Are you tired of making a budget that doesn’t work? Saving money seems quite impossible? Then this review is especially for you. You are going to find everything you need to know.
I have compared YNAB to some other apps and found it a great addition to anyone’s economic planning.
I will talk here about how you are going to manage your budget crisis, providing you a whole scenario.
YNAB is built to help you budget your finances (just like its name), this online platform is my favorite for not only its name but also what it offers to the users.
In YNAB, they follow 4 principle rules. Rule no. 1 demands you to assign every Dollar a job; you being the boss of your own will decide how to use this dollar.
You will have to prioritize the job and simply follow your plan. You must be thinking now how will you be benefitted from rule no. 1? Glad you asked!
Suppose, you have some limited cash (around $100) in your account. All of a sudden, you get some invitations for hangout meetings.
You can consult that with your eating out category. If that category suggests you split the bill or come over the place to cut the budget, you stick to your plan.
At the end of the month, when your bills come you pay them off. This will leave you with no debt or loan. Interesting, right?
Now, you do not have to think about your finances before spending money. Enjoy your freedom!
Rule no. 2 is great if you have something big to cover. In this rule, you have to plan it every month.
When that expense arrives, you can pay it without having a financial crisis. Following this rule will not only cut your stress out of your life but also will give you a clear idea of how to follow a plan accordingly.
Rule no. 3 is called “ Roll with the punches.” The name says it all! It will allow you to roll with the sudden punches on your face. How?
You make a strategy to cover up some spendings from the other sources. You can simply move funds from other categories to your overspending category.
Move on without having the guilt of overspending!
Table of Contents
Have you ever budgeted your expenses like this before? I don’t think you did! Among the 4 rules, rule no. 3 is what we all want in our life.
Rule no. 4 is about aging your money. Not familiar with the concept? Let me explain it to you.
Rule no. 4 will target consistency in spending less and aging your money. It will help you to spend less than you earn and let your money age till the end of the month.
This rule will make you feel your worth. It will make sure that your bills are not your CEO; you are!
You can set your goal by aging it at least 30 days. If you are succeeded to achieve that, set your goal one step further.
If not? No problem! Just cover up your spendings by moving funds which I already explained to you!
YNAB has a feature that will allow you to use this app for free for 34 days. To do that, you can start your free trial through your email and password or via Apple, Google.
No credit card information is needed. If you are on a tight schedule in terms of finances, this can be a great deal for you.
YNAB has specific features for specific needs. If you are a newbie in the world of credit cards, it has a section where you can learn how to use credit cards, which plan is good or which is not!
Unfortunately, you are sinking with debts. It will teach you how to deal with debts. Dealing with debts caused by credit cards arise one question, “ Should I stop using credit cards?”
It will help to understand the concept of dealing with credit card debts.
Pros of YNAB
YNAB is synced with over 12,000 banks along with multiple devices. It can easily track your spendings.
This is not a free app but to understand how to use this app to budget your finances, they are providing you a free trial of 34 days.
YNAB is worth it because it will save you more money than you spend.
You can trust YNAB as all the data is encrypted between the server so it does not let the computer talk to the server.
This does not need any credit card information. You can simply login by email and password and process.
Cons of YNAB
Despite having some amazing features, It has some shortcomings which will turn it in the backway.
It does not track any bill or have any kind of bill pay features.
It lacks the feature of reporting. It does not have any feature which will show your overall financial health.
FAQ
- How do I learn about this app?
The first step is to realize you need a budget and you have already done that. That’s a great start. To enhance your entrance you can watch youtube videos if you like to learn by watching videos.
In videos, you can learn about the method, how to use YNAB and how you can make it work for your benefit.
If you want to learn and interact with a real person, they have workshops arranged for that. Join in workshops (as many as you want to) and a 20-minute workshop will provide you with a full guideline.
You can even ask what you want to know and they will discuss that. The workshops will be full of information and knowledge sharing.
You can also learn by reading their guidelines or through their weekly Bootcamp. It’s a crash course for new budgeters like you.
2. How to enter my money?
Remember, it will help you budget the money that you have in your hand! Not the money that is going to come to you.
You cannot budget your entire month if you do not have the cash right now. They are very specific about that.
YNAB gets synced with your bank account and plans with what you have right now. It follows the method of allocation.
So, if you have $200 in your bank account, you can only budget for that.
3. Can I start my budget before payday?
The answer is “no”. You don’t have to wait till your payday. YNAB works for every kind of plan like weekly, monthly, bimonthly.
Its main concern is to allocate the money that you have right now. You can have your budget with what you have.
After getting your payment, you can always budget again and again, just as many as you want to!
4. What criteria does YNAB follow for credit card payment?
To understand the full procedure, you can watch their video guiding about credit cards. But here are some bullet points I have for your better understanding.
All you have to do is to budget your credit card payment. Once you make a budget for some portion of your bank account, it will be assigned to a specific category.
The amount will show in green indicating that you are not overspending your budget. Once you notice the color change and appear in red, you realize that you have overspent.
Suppose, you have spent $10 from the shopping category and paid the bill through credit card payment.
You will notice a drop of $10 from the shopping category and an increase of $12 in the credit card payment category. Simple, isn’t it?
5. How is my age of money calculated?
This is a common query most users ask. When you first start budgeting your finance, you don’t need to worry about it because you don’t have any.
Suppose you are budgeting your expenses right now and you have some cash. You put that cash in bucket list 1.
You can add your bucket list with time and money coming back to your hands. Let’s say, you have your payday and add it as bucket list 2.
If you have to pay your bills, start digging your buckets. Once one bucket has finished its cash, you dip into another bucket.
That time, it’s calculated how long those buckets are. It will appear right before you as you don’t need to worry about your bills.
You have to make sure the aging process prolongs for a time.
Conclusion
YNAB is not a constant or rapid solution to your finance management problem. It’s a long term budgeting commitment as it should be.
It doesn’t cinematically change your bank account outlook rather give you a firm, affirmative knowledge on how to make a budget and stick to your plan.
It’s 4 budgeting plans are eye-catching, right? This feature makes this app unique and helpful to budget.
It’s challenging to budget your finances at first but over time and with time, it becomes a habit. Budgeting is hard but YNAB makes your life easy.
