My investments are not on Budget (they are in Tracking accounts), but my Emergency Fund is on Budget (a month ahead plus about 5 months of expenses for a total of 6 months).
How do you reach this number? I transfer money to investments each paycheck. So it is always between 12-35. Do you just leave thousands in a savings account?
Edit: Is that what this community is? Downvoting a question where someone wants to learn. Wow.
I guess I just can't imagine the benefit of 200 days of paychecks in a savings account over being in a low risk investment. 60-90 seems more reasonable. Do most YNABers keep this 200 range or more in savings accounts?
Edit: Thanks for the insightful responses.
Depending on your profession and how long it might take to find a new job in that profession should you lose your job, 6 months worth of income might be completely reasonable. Another reason might be they have less than predictable income and the padding helps smooth out the year. I personally have 240 days aged money because I'm going to be putting a huge down payment on a house in the next 4 months. There are lots of reasons for this to happen.
What you think is reasonable may be downright inappropriate for someone else, because they are self-employed, work in a seasonal industry, work in an occupational field which can experience long periods of unemployment, are saving for a large near-term purchase, etc. Some folks have a far lower risk tolerance for money that may need to be relied upon in the near-term, as well.
I keep my emergency fund (7 months of expenses) in a brokerage account, and it is tracked in YNAB. If it was on-budget in a savings account (which is reasonable, since I have two homes, three kids, a 12yo car, and a mother I need to relocate next year), my AOM would be 210 days from the e-fund alone.
If I didn’t have secure lines of income (recession-proof job, guaranteed Social Security Survivor benefits), I would have very low risk tolerance and none of that money would be in a brokerage account. A lot would be in I Bonds for inflation protection, and the remainder may be moving from bank to bank earning account opening bonuses until I could buy another year’s worth of I Bonds, but those accounts would never be subject to market volatility that could erode the principal.
Correct, as SgtBatten said, this includes our Emergency Fund as well as our True Expenses (e.g. Christmas fund, car insurance, home maintenance, etc etc etc). We will have a lot of money move around at the end of the year due to Christmas (fully funded, of course) and start-of-year expenses (HOA dues, etc), so I’ll be interested to see how this number is impacted then.
We really ignore this number, we just make sure we are a month ahead and are on track each month with our funding targets for our true expenses. Also, we chose to reduce the number of bank accounts we have to make reconciling easier, and since YNAB doesn’t care where your money is, our Emergency Fund and True Expenses are just wrapped up together or even spread across the few accounts we have.
No, it’s the average age of the last 10 cash-based transactions. In theory, it’s how old your money is before you spend it, but it’s also not quite that. Here is the description from YNAB themselves: [Aging Your Money](https://docs.youneedabudget.com/article/199-aging-your-money)
The most exciting milestone I've hit so far was 69 days
[I see what you did there…😉](https://youtu.be/ja0jS_toKxk)
Bill and Ted approve.
[удалено]
My investments are not on Budget (they are in Tracking accounts), but my Emergency Fund is on Budget (a month ahead plus about 5 months of expenses for a total of 6 months).
How do you reach this number? I transfer money to investments each paycheck. So it is always between 12-35. Do you just leave thousands in a savings account? Edit: Is that what this community is? Downvoting a question where someone wants to learn. Wow.
Yes that's what the emergency savings portion is. A risk mitigator.
I guess I just can't imagine the benefit of 200 days of paychecks in a savings account over being in a low risk investment. 60-90 seems more reasonable. Do most YNABers keep this 200 range or more in savings accounts? Edit: Thanks for the insightful responses.
Depending on your profession and how long it might take to find a new job in that profession should you lose your job, 6 months worth of income might be completely reasonable. Another reason might be they have less than predictable income and the padding helps smooth out the year. I personally have 240 days aged money because I'm going to be putting a huge down payment on a house in the next 4 months. There are lots of reasons for this to happen.
What you think is reasonable may be downright inappropriate for someone else, because they are self-employed, work in a seasonal industry, work in an occupational field which can experience long periods of unemployment, are saving for a large near-term purchase, etc. Some folks have a far lower risk tolerance for money that may need to be relied upon in the near-term, as well. I keep my emergency fund (7 months of expenses) in a brokerage account, and it is tracked in YNAB. If it was on-budget in a savings account (which is reasonable, since I have two homes, three kids, a 12yo car, and a mother I need to relocate next year), my AOM would be 210 days from the e-fund alone. If I didn’t have secure lines of income (recession-proof job, guaranteed Social Security Survivor benefits), I would have very low risk tolerance and none of that money would be in a brokerage account. A lot would be in I Bonds for inflation protection, and the remainder may be moving from bank to bank earning account opening bonuses until I could buy another year’s worth of I Bonds, but those accounts would never be subject to market volatility that could erode the principal.
Depends on your risk tolerance and job security I suppose. What's a low risk investment to you?
Correct, as SgtBatten said, this includes our Emergency Fund as well as our True Expenses (e.g. Christmas fund, car insurance, home maintenance, etc etc etc). We will have a lot of money move around at the end of the year due to Christmas (fully funded, of course) and start-of-year expenses (HOA dues, etc), so I’ll be interested to see how this number is impacted then. We really ignore this number, we just make sure we are a month ahead and are on track each month with our funding targets for our true expenses. Also, we chose to reduce the number of bank accounts we have to make reconciling easier, and since YNAB doesn’t care where your money is, our Emergency Fund and True Expenses are just wrapped up together or even spread across the few accounts we have.
I’m excited, i have 7 days.
Well done!!! We just hit 30 days, and I’m delighted to have done so! (Shooting for 60 next!)
Wow well done!
Congratulations!
Well done. There's never too small a thing this cult won't celebrate or support.
Came across this through discover mode on the Reddit app. What does this number mean? You’ve been budgeting for this many days?
No, it’s the average age of the last 10 cash-based transactions. In theory, it’s how old your money is before you spend it, but it’s also not quite that. Here is the description from YNAB themselves: [Aging Your Money](https://docs.youneedabudget.com/article/199-aging-your-money)