|
I've been using YNAB since September. I paid full price for it (minus 6 bucks) and I don't regret that at all. It's enabled me to use my savings in a more practical way. Instead of just chucking a set amount of money in there per month and dipping into it for all sorts of reasons (and sometimes no reason), it allows me to earmark that money for different things: car insurance, emergency fund, Christmas presents, car maintenance, vacation, and moving expenses for a possible upcoming move. I also appreciate the benefit of having off-budget accounts. Accounts that I keep off-budget: 401(a), Roth IRA, Auto Loan, Auto Value (for net worth purposes), FSA, and HSA. It's definitely made me keep a better eye on my retirement funds and spurred me to make a few changes in how my funds are invested! Since I am a salaried employee, my monthly paychecks are pretty much exactly the same. So - I do budget a month or two out - which I know they discourage. I budget what I know my base pay will be - and then add in the extra hours when I see what my paycheck will be. I also get paid on the last day of the month only, so it makes planning a bit easier in that regard. I also love the Reports feature. Watching my net worth go up since I've started using YNAB has made the sometimes painful process worth it: 
|
#
¿
Jan 3, 2014 02:26
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 17:28 |
|
|
Here's how I do my auto loan, maybe this will help you: Auto Loan itself is an off-budget account. Payment to Auto Loan is under my Monthly Bills budget master category as Car Payment. I budget for it what I actually plan on paying. Payment is $299, but I pay $400. So I budget for $400. When I pay my bill, it is as a "Transfer" from my Checking to the Auto Loan account. Because the Auto Loan is off-budget, you are allowed to assign it a category. Thus it subtracts from the Car Payment category when you transfer the money. To account for accrued interest, the way I do it is I go to my auto loan provider's website and look for the payoff amount. And make my account in YNAB match it by adding the difference as an outflow transaction I note as Interest in the memo area. Hope that makes sense.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 8, 2014 07:23
|
|
|
The whole point of YNAB is that you only budget money you currently have. It won't become available to budget until you actually put it in your register.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 31, 2014 15:52
|
|
|
I have an FSA, which I contribute to out of my paycheck. Since I don't put money in it from my bank account, I have it as an off-budget account. All of my money for the year became available on Jan. 1, so I did that as an inflow to that account. Then I just log my purchases as normal. 
|
|
#
¿
Feb 3, 2014 15:35
|
|
|
Monthly Bills Rent Car Payment Roth IRA Internet Phone Electricity Netflix Needs Groceries Gas Medical Haircuts Wants Spending Money Eating Out Clothing Gifts Savings Goals Emergency Fund Car Insurance Car Stuff Moving Expenses Vacation I'm currently fighting the battle of saving for so many things it feels like I don't have enough money to have any fun. My emergency fund is wimpy, my car needs a 60k service soon, I might be moving in June… But I also want to pay an extra 33% on my car payment each month and slowly build my Roth IRA and and and and 
|
|
#
¿
Feb 19, 2014 02:31
|
|
|
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.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 1, 2014 21:40
|
|
|
My HSA is employer funded, so I keep it off-budget and just manually do the transactions. Since it's reimbursement only, I just categorize the reimbursements as income. For my FSA, funded by me, is also off budget. I contribute a fixed amount like you do, but I just do the transactions manually and don't categorize them. I only really pay for co-pays and prescriptions with it, so it's not a big deal to keep it off-budget.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 9, 2014 16:58
|
|
|
HonorableTB posted:I just bought this and have some questions: When you get that paycheck on the last business day of the month, do you input it as income for the following month or the current month? I only get paid once a month, on the last business day, and I just allocate it as income for the next month. And, yeah, while YNAB is all about budgeting only the money you have… I don't totally use it that way. I budget 6 months out because my wage is pretty stable. I budget for the minimum I know I'll get, and the add in the additional once I know what it will be (usually 3 to 4 days before I get paid). I'm like you in that I like to see myself digging out of a hole - and I like to see what it will look like if I stay the course. Though I would recommend waiting to use YNAB like that until you are completely comfortable using it. (I would move that Auto Loan off budget, though. And then add the off-budget value of the car as well. You can still see your progress on your net worth report!) -- I've now been using YNAB for 9 full months!  My assets passed 50k in June! My net worth has climbed, on average, 2k per month! This month will be a plateau due to the move, but overall I'm making better financial choices than before I started using YNAB. Totally worth it!
|
|
#
¿
Jul 15, 2014 20:58
|
|
|
HonorableTB posted:Should I open more savings accounts (eg, one for medical/dental, one for vacation, etc?) No. I mean, you can, but you don't need to. Here's how it works:  Those are all of my savings goals. You can see how much I budgeted and how much I have saved up for each goal. The number on the top left ($485.35) is how much I need to move into my savings account that month. The number on the top right ($4529.38) is the total balance of my savings account. It's really helped me out as I have always just thrown money into savings and then used it for whatever. Now all of the money in my savings account has purpose.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 15, 2014 23:15
|
|
|
Your Dead Gay Son posted:It's mostly frustrating cause I get paid once a month and it's always around 28-29th. I wish I could just set YNAB to start the month on the 28th or something dumb. So do I… I just put in that income as income for the following month. (ex: I got paid on July 30th, so I put that in as Available for August.)
|
|
#
¿
Aug 5, 2014 05:03
|
|
|
Chin Strap posted:How do you guys budget an FSA account? You sign up for how much is coming out of your account before the start of the year, and at the start of the year you get the entire annual amount available to spend, even though it is only coming out of your paycheck in biweekly payments. I have my FSA as an off budget account and put my contribution as one funding on January 1st. To log transactions, I just do outflows that aren't categorized in my budget. This also means I don't account for that spending in my actual budget. It has worked fine for me so far!
|
|
#
¿
Jan 9, 2015 01:05
|
|
|
I enter transactions about once a week and that seems to work fine. When I was first getting started, though, I did it daily.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 12, 2015 17:30
|
|
|
 
|
|
#
¿
Dec 18, 2016 18:33
|
|
|
Dwight Eisenhower posted:I am trying to do this but I include my outstanding mortgage balance in YNAB. :hardmode: No doubt. I am a renter, so that's important to keep in mind! You got this!
|
|
#
¿
Dec 19, 2016 17:22
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 17:28 |
|
|
Someone wrote a script that converts YNAB4 from 32-bit to 64-bit, enabling it to be used on newer Mac OS. Provided you still have your key. Use at your own risk, of course. I didn't write it so I have no idea if it also steals all your information. https://gitlab.com/bradleymiller/Y64/-/blob/master/install
|
|
#
¿
Dec 19, 2021 17:40
|
|