I came from another financial “guru” community where the majority are jerks. Been in the YNAB community for 6 years, the people here are the nicest, non-judgements like, most supportive people I’ve ever met. People are not prideful, rude, jerks, just loving and supportive, we need more people like this in the world!
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I found this conversation very valuable. However, I would add a couple screenshots as they speak, just to get it more visual to viewers and motivate action. IMHO. Thanks YNAB for this great advices! 😉👍
@@YNABofficial Mr. Ernie. Props to you for responding to a comment made yesterday on a video from 3 years ago. Happy New Year to you and happy budgeting.
I’d love to have content on the reporting. What happens for example if you sell something and categorize it to TBB and then move it to a budget line versus categorizing it directly to the budget line at the transaction level? Does it change your spending reports? What other interesting reports are there and how do people use them? What about tracking categories? How many are too many? For example, if I track my car as an asset does that reasonable reflect my net worth? Personally I think no because a car depreciates so fast ... but it would be interesting to talk about how tracking different assets might drive different behaviour in budgeters. Would be super interesting to do an interview series with the toolkit creators. Get them in for some interviews!
I loooove the last day of the month too! I update all my tracking accounts and see how the net worth has changed. I don't have to cover overspending or anything because I do those as they happen. I'm such a YNAB nerd that I am literally on it every day!
Same! I spend at least a few minutes a day on there making sure all my transactions are in and accounted for (I do manual entry), and covering overspending or rearranging for things that come up (not really punches per se, but shifting priorities) so honestly, the end of the month isn't a big deal for me.
Omg, this is exactly the type of content I need right now. I just updated my category groups this past weekend and have been seeking a place to gush about how much it makes my reports more functional. #BudgetNerds4Lyfe
Feedback for future episodes: - would love to see screenshares of you guys doing some of the things you're taking about. Visual aids are super helpful in being able to follow along. - could you guys talk about how your budget structure has evolved over time? For example, maybe you started with a "wish farm" composition and workflow, but you since implemented other ideas.
For me, this is the composition I'm currently working with that makes my reports look super sexy, imo: 1) Emergency Fund - contains categories for costs like "auto deductible" and "6-month safety net" 2) Pay Yourself First - contains categories for costs like "Roth IRA" for money I'm saving up to throw into various retirement accounts next year. 3) Fixed Date Expenses - Contains categories for expenses like "auto insurance" with a set due date and ordered chronologically by due date. 4) Active Fixed Cost Expenses - Contains categories for expenses like groceries where I define how much I want to spend, but am not tied to any specific date to spend it. 5) Wish Farm - Contains categories for costs like "Friend's Wedding" for expenses related to wants that I'm actively trying to find build towards. 6) Wishlist - Contains categories like "Ryzen CPU" for wants that I'll eventually build towards after the wish farm items are funded. 7) Intermittent Expenses - Contains categories like "Fun Money" for costs that are not tied to any particular date or amount. I think some people call this a "sinking fund"? Also contains categories like "Travel" where I'll eventually move funded wish farm line items into when I actually spend the money.
@@YNABofficial Can you cover splitting expenses and paying people back? Specifically, what about when you're essentially keeping an "account" with someone: they pay me & I pay them & we reimburse each other once/twice a month. For example, if someone buys me 2 lunches and I pay them back part in cash & part by buying the Amazon item they needed, how do I document this in YNAB? Nick True suggests documenting expenses that other people cover for me (what I owe them) as incoming cash but that doesn't make sense if you're not keeping a separate account called cash as I didn't actually receive any money in my checking account. I do a lot of this: I venmo someone for my part of the lunch or I venmo them to grab me lunch on their way back or for this lunch minus these 2 purchases I made for them and I'm not finding a good way to document that which still works for reconciling at the end of the month.
When you said you were 99% and your wife 1% into the budget I was hoping you'd talk about that a little more. Do you do a monthly budget meeting? How much does she participate in the budgeting? My husband is probably less than 1%. I have been handing our finances for almost 30 years and would really like him to be more involved. He likes the idea of there being a budget but thinks it's fine for me to handle it. This always means I budget and then adjust the budget after the spending, usually pulling from money I set aside for something. Irregular income doesn't make that any easier. Hoping YNAB helps with this. I'm excited that the transactions pop up to be approved so he sees that and will know more about what's happening.
I am in that situation only difference is our entire marriage (20+years) my husband did NOT let me manage his income . On top of that he blew it so irrisponsibly we were in perpetual debt (bills never got paid on time, oftentimes went hungry and last year I decided to divorce him) . So when the cv hoax began and he woke up to the scam, he took me serious enough that he finally allowed his income direct deposited, into my own bank account. Just 2weeks ago I installed the YNAB app, and have been using it. He is still uninvolved, but Im glad I have control over managing the $, and now exited to be using this app to take it to the next level.
Love the new format. I’m with you on the closing of the month, I genuinely look forward to it. I think it would be cool if you guys had some guests from YNAB and the YNAB community come on and join you for a chat.
I’m glad I’m not alone on this budget thing! When I talk with people about budgeting, they look at me as if I’m a freak 🤪. I’m always looking forward to the end of the month to track my numbers 😁. Love the channel!
What do you do at the end of the month when: an income stream doesn’t show up in the bank until the first of the next month? When the bank has some important expenses four the current month, that has not been released yet? In other words, pending expenses? How in the world do you keep all that in the current month of theBudget?
nice one, thanks for the vid gents. Process with my wife is pretty familiar - roll over last month's budgeted categories as a baseline, then go through and sanity check everything. As the months go through since we joined budgets she's getting more on board and more accurate with account balances! We just try to minimise categories so that the amount leftover at the end to dump into mortgage is maximised
I have two category groups that I budget out months ahead. Those contain things like estimated electric and gas bills, the mortgage, car insurance etc... and groceries... the things that if I were unemployed for a time it's the bare minimum we would need to survive... the rest of the categories get populated from last month's income, then put aside some extra "oh crap" money, and then use what's left to populate another future month. Anything that's left over at the end of the month usually gets invested into Stash or put into long term savings.
I only reconcile when I get statements, that way I have a filter to only see what's on the current statement. I also like to look at the reports section and make a journal entry on what I did well or poorly each month.
I first joined YNAB in 2004 a few months after giving birth to my eldest child. There were no apps, phones weren't touch screen, TH-cam wasn't a thing. I quit soon after because I didn't get it and the website was boring. Sorry. 😁 I'm glad I rediscovered you guys almost 16 years later. You guys are really interesting now...or maybe I got really nerdy with budgets all these years later. ✌🏼
I like this 🙂. I first had some categories for clothes, transport, health and other unpredictable things that I think I should have money available for. But I couldn't find the right amount to match my income vs what if typically would like to have available. So now I made a bulk category that's funded and all the others are empty. When one of my girls needs some clothes I cover the spending from the clothing category and it'll be overspent and I take money from that bulk category. This way I can hopefully track how much I spend on what items. I use the labels to differentiate what I buy for myself vs for the kids or with PayPal for example. I'm now trying to save money to buy a house, so after I have the next month funded, any extra goes into that category. But I still hope my laptop won't break down soon as that category is not yet funded. I'm also looking into funding ahead vs having a category called next month (or would people leave it in TBB?) What are your pro's and con's?
I try to go ahead and take a guess and put money into those categories (i.e. clothes) each month. If I spend it, great. If I don't spend it, I leave it there to build up for next month. If I spend too much, then I take from other categories to make it even. For example, $30/month into clothing doesn't buy much...this month...but $60 then $90, and soon I do have enough money. Only do this with categories that you will eventually spend...like clothes. Kids keep growing!
@@momhouser I have a tiered system of three categories. One is under True Expenses called buffer (target balance goal) that basically works like a shock absorber similar to Sarah's holding category. If I need to cover something where it was slightly over average for that month (and it is a rare month where something isn't over average somewhere for some reason), I hit buffer first. This prevents any shocks to the rest of the budget. I only need to start seriously applying Rule 3 if the shock exceeds Buffer. Beyond Buffer, I have Stuff I forgot to Budget for A/K/A "Unexpected Expenses." in my Savings category with its own balance. This is for things that are more than just normal fluctuations over average - things that I forgot or which were small unexpected items. The category change from True Expenses to Savings is quite conscious. It also operates with a target balance goal. Finally, also in savings, I have my true catastrophic Emergency Fund where I have a target balance by date to have 9 months worth of my expenses saved within four years. This is for bona fide emergencies - tornados, medical, job loss, etc. I tend to think of them like crumple zones in a car since together the three make up my actual emergency budget. In an emergency, the first to be used is Buffer, then Unexpected Expenses, and only when they are done, do I have to tap into the Emergency Fund. It's probably overly complicated, but it works for me.
Regarding the cash gift for your daughter, how do you budget that once you and wife have the meeting? For example, do you put it into “to be budgeted” and then as you buy a gift put it into a “gifts” category? I feel reports wouldn’t be as accurate then. Or do you have a temporary account that doesn’t show up in budget and kids money goes in there and gifts out of it?
This is great! I'd love if you guys talked about reconciling accounts (specifically checking accounts that always have pending transactions). Is it just me or is it impossible to reconcile with USAA?
I'm on the old YNAB, so I'm not sure this is still a thing with the current version...but I "break" the system by entering *future* expenditures and income into the register so I can see that the upcoming month will be OK. Just one month ahead. Am I the only one in the world to do that?
Just started tracking a few investments and debts. Want to attack the debts and watch my net worth improve. Good to have that graphic. End of month is dedicated to reconciliation. My favorite times are the bi-weekly paydays! Assigning those dollars. Now, one issue I have with my budget is going overboard with goals ....I’m way over than my income. Not sure how to rectify that situation?
I hear you on this! It's real easy to go overboard on goals. But embracing the scarcity of your money is absolutely key, because it will help you focus on what really is the most important to you! I'd recommend you sit down and have a think about what your biggest goals are and cut back on your goals until it's more in line with your income. The focus will help you get more traction! ~BenB
Libby Webb - her video might be the root cause of my problem: I love the concept of wish farms ... to motivate me to save. And added it to my budget. Added goals for each, etc. I just need to income to match my wishes!
I am only now at 14 months into YNABbing getting my goals down to match my income. Part of the problem for me was that I had several target balance goals though. I want to have 9x my monthly expenses in my Emergency Fund, I want to have $20K in my Car Replacement category, and so forth. I basically had these as goals and I kicked money at them whenever I had a little extra, but I wasn't regular or planned about it. I couldn't be because I couldn't have funded all of them as much as I wanted with my monthly income. I finally started putting dates on those, and then I had to push my dates out more to get it under my income. And it is still a work in progress, but I think Ben's right. We have to embrace the limits our real income creates in order to be realistic and not aspirational about our goals.
Ernie. You and I are the same. Night of the end of month I sit down and update all my accounts and tracking accounts. Topic Ideas is categories. What categories are combined. Example I have a utilities category that is a pooling of money I use to pay my water, gas and electricity.
Lot of good ideas here, so thank you. I write a lot and one my favorite books is EB White’s Elements of Style. And one of. my favorite tips is “Omit Useless Words.” So consider that for your videos. As. NYABer I’m busy and into efficiency. So here’s a friendly suggestion - Use that tip in making you videos so they take 7-8 minutes instead of 15. Thanks again.
I love this concept But you guys need to show the budget so we can have a visual during your entire video. It gets boring quickly by just looking at you two talk
I agree that visuals would be nice at points. But I disagree that looking at you talking was boring. I felt like I was part of a conversation with the two of you, rather than in a workshop. I was talking to you both through my iPad
I kind of do the margin thing. I'm almost 60, so retirement isn't far off. In order to not get any bad habits, I made a budget for a retirement income. Social security + work pension will give me about 2/3 of my current income. So my budget has me living on 2/3 of my paycheck (all mortgages etc. are paid off so this is doable). That leads to a lot of savings and also helps me avoid lifestyle creep.
Love this series for experienced YNABers! I look forward to the end of the month not for tracking accounts, but for seeing if I have any leftover green in non Rule 2 categories to move and get a larger fun end of month reward purchase. Yay "bonus" fun money!
I call that folder "The Holding Pen". It's just to hold weird things until they are dealt with. I bought a thing for my friend and they Venmo'd me the amount? Both the purchase and the deposit go into The Holding Pen to just cancel each other out. On the 31st I fully fund next month. On the 1st I reconcile the past month, since it takes overnight for my bank to push in those last transactions. First I look for underspent categories that I want to reclaim the dollars from. Then I look for overspent categories that need money to bring to zero. I evaluate whether these underspends and overspends indicate a needed budget adjustment or were just random. Then with the adjustments made and next month fully funded, any amount still in To Be Budgeted gets used up in either a debt payment or a transaction into savings.
@@sarahjenkins3507 When I say "category" I mean one of the larger groupings of, well payment categories. Maybe "groups" or category groups" would have been a much better word to use. In any case, the group is called "Reimbursable Expenses" and it has five categories within it: Reimbursement - Friends, Reimbursement: Travel, Reimbursement - Conferences, Reimbursement - Hotel, and Reimbursement - Memberships. (I really could potentially do only Reimbursement - Friends and Reimbursement: Work but that's not how I set it up.) If I am flying to a conference and staying the nights in a hotel, I charge the costs to the respective categories which creates a negative balance in the category. When I deposit the reimbursement check from my work, instead of putting it into TBB, I put it directly in the category which zeros it back out. I like this system because then when I run an Income and Expense report, the reimbursements do not show up as my income. (I can't recall if they still show as an expense.) I feel this is more accurate since it is really my employer who is paying these things, not me. There is a catch though, and you really need to watch it. From the time I spend until the time I get reimbursed, I am showing credit card over-spending and, if the month cycles while that is the case, then Bad Things happen in my budget. In those cases, I transfer funds from TBB to my reimbursement categories so I don't cycle the month with credit card overspending. When I get reimbursed the next month, I still shunt it directly to the category (because I don't want it showing as income), but I then move the money I put into the reimbursement category back to TBB. Does that make more sense? Also this may help explain my system - it's where I got the idea: th-cam.com/video/d1GQbytjj3s/w-d-xo.html
Just curious, is there a reason why YNAB is so scsnt with showing the actual app/website in it's videos? I do enjoy the talking personalities but it'd be so much richer (for me) if it was accompanied with examples from the site.
There are lots of YNAB videos with actual program content! A lady named Hannah has a YNAB video series on their channel and a guy named Nick True has a bunch on his own Mapping Out Money channel. Both explain many ideas of YNAB, with screenshots, on-screen walkthroughs, and realistic scenarios.
I tried YNAB at least twice in college but couldn't wrap my head around just budgeting the money that I had (and I had some debt, and found handling that sort of confusing). Now, about four years later, I started using it again (in 2020) - last year, I implemented a mostly cash-based budgeting system, so I was much more familiar with the ideology - and it finally all clicked. Such a big fan of YNAB! I have major accounts linked so I try to enter as I go, but I also reconcile against my banking app. I try to check in every two-three days (more if I'm spending a lot). I use the YNAB mobile app a lot too, but I do most clearing/matching/reconciling on my computer first thing in the morning. I usually budget intensely on pay-day, and also on the 1st of the month I make sure my reconciliation is set so that my balances are accurate.
Love hearing about the margin & BMI categories. Definitely going to watch the "Creating Margin in the Budget" video next and then make sure all of my targets/goals are set to stay within my typical montly inflow. LOVE you guys! Cheers!
I love the idea of a "Margin". I call mine the "Buffer" and the buffer is distinct from an Emergency Savings because it's made to save me from things I forgot to budget for. I am a new ynabber and I don't have anything built up for true expenses (yet!).
Very fun video. Thank you, guys. Good to know I'm not the only nerd out there. Who could have thought that budgeting could be fun and entertaining? I used to do a Fresh Start at the first of the year and totally looked forward to it. I would usually stay up on the 31st, but sometime on the 1st do the Fresh Start.
Ernie, I do that exact routine at the end of every month, with the difference I am currently working on some software robots that help me get those account balances automatically. I just run them and watch it happen. Great fun and veeeeery satisfying!!
Love Love YNAB been using since January... Have watched almost every TH-cam video I can find. Always trying to figure out the categories to make my budgeting easier. Recommend this to everyone.
Many people would love to have enough income just to have a conversation about margin for fun and retirement accounts. You could make all those learning points in a more inclusive way.
I came from another financial “guru” community where the majority are jerks. Been in the YNAB community for 6 years, the people here are the nicest, non-judgements like, most supportive people I’ve ever met. People are not prideful, rude, jerks, just loving and supportive, we need more people like this in the world!
I found this conversation very valuable. However, I would add a couple screenshots as they speak, just to get it more visual to viewers and motivate action. IMHO.
Thanks YNAB for this great advices! 😉👍
BUDGET NERDS!!! I'm not alone!! This is so great - it's super fun to have some videos for the not-newbies. YAY!!! Thanks for doing this!
No, you are not alone, my friend! There are dozens of us! tinyurl.com/p4jelcb ~BenB
@@YNABofficialis this where the "you are not alone...no, you are not" intro thing came from?
@@isaiahayers1550 It sure is! ~Ernie
@@YNABofficial Mr. Ernie. Props to you for responding to a comment made yesterday on a video from 3 years ago. Happy New Year to you and happy budgeting.
I’d love to have content on the reporting. What happens for example if you sell something and categorize it to TBB and then move it to a budget line versus categorizing it directly to the budget line at the transaction level? Does it change your spending reports? What other interesting reports are there and how do people use them?
What about tracking categories? How many are too many? For example, if I track my car as an asset does that reasonable reflect my net worth? Personally I think no because a car depreciates so fast ... but it would be interesting to talk about how tracking different assets might drive different behaviour in budgeters.
Would be super interesting to do an interview series with the toolkit creators. Get them in for some interviews!
How fun that I found your first episode from my TH-cam search to make sure my monthly rollover is "optimized". Thank you, guys! Y'all rock!
I loooove the last day of the month too! I update all my tracking accounts and see how the net worth has changed. I don't have to cover overspending or anything because I do those as they happen. I'm such a YNAB nerd that I am literally on it every day!
Same! I spend at least a few minutes a day on there making sure all my transactions are in and accounted for (I do manual entry), and covering overspending or rearranging for things that come up (not really punches per se, but shifting priorities) so honestly, the end of the month isn't a big deal for me.
After about 1-2weeks , I consider myself almost amateur seeking to be "nerd level" .
@Ms.Anonymous Informer you are not alone, me too.
Omg, this is exactly the type of content I need right now. I just updated my category groups this past weekend and have been seeking a place to gush about how much it makes my reports more functional. #BudgetNerds4Lyfe
Feedback for future episodes:
- would love to see screenshares of you guys doing some of the things you're taking about. Visual aids are super helpful in being able to follow along.
- could you guys talk about how your budget structure has evolved over time? For example, maybe you started with a "wish farm" composition and workflow, but you since implemented other ideas.
@@mdctenga Great ideas! Keep them coming!
For me, this is the composition I'm currently working with that makes my reports look super sexy, imo:
1) Emergency Fund - contains categories for costs like "auto deductible" and "6-month safety net"
2) Pay Yourself First - contains categories for costs like "Roth IRA" for money I'm saving up to throw into various retirement accounts next year.
3) Fixed Date Expenses - Contains categories for expenses like "auto insurance" with a set due date and ordered chronologically by due date.
4) Active Fixed Cost Expenses - Contains categories for expenses like groceries where I define how much I want to spend, but am not tied to any specific date to spend it.
5) Wish Farm - Contains categories for costs like "Friend's Wedding" for expenses related to wants that I'm actively trying to find build towards.
6) Wishlist - Contains categories like "Ryzen CPU" for wants that I'll eventually build towards after the wish farm items are funded.
7) Intermittent Expenses - Contains categories like "Fun Money" for costs that are not tied to any particular date or amount. I think some people call this a "sinking fund"? Also contains categories like "Travel" where I'll eventually move funded wish farm line items into when I actually spend the money.
@@YNABofficial Can you cover splitting expenses and paying people back? Specifically, what about when you're essentially keeping an "account" with someone: they pay me & I pay them & we reimburse each other once/twice a month.
For example, if someone buys me 2 lunches and I pay them back part in cash & part by buying the Amazon item they needed, how do I document this in YNAB? Nick True suggests documenting expenses that other people cover for me (what I owe them) as incoming cash but that doesn't make sense if you're not keeping a separate account called cash as I didn't actually receive any money in my checking account.
I do a lot of this: I venmo someone for my part of the lunch or I venmo them to grab me lunch on their way back or for this lunch minus these 2 purchases I made for them and I'm not finding a good way to document that which still works for reconciling at the end of the month.
I am so happy i got to know about expeditetools,com .They got a transfer of $54,000 directly to my bank account ,
Would love for Hannah to be a guest on one upcoming episode!
Me too!
shout out to Hannah (っ◔◡◔)っ ❤
YNAB totally changed my life - when someone brings up finances I jump on the chance to gush about how great it is!
I haven't given up completely, but I wind up feeling stupid after seeing this
When you said you were 99% and your wife 1% into the budget I was hoping you'd talk about that a little more. Do you do a monthly budget meeting? How much does she participate in the budgeting? My husband is probably less than 1%. I have been handing our finances for almost 30 years and would really like him to be more involved. He likes the idea of there being a budget but thinks it's fine for me to handle it. This always means I budget and then adjust the budget after the spending, usually pulling from money I set aside for something. Irregular income doesn't make that any easier. Hoping YNAB helps with this. I'm excited that the transactions pop up to be approved so he sees that and will know more about what's happening.
I am in that situation only difference is our entire marriage (20+years) my husband did NOT let me manage his income . On top of that he blew it so irrisponsibly we were in perpetual debt (bills never got paid on time, oftentimes went hungry and last year I decided to divorce him) . So when the cv hoax began and he woke up to the scam, he took me serious enough that he finally allowed his income direct deposited, into my own bank account. Just 2weeks ago I installed the YNAB app, and have been using it. He is still uninvolved, but Im glad I have control over managing the $, and now exited to be using this app to take it to the next level.
B/c finances scare/annoy me -- I now play calm spa music to inspire me to do what you two seem to find joyful :) Boom, I said it...
Oh my gosh, I can’t believe it took me a year to find you guys! My brain works exactly like yours. Looking forward to bingeing all of your videos!
Monthly networth update at the end of the month is definitely my favourite time too!
Love the new format. I’m with you on the closing of the month, I genuinely look forward to it. I think it would be cool if you guys had some guests from YNAB and the YNAB community come on and join you for a chat.
Did anyone else click on this because they thought Hurley from Lost uses YNAB
Please keep doing this! It's always nice listening to people who have been doing this longer than I have
I’m glad I’m not alone on this budget thing! When I talk with people about budgeting, they look at me as if I’m a freak 🤪. I’m always looking forward to the end of the month to track my numbers 😁. Love the channel!
What do you do at the end of the month when: an income stream doesn’t show up in the bank until the first of the next month? When the bank has some important expenses four the current month, that has not been released yet? In other words, pending expenses? How in the world do you keep all that in the current month of theBudget?
nice one, thanks for the vid gents. Process with my wife is pretty familiar - roll over last month's budgeted categories as a baseline, then go through and sanity check everything. As the months go through since we joined budgets she's getting more on board and more accurate with account balances!
We just try to minimise categories so that the amount leftover at the end to dump into mortgage is maximised
I have two category groups that I budget out months ahead. Those contain things like estimated electric and gas bills, the mortgage, car insurance etc... and groceries... the things that if I were unemployed for a time it's the bare minimum we would need to survive... the rest of the categories get populated from last month's income, then put aside some extra "oh crap" money, and then use what's left to populate another future month. Anything that's left over at the end of the month usually gets invested into Stash or put into long term savings.
I only reconcile when I get statements, that way I have a filter to only see what's on the current statement. I also like to look at the reports section and make a journal entry on what I did well or poorly each month.
I first joined YNAB in 2004 a few months after giving birth to my eldest child. There were no apps, phones weren't touch screen, TH-cam wasn't a thing. I quit soon after because I didn't get it and the website was boring. Sorry. 😁 I'm glad I rediscovered you guys almost 16 years later. You guys are really interesting now...or maybe I got really nerdy with budgets all these years later. ✌🏼
You guys need to put this on Pocket Casts and all the other podcast outlets!
I like this 🙂. I first had some categories for clothes, transport, health and other unpredictable things that I think I should have money available for. But I couldn't find the right amount to match my income vs what if typically would like to have available. So now I made a bulk category that's funded and all the others are empty. When one of my girls needs some clothes I cover the spending from the clothing category and it'll be overspent and I take money from that bulk category. This way I can hopefully track how much I spend on what items. I use the labels to differentiate what I buy for myself vs for the kids or with PayPal for example.
I'm now trying to save money to buy a house, so after I have the next month funded, any extra goes into that category. But I still hope my laptop won't break down soon as that category is not yet funded.
I'm also looking into funding ahead vs having a category called next month (or would people leave it in TBB?) What are your pro's and con's?
I try to go ahead and take a guess and put money into those categories (i.e. clothes) each month. If I spend it, great. If I don't spend it, I leave it there to build up for next month. If I spend too much, then I take from other categories to make it even. For example, $30/month into clothing doesn't buy much...this month...but $60 then $90, and soon I do have enough money. Only do this with categories that you will eventually spend...like clothes. Kids keep growing!
@@momhouser I have a tiered system of three categories. One is under True Expenses called buffer (target balance goal) that basically works like a shock absorber similar to Sarah's holding category. If I need to cover something where it was slightly over average for that month (and it is a rare month where something isn't over average somewhere for some reason), I hit buffer first. This prevents any shocks to the rest of the budget. I only need to start seriously applying Rule 3 if the shock exceeds Buffer. Beyond Buffer, I have Stuff I forgot to Budget for A/K/A "Unexpected Expenses." in my Savings category with its own balance. This is for things that are more than just normal fluctuations over average - things that I forgot or which were small unexpected items. The category change from True Expenses to Savings is quite conscious. It also operates with a target balance goal. Finally, also in savings, I have my true catastrophic Emergency Fund where I have a target balance by date to have 9 months worth of my expenses saved within four years. This is for bona fide emergencies - tornados, medical, job loss, etc. I tend to think of them like crumple zones in a car since together the three make up my actual emergency budget. In an emergency, the first to be used is Buffer, then Unexpected Expenses, and only when they are done, do I have to tap into the Emergency Fund. It's probably overly complicated, but it works for me.
Such a great video. Love it all. The BMI is a great idea. Have been thinking about a need for something like this. Looking forward to more like this.
I want you guys to go through your categories!
The "sitting in the bath" thing started from the very first episode?!
Whoa, I did not know that! ~Ernie
Regarding the cash gift for your daughter, how do you budget that once you and wife have the meeting? For example, do you put it into “to be budgeted” and then as you buy a gift put it into a “gifts” category? I feel reports wouldn’t be as accurate then. Or do you have a temporary account that doesn’t show up in budget and kids money goes in there and gifts out of it?
This is great! I'd love if you guys talked about reconciling accounts (specifically checking accounts that always have pending transactions). Is it just me or is it impossible to reconcile with USAA?
I'm on the old YNAB, so I'm not sure this is still a thing with the current version...but I "break" the system by entering *future* expenditures and income into the register so I can see that the upcoming month will be OK. Just one month ahead. Am I the only one in the world to do that?
The goals in the new YNAB work just like you are describing.
I feel home and a budget nerd now ❤️ lots of love from Chile.
Just started tracking a few investments and debts. Want to attack the debts and watch my net worth improve. Good to have that graphic. End of month is dedicated to reconciliation. My favorite times are the bi-weekly paydays! Assigning those dollars. Now, one issue I have with my budget is going overboard with goals ....I’m way over than my income. Not sure how to rectify that situation?
I hear you on this! It's real easy to go overboard on goals. But embracing the scarcity of your money is absolutely key, because it will help you focus on what really is the most important to you! I'd recommend you sit down and have a think about what your biggest goals are and cut back on your goals until it's more in line with your income. The focus will help you get more traction! ~BenB
Hannah’s video on Wish Farm VS Wish List might help you a lot. It did me.
Libby Webb - her video might be the root cause of my problem: I love the concept of wish farms ... to motivate me to save. And added it to my budget. Added goals for each, etc. I just need to income to match my wishes!
Ronald Rollins LoL I hear ya!! Having goals to work towards though are super motivating!
I am only now at 14 months into YNABbing getting my goals down to match my income. Part of the problem for me was that I had several target balance goals though. I want to have 9x my monthly expenses in my Emergency Fund, I want to have $20K in my Car Replacement category, and so forth. I basically had these as goals and I kicked money at them whenever I had a little extra, but I wasn't regular or planned about it. I couldn't be because I couldn't have funded all of them as much as I wanted with my monthly income. I finally started putting dates on those, and then I had to push my dates out more to get it under my income. And it is still a work in progress, but I think Ben's right. We have to embrace the limits our real income creates in order to be realistic and not aspirational about our goals.
Using YNAB since 2008. Even this month after so long, I learnt from Jesse POD cast that I have been abusing rule 3 for a long time
Ernie. You and I are the same. Night of the end of month I sit down and update all my accounts and tracking accounts. Topic Ideas is categories. What categories are combined. Example I have a utilities category that is a pooling of money I use to pay my water, gas and electricity.
Love the margin cat would love a retirement ideas for ynab for above 50 people
Yes. I am over 50 and am just considering YNAB. Still trying to get the guts to pull the trigger.
Love these videos !!!!!!
Great episode 2 planned yet
Lot of good ideas here, so thank you. I write a lot and one my favorite books is EB White’s Elements of Style. And one of. my favorite tips is “Omit Useless Words.” So consider that for your videos. As. NYABer I’m busy and into efficiency. So here’s a friendly suggestion - Use that tip in making you videos so they take 7-8 minutes instead of 15. Thanks again.
Oh yeah!
I love this concept But you guys need to show the budget so we can have a visual during your entire video. It gets boring quickly by just looking at you two talk
Thanks for the suggestion! I think we could add in some screen-recordings from the app where appropriate in future!
I agree that visuals would be nice at points. But I disagree that looking at you talking was boring. I felt like I was part of a conversation with the two of you, rather than in a workshop. I was talking to you both through my iPad
I kind of do the margin thing. I'm almost 60, so retirement isn't far off. In order to not get any bad habits, I made a budget for a retirement income. Social security + work pension will give me about 2/3 of my current income. So my budget has me living on 2/3 of my paycheck (all mortgages etc. are paid off so this is doable). That leads to a lot of savings and also helps me avoid lifestyle creep.
Love this series for experienced YNABers! I look forward to the end of the month not for tracking accounts, but for seeing if I have any leftover green in non Rule 2 categories to move and get a larger fun end of month reward purchase. Yay "bonus" fun money!
I call that folder "The Holding Pen". It's just to hold weird things until they are dealt with. I bought a thing for my friend and they Venmo'd me the amount? Both the purchase and the deposit go into The Holding Pen to just cancel each other out.
On the 31st I fully fund next month. On the 1st I reconcile the past month, since it takes overnight for my bank to push in those last transactions. First I look for underspent categories that I want to reclaim the dollars from. Then I look for overspent categories that need money to bring to zero. I evaluate whether these underspends and overspends indicate a needed budget adjustment or were just random. Then with the adjustments made and next month fully funded, any amount still in To Be Budgeted gets used up in either a debt payment or a transaction into savings.
The Holding Pen - I love that name! 😊 ~Ben
I have a whole category group called "Reimbursements" that functions like your Holding Pen.
When you say category do you take and pull from this like an account?
@@sarahjenkins3507 When I say "category" I mean one of the larger groupings of, well payment categories. Maybe "groups" or category groups" would have been a much better word to use. In any case, the group is called "Reimbursable Expenses" and it has five categories within it: Reimbursement - Friends, Reimbursement: Travel, Reimbursement - Conferences, Reimbursement - Hotel, and Reimbursement - Memberships. (I really could potentially do only Reimbursement - Friends and Reimbursement: Work but that's not how I set it up.) If I am flying to a conference and staying the nights in a hotel, I charge the costs to the respective categories which creates a negative balance in the category. When I deposit the reimbursement check from my work, instead of putting it into TBB, I put it directly in the category which zeros it back out. I like this system because then when I run an Income and Expense report, the reimbursements do not show up as my income. (I can't recall if they still show as an expense.) I feel this is more accurate since it is really my employer who is paying these things, not me. There is a catch though, and you really need to watch it. From the time I spend until the time I get reimbursed, I am showing credit card over-spending and, if the month cycles while that is the case, then Bad Things happen in my budget. In those cases, I transfer funds from TBB to my reimbursement categories so I don't cycle the month with credit card overspending. When I get reimbursed the next month, I still shunt it directly to the category (because I don't want it showing as income), but I then move the money I put into the reimbursement category back to TBB. Does that make more sense?
Also this may help explain my system - it's where I got the idea: th-cam.com/video/d1GQbytjj3s/w-d-xo.html
Can Ben call himself Bert for this video series? That would make it perfect.
YES !!!
Love end of month rollover, reconciliation, etc. it’s the best.
I like the premise, but I really thought this first video was about rolling over funds to the next month.
it took more than half time to get to the topic
re-watching the first episode after watching every single one for the last 2 years. So fun, keep them coming!!
Just curious, is there a reason why YNAB is so scsnt with showing the actual app/website in it's videos? I do enjoy the talking personalities but it'd be so much richer (for me) if it was accompanied with examples from the site.
There are lots of YNAB videos with actual program content! A lady named Hannah has a YNAB video series on their channel and a guy named Nick True has a bunch on his own Mapping Out Money channel. Both explain many ideas of YNAB, with screenshots, on-screen walkthroughs, and realistic scenarios.
I tried YNAB at least twice in college but couldn't wrap my head around just budgeting the money that I had (and I had some debt, and found handling that sort of confusing). Now, about four years later, I started using it again (in 2020) - last year, I implemented a mostly cash-based budgeting system, so I was much more familiar with the ideology - and it finally all clicked. Such a big fan of YNAB!
I have major accounts linked so I try to enter as I go, but I also reconcile against my banking app. I try to check in every two-three days (more if I'm spending a lot). I use the YNAB mobile app a lot too, but I do most clearing/matching/reconciling on my computer first thing in the morning. I usually budget intensely on pay-day, and also on the 1st of the month I make sure my reconciliation is set so that my balances are accurate.
Overspend is coved by 2x in available.
Be one month ahead.
Savings fund for emergencies/saving.
Emergency fund for loss of job.
Lots of padding.
Love hearing about the margin & BMI categories. Definitely going to watch the "Creating Margin in the Budget" video next and then make sure all of my targets/goals are set to stay within my typical montly inflow. LOVE you guys! Cheers!
I love the idea of a "Margin". I call mine the "Buffer" and the buffer is distinct from an Emergency Savings because it's made to save me from things I forgot to budget for. I am a new ynabber and I don't have anything built up for true expenses (yet!).
Very fun video. Thank you, guys. Good to know I'm not the only nerd out there. Who could have thought that budgeting could be fun and entertaining? I used to do a Fresh Start at the first of the year and totally looked forward to it. I would usually stay up on the 31st, but sometime on the 1st do the Fresh Start.
Ernie, I do that exact routine at the end of every month, with the difference I am currently working on some software robots that help me get those account balances automatically. I just run them and watch it happen. Great fun and veeeeery satisfying!!
Love Love YNAB been using since January... Have watched almost every TH-cam video I can find. Always trying to figure out the categories to make my budgeting easier. Recommend this to everyone.
Ya we do.
More. Of. This!!
Hurley from lost works for YNAB now?
Is that the dude from Lost???
LOL. He didn't put that on his resume.
-Hannah :)
"margin" is a much better name my Ramsey-inspired "stuff I forgot to budget for"
Many people would love to have enough income just to have a conversation about margin for fun and retirement accounts. You could make all those learning points in a more inclusive way.