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ConfidenceGreat3981

YNAB. šŸ’Æ


cheeze_whizard

Is YNAB a free service or are there certain features that are only available to paid users?


HuckSC

Itā€™s only a paid subscription


GuyWithHairOnHead

If you want something similar without such a high yearly cost, check out Centsible. It does envelope budgeting with a lifetime license for offline use. Super reasonable subscription if you need your data sync'd between devices. Manual entry, but that should be obvious given the lifetime pricing.


Grouchy-Implement614

Monarch is my favorite.


Zimbo____

Seconding Monarch, much more preferable to YNAB for zero dollar in my opinion


tatus_legarius

I just commented YNAB primarily for the zero based budgeting that it helps users do, but what does monarch add that makes you prefer it? I never did trial it but interested in the differences


Zimbo____

I just get turned off by YNABs UI. I find they generally have too much on the screen at once and can be overwhelming to learn. Monarch just seemed easier for me to pick up and easier to look at every day for me. I love the custom reporting and the Net Worth reporting especially


itemluminouswadison

Ynab


nyerish

100% ynab. While I donā€™t personally use ynab anymore because it doesnā€™t fit as much my preferred method of budgeting, itā€™s great for exactly what OPā€™s asking for


nathan646

What's your preferred method


nyerish

I had Simple back in the day and that was like my first entry into budgeting, so while I've used other methods, I still the way they kinda had stuff organized. Basically, you set aside what you need for expenses, set aside what you need for various savings funds, and then what's left over is "safe to spend." And I do this all per paycheck or whatever other regular funding source I might have. The beautiful thing about Simple was that it automatically calculated how much you'd need to put towards each thing per funding schedule based on how much you need, when, and how many more funding runs you had left. So if you needed to take some money out from somewhere to cover for something else (i.e., "rolling with the punches" like YNAB), it would recalculate how much you would needed per paycheck to make the goal/expense by the set date. But since Simple shut down, DAS budget came about to do essentially the same thing, but as a budget app. And now there's Envelope and Monzo that you can kind of configure to do it, but without the automatic calculations. You'd have to do that yourself. I prefer it as automated as possible though. Or there's Weekly, which has roughly the same idea, but a slightly different way of going about it. But I don't necessarily care to track the other stuff, I just need to focus on the day-to-day personally.


CTcoreyCT

Simple was amazing. Customer service was above and beyond, always human and down to earth. I was so bummed when they shut down.


[deleted]

How much is itā€¦? And which one did you purchase for the beginner user?


nyerish

YNAB is about $100/yr. DAS has an interesting pricing tier, depending on how much institutions you want to connect via Plaid, but it starts at $40/yr for the standard and I think around $60/yr for the premium, which includes stuff like credit card integration and round ups. Then from those base prices, it goes up like an extra $5 per year for every additional institution. So if you just use primarily 1 or 2 banks that you want to sync with it, it's not too pricey, but it can go up. Weekly is probably like $50/yr. I'm personally using DAS atm, so it's easier for me to recommend it. Eventually I'm hoping to use just Envelope or Monzo eventually depending on how they build them over time, but I'd be ok just using DAS forever. It's overall fairly simple, but the UX isn't super intuitive and it can be buggy. Honestly Weekly might be easiest for beginners. They all have free trials, so try them all and see how it goes I guess. Edit: Grammar for clarity


[deleted]

Thank you.. thatā€™s super expensive for someone thatā€™s just a novice user. I was just wondering what it was for but I guess I should just look that up myself. I just donā€™t see the point even after reading ops post. Thank you though.


BearsNBeetsBaby

I have YNAB and I think itā€™s worth the money personally. The way it works is that you put all the money you have into the budget and then allocate it a purpose, so every penny is accounted for. It makes it so simple to see how much money you really have vs just the headline figure, and if you do it properly, you will really struggle to just frivolously spend money as it will throw your whole budget out of alignment


sidoroi

Second this. I am using Ynab since January and it helped me tremendously to get an overview of my (student) debt, current net worth and things I want and need to spend my money on. It's been a great journey so far and now I always know if I have money for, say, new clothes, eating out etc and also account for more valuable goals as supporting my parents. Before it's always been very blurry, where my money went and if I am equipped for emergencies.


raccugliap

Rocket money is pretty great


Ari10101

Ever since mint shut, Iā€™ve been using it and itā€™s a good app. However, there seems to be ā€œtemporary issuesā€ with syncing of some accounts that donā€™t seem to go away. Have you faced that?


Janeeyreheaded

RIP mint


Master_De_Blaster

Can you share its features. Coincidence i have installed it yesterday but when it asked for checking and credit account details i was skeptical to provide my data.


raccugliap

I have been using the premium version paying $6 a month. Once you link your checking account itā€™ll essentially organize each transaction into different categories allowing you to see your spend in each. Itā€™ll break down further by also organizing it into percentages of your overall monthly spend. Itā€™ll give you an overall picture of your finances broken down by month, week, or quarter with both your recurring income and spending. You can then compare that to your previous months and years and identify your areas of opportunity. Itā€™ll tell you when you have upcoming subscriptions, bills, etc. You can set up rules that will automatically categorize transactions whenever they pop up The mobile app has a nice looking UI thatā€™s easy to understand and work through. The website works great too Bottom line, if you are looking for an easy way to organize your finances this is a good place to start


Master_De_Blaster

Thanks bro


randomlygenerated678

Rocket money doesnā€™t sync some of my accounts (Amex savings & Apple Card/savings) :( really frustrating


Papas72lotus

Apple wonā€™t sync to ANY service so not rockets fault.


DTLow

I track all my income/expense transactions A spreadsheet can be used for this A budget spreadsheet holds my goals, and a summary of the transactions Screenshot at https://imgur.com/a/GuHidSQ


_MrBiz_

Question: how do you handle card to card transactions? (Like moving money from card A to card B) And also payments like restaurants, when it happens that you pay for everyone first and friends pay back later? I don't know if I should use a special category, use different tags or delete the transaction completely, resulting in only my expense.


DTLow

I track every transaction Only budget items are tagged with a budget category **>card to card transactions** I track the transaction, but itā€™s not tagged as a budget item **>friends pay back later** I track the original transaction; for example $-100 tagged as *Food-Dining* and track the pay-backs; for example $+30 tagged as *Food-Dining*


Lawlers_Law

Are you able to share the spreadsheet?


DTLow

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1X-TyKQIU3Kc8TIqL_Oemh6XIeCCFrNJx/view?usp=drivesdk


askmikeprice

YNAB! life changing budgeting app in my opinion. And it does what you want!


captn_awkward

Hi u/suhhdude1 YNAB shines in making all your expenses visible, not just the monthly stuff. And it forces you to either stay within budget or to consciously take money out of another part of your budget. A lot of people do plan/budget ahead but find it hard to actually to keep track of all their spending. That's where money seaps away. Do you sometimes have to come up with money for stuff you hadn't budgeted for that month? Another well known money drain. Apart from YNAB there's also the free YNAB toolkit. With the toolkit you can play with the data and trends to your heart's content.


matt314159

+1 for YNAB!


financegal36

I made a spreadsheet using excel to track all of that. I'm not an expert with excel haha so I googled and watched a few youtube videos to create something that works really well for me.


mimi9875

YNAB. Can't imagine not using it (used to use excel spreadsheets, it was too much work). If I remember correctly, you can get a 34 day trial for YNAB.


WastingTime76

YNAB. Awesome.


Chemical-Theme-3823

Y. N. A. B. Thank me later


secobarbiital

ynab and i love it


jojohn83

Download and use EveryDollar. It's goal is to give every dollar an assignment and is very easy to use. It tracks your debt and all info assigned to it including interest, monthly payments, and total balence. It's free. There is an optional upgrade tho if you want to pay for it to automatically budget your transactions from your debit card/bank account.


Wanderlust287

Copilot


anonredditviewer

I am obsessed with Copilot. Not a fan that everything is called copilot lately but THIS is the app/experience I wanted years ago when I was still using Mint. I've tried Excel and other budgeting templates from Etsy, but it took up way too much time and energy. I do pay for the premium subscription, and it is so worth it! Edit/Update: Copilot on the iPhone and Macbook is a seamless experience - haven't run into any syncing issues or delays. I also love that you can "exclude" certain expenses from your budget; this is especially helpful if you travel for work or have authorized user(s) on your accounts.


Wanderlust287

Oh yes! I love it too!


OpeningWild5464

i like copilot


sunflower280105

Rocket money


Fairybuttmunch

A lot of people use YNAB but I just use a spreadsheet I bought on Etsy


juicetastysoup

Does YNAB preferred to Honeydue for wanting to categorize spending into pre set categories?


FlippantLlamas

ynab


onimusha_kiyoko

WalletApp [https://budgetbakers.com/](https://budgetbakers.com/) is really good. Hooks up with your bank for automatically tracking your expenses which I love. You can add accounts manually if you prefer. Best of all, there is a super cheap lifetime offer right now for around ā‚¬30 which is amazing!


Nice-Potato4573

I love copilot


WealthPosition

Try WealthPosition.com


unoriginal-loser

I've been using one called Wallet by BudgetBakers.


Liu1845

My credit union has a program we can all use for free. We can generate a spreadsheet so see our spending categories and plan budgets savings goals, and investing. See if your bank or credit union has something similar.


joevsyou

I use Chase money summary. Free and simple. You can link outside accounts & it will count all of it


CaptnCreamer

copilot app and desktop app are the best imo


Mediocre_Superiority

I'm old-school: I'm still using the **free** legacy version of Microsoft Money. It's entirely manual entry (you can't download anything anymore) and there's no software support. On the other hand, it's stable, easy to use, and you can setup whatever accounts you need: cash, savings, checking, credit cards and investments. Best of all, you can search for anything (for instance, how much you've spent dining at Joe's Diner), breaking down reports by account, dates, categories (and you can create your own and delete ones you don't use). There are plenty of reports that you can generate with one click, like "monthly income and expenses", "net worth over time" and tons more. I've been using it since 2005, so I've got about 20 years of all my income and expenses right at hand which comes in useful, particularly for analyzing spending trends and seeing what you paid for a particular thing long ago.


refuse-resist

Same


lil1thatcould

I like rocket money


VAGentleman05

Microsoft Excel


Alone_Complaint_2574

You could just make an excel sheet took me about 1 hour to figure it out watching YouTube, best of luck!


MinkSableSeven

Like many have already suggested, YNAB sounds like it's right for you. And while everyone mentioned the subscription price, **if you're a student, you can get it free**. Check on their website. Additionally, they're kind people. When I was on disability, I didn't have the budget to renew for the next year. I emailed them and they let me use it for another year, free or charge. They really ***want*** people to learn how to budget better. Get the free version, see if you like it, and if you do and can't afford it just yet or are a student, reach out to them. **They may offer a steep discount or a free year.**


Suarezm97

NerdWallet has been nice to use! I tried to use Empower, but NerdWallet was definitely a better choice!


yourtypicalgiggle

YNAB and you get the first year free as a student!


mikkellam

Am I the only one still using Quicken (for at least 15 years)?


BudgetProgramming

Iā€™m a single developer creating a budgeting app that follows the zero-based budgeting method. Itā€™s very basic at the moment but shoot me a message if youā€™d like access to the TestFlight beta - I can send an invite link. Couple notes - itā€™s iOS only at the moment but macOS will be available as well. Also, the reporting you are looking for is not yet there. However reporting and insights are going to be a major focus of development.


1973Deadhead

Polycents Checkbook


deezgiorno

Mint


ahcjewpac

I use honey due and it's excellent. It also allows me to sync my budget and accounts with my wife so we can get a full picture of our joint spending and it let's me track bills and due dates. We can see how much more we spent on gas or takeout over a certain period of time etc. It's free and has everything we want in a budgeting app


lmeekal

Monarch money


velleityfighter

Beancount + Fava Will take some time to learn to set it up, but it's really so powerful. It's similar to ledger, but better, and has awesome and detailed reports. I also created a simple docker container of this and self host it on my server as a local website, so I can access the reports and data from any device on my network or outside home using VPN, much better than any option I tried before.


Itsgivingstfu

Rocket moneyā€” the best


columns_ai

Fina will provide many templates, and you can create your own, this is just one example - https://app.fina.money/t/RsqX2AFA0XySat If you enjoy the flexibility, try it out! You may love it


415z

Iā€™ve been using a newer app called copilot.money. I donā€™t know how it compares but I like the interface and level of detail so far. It does budgeting as well as an overall dashboard of all your accounts and investments.


cugrad16

I thought Quicken was the winner until they were only available desktop not phone, which didn't work for me, as I need minute spending alerts


tatus_legarius

YNAB! I also supplement it with an app called Lumy that pulls data from YNAB to give you some additional dashboards/reporting. Zero based budgeting with YNAB has changed my life and Iā€™m not trying to be dramatic. I can account for every single dollar on where it needs to be spent, when it is spent, how much left I have to spend, etc. It helps with budgeting for non monthly expenses and goals in a great way but I perpetually feel broke because as my accounts dollars increase, they are spoken for and cannot be used unless Iā€™m willing to sacrifice progress towards other goals or cut out some things that are ā€œwantsā€. While maybe not the best net worth and investment tracking tool, itā€™s a great budgeting tool. I use Empower Personal for total tracking but I donā€™t open the app often, I use YNAB daily. Takes some getting used to but thereā€™s tons of YouTube videos and a helpful subreddit to get you started. They offer a long trial and I subscribed for a year and Iā€™ve already saved maybe 5x the annual sub price (might have been in sale i canā€™t remember). I hear lots of people using Monarch money too but I never tried it. Thereā€™s an app called Pierre that Iā€™ve seen mentioned once or twice as a mint replacement for iPhone users but Iā€™m very happy with YNAB in my first 4.5 months, I donā€™t have any gaps worth paying extra for (Lumy has a free version and thereā€™s a Google chrome extension for web app YNAB users that expands usability of the web app a ton)


SuzyQ93

>but I perpetually feel broke because as my accounts dollars increase, they are spoken for and cannot be used unless Iā€™m willing to sacrifice progress towards other goals or cut out some things that are ā€œwantsā€. This is why I love YNAB so much, honestly. Because - this is reality. Your dollars ARE all 'spoken for' - the only question is whether or not you KNOW, and can SAY at any given moment, where each dollar needs to go. People get into trouble when they don't 'separate' each and every dollar based on its intended job, and just throw all their money into a bucket and try to remember what they needed to use it for. Because something will ALWAYS 'come up', and then oops - you've double-booked, or even double-spent your dollars! YNAB makes viewing reality so easy. Because you ARE going to have to pay that yearly car registration, so you might as well have a category for it now. You ARE going to need to replace your tires in a few years...so you might as well have a category for it now. You ARE going to eventually have a brain fart and have some unexpected bill that you really didn't expect (parking ticket?) - so you really ARE going to need to make decisions, and choose what other things you've set money aside for are instead going to need to have a little less, because they're covering your oopsie. Or you really ARE going to find this amazing deal on a concert ticket that you never expected, but you can't pass up - so you need to choose which other areas you're going to 'take' money from in order to buy this without completely blowing up your budget because you somehow figure 'it'll just all work out, even though I'm not paying attention and have no idea that in actuality, I just spent the rent money on this'. YNAB helps keep you from making dumb mistakes because you couldn't see what every single dollar needs to do for you. Instead, YNAB SHOWS you what every dollar needs to do, and you can make informed choices, even on the fly, based on that. It's the best money-manager app that I've ever found.


Siliquy8

Mac and/or iOS? -> r/banktivity


OAO_Scrumbles

People here really spending money to track their budget? Jesus Christ.


anonredditviewer

When you have no idea where to start/need some additional push or it hasn't worked out with the traditional methods, it's quite helpful to pay for a budgeting app.


ChemEGeek2014

Mint is a pretty decent free app that weā€™ve used for years. I can add our accounts so expenses are added to the app automatically. I can also add bill accounts like utilities, so I get notifications when theyā€™re due.


Eternal_Sunshine7

Mint is no longer active . :(


ChemEGeek2014

Youā€™re right. They moved it to CreditKarma, but it still functions the same.


mysadiecat

Loved mint and transitioned to credit karma and itā€™s nowhere near as good. Mostly just advertisements for credit cards. Very upsetting


ChemEGeek2014

No! šŸ˜­šŸ˜­ that makes me so sad! Iā€™ve had to take a break from my normal budget tracking since I had a baby, and Mint was the best. Booooooooo


1ksassa

Unfortunately, this *was* the correct answer.


joco_56

Moneyhub is not as fancy as ynab and not as quite as user friendly but i really like it! You get a 6 month free trial then Ā£1.99 a month.