Getting Started With YNAB!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 มิ.ย. 2024
- New to the YNAB software? We’ll show you how to set up YNAB in a few easy steps, plus how to succeed in managing your money over the long haul. This is everything you need to know packed into one informative and often hilarious 27-minute video. Pour yourself a cup o’ something good and let’s get started!
Timestamps:
0:00 What you need to get started
1:19 Create your plan
5:29 How to think about YNAB
6:48 Add your checking account
7:29 Assign dollars on mobile
10:37 Enter a transaction
11:44 What the colors mean
13:11 Deal with overspending
13:36 The most important YNAB rule
17:00 Enter a paycheck and assign dollars on web
19:01 Add your savings account
20:47 Add your credit card
22:22 Spend with a credit card
23:50 Make a credit card payment
25:21 The three-step method
26:08 Need a little help?
Sign up for a free trial! - www.youneedabudget.com/?...
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Sign up for YNAB’s weekly email newsletter with the week’s best budgeting wisdom and inspiration!
www.youneedabudget.com/weekly...
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Come say, "Hi!" on social:
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Instagram: / youneedabudget
Twitter: / ynab
Listen to The You Need a Budget PODCAST here: www.youneedabudget.com/podcasts/
And read our BLOG here:
www.youneedabudget.com/blog/
#budgeting #youneedabudget #ynab
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Want even more information on using credit cards in YNAB? Check out this video! th-cam.com/video/bZlAj1utJFI/w-d-xo.html
Its similar to mint app ?
Please, please, please add one more option (you already add so many useful options already!) Please add a BI-WEEKLY option!!!
Yes! For both income and outflow! +1 exactly this.
I was just about to comment this - my rent is due fortnightly
this is what this App needs so badly.
Yes PLEASE!!
Not only that, quarterly or per trimester should be there as well
It would be really nice to have a segment where you show someone’s actual budgeting on a daily/weekly/ just by documenting a more organic way, give us motivation, real life, scenarios, and examples of what budgeting looks like in real time.
Changing my mentality about money the way YNAB has taught me has literally changed my life.
I LOVE YNAB and am a seventy-four-year-old grandma who has so far been unsuccessful in getting my kids switched over!
I've gotten 2 out of 4 to come over. They love it!!!
I've been on and off YNAB for about 4yrs now and I've been relying on the info and videos from other YNAB users. THIS has explained YNAB in a way that it makes total sense to me now. THANK YOU FOR THIS UPDATED VIDEO!!! I'm back on YNAB!
I would trust this guy to teach me how to defuse a bomb 😄🤓
I really needed this super clear tutorial! 👏🏾👏🏾
I wish explanations for all my pursuits were this concise, geez.. i'd def be more confident and take more responsibility if they were.
Thanks, Ben 👌🏾
I watched the credit card payment envelope portion over and over and I am in awe of how this allows you to use a CC but not lose your budget goals. I am so glad I signed up for this app!
If this dude wrote his own script, budget to give him a raise.
I love YNAB, so easy to keep track
Very well scripted presentation, and very smoothly delivered. Congratulations on doing such an excellent job conveying the "what," "how," and most importantly "why." I have been a long (albeit sporadic) user of MINT, and was looking for a new tool to take control of my finances - you have a convert!
This was SUPER helpful. I really appreciate the YNAB principle to not spend what you don't have. Thanks so much.
Wait this came out today!? feel like this is a sign from a greater entity that I really do need to be doing budgeting.
Lasers 😂 I'm loving the new look, and also the terminology.
Finally someone who mentions Triple A , registration and other misc fees!
You have been extremely, helpful. I will be more aware of what I hit next time it does not show up in both columns. This makes the new update a little easier for sure. Thank you again for taking your time to explain this. Have a wonderful day.
Great tutorial for new user! Back in November when I started using Ynab it would have been a good starting point particularly for a foreigner. I desperately wish to see french content and hope that the software will be translated in french cause even if I love this software and completely subscribed to the method, I can’t recommend it to people around me because a lot of them only speak french and are discouraged to learn a new method in another tongue… But I will patiently wait.
In the meantime, I’m going to appreciate all the new features and great content you are sharing. Thanks
This is my favorite YNAB video so far. I've watched it several times and it's helping to clarify the process in my mind. ❤
loving the updates to the look of the apps!
I just started using ynab and it took a little bit to figure out how I wanted to setup my budget. I would highly recommend adding an option to copy a budget that has already been created so a user can rearrange the copy budget without having to start from scratch again. That would give a user the ability to run two budgets a time to see what works best for them. I created 3 and it was very time consuming having to start over each time.
They do have that option - you may have realized it by now- it's call "Fresh Start". It copies all your categories into a new budget, including your accounts with $ amounts available; it places all if your available funds into "Ready to Assign". At that point, you are ready to play around with it. It saves the previous budget as "Archived", but you can still use it if you decide that's the budget that works for you. The budgets you create that you choose not to use, you can archive.
Every Dollar has that and cashflow mgmt “paycheck planner”
Ben is fantastic! Answered so many of my questions - super clear explanations and lays it out so well - thank you!
Woo hoo!! Thank you Liz! Ben is one of the best teachers we know. 🤓
-Hannah 🌻
YAY! Thank you for the updated video! I've been using ynab going on 3yrs and it was time for a fresh start (new home, new city, new job), and this video caught me up on so many features I had kinda ignored, and so many little tid bits that couldve made my life a lot easier if I had known earlier!!
Nice!! We love to hear that! Little YNAB is growin' up :)
-Hannah 🌻
So many excellent quality of life updates/ user experience enhancements to the tool since I was last using it. I had to stop because I was having a hard time reconciling credit card payments, so excited to see you guys fixed that. I'm also loving the new "targets" feature. Just wanted to add that the only way to see it in the table is to use the "progress bars on" option which is the toggle for taller row heights. (Took me a while to find it). As a UX professional, I really appreciate these new features and glad to be back on the app and keeping my spending visible and effective towards my goals. Thanks for the great video!
One of the best tutorials I've seen, Ben was excellent. Thank you, so helpful!
LOVE LOVE LOVE the new set up!!!
Love this video. This is the one I will send to friends so they can see what it's like to use YNAB.
Yes! Please do!! It's our one-stop shop for learning YNAB in a flash 😊
-Hannah 🌻
what a fantastic tutorial Ben, amazing work, thanks
This is a really great intro video! One I feel confident sending to friends as I try to get them to start YNAB. :) Thanks!! Particularly a fan of the change from budgeting to assigning, and of the edit function on mobile.
Woo hooo!! Music to our ears! So glad you feel the tutorial is palatable and easily digestible for the new user. (Also, am I hungry, or..?)
-Hannah 🌻
YNAB gets better all the time. Love the company and the product!
This was a great video. Thank you!
This absolutely amazing 👍🏽 Thank you so much 🙏🏽
Excellent explanation of the YNAB process! Thank you!
This was super helpful - thanks! I’m going to try YNAB 👍😊
This was great even as an old YNABer because it showed using the autoassign which I've been kind of afraid of up until now 🤣
Having used YNAB for six years before the update... I was also a bit scared 😅 But now it feels totally natural!
- Ben M
This was AMAZING!! Thank you so much!!
I started using YNAB last month and I totally missed the Target option. 🤦🏽♀️ My budget already looks SO much better!
You're welcome! 😄 I went two YEARS without knowing about targets, so... 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️ Targets were life-changing for me.
- Ben M
This was GREAT! ❤ Liked, subbed and am getting my YNAB set up now. Thanks!
This video helped me get started because I was so confused- Thank you so much! A helpful tip for me was I slowed the playback speed to .75 so I can follow easier
Great video for new users. Like me. Ynab is overwhelming.
ben casually using math equations in the assigned categories like he didn't just SHOW ME SOMETHING BRAND NEW. are you telling me i can just SUBTRACT $40 from my assigned amount to move elsewhere without first doing the math in my head and re-typing in the new number?!?! My mind is blown. this video was so clear, thank you! I wasn't sure what the yellow meant and now I understand!
YES YOU CAN! 🥳
- Ben M 🎨
Very well done video! Thank you!
Great demo.
I’ve already shared it to someone confused with credit card set up. Thanks
Glad I watched this for the credit cards. I pay certain things monthly on my cc for points or cash back and then pay off each month. I was having a hard time how to match and organize the payments.
Yay, I'm glad this was helpful! 🙂 If you have any more questions about credit cards, we have another video like this one coming out soon that will focus specifically on credit cards in YNAB.
- Ben M
to me, ynab is essential. im a broke college student in nyc and i consider myself a smart lady, but when it comes to budgeting on a spreadsheet, all motivation disappears! thx ynab!!!
I can't wait to try it this way. Now I'm ready to pay for the year instead of monthly
So this is a great video overview. I would really love some use cases and scenarios.
Soooooo helpful! Thank you :)
Fantastic video!!!
Great presentation ☺️ thank you.
Thank you for the video
Hey, Ben! Didn't know you worked for YNAB! Great job on the video! I'm getting ready to launch back in after a few years out. Wish me luck.
Excellent video and explanations! I've been using YNAB for a few weeks and have watched many of the videos. I think for someone who is beginning or have been doing it for a little while will get a lot from this. I'm going to come back to this video later and make to review the basics. Thank you!
Woo hoo! Thanks so much for the feedback! We love to hear that this video was helpful to a new user. Best of luck on your budgeting journey! Always feel free to come back here with questions!
-Hannah 🌻
explained very well !!
Great video!
Holy cow this is everything I've ever wanted from my spreadsheet. I literally am the person who does a forecast budget and has to figure out the difference between the budget and the actual bank balance - it truly is such a mental strain, and my wife and I aren't able to work together on our finances. I'm starting the free trial soon. I love this. Thank you YNAB.
YAAAAY! How is it going so far?! Make sure to hop back here and ask any questions you want, or reach out to our customer support team-they love answering any and all budgeting questions! We also have plenty of videos here on TH-cam that may be able to answer some of the questions you might run into along the way. Hope you and YNAB vibe well together! It is truly SO much easier than the spreadsheet days and it brings me unexplainable peace of mind.
🌻 Hannah
@@YNABofficial Hey Hannah! I will admit, I have already reset the budget 3-4 times in this first week, but I think I'm content with my categories and goals for now. I absolutely love being able to know what's up with the finances in the present moment instead of working off projections and estimations! My wife is already starting to get more involved now that the app is on her phone - we plan on going out for dinner tomorrow with our newly-made Eating Out budget to sit and talk about our goals and dreams going forward. We're already so close to being a month ahead since I broke down our savings, so that's a big goal for me right now.
Also, I've been loving Budget Nerds - I've had it in the background all week at work and I feel like I've found my people! Thanks YNAB for being such a great community. Hopefully I can come back with a great story sometime in the following months/years.
YAY!! Oh my word, we LOVE that! What good news, what great progress, and what a fun new adventure to embark on with your wife! We hope you eat that meal out totally guilt-free and become the best of virtual friends with Ben and Ernie! We will gladly be your people :)
🌻 Hannah
Y'all should link this video in the YNAB 4 transition guide - it would have saved me a lot of time understanding the fundamental changes in approach. I was really struggling with the changes after over a decade with the old YNAB, but I'm finally loving it!
Great presentation! My brain doesn't process words as fast as Been speaks though. 😮 Good thing YT has a playback speed adjustment! 👏 Great job!
Well done tutorial!
Absolutely amazing product demo and tutorial.
I can’t wait for the Auto-Assign feature to be available in the web version!
Ben this is a GREAT introductory video - I really can't say how much I enjoyed it - you provided a concise, end to end review.
One question I had, is what considerations do you have when you are older and have more complicated budgets - say you have 10 different subscriptions, 6 types of insurance, etc... I'd like to avoid cluttering my budget with categories for every transaction. What's the best way to address this - one of my concerns is that the due date function might mean a lot less when you have 6 different insurance due dates - which would make it harder to prioritize inbound cash flows. Thanks!
Hey, good question. There's really only two ways to handle it -
First, you can have a category for each insurance bill or subscription payment. The downside of that is you have a lot more categories to deal with, but everything will be a lot clearer. Maybe put them in a group and collapse the group to make it more manageable.
Second, you can have one category for all insurance payments and one category for all subscription payments. The upside is you have fewer categories and a simpler budget. The downside is you lose some clarity and you might have to do some of your own math to make sure you assign enough in each category. I like to set a monthly savings builder for the sum of all the bills divided by 12. Then, make sure you front load that category with some money to account for bills that are coming soon.
Este video es muy claro para principiantes. 😀
Great teaching here, but the switching between the app and desktop made things confusing. Perhaps a separate on for each app would be very helpful.
This video should’ve came out when YNAB was first created. Much better explanation than before. Also, it helps to know that this is the video you should start with.
You should go over a scenario where someone has zero dollars in their savings/checking.
Oh, yay! We love that feedback!
-Hannah 🌻
Who is this, I really like his explanation. Going to revamp a few things. Thank you YNAB
This is Ben! He joined the YNAB team at the start of the year, and will have lots of awesome content coming out down the road! Keep an eye out 👀
-Hannah 🌻
I like ben, he types fast.
Greay vídeo!
I KNEW IT! it was lazers this whole time
Hello! First time user here! This video is super helpful - thank you!
I do have a suggestion: change the background music to something more soothing (or just go without it). It's just low enough that all I can hear is the repeat of the scale which I found anxiety producing 😬 and I am certain that's not the vibe you're going for! At first I was like, "where's that stressy music coming from?" Only to realize it was embedded in the video. Lol!
Anyway, I LOVE your product and I am thrilled to give it a go!!
Thanks for that feedback!! We'll consider this in future videos!
🌻 Hannah
Nice video :)
Thank you for making the app more user friendly. Now I can use it again and hopefully be successful lol
You got it, Tracy! If you ever hit any snags and need more guidance, you can pop in to one of our live Q&A sessions with our teachers here at YNAB who can answer ANY question, or write into our support team! They take extra special care of YNABers and'll make sure you get you back up on your feet in no time.
Here's where you can sign up for a live Q&A session:
www.youneedabudget.com/free-workshops/
-Hannah 🌻
ty
The credit card teaching, had to watch it twice. You said gas envelope but on the Visa transaction is said transportation. I was not sure how it took that from gas until I realized the envelope is transportation which you put your gas money into.
good video
I just downloaded the app so I’m brand new. Is it recommended to use the desktop over the app when setting it up?
So far this app is great but there needs to be a BI-Weekly tab so it’s much easier. Thank you
Melanie, we've heard the people and we're working on making that option available! Keep your eyes peeled!!
🌻Hannah
I can’t find the way to set up different currency accounts. Does YNAB not have that feature and if so, do you plan to introduce it in the future?
Otherwise the app is brilliant!
Great video!! Just a quick question - how do you get those due dates to show up next to each bill (referring to 5:21 in video)? I've set targets and due dates but the dates are not showing up in the app nor on desktop. Thanks!
Hey Teri! First, you need to make sure you have a target set for each category. When you add a target, you can select the day you need to have that category fully funded by.
Secondly, you have progress bars turned on! If you use YNAB on your phone, you can do this by clicking the three-dot menu in the upper left hand corner and clicking "Show Progress Bars." If you use YNAB on your computer, you can do this by clicking on your email in the upper left hand corner, clicking "Display Options," then turning progress bars on. Now your due dates should appear by your categories, as well as your funding status for that category.
Due dates will show as long as the category is underfunded. Once the category is fully funded, the due date will be replaced by the "funded" status (or the "fully spent" status if you've already spent the money from the category.
I hope this is helpful!! Follow up with me if you still have questions!
-Hannah 🌻
I really hope you can let more countries link their banks, maybe collab with Apple Wallet or something because it’s much simpler linked updating every step of the way. 🙏🏻
Hey Basma! You and us both!! It's quite a wild process working with international banks and among different currencies and economies, but know that your hopes and dreams are the same as ours! We are really proud to have made linking accounts available in parts of Europe and the UK this year, and we're learning lots through the process! In the meantime, YNAB can be used unlinked from anywhere in the world, in any currency or format.
-Hannah 🌻
Wow, I wish my rent was $850!
Love this idea! How would YNAB handle automatic round-up savings? For example, every transaction I make, my bank rounds up to the nearest dollar amount and puts the difference into a savings account. This amount varies by transaction and cannot be planned for.
Hey Michael! My husband has automatic rounding set up on his bank accounts as well! When he makes a purchase, the store charges him for the purchase amount, and then his bank automatically transfers over the "rounded-up cents" to his savings account as a separate transaction.
We use YNAB's "direct import" feature (where we link our bank accounts up to the budget and the bank sends over transactions once they've been cleared by the bank), and YNAB caught on real quick.
For those "rounded up" outflow transactions in your checking account, simply change the payee to "Transfer To/From: Savings"-this is telling your budget that you want to move this money from your checking account to your savings account.
You'll also want to "catch" that transaction in your savings account by having an inflow transaction for the same cents amount, again making sure the payee is "To/From: Checking".
If you're using direct import like we do, YNAB will remember the "protocol" and it'll handle it for you from now on-all you have to do is approve it!
Hope that made sense-that's a detailed little process to type up and still have come out coherently 😂 Lemme know if you've figured it out!
🌻Hannah
@@YNABofficial Excellent! Thank you Hannah.
@@YNABofficial ⁰
How do I create tracking for my savings account ? I want to allocate funds to savings, mortgage and yearly expenses- and monitor the account.
@7:02 Did he just say LASERS??? 😂
I really dont feel comfortable giving Plaid my login credentials. Is it possible for you to allow sample charges to sync all accounts via OAuth, or is it the banks that force you to use Plaid as the sync method?
I just watched your fist getting started video and then this one. Great info! I've been on Mint for a while now, but I really don't use it for budgeting because their budgeting function is just way too confusing. So I just use it to track my inflow and outflow and see where the money is going. But YNAB looks much easier to manage! But my one question I can't seem to find an answer to is how can my wife and I share this? One of the downfalls of Mint is that we would have to use the same login credentials. From what I read so far, I see that YNAB is basically the same? But I also found something about multi user authentication using Google accounts, but I can't find out how that works. Where can I find more info before pulling the trigger to subscribe? Thanks again for the great video!
They've got a free trial that I'm starting to use as I type this. When I was using it, the app asked if I was budgeting for myself or for two users; that could be a good place to start (and I didn't have to put in my card info so you wont get autocharged at the end of the free trial)
YNAB just launched a new feature - YNAB Together - to do exactly what you're talking about - allow you and your wife to share the budget, using only one subscription. In case you were still wanting that :)
How can I put money into my rent categori, but once I need to pay my monthly rent, I can go into my app and pay it? I have tried it but everytime I get paid and budget my money I put x amount of $ into my rent category, but I am not sure how I can balance it out if I budget for 1 or more months ahead into the future.
The end of January is almost here, and I was wondering if I have done it right if I subtract the rent I have in my category, but when I do it turns yellow for january when it was green once I budgeted for it.
Does the app look different than the online program? I have an android and i can't seem to find the Montly or Yearly option to input the expense. Can anyone help me out with that? Thanks!
OK So I created my budget and I am able to put the money where I need it to be but my problem is applying it to my actual bank account. Fr example if I assign $100 to CC interest do I then go to my bank account and send a payment to my CC for $100? Also If I use my CC and cant pay it off in full do I just leave it negative?
This looks like an awesome upgrade! When are you rolling it out for ios(iPad)?
Should be out today! It might take a little time to roll out to everyone and you may need to update manually in your app store.
@@YNABofficial Thank you so much! Just downloaded the update and I’ve never been this excited for an app upgrade! Progress bars in mobile 😀
@@Fayelin449 Yaaay! So glad you're liking it!
Still trying to figure out how to Start budget & checking a point with same numbers…. 🤔
I have created the budget side okay. Problem arises when I import checking account. In variably the number YNAB imports has items that need to be reconciled to get correct checking account balance. Problem is to reconcile, I have to assign category & when I get checking account balances, I now wave catagories that show overspent. How do I reconcile & still have $0 charged against a catsgory? Thank you. -lm
Nice, Only feature I would like to see added is to be able to have separate budgets for people with a lot of different accounts, It help have a clearer separation between personal and common money in a household for example or perso and pro' etc
Hey there! You can make as many separate budgets as you want in YNAB!
On the web app, just go to the menu in the upper left corner (click your budget name/email to drop it down), click "New Budget", and start a whole new budget with entirely new accounts!
On the mobile app, tap the three dots in the upper left corner, click "Open Budget," and tap "New" in the upper right corner to begin a new budget!
In the past I've had one wedding for my personal finances, one for my freelance videography side hustle, and one for our wedding planning. When we were only a few months away from being married, I even started our joint budget early so we could start to figure out all the categories/priorities we needed to cover BEFORE married life started.
And if you'd like the have separate budgets among family members or partners (i.e. one for your shared expenses, one for *your* personal expenses, one for *their* personal expenses, and one for the joint business you run together), check out YNAB Together! It's a free hub of the app that allows you to invite multiple family members onto your subscription and share/create various budgets with them.
Let me know if you have any more questions or need more pointers to learn more!
🌻 Hannah
@@YNABofficial thanks for the info ! I don't know how I was able to miss it, it was exactly were I was searching it. Guess I was half asleep 😂
Ha! I did the same thing before I started working for YNAB! I was paying for two subscriptions (one for my personal, one for my business), and when I was onboarding they were like "... Hannah."
🌻 Hannah
My bank does have lasers! Lol, they’re just in Europe so they overshoot since the planet is spherical.🤣
Haha! This analogy knows no bounds. 😂 We are actually working on bending those lasers (is that a thing you can do? Maybe something involving mirrors? I dunno.) so we can import UK and EU banks. Right now, there's a loitering lot of lawyers standing around blocking the lasers, but we're working on it! ~BenB
www.youneedabudget.com/up-next/
@@YNABofficial bounce the lasers off of a satellite.
If you're in the UK, you can look up sync for ynab
After I autoassign the budget for the bills, the money is automatically taken out? It still shows I have a lot of money left
Hello! Where is the bi-weekly function?
Done.
Is there a place to ask questions? I am trying to find out if I can set more than one target for a category, and also if I can set a biweekly payment. Thanks
Only one target per category! Is the "biweekly payment" you're talking about a paycheck or a target you're wanting to set? We currently do not have any biweekly settings, but say if you owed daycare $300 every two weeks, you could set a weekly goal of $150 so that your budget makes sure you have at least $300 in that category every two weeks! I hope that helps.
-Hannah 🌻
Am I right in thinking that your unassigned expenses at the start of the month should be around the amount you expect to be paid next month? I know we only budget for the dollars we literally already have but to make sure the targets still hold up after the first month, the total unassigned monthly targets should = my monthly paycheck? Right? :)
For some reason i can't wrap my head around this system.
So you're basically just seeing a visual on how the money should optimally be spent or transferred.. then in real life you make the purchases or transfers.
As you make a purchase or transfer you update the list(category) and make sure you stay in the decided range for the specific time period you choose..
Does this sound close?
Yes! Imagine each category is just an envelope you're tucking some dollars into. If you hope to only spend $600 on groceries each month, tuck $600 in your groceries category (or envelope). Whenever you spend on groceries, record that spending in YNAB and it will subtract whatever you spent on groceries from your groceries category. Now you have your new running total for groceries for the rest of the month! If you ever find a category has too little money in it, or you spent more than you planned for in a certain category, just move money from some other category in your spending plan that needs it less and into that category to accommodate the overspending. YNAB is all about reprioritizing as life chugs along!
🌻 Hannah
What about credit card interest accrued between the time you purchase and the time you pay it. When you gave a high int rate card, you can be acccruing a lot per day and it's compounding daily
Hi Dezi! Our go-to solution for interest is to create a separate category for it, and then assign money to that category using your best guess. When that interest charge comes in, you log that as a CC transaction, and it will go right into your CC payment category to be covered in your next payment.
If you wind up shooting under, then you just pull from somewhere else in your budget that isn't as important as covering the interest.
I hope that helps!
- Ben M 🎨
Super helpful! But he talked too fast for me to follow, so I clicked on Settings, and watched the video at 0.75 Playback Speed. Perfect!
I wish there was a weekly format for people who get paid weekly.
Hi Tracy! 👋 YNAB is set up to work with all different income formats. Since we only budget dollars we actually have, everybody has to deal with whatever is sitting in their bank account right now.
So whether your paycheck arrives every week, two weeks, or with your next commission, you simply add it to YNAB and ask, "What does this money need to do before I get paid again?" Setting up weekly targets is a great way to make sure that money is going where you need it when you need it.
The only reason YNAB shows things on a month-by-month view is because most regular bills happen on a monthly cycle. But it works effectively with whatever pay cycle you happen to be on.
- Ben M
Would I be correct in assuming that this would be a good app for someone already not living from paycheck who wants to setup their budget in the traditional way? For example, budget planning the entire month based on forecasted income, and with money that already exists in bank account?
YNAB is actually designed for every single financial situation! The concept behind YNAB was invented *while* Jesse, the founder, was living paycheck to paycheck and the Four Rule method is what helped him get his feet under him and start to increase his net worth. Lemme explain how!
The YNAB budgeting method is fully rooted in ONLY budgeting with the dollars you have. We nevvvver want to rely on forecasting our money-life is far too unpredictable to rely on money we haven't actually received yet.
So if you're in the thick of the paycheck to paycheck cycle and only have $300 in your bank account, you're ONLY going to budget those $300 out to your highest priority needs first (what bill is due next? If it's electricity, fund that one before funding any other categories like rent, water, or other "just for fun" categories). Then, the next time you receive a paycheck or inflow of money, do the same-assign those new dollars to your budget categories with the next most pressing needs (maybe the water bill is your next upcoming due date, and your groceries category is empty, so you assign some dollars to those categories to get your bases covered).
The huge, detailed budget you're seeing in this video when Ben is "creating his plan" are all the various expenses he has or invites into his life-someone stuck in the paycheck to paycheck cycle wouldn't be funding all those categories at once or at the start of the month (that would be forecasting with money we don't have), but would slowly fill the next most important categories each time new money comes in.
That's the FIRST rule of YNAB's Four Rules: give every dollar a job. If you want to learn about the three other rules that eventually help you get AHEAD with your money, check out this video!! th-cam.com/video/R4VbZCxDDvY/w-d-xo.html
This video may also help you begin to visualize how YNAB can work for all kinds of financial scenarios, from the person who gets a paycheck every friday to the freelancer who isn't sure when their next check will come in. th-cam.com/video/3wVdL91E2Yg/w-d-xo.html
Definitely hope this helps!
🌻 Hannah