With most software programs the software is just given to you for you to figure out how to use it. But YNAB provides a system to teach you how to manage your money guided by your budget. I used Microsoft Money, Quicken, and Excel spreadsheets I made myself, but none did everything I wanted – keep an “envelope” style monthly budget and my account register. This does both beautifully!
It’s a simple, straightforward, effective program. It deserves 5 stars. It does force you to get personal with your money, to really see where and how you are spending and how that affects your money overall. It doesn’t paint rosy pictures of wealth in the future, it doesn’t allow you to get by without having to actually sit down and SEE everything you’ve purchased, it doesn’t give you pies and charts and graphs to help you understand your spending. Before buying YNAB, you must understand what it is and, perhaps more importantly, what it is not. YNAB is not an accounting system, it’s a *household* budgeting system. I have been using YNAB so long I can’t imagine life without it. Honestly, it took a while to really start budgeting like I should. I didn’t have previous experience with any money or budget software, so no hurdles to get over. I was up and running in a very short time and have been keeping excellent track of my budget since early this year.
This allows you to tell your money what it should be doing in advance, rather than finding out after the fact where it went. Unfortunately, the software doesn’t enforce this rule, and if you don’t enforce it yourself, your totals will never balance.
It was the BEST money I have ever spent! There are a lot of finance management software programs out there, but very few that really help you create, refine and stick to a budget.
YNAB software is completely different from something like Quickens budgeting software because it takes a completely different approach to budgeting by providing 4 simple rules and setting up a buffer system with your money. Basically, you save up enough money until you have an entire month’s income saved up (your buffer). While that’s too much for me, there will be some who won’t be bothered by it. I’d recommend to the software designers fewer fancy graphics effects and more text-based reports.
The budget now is almost a living thing as I can download transactions every couple of days and begin preparing for next month’s budget as I’m paid and pay off this month’s bills. It does take some getting used to, but I don’t see much way around this. But while I was prepared to give up much Quicken functionality, including bill pay, this still seems incomplete to me as a budgeting product. I purchased YNAB last June and can honestly say it has revolutionized our family’s finances. We are going to be working toward this. He shows you were your money is going in several different forms, which is very helpful. If knowing that there are sometimes large expenses in this category, you had set 50 a month there for the last 10 months, you will already have 500 of that ready to go. You will spend $900 in that category to repair the problem.
This is a great concept that has worked well for me. CHEAP ROWING MACHINES.
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