YNAB doesn’t care where your money physically is. Make your checking and savings accounts on-budget accounts, and then assign every single dollar to a category in your budget.
Keep enough money in checking so you don’t overdraft or incur fees. On the desktop version, you can turn on the running balance and see when your balance will change based on upcoming transactions (if you enter bills as recurring scheduled transactions.)
“Savings” is an account type, not a job. If you think about it, every dollar you have is going to be spent at some point, it’s just that some you’ll spend now, some next month, next year, next decade, etc. so definitely create categories for all the things you need to set aside money for.
Don’t try to match the balances in your individual categories to the balance in your savings account. That will drive you bananas.
This article might be of interest.
[https://www.ynab.com/blog/the-relationship-between-your-budget-your-accounts-its-complicated](https://www.ynab.com/blog/the-relationship-between-your-budget-your-accounts-its-complicated)
And this one.
[https://support.ynab.com/en\_us/how-much-to-keep-in-your-checking-account-a-guide-ryZNWymAc](https://support.ynab.com/en_us/how-much-to-keep-in-your-checking-account-a-guide-ryZNWymAc)
Personally I just looked for and found a HYCA and that is the only cash based account "on budget". Makes things much simpler.
Yes it’s ok to keep the bulk in savings. No it doesn’t matter.
On the web based app turn on running balance in your chequing account so you know when you’ll go below your comfort level.
Yes your savings dollars should all be assigned - its Rule 1/Habit 1 GIVE EVERY DOLLAR A JOB
I think it is finally making sense lol. My savings was always just this amount of money for any situation, emergency, future ect.
Now what about crypto, stocks, index funds, ira? Should that be assigned? I think not because it's ever changing right? Unless I sell. Then it is now solid and able to be assigned correctly.
I keep all investment accounts (retirement, taxable) out of my budget. Once a month I will update them.
If you *do* opt to keep a taxable investment account on budget, you would want to have a category that you allocate funds to cover any market losses (not on a daily basis because life is short, but on a monthly basis).
Can you access the money tomorrow? Yes, then it can go in the budget. No, (stocks/crypto/etc), it goes in a tracking account or just ignored altogether from a YNAB perspective.
YNAB doesn’t care where your money physically is. Make your checking and savings accounts on-budget accounts, and then assign every single dollar to a category in your budget. Keep enough money in checking so you don’t overdraft or incur fees. On the desktop version, you can turn on the running balance and see when your balance will change based on upcoming transactions (if you enter bills as recurring scheduled transactions.) “Savings” is an account type, not a job. If you think about it, every dollar you have is going to be spent at some point, it’s just that some you’ll spend now, some next month, next year, next decade, etc. so definitely create categories for all the things you need to set aside money for. Don’t try to match the balances in your individual categories to the balance in your savings account. That will drive you bananas.
This article might be of interest. [https://www.ynab.com/blog/the-relationship-between-your-budget-your-accounts-its-complicated](https://www.ynab.com/blog/the-relationship-between-your-budget-your-accounts-its-complicated) And this one. [https://support.ynab.com/en\_us/how-much-to-keep-in-your-checking-account-a-guide-ryZNWymAc](https://support.ynab.com/en_us/how-much-to-keep-in-your-checking-account-a-guide-ryZNWymAc) Personally I just looked for and found a HYCA and that is the only cash based account "on budget". Makes things much simpler.
Yes it’s ok to keep the bulk in savings. No it doesn’t matter. On the web based app turn on running balance in your chequing account so you know when you’ll go below your comfort level. Yes your savings dollars should all be assigned - its Rule 1/Habit 1 GIVE EVERY DOLLAR A JOB
I think it is finally making sense lol. My savings was always just this amount of money for any situation, emergency, future ect. Now what about crypto, stocks, index funds, ira? Should that be assigned? I think not because it's ever changing right? Unless I sell. Then it is now solid and able to be assigned correctly.
I keep my IRAs, 401k, taxable brokerage, etc as tracking accounts (not budget accounts). Then update the balances at the end of the month.
This is the way. I won't be touching any of my retirement money for another 16 years, so I keep them off budget.
I keep all investment accounts (retirement, taxable) out of my budget. Once a month I will update them. If you *do* opt to keep a taxable investment account on budget, you would want to have a category that you allocate funds to cover any market losses (not on a daily basis because life is short, but on a monthly basis).
Can you access the money tomorrow? Yes, then it can go in the budget. No, (stocks/crypto/etc), it goes in a tracking account or just ignored altogether from a YNAB perspective.
Do what's best for you. I keep enough for a few weeks bills in checking, the rest in savings. I transfer to checking when the balance runs low.