 from your current emergency fund and dump the extra 600 into your medical expenses, and write up the charge to your medical. That way it'll adjust your savings and increase your expenses. God YNAB stop making me think of everything as debits and credits I'm over that part of my life 
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Mar 14, 2014 19:09
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Makes sense. I made a negative contribution to my emergency fund (for this month) and shifted that money to my Medical category to 0 the balance. Easy enough! Henrik Zetterberg fucked around with this message at 19:18 on Mar 14, 2014 |
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Mar 14, 2014 19:15
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Henrik Zetterberg posted:Makes sense. You used your HSA for this expense, right? If not, start contributing more, and then take a withdraw in the amount of the expense and you'll avoid tax on that expense.
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Mar 14, 2014 19:54
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Nope, I actually thought that HSA was a use-it-or-lose-it at the end of the year, so I never bothered. Now that I know this is not the case, I will definitely set one up.
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Mar 14, 2014 20:37
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Henrik Zetterberg posted:Nope, I actually thought that HSA was a use-it-or-lose-it at the end of the year, so I never bothered. Now that I know this is not the case, I will definitely set one up. There's been a lot of chat in the retirement thread, but they seem pretty loving great and I'll generalize what I've heard. Take it with a grain of salt. HSA roll over every year, you can put in pre tax dollars and pull it out for all medical expenses included dumb stuff like electric tooth brushes, and it also sounds like there are investment opportunities in it. Plus you'll always have medical expenses sooo no reason not to contribute. I think...
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Mar 14, 2014 20:43
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HSAs no longer allow you to do some of the cool things you used to do, including buying random over the counter stuff at pharmacies. On the other hand, since it acts as another retirement account at 65, its a great little device for putting your money away and paying for your medical expenses. In order to stop paying fees though, be sure to have enough left in your HSA when you do have to spend. Once you get past your expected deductible for about 2 years, you're pretty much always going to be in the green with an HSA from what I understand.
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Mar 14, 2014 21:21
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Henrik Zetterberg posted:Nope, I actually thought that HSA was a use-it-or-lose-it at the end of the year, so I never bothered. Now that I know this is not the case, I will definitely set one up.
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Mar 14, 2014 23:37
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Oh man I don't remember where I posted it but someone bought YNAB with my referral link and now I have six dollars. Program's payin' for itself 
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Mar 15, 2014 15:04
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Henrik Zetterberg posted:Right now I categorized it as Medical, then the carry-over negative balance subtracted from my "available to budget next month." I plan to put a negative number for my emergency fund contribution next month to make up for it. Does that sound right? You can also click (or right click?) the negative balance and have it carry over to that specific category, instead of being subtracted from the overall available to budget.
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Mar 16, 2014 00:14
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I have a question about how to handle hypothetical large, unexpected, purchases/payments: Let's say I either have a medical emergency, or my car breaks down, and I don't have enough budgeted away (even with using nothing in their allocated budgets for several months,) to pay for it all at once. But, unlike certain other categories, I NEED to pay for it all now. And we're also assuming that even if I empty out all of my more "optional" budget categories, like restaurants, entertainment, etc... I'm still WAY short of what I need. So I put it on a credit card because I don't have cash on hand. Let's also assume that this card is normally paid off every month and it either started at $0 when I started using YNAB, or I managed to get all the pre-YNAB debt on it to $0. What's the best way to handle this so I can track that "oh, the reason that CC is taking five months to pay off is because of way back in March my engine died." And this way the "Car Repair/Replacement" budget category is the one that gets "tasked" to give it's budgeted money to the extra CC payments?
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Mar 19, 2014 14:26
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Put in the large expense in that category, then click on the big red negative number under Balance and select Subtract it from next month's category balance -> This will make the balance carry over into future months instead of subtracting from your available to budget.  Then what you'd do is just make uncategorized transfers from your checking to your credit card equivalent to the amount you budget for that category next month.
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Mar 19, 2014 14:36
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Bought YNAB during the steam sale but just before moving overseas, so there was no reason to start filling it in due to the insane cost of moving and random costs of buying new stuff. Things are starting to settle down and I'm starting to get a sense of what my bills will be so I'll probably start setting it up soon. Will have questions I'm sure. It'll be specially useful in calculating the lingering costs of "back home" until our old house sells and how they impact life here...
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Mar 20, 2014 08:03
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When do you guys use each of these options? Right now, I have the bottom one selected for anything that runs over-budget.
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Mar 21, 2014 16:26
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I only use it for that because I wanted to watch how long it took for me to break even after I soaked an early termination fee when I broke my Sprint contract and changed cell phone companies, even though I could have paid it off immediately. Otherwise I never use either because I never go over in a category and don't account for it by sucking money out of somewhere else.
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Mar 21, 2014 16:37
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Henrik Zetterberg posted:When do you guys use each of these options? Right now, I have the bottom one selected for anything that runs over-budget. Only use the over arrow for reimbursables, and be careful that those can be borne by your checking buffer or efund balance. That is the path to consumer debt. A better option is to just offset the overage using the balance from a large rainy day fund like tires or vacation savings and put a note in that borrowed-from category to refund the redistribution. I also use it for over budget balances sometimes just before a payday because I don't feel like redistributing a category on the 30th and then back on the 1st. This is less of a problem after you go rule 4.
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Mar 21, 2014 16:55
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YNAB is now free for currently enrolled College Students It's a special licence that only lasts until the end of the calendar year but if you're currently attending college that's super nice.
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Mar 25, 2014 19:29
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100 HOGS AGREE posted:YNAB is now free for currently enrolled College Students Thanks for letting me know about this. It's a great deal for any college student.  Now to get my budget on.
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Mar 31, 2014 20:42
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Is it possible to have sub-sub categories? I use public transportation, sometimes bus, sometimes metro, sometimes taxi. It would be nice to have sub category and fine tune my budget. Or that if I have a "drinking fund" I like to designate 60% into wine, and 40% into beer.
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Apr 4, 2014 07:36
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