Budgeting Software

nyermen

I use YNAB 4. As an "old timer" on it, I've never been able to move to the new version (sometimes known as nYNAB or YNAB 5), and probably wont renew next year. Forward transactions is one of the lost items I really need (along with multiple month view, drill-down running balances, roll over of negative amounts). If you're travelling on company business and claim back expenses, sadly it's a lot harder in the new version. But this isn't a debate about that.

I do however use a (probably way over the top) spreadsheet of my own creation which does all my forecasting. It doesn't deal with importing transactions (I use YNAB for that), but it does track forward from current balance (which I can update). YNAB I keep aligned once a week, and I use the spreadsheet to wally check anything big coming up, as well as to plan the actual budget that I enter into YNAB.
Note: YNAB uses an "envelope" budgetting approach, where you allocate money into categories, and the money accrues month to month. Then when the annual bills come round, they're already covered

getmore4less

With MSmoney it is easy to do the forecasting with cashflow analysis months even years ahead.

As far as I can tell YNAB was designed to help the financially incompetent/tight cashflow and has been great for that.

Once you can plan and generally keep to the plan there seem to be much better tools for the job.

managing multiple cashflows(like personal and work expenses) of multiple categories through the same multiple accounts like current, Credit cards and cash just works.

you can even manage things like a restaurant bill paid on a credit card with cash tip where the bill covers food(work pay) and drinks(you pay) and you need to split the tip.

cloud_dog

getmore4less wrote: »

With MSmoney it is easy to do the forecasting with cashflow analysis months even years ahead.

Yes, MS Money does everything you need (and more) but is not Mac compatible.

Murmansk

I've found Accountz quite good, it does budgets although I've not used that part of it. I used to use Quicken but it seemed to evaporate or go to a pay monthly system

katejo

Lomcevak wrote: »

I use YNAB (you need a budget) to do this - I'm fully "buffered" in YNAB-speak, which means i'm budgeting income received the previous month and therefore know exactly what I have to spend, and I then use (future-dated) scheduled transactions to project forward all the fixed outgoings (bills, mortgage, etc.) for the coming month to see what my cash flow looks like.Variable outgoings (e.g. groceries and discretionary spending) get budgeted as normal and entered as they happen. Works very well for me, and the result is something very similar to what it sounds like you're looking for.

I'm using YNAB 4 (aka YNAB classic), unfortunately I don't believe this is possible with the newer online version - it's one of the reasons I haven't switched over yet. I've not used the online version though, so maybe someone else who does use it can correct me.

same here. I started Ynab classic almost 4 years ago and my savings have roughly quadrupled since then though I made more progress in the 1st 2 years. I have also stuck with Ynab4 for similar reasons.

katejo

getmore4less wrote: »

With MSmoney it is easy to do the forecasting with cashflow analysis months even years ahead.

As far as I can tell YNAB was designed to help the financially incompetent/tight cashflow and has been great for that.

Once you can plan and generally keep to the plan there seem to be much better tools for the job.

managing multiple cashflows(like personal and work expenses) of multiple categories through the same multiple accounts like current, Credit cards and cash just works.

you can even manage things like a restaurant bill paid on a credit card with cash tip where the bill covers food(work pay) and drinks(you pay) and you need to split the tip.

although what you say is true, it is perfectly possible to benefit from ynab when you don't have any debts to start with. Nynab is more directed towards those with financial problems. one of the reasons why I am not switching.

iainking

Hi

Do any of these tools come with pre-programmed categories for major payees? I need to break down my spending but can't face going through categorising each transaction. Natwest used to do that with it's statements but unfortunately Santander (who I am now with) and First Direct don't seem to.

TIA

david_8209

i am new here and currently weighing up busgeting software options before my savings run out i have seen ynab and msmoney mentioned; someone mentioned monbdo to me, in each case i have no access to feedback from the company only forums like this.....?????????????????? apparently you cxan send emails to mondo.


can one send emails to ynab and msmoney or are they just tools?

david_8209

from what you are saying get more 4 less ynab is best for tight cashflow, the next stage you refer to usually means people dont have tight cash flow...???????

tempus_fugit

katejo wrote: »

although what you say is true, it is perfectly possible to benefit from ynab when you don't have any debts to start with. Nynab is more directed towards those with financial problems. one of the reasons why I am not switching.

Not necessarily. I use it and don't have any financial problems. It is useful in my case as part of a long term plan and helps to map out each month and keep us on track with that plan. Sure it was started for people on tight cash flows but it has uses far beyond that as well.