As time went on I made videos sharing the screen of our actual budget. When Six Figures Under was new, I shared YNAB budgeting tutorials filled with screenshots of our actual budget. Yes, we made the switch in large part to conform to the modern budgeting world. Let me start by saying the decision wasn’t an easy one. Why we finally switched from YNAB 4 to the new YNAB Then I’ll share a hack for the new YNAB that helps preserve my favorite YNAB 4 feature. We took them up on that for exactly 3 years! Now we’re making the switch to the new YNAB.įirst I’ll explain our reasons for switching and our reasons for dragging our feet so long. YNAB (the company) understood that parting would be hard so they let us keep using YNAB 4 indefinitely. YNAB 4 was a part of how we handled money in our family and we weren’t ready to part ways when the new online YNAB came along. It was with us through nearly our entire debt-free journey. Whether you’re pulling down a steady paycheck or paid on an irregular timetable, YNAB will help you make the most of every dollar.We’ve been using YNAB for a long time.
In that, it goes beyond just a mere budgeting tool and actually helps improve your money habits. The mechanics of YNABs interface really creates the sense that you’re controlling your money rather than just tracking it as it flows in and out of your accounts.
#YNAB BUDGETING WHEN 4 PAYCHECKS OVER MONTHS TRIAL#
YNAB offers a free 34-day trial that converts to a $6.99-per-month subscription. The home site is also rich with support resources ranging from help docs to weekly videos to podcasts, all with the aim of helping you get and keep your finances in order. Its greatest strength, however, is its huge community of devout users who freely share their tips on the app as well as the larger enterprise of personal budgeting. YNAB includes customizable reports that break down you income and expenses by category, account, and time frame.
YNAB highlights any over-budgeting in red in the offending categories as a vivid reminder to re-allocate dollars and get your budget balance back to zero. If you have an unexpected expense in a category you didn’t budget for, you can move funds from a budgeted category by clicking on it and sending the amount where it’s needed. YNAB can generate reports on spending trends and other activity. As you download/enter transactions, the amounts are deducted from their respective category balances. In either case, any inflow of money is tagged “to be budgeted” and from this sum you can allocate amounts to your spending and saving categories. You can choose to direct import transactions from your bank or enter them manually. YNAB makes it easy to live by these rules with its category-based interface. It’s a lofty goal, but as YNAB says it will keep you “living far, far away from the financial edge.” Ideally, you should shoot to live this month on last month’s income. YNAB allows you to be nimble and easily move money from a budgeted category to cover unbudgeted spending and stay out of the red.Ĥ) Age your money-Timing your bills with your paychecks is about as easy as aligning the planets. YNAB lets you allocate every dollar in hand to specific spending and saving categories.ģ) Roll with the punches-No matter how well you plan, your budget will inevitably run head first into unforeseen expenses. YNAB proposes you budget for these expenses monthly to even out your cash flow over the year and avoid taking big budget hits during certain months. What typically derails a budget are the less frequent ones, like annual insurance premiums and subscriptions, birthdays and holidays, and your kids’ seasonal sports fees.
By telling your money where to go and what to do, you discipline your spending.Ģ) Embrace your true expenses-It’s easy to see your monthly bills coming. Despite some cosmetic changes over the years, YNAB is still adheres to its four founding principles:ġ) Give every dollar a job-Each dollar that comes into your life should be allocated to a specific purpose: to pay your rent or mortgage, to fund your retirement, even to buy that latte that helps get you through your morning commute. The popular program, which started life more than a decade ago as manual-input desktop software, is now a subscription based web app that can sync with your financial accounts. As you can tell by its name, You Need a Budget (YNAB) makes no bones about the fact you need to manage your money rather than the other way around.