YNAB - good or bad

January2015

YNAB is absolutely amazing. I never rely on the balance in the bank - I know what's available to spend in each budget category at any given time - which seriously helps manage our money so much better. We do overspend in categories sometimes but we are able to move money between categories as we need to (roll with the punches in YNAB speak )

Worth every penny in my opinion. I had YNAB 4 classic but eventually decided to try the new web based YNAB. I loved the classic version, but having tried the web based version I would never go back - it's awesome.

Willing2Learn

January2015 wrote: »

I had YNAB 4 classic but eventually decided to try the new web based YNAB. I loved the classic version, but having tried the web based version I would never go back - it's awesome.

I'm still using the 'classic' version on desktop and android. Can I ask, what are the things in the web based version that you consider it such great value? (I'm thinking of doing a migration but am so happy with the classic version that I haven't been bothered).

kindofagilr

Hmm, I might give this a try seeing as there is a two month free trial

Lydia42

Signed up and had a play last night. Lots to learn me thinks!!!!

kindofagilr

Just downloaded it, looks very confusing at the minute lol

Willing2Learn

kindofagilr wrote: »

Just downloaded it, looks very confusing at the minute lol

Oh yeah, it is very confusing at the beginning. Use all the support available; live classes, video tutorials and their forum for guidance and support. The methodology does take some getting used to...

Futuristic

https://emma-app.com looks interesting, app based. Note most of these thrive on selling your data and spending habits. So if you don't mind, they are pretty good.

January2015

Willing2Learn wrote: »

I'm still using the 'classic' version on desktop and android. Can I ask, what are the things in the web based version that you consider it such great value? (I'm thinking of doing a migration but am so happy with the classic version that I haven't been bothered).

Hi

Below is a quote from a much earlier thread about YNAB where I described what I liked so much about the web based YNAB.... saves me putting my thinking cap on and trying to explain it all again

January2015 wrote: »

I love the create a goal option. I've always had 'goals' for car insurance, maintenance and repairs, etc. etc. By that I mean I budgeted an amount each month in preparation for those bills when they came in. I like that in the new version, instead of just allocating an amount each month I can choose the following options for goals:

• target category balance
• target category balance by date
• monthly funding goal

YNAB reminds me each month if I've met my category goal for each category.


It's very sad, but I love seeing the age of my money - shown in lovely big characters at the top right of the screen. I love knowing that I am still living on money from over a month ago.

I love that if I overspend in any category I can just click on another category and tell it to move money to where I've overspent. This wasn't an option in the old YNAB. I had to manually adjust budget allocations or use the option to subtract from next month's available budget or red arrow to subtract from next month's category balance. I did manage this in old YNAB, but the way it's handled in new YNAB just makes more sense to my brain.


I like that I can enter notes about a category - this is not the memo option for each transaction, but a note about a category. Many probably don't even use this, but I do. I put information about contact numbers, policy numbers, dates of insurance policies etc. in there. So when I click on vehicle insurance I can see at a glance relevant information without having to either search the hard drive or the paper filing system. I find this so useful. I don't put anything on there that would compromise my security like account numbers or passwords because although it's secure it is on the web and I worry about things like that. Edit: I know I could put notes against a category on old YNAB, but I had to click on the note icon - it wasn't there in front of me - which it is in nYNAB - and it just works better for me in the new YNAB. I definitely make much more use of this facility than I ever did before.

It took me a while to get used to seeing only one month at a time on the screen - I was used to the spreadsheet look of classic YNAB.


There are other things but I've probably covered what has most convinced me to buy a subscription when I had already paid a one-off fee for classic YNAB. All I can say is sign up for the 34 days trial and you will know quite quickly if it's worth you moving to nYNAB or not.


Hope this is of some help :beer:

And today my money is 105 days old.... I love that

BookmobileBadGirl

I didn’t want to pay for YNAB so opted for GoodBudget instead.

It works on a similar premise to YNAB with the envelopes, but on the free version you only get 10 envelopes (so I have one that is fixed bills)

I am only on my second month with good budget but already love it. I look at my budget and decide if I really need a takeaway for dinner or should I just stick with beans on toast (it is usually beans on toast)

pecuniam_hominem

Why don't you want to pay for an app that encourages good financial habits?


It doesn't even cost alot. It has created 1000 times the value vs the cost for me.