Is ynab worth it?

January2015

I've been using classic YNAB for the last 2 years, but have decided to give the new online version a go (as it's free for a month). If I like it I will sign up and use my student status to get it free for a year (well to end December anyway).

I've spent the last hour or so setting it up and will run both versions for a month to see how it goes and which I prefer.

GeorgianaCavendish

I'm new to YNAB too and was wondering if there is a way to import my bank account details or do I have to do everything manually? I'm currently using OnTrees which is free and I love how it imports all my transactions and lets me sort them into categories. Is it possible to do this with YNAB too?

allthe7s

GeorgianaCavendish wrote: »

I'm new to YNAB too and was wondering if there is a way to import my bank account details or do I have to do everything manually? I'm currently using OnTrees which is free and I love how it imports all my transactions and lets me sort them into categories. Is it possible to do this with YNAB too?

I think in the UK you can't link, Ive been manually inputting x

SeduLOUs

GeorgianaCavendish wrote: »

I'm new to YNAB too and was wondering if there is a way to import my bank account details or do I have to do everything manually? I'm currently using OnTrees which is free and I love how it imports all my transactions and lets me sort them into categories. Is it possible to do this with YNAB too?

As posted above UK banks require manual input. I don't think it's a bad thing though.

The way it works is that you are supposed to be checking your category balances 'before' you spend, to check you have enough available. You can then enter your shopping instantly on the mobile app when you have walked away from the till.

Transactions can often take days to hit your bank account, and if you haven't entered those into YNAB then your category balances are often out of date and you don't truly know whether you can afford to spend or not.

You can set up recurring scheduled payments for all of the monthly bills like rent and utilities to save a little on the admin work - all you need to do then is approve them as they appear and match them to your bank statement.

If you enter transactions as you spend and have scheduled transactions for your usual bills then reconciling your bank account can be done very quickly - I have 7 different accounts/CCs on YNAB and spend 2-3 minutes each morning checking and reconciling each of the balances. At this moment in time I have 5 transactions posted to YNAB that haven't yet appeared on any of my statements. - if I waited for the statement to enter them there's a strong possibility I'd forget I'd spent from those categories and probably then end up overspending.

Sportster

Does no one else use moneydashboard? It sounds very similar, but it's absolutely free. I've been using it for a couple of years and it's a fantastic budgeting/tracking/analysis tool. (It imports all of your transactions automatically too)

BettyBoof

I am another one who loves YNAB, it has been genuinely life-changing for me. I give every pound a "job" so I'm never caught short (as well as all the usual categories, I also allocate some funds each month to an 'unexpected' category for those totally left-field expenses that sometimes crop up) and it's working beautifully. I've gone from only just making it to pay day to having money left over to save/splurge/whatever. I highly recommend it. (I should say that I have the old version and paid upfront at a discounted rate so don't have any ongoing costs with it).

All you need to remember is 'what do I need to do with this pot of money (whatever you have in the bank) before I next get paid?' That way it doesn't matter if you get paid weekly, monthly, twice a month etc. you just give every pound a job until the next bit of income and then do the same again. The videos on the YNAB website are very helpful and I took a couple of their (free) online classes too where you can ask questions and get help.

I haven't heard of moneydashboard but it does sound interesting and it being free is great.

Sportster

BettyBoof wrote: »

I haven't heard of moneydashboard but it does sound interesting and it being free is great.

Despite being registered on here for 6+ years, somewhat amusingly I can't post links, (clearly I need to post more!)
But MoneyDashboard just won 'Best Personal Finance App 2017' at the British Bank Awards. It's definitely a good bet for people in the UK (In fact, it sounds like a better option, from reading above you can't link YNAB to your accounts in the UK, which is a bit of a shame) - It has a similar concept to the 'pots' - but they're just called 'budgets'.

The Cashflow section is superb, once you've tagged (it learns what tags to put against regular amounts, but you can tag/split things any way you want) /entered all of your regular spending and earmarked cash for spends etc, you can then look 6 months in the future and see your projected balances, either by single account or as a composite balance of all of your accounts. So you can tweak your budgeted amounts and see what effect it would have on your balances in the future. It updates the forecast as your actual balances are refreshed from your live accounts too. It's all very slick and works as an app or in your browser.

You can look at it by copying/pasting this into your browser:
moneydashboard.com/customer-reviews

It's also reviewed at SmartMoneyPeople:

smartmoneypeople.com/money-dashboard-reviews/product/app

I'm amazed it's not publicised on MSE a bit more, they used it in 'Dispatches' when helping people get a handle on their debt.
I was a bit apprehensive about using it to start with (you give it read-only access to your online accounts) but before signing up, I spoke to my bank (First Direct) and they actually recommended using it.

BettyBoof

Thank you for the info, it sounds great. Having it linked to my bank account would be great (once I get over the security fear which, as you say, is unfounded).

angelpye

Thanks Sportster, I will look into this when my free year of YNAB is finished. I like not linking to my accounts - I like that I have to report in rather than it being done for me. Can you use money dashboard without linking bank account?

DJB343

I can't say anything about moneydashboard but I finally started using ynab today after watching a few videos through the week, and as I'd just got paid I figured it was a great time to start.

After spending most of my 20s in a haze as to what was going in and coming out of my bank account - I have to say the philosophy of ynab of making every 'pound' count has really struck a chord and I'm feeling a lot more in control of my monthly wage. Obviously it's too early to really say and will evaluate at the next pay day, but here's hoping to a money savvy 30s.