YNAB (you need a budget) from a savings perspective

getmore4less

MSMOney is discontinued but it works.

That is the down side no apps but then aps just automate the process.

I think it is much better to enter the spends manual at it reinforces the I have been spending and what on.

Once set up and the budget side done for a year a lot of transactions will be automated.
I use a cash accounts to track cash spends in detail.
I also have utilities as accounts to track the debit/credit status.

The other thing with MSMOney is it tracks where your money/assets are as well as what you have been spending on.

http://social.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/9149e11d-3093-4df5-bcc9-62c3aa4643f1/money-2005-updates-uk?forum=money

The 2005 UK version is the one I used.

sleepless_saver

katejo wrote: »

In a similar way, I don't have to make any CC payments until after I am next paid. I cleared it at the end of July. I have used the card since but have not had a statement. Am i supposed to enter expenditure on the card on the CC account as I use it?

I'd be treating the credit card balance on the date you start YNAB as pre existing debt. Then just treat any new credit card purchase as a new transaction exactly as you would for a debit card purchase. So if you buy clothes, they count against the clothes budget for the month you buy them.

getmore4less

That's a problem if YNAB does monthly allocations you really need to do things on a rolling basis a year is good.


That way things like clothes can be 100s one month because there was a sale and zero the next few.


Month to month is a simplistic view you need longer term trends and analysis to plan(budget) properly.

bowlhead99

getmore4less wrote: »

That's a problem if YNAB does monthly allocations you really need to do things on a rolling basis a year is good.

That way things like clothes can be 100s one month because there was a sale and zero the next few.

Month to month is a simplistic view you need longer term trends and analysis to plan(budget) properly.

That's true, I don't use budgeting software but I do try to drip money into a few different pots in bank accounts via standing order to broadly get a sense of saving for something. I don't expect to get it exactly right but over the year as a whole, either before or after the expenditure actually happens, I will aim to be able to move money across from my salary into one of the other dedicated pots for things like holidays, car fund, clothes fund ; I also have a 'general' pot that I can use to top up the others.

For example I don't need a new pair of shoes every month or a new tailored suit every month but I do want to have my clothes fund have some money towards these items before the credit card bill comes around. There would be no point beating myself up over the fact that I 'blew' one month's clothes budget by buying a suit if I had no need to buy any other outfits in the few months before or after it. But some form of tracking of the overall annual amounts can help plan estimates for future years.

Some bank accounts or credit cards have software tools on their websites where they will tell you what broad categories you spent money on and let you amend if / when they guess wrong. Lloyds, Citi and Barclaycard are examples. Again this can build up a picture of where the money goes, which can encourage a 'planning' mindset even if it doesn't actually set budgets for you on a micro level.

N1AK

katejo wrote: »

I have always thought that the requirement for 3 months earnings is to cover you if you lose your job unexpectedly or have an extended period of illness (without good sick pay from work). It would then cover essential direct debits like mortgage/broadband/council tax etc.
For things like a new bathroom, I save first.

I am as yet undecided as to whether it is worth using YNAB or not.

I don't think there is a single definition of it that everyone agrees on. In your original post you mentioned that each time you got close to having it, something would mean you had to spend it, and I was assuming that you haven't been repeatedly made unemployed etc. Generally, if you're constantly having to use the emergency fund then some of the things you're using it on probably could be budgetted for (or perhaps you've just had terrible luck!).

N1AK

getmore4less wrote: »

That's a problem if YNAB does monthly allocations you really need to do things on a rolling basis a year is good.

Month to month is a simplistic view you need longer term trends and analysis to plan(budget) properly.

I don't use it but I thought YNAB fundamentally used monthly/weekly for pay coming in, but builds 'surpluses' in budgets that can then be used in future months?

Personally I really like Moneydance, but it requires time and an inclination to spend the time keeping it up to date. YNAB seems to be a good option for people who know they've got to manage their money better but want to do it quickly and easily.

bowlhead99

N1AK wrote: »

Personally I really like Moneydance, but it requires time and an inclination to spend the time keeping it up to date. YNAB seems to be a good option for people who know they've got to manage their money better but want to do it quickly and easily.

I bought Moneydance too and ran it for a year plus. It was able to handle multiple bank accounts, including my foreign currency ones, and track credit cards and loans and shares too (i think it used a yahoo plugin for the price feed) to give a picture of savings / net worth.

I wasn't trying to set and monitor budgets month by month but as long as I was willing to feed it the exported bank statement ./ credit card info every so often and hammer through the transactions and internal transfers allocating them properly, it would categorise everything really well and it was interesting to know where all the money actually went to.

I got out of the habit of updating it when I last changed my laptop and haven't bothered reinstalling it, as it did take up a block of time each month to keep it current and while I did find the results interesting, they weren't necessarily, necessary.

katejo

getmore4less wrote: »

That's a problem if YNAB does monthly allocations you really need to do things on a rolling basis a year is good.


That way things like clothes can be 100s one month because there was a sale and zero the next few.


Month to month is a simplistic view you need longer term trends and analysis to plan(budget) properly.

Yes I agree. I am still testing YNAB. However, if I bought more clothes in 1 month, I could use money from my general fund for that month. I am the type that always keeps an eye on spending and doesn't use the credit card if I have spent enough for the month.
If you make regular payments into the clothes fund, you can then spend a bit more in a one off.

katejo

N1AK wrote: »

I don't think there is a single definition of it that everyone agrees on. In your original post you mentioned that each time you got close to having it, something would mean you had to spend it, and I was assuming that you haven't been repeatedly made unemployed etc. Generally, if you're constantly having to use the emergency fund then some of the things you're using it on probably could be budgetted for (or perhaps you've just had terrible luck!).

It is simply that my salary is modest and I am a single homeowner. I want to do further improvements to my house but essential repairs use a lot of the available cash and it then takes months to build the balance up again. I can't bear to borrow money so have to wait until I have saved enough! After pension contributions there isn't a lot of spare cash so I want to organise it better.