I use Profit First with YNAB. Rather than all those checking accounts, I just use YNAB categories. I'm firm about not moving money from one category to another once I've done the initial distribution.
Hey Teresa! I use Profit First with YNAB as well. I actually still use the different checking accounts though. I do both... But like you said, if you're good about not moving the money and are disciplined, that's awesome. I still like separate accounts for me personally. But glad to hear that it's working for you. Thanks for watching :)
This was eye opening and exactly what I needed. I didn't have fully formulated questions, just struggles and uneasy feelings and this video was the answer. I started using YNAB Oct2020 and finally found a system to get me out of my spreadsheets. Can't wait to combine these ideas. Thank you!
Haha, great timing! Glad you're listening to it. I've really loved the system. Excited to hear about your experience with it. And thanks bro! I super appreciate that :)
I'm with Martin - YNAB and Profit First. My wife and I just started doing exactly that with her business, but I'm sure Nick will have some great tips and his own style to help make it better than how it is now. Can't wait to see that video, Nick!
You’ll really like it! In addition to this I personally use YNAB to set it up. So hoping to do a video on that soon. Let me know when you start reading it! Definitely interested to hear your thoughts.
what is the thought process behind having pass-through accounts? I.E. profit, tax, etc checking accounts, just to pass through to another account? Also, how did you learn to create interactive clips in your youtube videos? (links inside video, animation, etc? )
This is such a great video!! It couldn't have come at a better time. I just became self-employed and this video is a life-saver. Thank you so much for putting this out there.
Abby Beita hey Abby! So glad to hear that it was helpful. Congrats on going self-employed! That’s exciting. Let me know if there’s ever anything I can do to help :)
Great video, I've been using YNAB for sometime now with 2 budgets, one for personal and one for my business but I like the idea of setting up the separate accounts to segregate my money. I'm going to pick up the book tomorrow!
Very helpful Nick! I have been very undiscliplined with my business cash managenement in that I basically just let a bunch of cash sit there in one account. I can see this being helpful. Will let you know how it goes!
And video question - how effective are these power point style tutorial videos at retention and other key metrics compared to talking head with graphics put in post production? These would be MUCH easier for me to make and it is what I do in my courses.
@@CoachChadCarson Dude! Glad to hear it was helpful. I love the profit first system and think it would be really cool for you. As for your video question.... Ask me again in a few weeks, this is actually my first one :) haha I'm experimenting with it. The YNAB tutorials have done really well which are similar. It's a screen share setup and I'm teaching software. They're some of my highest viewed and longest watch time on my channel. This is my first video using the powerpoint style though. So we'll see :)
@@mappedoutmoney cool! I will ask in a couple of weeks;) I am focusing on podcasting and course stuff at the moment. But I am pumped to do more TH-cam, and your stuff is inspiring me!
@@CoachChadCarson haha, thanks man! Excited to see you attack TH-cam once you get the course and podcasting rocking and rolling. I have no doubt you'll crush it.
Absolutely Lou, I definitely reccommend checking out the book if you're interested. There's a lot of good ideas in there and I think you'd find a lot of value in it. I really love the general approach and underlying philosophy of the system. Thanks for watching man.
Very interesting concept - another one, like YNAB, that gives self-employed folks like my husband and I a "why" that actually makes sense! Am looking forward to the video that combines Profit First and YNAB. Thanks for sharing!
I came across (by accident) your YNAB tutorials from another blogger, checked it out and have been a "girl fan" ever since! I have been so impressed with YNAB, I've was thinking it would be great to start it with our business. Then up popped this video! Crazy how you're in sync with what our finances need. You might want to add this skill to your resume Nick. haha Can't wait to see more videos on how YNAB works with this Profit First concept (we currently are at 3% Profit and hope we can build more with a more concrete system) thanks again...great video :)
Hey there! So glad that you're enjoying the videos :) Glad this came out around the perfect time haha ;) Pumped that you're at 3% profit, that's great! Hoping that the YNAB + Profit first video is good for you. Thanks again for the comment :)
Great video, Nick! I discovered and implemented profit first last year after hearing an interview between Jesse (YNAB) and Mike. I use YNAB to implement, which has obviated the need for separate accounts, though I understand the purpose. My PF “accounts” sit at the top of my budget so I can distribute accordingly. It has been a great system so far and definitely reduces a lot of stress. Looking forward to seeing how you use it with YNAB. P.S. I owe you some footage. I promise I’ll get this done soon. Maybe C+C will give me a good kick in the pants! Hi to Hanna :)
haha, I owe you an email response my man! Glad you enjoyed the video. And yes, hoping to get the PF + YNAB video out soon :) Have fun at C+C! I wish we were going. I was talking to Josh Summers last week and saying I'm bummed we can't be there. I have no doubt you'll have a blast!
don;t have a business but am definitely going to apply some of the principles to our personal budget. you did a great job breaking it down and explaining it. also like the out of sight banking so you aren't tempted.
Hey Kari! Absolutely. Lots of great principles here to apply to your personal budget. I totally agree about the out of sight banking. It's nice to get it somewhere that you aren't looking regularly. Thanks for watching :)
I can't wait to see the video explaining YNAB + Profit First. With my business, I have a lot of expenses that are split 50% between business and personal (ie gas for driving around my support worker clients) so I'm not sure how to split that up with Profit First. Right now it all goes into one account and at tax time I just claim the percentage. Any suggestions?
Thanks Nick! I downloaded your routine check list, but I think the PDF would be more valuable/robust if the PDF included all of the slides used in your video. Any chance you would update it?
I feel like this would be great if I actually knew how to implement it. Managing my finances as a freelancer is hard enough as is, switching everything up feels super intimidating...
Hi Nick! Thank you for your great tutorials! I have a question about reimbursements using PF. Let's say I made a purchase with my biz account that needs to be reimbursed from my family account. When I transfer the money from family to biz, where do recommend I put it? Income? Directly in to the Reimbursement category? Something else? Thanks so much, Nick.
Great video! All my employees (including me) are on bi-weekly payroll. My staff gets paid the same obviously, but how do you deal with letting your accountant know how much I should get paid each pay period? I feel like they would kill me always telling them different amounts for me.
Love the tips for allocating funds. Do you have any recommendations for low monthly fee business baking accounts? Seeing as this model empties out certain checking accounts on a regular basis, wondering which ones you use? I will be starting a virtual bookkeeping business soon and am still trying to narrow down which banks to go to for this venture. Thanks!
Clearest explanation of Profit First model that I've seen yet, so thanks. Quick question, why create basically two of the same accounts (profit & taxes) at two different banks when they just act as a pass through on the first bank? Wouldn't it be just as easy to make that twice a month (10th/25th) transfer to your holding bank in those accounts?
Quick question...I know this is in regards to business. But, when you mentioned having and “emergency fund” for profit savings....do you guys also have a personal emergency fund aside from business? I’m looking at this thinking, I already have 6 accounts...in which I am going to reformat and rethink where I should be keeping what, but after all of this allocating, I couldn’t imagine having anything left over for personal savings too!
Yes, we do. I do personal savings out of my owner's comp. Again treating myself as separate from the business. This will become especially important as we scale and hire more people. It's really tough at first, you're right, but yes, we do have a personal emergency fund as well.
Hi Nick, I pay myself a set wage each week that I need to live on, How should I go about allocating that percentage? Also what would you recommend when the opex account is short for paying bills? p.s love your videos.
Great video, few questions that cam out in my head: 1. business account has fees/cost, are you using a personal accounts or using an online free business account? 2. what about 401k/retirement saving, from where you taking it? from the salary in your personal account? or from the business account somehow?
Good questions! 1. I use free business accounts through Capital One Spark (although I'm not sure they are open to new accounts right now). But they are free, and they are business. 2. I do all my investing on the personal side. So I pay myself my owner's compensation and regular profit distribution, then out of that in my personal budget I will budget for my investments. I currently don't have a 401k through the business, just IRAs, but I may add a 401k plan in the next year and if I do I'll handle the business contribution on the business side. I'll probably setup a group for "employee benefits" and run it from there. hope that helps!
Hello Nick, awesome video. Thanks for further breaking down profit first system. Is the Owners compensation accounting necessary when you have multiple locations for your business?
I personally use multiple bank accounts and YNAB to run this. And yeah, I could definitely do that. I'll add it to my list of videos to create. Thanks for watching Gabriel :) BTW: just real quick I use Ally Bank and Spark Capital One for reference.
@@mappedoutmoney What are the ownership of those banks? I mean Primary bank and the purple (referred Saving account) banks vs the last blue bank. I guess the last blue bank is your personal bank but does the other two or specially second bank have to be on business name?
@@RaviKumar-oy2qu So the way I have mine setup is : All business bank accounts are located at Capital One Spark. That's 5 checking accounts + 2 savings accounts. All with Capital One and all under the business. All personal bank accounts are located at Ally Bank. Represented here by the one blue box, that's my primary personal checking. And once I pay myself into that, I will then sometimes take money and disperse it into other savings accounts or investments that are personal and I don't show them in this video. Does that make sense?
@@mappedoutmoney Awesome, that make sense. So you have all 7 accounts in one bank (Capital One) which is one business name/business accounts. Only bi-quarterly paid bonus is your personal bank account. I thought for moving money to saving accounts (Profit and Tax) should be a different bank. Anyways, just wondering if once you pay bi-quarterly to your personal account, is that entry taxable? Appreciate all your knowledge sharing. Love your videos!
When you pay for something from the OPEX account, how do you make the transaction? Do you pay by paper check, use the routing and account number and pay electronically, use the bank's bill pay service, or some other method? 🤑
This is really helpful. I've been self-employed for 6 years and since I started my accountant told me to save 40% for taxes. Is that just super conservative? It doesn't leave me that much wiggle room for the other categories.
Whoah. 40%? That seems like a lot, but it all depends on your state and the way you run your business and how much you pay yourself. But honestly , since you've already been in business for 6 years, I would just go pull last years tax returns, and see what percentage your taxes were compared to your whole business. Then use that going forward. Hope that helps!
@@mappedoutmoney Now that I'm really paying attention because of YNAB (and you!) I will figure it out. I will say that I've been able to at least partially fund an SEP IRA every year from the 40% so maybe that's why she's being so conservative. I wish SEP IRA was one of the categories from Profit First - I'm going to put it as a separate category with its own CAP AND TAP - what do you think?
Question about the accounts you set up. Do you set them up as business accounts or as personal accounts? I could see them all being business but with lower incomes and bank fees, I wondered if doing them as personal is better. Sorry if it’s a dumb question 🤣
hey hey! There he is :) TBH, I haven't found an online based, business bank account that I love anywhere. Spark at Capital One is the best I've found, but there are still some things I really don't like. Here's three main ones. > I've had consistent issues with logins over the years, especially when connecting to QuickBooks, Quicken, and YNAB. The connection for pulling transactions consistently breaks. These days I have to reconnect my capital one accounts every time I go into my software. > While I haven't interacted with customer support a lot, a couple of times I've needed something due to a delayed transfer or wiring money, it's been a long and drawn out process. No good luck interacting online and the phone was difficult. > By far my biggest complaint is no good mobile solution. Their regular capital one app doesn't work with the Spark business capital one account. And they discontinued the Spark App in 2017. So if I want to access my accounts on my phone, I have to do it through the chrome browser which just isn't a great experience. They're supposed to be adding their spark accounts to their main app, but it's taken a couple years and it still doesn't work for me. I wish there was an Ally Bank for business, or a business bank building their online interface similar to what Ally has done. But at this point, I haven't found one.
Hey Nick. New YNAB user on the personal side, and my wife and I love it. We own and operate a small grocery with 12 employees, and we have been power users of Quickbooks Desktop Pro for a lot of reasons that have more to do with it's ability to track LOTS of small details like items, inventory, supplies, vendors, etc., than with it's ability to budget or manage money well. Any advice on how to incorporate YNAB and/or PF into a business that is using QB?
PF and Quickbooks work together. Just set up the accounts and follow the allocation. YNAB is similar to QB but without all accounting features, you need as a business owner.
Why would you do this with multiple business bank accounts rather than just a simple checking & savings with categories that you keep an eye on with YNAB? I worry about opening too many business checking accounts and I'm with you... I absolutely hate Capital One's integration with YNAB. It isn't worth the headache.
Hey Rich! Great questions. So right now we’re still just a Sole Prop. But we’re going to transition to an LLC filing as an S Corp going into 2020. As for payroll, not at the moment. Since it’s just my wife and I. We just transfer the money from business accounts at capital one to personal accounts at Ally bank when we pay ourselves.
Hey! I just do it DIY for the quarterly. I did have a CPA this past year for the first time ever, but that was mostly because I live in an RV and there are a few things that are unique about traveling and working on the road. So I had a CPA who specializes in working with full-time RVers. But I may go back and do it myself this year. It's not too difficult at this point :)
@@mappedoutmoney My home schooling family and I are considering going full time RV. Since we're both small business owners, I find it interesting that you said there are some unique situations. Could you briefly elaborate? Thanks.
How do you make a tax payment from the Tax Savings account. It's a savings account. Do you pay taxes from your personal checking so you can just transfer that money from the Tax Savings to your Personal Checking to pay yourself back?
Hey Nick, sorry if you answered this already... scrolled through some of the comments and didn't see it. If you are just passing your Profit through to Profit Savings, what's the purpose of the two profit accounts? I see why you want your Profit Savings in a separate bank, but not why you set up a Profit Checking to pass through bi-weekly. Can you clarify?
Good question, the purpose is simply that transfers at the same bank happen instantly, vs when you transfer to an external bank it takes a few days. So if you use pass-through accounts, it gets your income account down to $0 immediately.
Great video! My question is what if you had a loan that needs to be paid monthly on your new business? Do you "add" an extra bank account that pays for your equipment purchased? I need to get this loan paid (It's a HELOC) and then use it to buy more equipment to add more services. Thanks!
Hey Johnny! Good question. I probably wouldn't. Personally I would handle loan payback as an expense out of the OPEX account. You could do a separate account. So it's really personal preference, but I would personally just pay the bill out of OPEX. Hope that helps!
Hi! Canadian taxes are different, so I would have to be more conservative and put 30% for prov/federal + plus 15% that I charge. How does this changes the proportion of other percentages of the PFA system?
Hey Nick, I’m curious to hear your thoughts on determining your OPEX CAP and setting your OPEX TAP. The 30% (for start ups) is a good initial number but clearly will be different for each business. How did you navigate that?
Hey Joe! Good question. So the way I started (and the way I recommend folks start) is to run a report or track whatever you're currently doing in business and then do the backwards math to start there. Because my business is high margin, low overhead, and most of the revenue was my salary when starting out, my percentages looked that way. So when I did the backwards math I was at Profit = 0% Tax = 15% Owner's 75% OPEX = 10% Over time I've inched up profit, and opex, and decreased Owner's. My goal is to continue to do that until my profit is near 20% and opex around 30%. Long story short = take Mike's initial recommendations combined with what your business currently does and adjust from there. Hope that helps! Nick
Hi Nick. Great stuff. Question...what do you do (and with what frequency) with remaining funds in the Opex account if you do not spend all that you allocated?
Not the way we do it, because we tax all of the money as it comes into the business. So all the profit money has already been hit with tax. So when we take the distribution, we don't tax it a second time.
You can. Although these days I don’t use the various accounts. I actually just use one account and use YNAB to run this system inside digital envelopes.
Something that bothers me with taking a high Owners Comp is that personal tax is higher than small business tax in my country, so all of sudden almost half of my salary is going to tax. Is it not better to keep more in Profit Hold instead of paying yourself a bloated salary of 50% of turnover? Your business can't be that healthy if you're bleeding it dry on owners salary.
Agreed completely and that's the long-term goal. I think for a lot of small business owners, their business isn't "healthy" when starting out, so they have to pay themselves a high percentage. They have to eat. But yes, over time, you'd definitely want to get that percentage down.
Yeah thought so, that's why I can't understand Mike's Owners Comp percentage of 50% for business turnover up to $250k, that's up to $10k per month, which is quite a high salary for a small business owner. Anyway thanks for your feedback. Your videos are great, very clear!
I don't really use profit first for personal side. But I do use YNAB + Profit First, if that's what you mean. I actually did a video on that, so be sure to check that one out :)
In regards to the business paying for your taxes upfront then you taking the "Owners Comp %" ...do you then set aside a % for "personal income tax" out of the "owners comp" you initially set aside?
If I have two businesses, do I have all income go into one "Income" checking account? Or do you recommend setting up two complete Profit First systems for each business? Thanks!
Well explained! This video actually made me fully understand the profit first system in theory & practical. The caps & taps how often changes be made to them...? 🇯🇲
I actually do use the same back For all business and then a separate bank for personal. But I’m the profit first book the author recommends separate banks for your main business accounts vs your tax savings and profit savings. But it’s all personal preference.
I just came across your video. Very well done. I do have a question though on the checking accounts used. Are you using "personal" checking accounts for business purposes? I can't find a single free "business" checking account anywhere that either doesn't charge a $12 to $15 fee or a minimum balance of at least $1,000 or more in each account. I want to conduct the "Profit First" methodology, but not at the expense of paying $60 a month (minimum) in bank fees.
Nope! I use business accounts. Through they’re online. I bank with spark capital one. Its been great and they don’t have any fees. Unfortunately you’re right though, they’re hard to find.
@@brettjeepski It's a liability thing. so when you get your business accounts separate from personal and do an LLC, it helps protect you from people suing your business and then also taking your personal assets. Sometimes even if your business and personal are separate, if it's not a "business" account, they'll still be able to come after you. Yes, this is a super small and rare case, but that's the main benefit of "business" accounts.
I have read Profit First and have the accounts, but don't use them except for Income, OpEx and Owner's Comp. lol Can you refresh my memory on the Profit account? When you take the 50% each quarter, do you take the Current 50% put in or 50% of the whole account? I have put my book somewhere and I am sure it is just collecting dust. I will be hunting for it later today!
It all depends on how your business is structured. I’m currently a sole proprietor and owners comes as 1099 from clients. If you’re an actual employee and structured as such, you’d use a W2
Hello Nick, I have a LLC only me and my daughter is in my payroll. I use YNAB to budget my LLC expanses, income. Is it enough information for tax purposes? I tried QuickBooks but I am very overwhelmed about it. Thank you
@Nick True, hey so I'm on payroll too. So I don't pull money out of the companies cash asset. Or net profit. Because I receive a check like a normal employee. So with that said. I dont see a reason for the owners comp for me. Can you elaborate on my scenario?
I use Capital One spark. It works pretty good for me, although I'm sure there are others out there. Definitely don't compromise though, be sure to find one without fees!
What banks do you use for this system? I can imagine opening up that many business checking/savings accounts can result in a lot of unnecessary fees. What do you recommend?
Can't wait to see that Profit first + YNAB routine
Working on it Martin! Stay tuned :)
th-cam.com/video/wXCrcat9Xoo/w-d-xo.html
Your videos have changed my financial life forever. I feel so inspired and capable. You are doing great work in this world!!
I use Profit First with YNAB. Rather than all those checking accounts, I just use YNAB categories. I'm firm about not moving money from one category to another once I've done the initial distribution.
Hey Teresa! I use Profit First with YNAB as well. I actually still use the different checking accounts though. I do both... But like you said, if you're good about not moving the money and are disciplined, that's awesome. I still like separate accounts for me personally. But glad to hear that it's working for you. Thanks for watching :)
This was eye opening and exactly what I needed. I didn't have fully formulated questions, just struggles and uneasy feelings and this video was the answer. I started using YNAB Oct2020 and finally found a system to get me out of my spreadsheets. Can't wait to combine these ideas. Thank you!
You are such a great teacher, thank you for putting this together for everyone.
No problem Michael, appreciate it and glad it was helpful!
I'm a YNAB newbie and a small business owner. This information is an eye-opener for me. Thank you. Will watch your YNAB Profit First video next.
So glad it helped Leslie!
Damn bro thats the clearest ive heard it explained! Thank you and god bless man!
Haha thanks man! Glad it was helpful for you :)
I just started listening to Profit First...haha Amazing breakdown my friend! And congratulations on 10k!!!
Haha, great timing! Glad you're listening to it. I've really loved the system. Excited to hear about your experience with it.
And thanks bro! I super appreciate that :)
I'm with Martin - YNAB and Profit First. My wife and I just started doing exactly that with her business, but I'm sure Nick will have some great tips and his own style to help make it better than how it is now. Can't wait to see that video, Nick!
Awesome Andrew! I'm getting to work on it. Hoping to put it out really soon :) Thanks for watching man.
Well done. Nicely explained
Hey thanks Michael, appreciate that man. Hope it helped!
This is a really interesting way of setting up your business! Profit First is on my book list to read this year!
You’ll really like it! In addition to this I personally use YNAB to set it up. So hoping to do a video on that soon.
Let me know when you start reading it! Definitely interested to hear your thoughts.
Great video! Clearest one so far explaining this concept.
One note though, 10% of $5000 is $500, not $50. :)
Glad I wasn't the only one who caught that. His OPEX is $1000 not $1450
This is the only video I found that explained Profit First in a way that makes sense. Thanks so much Nick!
Not having a business, this doesn't apply to me but I love your channel and always want to support you by watching your videos and commenting.
Thanks! :) I so appreciate that. It really means a lot whenever I see your name and image come up. Glad you're here!
@@mappedoutmoney Thank you for bringing me along. I also appreciate your very kind comment.
@@PidasianHippie Of course. I appreciate you being here :)
@@PidasianHippie Of course. I appreciate you being here :)
@@PidasianHippie Of course. I appreciate you being here :)
I currently use this method and YNAB. I'm a new business owner so I'm starting it from the beginning! Great video
That's great Ann! Excited for you and congrats on being a new business owner. Glad you enjoyed the video :)
Hi Ann just wondering if you've had any success over the past 2 months with this method?
Awesome video! Super helpful for my husband & I who are starting our own business. Appreciate the time you spent!
No problem! So glad that was helpful for you :)
what is the thought process behind having pass-through accounts? I.E. profit, tax, etc checking accounts, just to pass through to another account?
Also, how did you learn to create interactive clips in your youtube videos? (links inside video, animation, etc? )
The best recap I’ve seen. I appreciated the top level description complete with applicable examples.
Youre an amazing teacher. I was confused about the taps and caps but you cleared it up
Thanks Ashli! So glad that it was helpful for you :) Excited for you to take on profit first!
This is such a great video!! It couldn't have come at a better time. I just became self-employed and this video is a life-saver. Thank you so much for putting this out there.
Abby Beita
hey Abby! So glad to hear that it was helpful. Congrats on going self-employed! That’s exciting.
Let me know if there’s ever anything I can do to help :)
Great video, I've been using YNAB for sometime now with 2 budgets, one for personal and one for my business but I like the idea of setting up the separate accounts to segregate my money. I'm going to pick up the book tomorrow!
Awesome Tanya! Big fan of using YNAB for business. Glad to hear you're doing that. Hope you enjoy the book! :)
Very helpful Nick! I have been very undiscliplined with my business cash managenement in that I basically just let a bunch of cash sit there in one account. I can see this being helpful. Will let you know how it goes!
And video question - how effective are these power point style tutorial videos at retention and other key metrics compared to talking head with graphics put in post production? These would be MUCH easier for me to make and it is what I do in my courses.
@@CoachChadCarson Dude! Glad to hear it was helpful. I love the profit first system and think it would be really cool for you.
As for your video question.... Ask me again in a few weeks, this is actually my first one :) haha I'm experimenting with it.
The YNAB tutorials have done really well which are similar. It's a screen share setup and I'm teaching software. They're some of my highest viewed and longest watch time on my channel. This is my first video using the powerpoint style though. So we'll see :)
@@mappedoutmoney cool! I will ask in a couple of weeks;) I am focusing on podcasting and course stuff at the moment. But I am pumped to do more TH-cam, and your stuff is inspiring me!
@@CoachChadCarson haha, thanks man! Excited to see you attack TH-cam once you get the course and podcasting rocking and rolling. I have no doubt you'll crush it.
Excellent thoughts here. In my case, I have an equal partner and 5 other employees so I will need to look at our operating expenses very carefully.
Absolutely Lou, I definitely reccommend checking out the book if you're interested. There's a lot of good ideas in there and I think you'd find a lot of value in it. I really love the general approach and underlying philosophy of the system.
Thanks for watching man.
Very interesting concept - another one, like YNAB, that gives self-employed folks like my husband and I a "why" that actually makes sense! Am looking forward to the video that combines Profit First and YNAB. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Carolyn! Super glad that it was helpful for you. Hoping to get that video out soon. Appreciate you watching :)
Awesome. Video. Thank you so much. I just finished profit first and I can't wait to get started.
Glad it was helpful for you! :)
I came across (by accident) your YNAB tutorials from another blogger, checked it out and have been a "girl fan" ever since!
I have been so impressed with YNAB, I've was thinking it would be great to start it with our business. Then up popped this video! Crazy how you're in sync with what our finances need. You might want to add this skill to your resume Nick. haha Can't wait to see more videos on how YNAB works with this Profit First concept (we currently are at 3% Profit and hope we can build more with a more concrete system) thanks again...great video :)
Hey there! So glad that you're enjoying the videos :) Glad this came out around the perfect time haha ;)
Pumped that you're at 3% profit, that's great! Hoping that the YNAB + Profit first video is good for you.
Thanks again for the comment :)
thank you for this video brother !
Thanks for watching!
Great video, Nick! I discovered and implemented profit first last year after hearing an interview between Jesse (YNAB) and Mike.
I use YNAB to implement, which has obviated the need for separate accounts, though I understand the purpose. My PF “accounts” sit at the top of my budget so I can distribute accordingly.
It has been a great system so far and definitely reduces a lot of stress. Looking forward to seeing how you use it with YNAB.
P.S. I owe you some footage. I promise I’ll get this done soon. Maybe C+C will give me a good kick in the pants! Hi to Hanna :)
haha, I owe you an email response my man! Glad you enjoyed the video. And yes, hoping to get the PF + YNAB video out soon :)
Have fun at C+C! I wish we were going. I was talking to Josh Summers last week and saying I'm bummed we can't be there. I have no doubt you'll have a blast!
Best tutorial I’ve found!! New subscriber here
Thanks Jodie! Glad the video was helpful :)
I love this video !!, I don't think I need to read the book. This explains soo much, thank you for making this video.
don;t have a business but am definitely going to apply some of the principles to our personal budget. you did a great job breaking it down and explaining it. also like the out of sight banking so you aren't tempted.
Hey Kari! Absolutely. Lots of great principles here to apply to your personal budget. I totally agree about the out of sight banking. It's nice to get it somewhere that you aren't looking regularly.
Thanks for watching :)
I can't wait to see the video explaining YNAB + Profit First. With my business, I have a lot of expenses that are split 50% between business and personal (ie gas for driving around my support worker clients) so I'm not sure how to split that up with Profit First. Right now it all goes into one account and at tax time I just claim the percentage. Any suggestions?
honestly this is so useful man. thank you
Great video 👍
Thanks y'all :)
Thanks Nick! I downloaded your routine check list, but I think the PDF would be more valuable/robust if the PDF included all of the slides used in your video. Any chance you would update it?
Hey! Good call. Send me an email at nick(at)mappedoutmoney(dot)com and I'll send you the slides no problem! :)
Exactly what I was looking for, thank you!! Great video!
So glad to hear that Marie! Profit first is a great system. Glad to hear the video was helpful for you :)
Eye opening approach 🙄👍
I feel like this would be great if I actually knew how to implement it. Managing my finances as a freelancer is hard enough as is, switching everything up feels super intimidating...
Try back tracking and calculating it rhetorically for the past three months as a way to see if it’s for you.
Thankyou, that was a lot of information.. but broke down nicely
No problem Swetha! Hopefully it was helpful for you!
This is awesome! Two of my favorite systems!
Hey thanks Andrea! I love them both too!
Hi Nick! Thank you for your great tutorials! I have a question about reimbursements using PF. Let's say I made a purchase with my biz account that needs to be reimbursed from my family account. When I transfer the money from family to biz, where do recommend I put it? Income? Directly in to the Reimbursement category? Something else? Thanks so much, Nick.
Great video! All my employees (including me) are on bi-weekly payroll. My staff gets paid the same obviously, but how do you deal with letting your accountant know how much I should get paid each pay period? I feel like they would kill me always telling them different amounts for me.
Did you ever get an answer to this?
This is a great video. Would you recommend using online banks like Ally or CapitalOne360 for the breakout accounts?
Love the tips for allocating funds. Do you have any recommendations for low monthly fee business baking accounts? Seeing as this model empties out certain checking accounts on a regular basis, wondering which ones you use? I will be starting a virtual bookkeeping business soon and am still trying to narrow down which banks to go to for this venture. Thanks!
Relay Financial is an awesome bank that I use in my bookkeeping business
Clearest explanation of Profit First model that I've seen yet, so thanks. Quick question, why create basically two of the same accounts (profit & taxes) at two different banks when they just act as a pass through on the first bank? Wouldn't it be just as easy to make that twice a month (10th/25th) transfer to your holding bank in those accounts?
Man your good. Thanks, man!
Quick question...I know this is in regards to business. But, when you mentioned having and “emergency fund” for profit savings....do you guys also have a personal emergency fund aside from business? I’m looking at this thinking, I already have 6 accounts...in which I am going to reformat and rethink where I should be keeping what, but after all of this allocating, I couldn’t imagine having anything left over for personal savings too!
Yes, we do. I do personal savings out of my owner's comp. Again treating myself as separate from the business. This will become especially important as we scale and hire more people.
It's really tough at first, you're right, but yes, we do have a personal emergency fund as well.
Hi Nick, I pay myself a set wage each week that I need to live on, How should I go about allocating that percentage? Also what would you recommend when the opex account is short for paying bills?
p.s love your videos.
jonathan doherty this is what i've been trying to get the answer to.
Great video, few questions that cam out in my head:
1. business account has fees/cost, are you using a personal accounts or using an online free business account?
2. what about 401k/retirement saving, from where you taking it? from the salary in your personal account? or from the business account somehow?
Good questions!
1. I use free business accounts through Capital One Spark (although I'm not sure they are open to new accounts right now). But they are free, and they are business.
2. I do all my investing on the personal side. So I pay myself my owner's compensation and regular profit distribution, then out of that in my personal budget I will budget for my investments.
I currently don't have a 401k through the business, just IRAs, but I may add a 401k plan in the next year and if I do I'll handle the business contribution on the business side. I'll probably setup a group for "employee benefits" and run it from there.
hope that helps!
@@mappedoutmoney helps. Will sure be happy to see a video on IRA/401 contribution options that you choose...
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Hello Nick, awesome video. Thanks for further breaking down profit first system. Is the Owners compensation accounting necessary when you have multiple locations for your business?
Great video!! Thanks
Wow great break down!
Glad it helped!
@@mappedoutmoney thank you!
Can you do a video on bank accounts? Do you use a single bank account or multiple accounts/banks? That would be great info!
I personally use multiple bank accounts and YNAB to run this. And yeah, I could definitely do that. I'll add it to my list of videos to create. Thanks for watching Gabriel :)
BTW: just real quick I use Ally Bank and Spark Capital One for reference.
@@mappedoutmoney What are the ownership of those banks? I mean Primary bank and the purple (referred Saving account) banks vs the last blue bank. I guess the last blue bank is your personal bank but does the other two or specially second bank have to be on business name?
@@RaviKumar-oy2qu So the way I have mine setup is :
All business bank accounts are located at Capital One Spark. That's 5 checking accounts + 2 savings accounts. All with Capital One and all under the business.
All personal bank accounts are located at Ally Bank. Represented here by the one blue box, that's my primary personal checking. And once I pay myself into that, I will then sometimes take money and disperse it into other savings accounts or investments that are personal and I don't show them in this video.
Does that make sense?
@@mappedoutmoney Awesome, that make sense. So you have all 7 accounts in one bank (Capital One) which is one business name/business accounts. Only bi-quarterly paid bonus is your personal bank account. I thought for moving money to saving accounts (Profit and Tax) should be a different bank. Anyways, just wondering if once you pay bi-quarterly to your personal account, is that entry taxable? Appreciate all your knowledge sharing. Love your videos!
Great video thank you for sharing!
Thank you Jerry for watching!
When you pay for something from the OPEX account, how do you make the transaction? Do you pay by paper check, use the routing and account number and pay electronically, use the bank's bill pay service, or some other method? 🤑
alright I'm profiting first this month..... now i just gotta figure out which utility bill to turn off
:) congrats on 10k brotha
@@nathanboler6120 hahah, you don't need ALL those utilities :) Cut em off man!
This is really helpful. I've been self-employed for 6 years and since I started my accountant told me to save 40% for taxes. Is that just super conservative? It doesn't leave me that much wiggle room for the other categories.
Whoah. 40%? That seems like a lot, but it all depends on your state and the way you run your business and how much you pay yourself. But honestly , since you've already been in business for 6 years, I would just go pull last years tax returns, and see what percentage your taxes were compared to your whole business. Then use that going forward.
Hope that helps!
@@mappedoutmoney Now that I'm really paying attention because of YNAB (and you!) I will figure it out. I will say that I've been able to at least partially fund an SEP IRA every year from the 40% so maybe that's why she's being so conservative. I wish SEP IRA was one of the categories from Profit First - I'm going to put it as a separate category with its own CAP AND TAP - what do you think?
I have funds that I would like to add to my business. Do I put it in the Income or OPEX account?
thank you! makes so much . sense now
Glad it was helpful for you Sonia! :)
Question about the accounts you set up. Do you set them up as business accounts or as personal accounts? I could see them all being business but with lower incomes and bank fees, I wondered if doing them as personal is better. Sorry if it’s a dumb question 🤣
Nick, huge fan of profit first this is a great review. You said that you didn’t really care for the capital one checking account I’m curious why?
hey hey! There he is :)
TBH, I haven't found an online based, business bank account that I love anywhere. Spark at Capital One is the best I've found, but there are still some things I really don't like. Here's three main ones.
> I've had consistent issues with logins over the years, especially when connecting to QuickBooks, Quicken, and YNAB. The connection for pulling transactions consistently breaks. These days I have to reconnect my capital one accounts every time I go into my software.
> While I haven't interacted with customer support a lot, a couple of times I've needed something due to a delayed transfer or wiring money, it's been a long and drawn out process. No good luck interacting online and the phone was difficult.
> By far my biggest complaint is no good mobile solution. Their regular capital one app doesn't work with the Spark business capital one account. And they discontinued the Spark App in 2017. So if I want to access my accounts on my phone, I have to do it through the chrome browser which just isn't a great experience. They're supposed to be adding their spark accounts to their main app, but it's taken a couple years and it still doesn't work for me.
I wish there was an Ally Bank for business, or a business bank building their online interface similar to what Ally has done. But at this point, I haven't found one.
Hey Nick. New YNAB user on the personal side, and my wife and I love it. We own and operate a small grocery with 12 employees, and we have been power users of Quickbooks Desktop Pro for a lot of reasons that have more to do with it's ability to track LOTS of small details like items, inventory, supplies, vendors, etc., than with it's ability to budget or manage money well. Any advice on how to incorporate YNAB and/or PF into a business that is using QB?
PF and Quickbooks work together. Just set up the accounts and follow the allocation. YNAB is similar to QB but without all accounting features, you need as a business owner.
What if you are starting fresh on a business. Should one start at the recommended TAP percentage?
I really like your channel thank you so much!
One qeustion do you not pay tax on your 50% bonus profit?
Why would you do this with multiple business bank accounts rather than just a simple checking & savings with categories that you keep an eye on with YNAB?
I worry about opening too many business checking accounts and I'm with you... I absolutely hate Capital One's integration with YNAB. It isn't worth the headache.
Great video! :)
Thanks glad you enjoyed it :)
Great stuff. Do you use a payroll software too? Do you have LLC S corp?
Hey Rich!
Great questions.
So right now we’re still just a Sole Prop. But we’re going to transition to an LLC filing as an S Corp going into 2020.
As for payroll, not at the moment. Since it’s just my wife and I. We just transfer the money from business accounts at capital one to personal accounts at Ally bank when we pay ourselves.
Extremely helpful Nick, thank you! Do you use a CPA for your quarterly and annual tax filings or DIY?
Hey! I just do it DIY for the quarterly. I did have a CPA this past year for the first time ever, but that was mostly because I live in an RV and there are a few things that are unique about traveling and working on the road. So I had a CPA who specializes in working with full-time RVers.
But I may go back and do it myself this year. It's not too difficult at this point :)
@@mappedoutmoney My home schooling family and I are considering going full time RV. Since we're both small business owners, I find it interesting that you said there are some unique situations. Could you briefly elaborate? Thanks.
How do you make a tax payment from the Tax Savings account. It's a savings account. Do you pay taxes from your personal checking so you can just transfer that money from the Tax Savings to your Personal Checking to pay yourself back?
Hey Nick, sorry if you answered this already... scrolled through some of the comments and didn't see it. If you are just passing your Profit through to Profit Savings, what's the purpose of the two profit accounts? I see why you want your Profit Savings in a separate bank, but not why you set up a Profit Checking to pass through bi-weekly. Can you clarify?
Good question, the purpose is simply that transfers at the same bank happen instantly, vs when you transfer to an external bank it takes a few days. So if you use pass-through accounts, it gets your income account down to $0 immediately.
Great video! My question is what if you had a loan that needs to be paid monthly on your new business? Do you "add" an extra bank account that pays for your equipment purchased? I need to get this loan paid (It's a HELOC) and then use it to buy more equipment to add more services. Thanks!
Hey Johnny! Good question. I probably wouldn't. Personally I would handle loan payback as an expense out of the OPEX account. You could do a separate account. So it's really personal preference, but I would personally just pay the bill out of OPEX.
Hope that helps!
Hi! Canadian taxes are different, so I would have to be more conservative and put 30% for prov/federal + plus 15% that I charge. How does this changes the proportion of other percentages of the PFA system?
Love it!
Hey Nick, I’m curious to hear your thoughts on determining your OPEX CAP and setting your OPEX TAP. The 30% (for start ups) is a good initial number but clearly will be different for each business. How did you navigate that?
Hey Joe!
Good question. So the way I started (and the way I recommend folks start) is to run a report or track whatever you're currently doing in business and then do the backwards math to start there. Because my business is high margin, low overhead, and most of the revenue was my salary when starting out, my percentages looked that way.
So when I did the backwards math I was at
Profit = 0%
Tax = 15%
Owner's 75%
OPEX = 10%
Over time I've inched up profit, and opex, and decreased Owner's. My goal is to continue to do that until my profit is near 20% and opex around 30%.
Long story short = take Mike's initial recommendations combined with what your business currently does and adjust from there.
Hope that helps!
Nick
Hi Nick. Great stuff. Question...what do you do (and with what frequency) with remaining funds in the Opex account if you do not spend all that you allocated?
Great video! When you take half of your profits and pay yourself a quarterly profit-sharing bonus, is that money taxed?
Not the way we do it, because we tax all of the money as it comes into the business. So all the profit money has already been hit with tax. So when we take the distribution, we don't tax it a second time.
Does this system work only if you’re a sole proprietor? If you are an LLC, can you set the various accounts up under your business name?
You can. Although these days I don’t use the various accounts. I actually just use one account and use YNAB to run this system inside digital envelopes.
Something that bothers me with taking a high Owners Comp is that personal tax is higher than small business tax in my country, so all of sudden almost half of my salary is going to tax. Is it not better to keep more in Profit Hold instead of paying yourself a bloated salary of 50% of turnover? Your business can't be that healthy if you're bleeding it dry on owners salary.
Agreed completely and that's the long-term goal. I think for a lot of small business owners, their business isn't "healthy" when starting out, so they have to pay themselves a high percentage. They have to eat. But yes, over time, you'd definitely want to get that percentage down.
Yeah thought so, that's why I can't understand Mike's Owners Comp percentage of 50% for business turnover up to $250k, that's up to $10k per month, which is quite a high salary for a small business owner. Anyway thanks for your feedback. Your videos are great, very clear!
Where do you take into account sales tax? In washington state here its 10%, do the percentages get calculated AFTER removing that 10%?
Do you use YNAB and the Profit First method for personal accounts too? If so, how have you tweaked it to work?
I don't really use profit first for personal side. But I do use YNAB + Profit First, if that's what you mean. I actually did a video on that, so be sure to check that one out :)
In regards to the business paying for your taxes upfront then you taking the "Owners Comp %" ...do you then set aside a % for "personal income tax" out of the "owners comp" you initially set aside?
If I have two businesses, do I have all income go into one "Income" checking account? Or do you recommend setting up two complete Profit First systems for each business? Thanks!
Well explained!
This video actually made me fully understand the profit first system in theory & practical.
The caps & taps how often changes be made to them...?
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Nick, is there a reason why you use separate banks? Why not bank at the same bank for all accounts?
I actually do use the same back
For all business and then a separate bank for personal.
But I’m the profit first book the author recommends separate banks for your main business accounts vs your tax savings and profit savings.
But it’s all personal preference.
I just came across your video. Very well done. I do have a question though on the checking accounts used. Are you using "personal" checking accounts for business purposes? I can't find a single free "business" checking account anywhere that either doesn't charge a $12 to $15 fee or a minimum balance of at least $1,000 or more in each account. I want to conduct the "Profit First" methodology, but not at the expense of paying $60 a month (minimum) in bank fees.
Nope! I use business accounts. Through they’re online. I bank with spark capital one. Its been great and they don’t have any fees.
Unfortunately you’re right though, they’re hard to find.
@@mappedoutmoney why couldnt you just use personal accounts instead of opening "free" business accounts? whats the advantage?
@@brettjeepski It's a liability thing. so when you get your business accounts separate from personal and do an LLC, it helps protect you from people suing your business and then also taking your personal assets. Sometimes even if your business and personal are separate, if it's not a "business" account, they'll still be able to come after you.
Yes, this is a super small and rare case, but that's the main benefit of "business" accounts.
I have read Profit First and have the accounts, but don't use them except for Income, OpEx and Owner's Comp. lol Can you refresh my memory on the Profit account? When you take the 50% each quarter, do you take the Current 50% put in or 50% of the whole account? I have put my book somewhere and I am sure it is just collecting dust. I will be hunting for it later today!
I take 50% of the entire account. Whatever is in there at the end of the quarter, I take half :)
What does your end of the year tax info together look like with YNAB and Profit First?
How do you claim owners pay by 1099 or W2? I'm an owner of a store and want to make sure I'm doing this correctly.
It all depends on how your business is structured. I’m currently a sole proprietor and owners comes as 1099 from clients.
If you’re an actual employee and structured as such, you’d use a W2
Hello Nick, I have a LLC only me and my daughter is in my payroll. I use YNAB to budget my LLC expanses, income. Is it enough information for tax purposes? I tried QuickBooks but I am very overwhelmed about it. Thank you
In the chart “TAPs Recommendations” the Revenue Range values are Monthly income or Annual income?
They're Annual Revenue!
Good question :)
@Nick True, hey so I'm on payroll too. So I don't pull money out of the companies cash asset. Or net profit. Because I receive a check like a normal employee. So with that said. I dont see a reason for the owners comp for me. Can you elaborate on my scenario?
guess you pay your self and process payroll out of 2 separate accounts
What online bank has the best or easiest set up for multiple business checking accounts without all the fees?
I use Capital One spark. It works pretty good for me, although I'm sure there are others out there. Definitely don't compromise though, be sure to find one without fees!
I am a florist so In addition to federal tax I pay sales tax. Would you recommend opening another checking account for this?
Spark checking/savings is not accepting applications for a few months now. Any recommendations for alternative?
Hi Nick have a question where is the COGS “Cost Of God’s Sold”. When you say Income, do you mean Sales.?
What happens if your CAP profit is already higher than the TAP. Do you allocate 1% into the Profit Account or start with high CAP?
If you're already at a high CAP, then just stay there. No rules that you can't have a high TAP for your profit account. That's a good thing!
@@mappedoutmoney Thanks Nick. Appreciate your answers.
Lol you said it at the same time I said wow this sounds like the richest man in Babylon.
What banks do you use for this system? I can imagine opening up that many business checking/savings accounts can result in a lot of unnecessary fees. What do you recommend?
You have to work with banks that don't charge for business accounts. Many credit unions don't charge.
Profit Answer Man from Profit Comes First went with Novo Bank for my Business checking!
Do you know how the profit % came about. I think he mentioned it was from research on the top companies?
why taxes saving AND taxes checking?