I've been tinkering with my budget a lot recently, and learning a lot about myself. For example, I feel like I need subaccounts in my savings account so I can see how close I am to saving for each of my goals, like a new (refurbished) Macbook Pro, or an old motorcycle to work on (so what if it's only at $25 right now).
Any bit of wandering on the internet currently with regards to personal finance will lead you at some point to YNAB. It's dominated forums and discussions, and a lot of people swear by it, even over other very popular services like Mint (not to mention Excel spreadsheets). My understanding is that living with financial security, defined by the creator as being able to live on previous months' paycheck and putting current pay towards creating a buffer, requires budgeting. The software facilitates that, and I'm curious if anyone has tried it, and is able to offer any insight.
Hey, I was about to make a thread on that topic soon, what a coincidence! I moved out from home (moving out of my family's place) as well as buying a condo, so therefore everything related to managing finances was completely knew to me. So far I could waste money, give my mom a couple of hundred and still live really good and yet save about 2k-2.5k Euros a month (I don't wanna brag, just for comparison purposes). My fiancee from America moved over, and I wanted to be able to sustain us both and pay off the flat pretty quick, even if she wouldn't find work right away (and thankfully I planned that way). So for me it was from super chill to ALRIGHT YOU'RE AN ADULT NOW WITH 110% FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY within 30 days. Full throttle. Now to YNAB: The advantage I have as a German is, that you're generally raised here to live off your last month's paycheck as soon as you earn money. SInce I started earning my own money, the money I get at the end of the a month, I completely use for the next month. Leftovers at the end of the month I move to my savings. From watching various videos on the YNAB website this was confusing for me at first, because it was the 'normal' thing to do, but watching the YNAB video sessions and remembering the American credit craze, I remembered that it might not be that way in America, or harder to pull of for Americans who don't start doing that right off the bat when earning money. So the good thing is, is that you already noticed this approach to finances part of YNAB, because the software is useless if you don't stick to their four principles. The awesome thing is: Their web sessions and trainings are free to attend! And their website has generally very much information and explanations. So far I found every single piece of info I wanted on their homepage without asking anyone else. Their philosophy and rules IS a part of the package that comes with the software!! If you don't follow them, the software might be rather useless. The main difference between Mint and YNAB is, that Mint tracks your spending, and gives you an overview how much you spend on something. YNAB on the other hand is all about planning in advance. Budgeting your money you have available and trying to stay in that budget. If that's not possible, YNAB will make you prioritize. You have a budget for example for clothing and for video games. And you saw those shoes you want, but you're unsure about it. And then Bayonetta 2 comes out but sadly you spend your money on Shadow of Mordor already. But you know what, if you think about it, you don't need the shoes, you liked them, yes, but you have 2 working pairs and waiting a month is no issue. But waiting for awesome Bayonetta 2 is an issue, so fuck that, and you go in the software and adjust the budget, and move it for this month from clothing to video games. So it helps you set priorities, and at the end of the month it switches to next month, "archiving" the old month and you see how much you spend in each category. So it's much more than just giving you an overview. Of course this comes with a little bit of work, because you have to literally enter every cent you spend in the software or - gladfully - in the free app! It uses Dropbox to synchronize the data and it works flawlessly. Entering a spending you just did is a matter of seconds with the app, and if you get home it's all pretty and cozy sitting in your PC, waiting for your reconciliation. The reconciliation is a the larger bit of work you have to do, but depending on how often you do it, the less time it takes. The first time I forgot to do it for the first month, and balls, it was a lot of work. "Where do these 7,59€ come from?" "Why did I get 15€ on my bank account there?" and - I shit you not, I didn't see the bank statement and this happened 1:1 like this - "Holy shit, they charge me the 750€ monthly payment for the condo already?!". Yes, for 3 weeks I thought they didn't charge me for the flat already and when my mom bought, it took the bank a couple of months till they started charging her. So I was like: Awesome! 750€ to save each month till they start charging me! Until YNAB's reconciliation made me literally go into my bank account and compare every single statement and I immediately started being a little less spendy. Now I do it whenever I feel like it, but at least once a week. All my spendings are still fresh in my mind, and I know immediately where the spending does come from, in case I forgot to enter it with YNAB. And if there's something unexpected, I notice it within a week, which is pretty good. So after all this talk, the most often 'criticism' I hear about YNAB: "Can't I just use Excel for that?" Yeah, but what about the sync? "Duh, I can always do it on Google sheets". Yeah, of course you can do that, and bam, Google has your finances to the cent exact for every single spending. Tinhat aside, I really like Google, and myself wouldn't even be bothered by that, but that's already a No-Go for a couple of people. And the software itself is cheap, $60 holy moly. (If you want, I can refer you, you get 6$ off then, I get 6$ credit). I don't know how much you earn per hour, but let's say you get the $54 version, then you get either paid near to nothing an hour, of you can make the perfect excel sheet or a program with an app in like 2 to 3 hours. And I don't think so. On top of that you get their videos for free and a huge helpful community (I found /r/YNAB to be nice, but as I said earlier, there was nothing I couldn't solve myself). So I say, it's worth eeeeeevery single cent, and you read that very often on the internet, and I was honestly very sceptical, but damn, it is worth if you have a use for it. I went on g2play and bought a steam key for YNAB for about 20$, once you start it, you can copy the license and download the standalone software. So you get all this for about 20$ and it saves me sooo much headache and gives me a perfect overview of my finances which I wouldn't have otherwise (and honestly, I doubt anyone has such a clear overview without any kind of software, and if he/she has, respect). If you're still struggling about the $20 (hehe, I think you should get YNAB then anyway if $20 are an issue ;P), you can test YNAB for free for a month, so why not download it and test it. The worst thing that happens is, is that you don't like it and uninstall. But once you set it up on the first day, you did like 90% of it's work already, so at that point it doesn't take a lot of convincing probably :P The way I started off is, that I just created my categories and together with my mom I thought about how much I should budget to that category and what is realistic for two people. To give you an idea I will list my categories here with the percentages of my salary, it might give you a starting point when you start with a blank sheet: Monthly bills: - Mortgage (31%) - Internet/Phone (1.6%) - Cable TV (0.8%) -Electricity (3%) - Utilities (9.6%) - Mobile phone contract (0.2%) - Insurance (0.4%) Everyday expenses: - Groceries (10.4%) - Fuel / Transportation (2.4%) - Restaurants (2.5%) - Clothing (2.1%) - Household goods (0.8%) - Barber (0.4%) Spending money: - Keyboards (yes, I'm a mechanical keyboard fetishist) (0.8%) - Games (2.1%) - Other IT/Cinema (2.1%) Rainy Day funds: - Home maintenance (not quite sure with this one yet, because I just moved, currently 0.8%) - Car insurance (2.1%) - Doctors (0.4%) - Presents (0.8%) Saving goals: - Emergeny/Leftover fund (Currently all budget, that is not budgeted in any other category, about 13%) - Christmas (depends on the month, every now and then I add something, depending on how much you need at the end of the year) - Car repairs/replacement (2.1%) - Vacation (4.2%) - Wedding travel (handling it just like Christmas, if I get unexpected money, almost all of it will be divided into Christmas, Wedding travel, some other saving goals and Emergency/Leftover fund) - Building loan contract (2.1%) Keep in mind that this is for Germany and I'm paying off my condo quite fast, so your insurances, restaurant costs, doctor costs etc. may vary. It also is only 2-3 months old, so it might need a little tweaking here and there. Budgeting will be hard at the beginning, but it makes you think about your money and how you spend it, which most people try to avoid. So either you're good with finances anyway, budgeting will be easy then and YNAB will be a good program to support you, or you're not good at it, and then it will be a bit harder at the beginning, but YNAB will force you to think about it and educate and train you how to handle your money and your finances/budget planning. And I read a lot of success stories about the second part :) I hope I could answer a lot of your questions! You read that on the internet a lot, but I really like YNAB and every cent I spent on it, and would buy it again without hesitating a second. And in this case it's because the product is good, not because everyone is brainwashed. You can try it yourself or read a little bit more with googling around or on /r/YNAB. TL;DR: Watch all the YNAB videos/join the web info sessions for free, buy it or test it for free, be happy, any question? read the whole post :P Edit: Also, another short thing is, if anyone of my relatives/friends ask me what YNAB is or what it does: Basically you have this huge chunk of money sitting on your bank account, and YNAB takes care of what each bill in this chunk is planned and budgeted for and keeps track of it. It's like a toolbox for your money, it puts every piece of money to a fixed small shelf, where you can go and get it if the time has come and you need it. As soon as you close the YNAB program, all this nicely and neatly sorted money becomes a huge, unsorted pile again. Also, when I asked a couple of my buddies if they know what YNAB is, 2 or 3 of them were already using it, without spreading the word, but they basically confirmed what I read on the internet about YNAB.
Wow, I can feel your enthusiasm from all the way over here. :) I'm sold, I'll definitely start using it. What I get from your post is that it helps when budgeting to make a lot of money.
Did you mean with your second sentence "if you make a lot of money" or "to save a lot of money"? I'm slightly confused :D If you mean the former: I wouldn't say it's for people who make a lot of money per se, but I can imagine the categories become more granular. Someone who only has $50 to spend overall won't divide it into 3 sub-categories, I assume. Or you won't have so many different saving goals then, you probably share a big one. But as you can already see, basically it comes down to personal preference: If you like to have very specific, little budgets to spend, do it that way. If you want a little bit more freedom, go ahead and make more generous categories. But for me it was important (since it became my own personal financial household), to see, where exactly I spent my money (Do I eat out to often? Do I buy too many groceries? Do I spend my spending money too much on keyboard accessories or do I spend too much on games? All this wouldn't be visible if you have broader categories). And I'm pretty forgetful. If I'd have one big savings pool, I would forget about most of the quarterly/bi-yearly payments. Since I have the car insurance separately, I know it's coming up as soon as my budget reaches 3 months full of money. And as a consequence, my savings account is not needed for vacation, the wedding, presents or anything, it is literally ONLY a savings fund. Which gives me more wiggle room when I need additional budget. Instead of compromising in a spending area, I can take a couple of Euros out of my saving budget for this month. If this happens too often or regularly, I have to adjust my percentage I set for it, in general you want to be fine with the budget you give yourself. If I don't want to cut down my savings, but I need extra money from it for my spending money every month, then it's time to go back to the compromise approach and see where I can cut money to spend it on more games or other personal stuff. This also goes a little in the direction in case you meant the latter one, to save up easily some money: Kind of. It depends on your priorities. You need a fixed amount for insurances and food each month, rent, too. You have $250 leftover and not budgeted yet. Do you prioritize spending? Do you want to do an awesome vacation next year? 200 to savings, 50 to spending. Or: All your important savings are covered in other categories and you still have the 250 to budget and a new console was released? $200 or $250 goes to spending this month. As I wrote in my other reply: YNAB will make you think about your money and how you want to spend it. You know you have your fixed costs, but then there's always some wiggle room. You don't need new pants this month? Either budget it to the savings budget, let it sit in the clothing budget and it will go over to the next month's clothing budget to get something fancier this time or put it in your your spending money, it's up to you and your plans/priorities.
I don't have anything to say about software, because I've never heard of it, but I do have some experience with personal finance. I've owned a couple homes, made do on no money, spent more than I had, made some good investments, and now live pretty comfortably (so pretty much all over the map--learned by doing, which isn't the most efficient way, but boy the lessons stick with you). If you know a thing or two about arithmetic, then I'm pretty sure that you don't need an explicit budget. What you do need is at least a decent handle on your intake and outlays. My advice is don't bit off more than you can chew. I fell into the trap of thinking that I could handle a nice apartment on my own when I was a grad student, and I got into some debt trouble because of it. Had to do some major growth in income to get out of that, and I wouldn't recommend it. So, here's my advice, which I think is backward from what most people will tell you: Figure out what kind of lifestyle you want, and then adjust your living situation accordingly. That is, if you like going out, drinking, having fun, etc., then decide how much you need to support that life, and then count how much is left over for essentials. If you do it the "right way", you run the risk of living a dull life full of no fun, and then what's the point? If you can survive in a small apartment on the shitty side of town, then do it. It's not so bad. Rent and cars take chunks of income, and they're not very flexible once you take them on. When I was young, I didn't realize how much flexibility I needed, and I paid the price (so to speak). I managed to turn my formerly cool self into a suburb-dwelling, bourgeois yuppie nonetheless, but if not for some good luck, I might still be in debt. Don't go down that road. It causes much stress and anxiety. If budgeting helps, then by all means do it.My understanding is that living with financial security, defined by the creator as being able to live on previous months' paycheck and putting current pay towards creating a buffer, requires budgeting.
Thank you. I have a huge aversion to debt, so I hope that it steers me clear of having to spend huge chunks of my life paying things off. Side note: my aversion to debt and my status as being debt free is a weird source of comfort for me. I think about people my age, people I know, who are a hundred thousand and more in debt for their undergrad and, although I don't have a degree (only two out of four years completed at a state school), I am very happy to be where I am. The reason I find it weird is because I haven't actually done anything and I'm taking pride in my inaction. Anyways, I agree with you. Find what you want, and work backwards to get to it. Be upfront about what you want. But when you say you don't have to budget, but just have a good handle on your income and outlays, some would say that that is what budgeting is. But thank you B, I'm inspired to take time and be more upfront and concrete about what it is I want.
Sure, I just meant that I don't think it's necessary to go to the extreme level of detail that a planned budget might. I'm a big picture guy.But when you say you don't have to budget, but just have a good handle on your income and outlays, some would say that that is what budgeting is.
What stops you from budgeting yourself a category called "spontaneous spending" and then funding it however much? It can still be spontaneous even if you find the spending in advance.
Intriguing. Never heard of it. Tempted to give it a try - the only thing keeping me out of it is the fact that we've got two businesses and five bank accounts that are un-fucked solely by allowing our accountant remote access to our Quickbooks. I may give this a shot with the personal just to see, though. Thanks.
I think the creator uses the software for personal use and for running the YNAB company's budget. Not so much an appeal to popularity, but more so that I think it can be done. Let us know, bl00 review?
Not the issue - thing of it is, my life gains in complexity without interoperability to Quickbooks because it's the language my accountant speaks. And without my accountant, I'm fucked. Fun example: In 2008, I paid the state of California $800 in franchise taxes for my business. In 2009, I paid the state of California $800 in franchise taxes for my business. In 2010, I paid the state of California $800 in franchise taxes for my business. In 2011, I paid the state of California $800 in franchise taxes for my business. In 2012, I paid the state of California $800 in franchise taxes for my business. In 2013, I paid the state of California $800 in franchise taxes for my business. In 2014, I paid the state of California $800 in franchise taxes for my business. In 2014, the state of California hit me for $92 in interest for not paying my taxes in 2012. My accountant gave me the direct number of an actuary at the State of California who revealed that my accountant in 2011 (different accountant) had filled out the wrong paperwork, thereby paying my 2010 $800 twice but not my 2011. Thus, I had to pay the $92, and fill out a special form that gave the state of California permission to transfer my overpayment (which they had been under no obligation to tell me about) to 2012. Without that magic number, I'd still be fighting it. Two months later - Friday - the State of California declared that I hadn't paid my taxes in 2012 so they were going to hit me for $800 plus interest, minus the $92 that they'd billed me erroneously for interest on a payment I hadn't actually made but an additional $150 penalty for not paying. I gave this notice (as well as a scan of the cancelled check) to my accountant, who spent an hour and a half in Franz Kafka's phone tree to determine that the entire problem was that the state of California had fucked up, not my 2011 accountant, and that they were going to refund me the $92 in interest they had charged me for their own fuckup. Fuck California, by the way, and fuck Los Angeles in particular: two years ago they sent out "AB63s", which is a form that says "since we haven't gotten any business tax from you, and since you haven't registered your business with us locally, we're going to assume you've been in business the maximum amount of time and making the absolute maximum amount of money, therefore you owe us $296,000." They sent these out to everyone who had ever done I-9 work within Los Angeles county. So you call them up, wait on the phone for two hours to learn that it's a scare tactic to get you to cough up your $9 in entertainment industry tax, which you then pay and get your business license. But since the office that sends out the scare notices and the office that actually records your business are different offices, even if you pay and get things straightened out, Los Angeles sends you out a nastier scare-o-gram saying that since you didn't respond to their last terrorist threat, they've added $136,000 in penalties to your $296,000 tax bill and if you don't pay immediately they will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law. TL;DR - I need my accountant the way Avon Barksdale needs his lawyer, just because I live in this beknighted corner of the world.
Well I got a parking violation from a state I've never been to the other day... Oh, we're not just trying to one-up eachother... Seriously though, bureaucracy is fucking awful.
No shit? You alright man? bicycle or Motorcycle? Either way, hope you aren't too fucked up.
yeah, I remember that. Start knocking on wood prior to saddling up.
In that case, statistically you've gotten it out of the way. Nice.
Motorcycle. Put the turn signal on, let it blink once, lunged across the double yellow, totally sideswiped me. Sent the bike spiraling across I-405 at rush hour. I came off two lanes into it, bike kept spinning another couple lanes. Stood up, looked at the guy, who yelled at me "you were going too fast!" to which I said YOU CROSSED A DOUBLE YELLOW! Would have been a $700 ticket for him if the cops had seen it. They didn't. On the plus side, I wasn't run over by six lanes of northbound traffic. And, thank god for crash bobbins. I'll need to replace 'em but the bike is largely intact. I'll need ~200 worth of parts to get it running again, from f'ing Nuremburg, of course. On the minus side, yeah. knocked across 4 lanes of traffic. Amazing thing is I was only an hour late for work.
So, just bruised up and pissed off? Any repercussions for the idiot that crossed the double yellow? Also, were you going too fast? Glad you're alright, that's scary shit. Now that you're a dad, each accident carries more weight, no?
Speed limit on the road is 65. It was rush hour; CHP had guidelines that said "don't be going more than 10mph faster than traffic." Traffic was going probably 35; I was probably going 45-50. I seriously hope he loses his job. He was driving livery and the point of putting on a turn signal is to say "I'm changing lanes" not "bombs away." The fact that he was from Ventura pretty much emphasizes that he isn't used to paying attention to white-liners, UNLIKE EVERY OTHER CAR ON THE ROAD. And that's the thing: I was going straight in a straight road in the place where I'm supposed to go straight. He was CHANGING LANES across a double yellow out of the carpool lane, which is a massive ticket in California. And it's not like people don't do that. And it's not like I haven't stood on the brakes before. And it's not like I haven't dealt with exactly this problem before. But today? Yeah, nowhere to go. Thump. Spin. Billing the shit out of those fuckers. New helmet, new jacket, whole nine yards. Asshole.
Yea, my level of complexity is firmly in dead ass simple. Way to make me never want to open a business in California... or pay franchise taxes? Still, let us know how the program works for you if you try it.
Favorite subreddit recently. I actually go through and read almost every post. And I second that, planning is the easiest part, it's the refraining that troubles me. It makes me a little embarrassed how often waiting a day to make a purchase has worked on cooling my impulses.
Honestly it's the "occasional emergencies" that fuck me up as much as impulse spending. Last weekend? Car battery died. Out $150. Four weeks ago? Cat got a scratch in the eye and was discharging blood from the tear duct. $100 for cat doctor. And so on.
And so on. I put money aside for emergencies every paycheck but it gets used up faster than I'd like it to. But yeah r/personalfinance is my ideal in terms of what they advocate and what I'd like to do: 6 months of paychecks in savings, pay off all my debt as fast as possible, stay debt free. Not so good at it in practice doe. I certainly manage to pay my bills and put some aside every check. It just doesn't feel like nearly enough. I am finally getting to the point where I am getting ahead on payments on most of my major payments (student loans, car, etc). It's exciting because now I feel like I am actually making dents.
Paying off all debt as fast as possible isn't always good advice. Depends on the interest rate, repayment terms, and what else you could be doing with your money. Those are non-trivial, and in the end, accelerating debt payment could cost you a lot of money.
I was talking with a 24-year-old guy the other day. He's about to ask his girlfriend to marry him and said that he doesn't want to buy a house until he can pay for it 100% in cash. He has some money saved, probably enough to put 20% plus down. My strong advice to him was to put 20 to 30% down on a house right now and buy it with a fixed 30 year mortgage. Money is about as cheap as it will ever get right now. He could get a mortgage for less than 4% and the money that he would put into the house, if he is smart could see returns north of 6% in various mutual funds and other investment modalities. So, sometimes incurring a debt in order to float your money elsewhere is a smart move.
I'm loving the ideas in this thread. I'm now trying to reconcile the fact that I want to make a reasonable amount of money, but the career path I'm considering would leave me broke. I'm really activated by the idea of expanding service opportunities to young people, in some sort of supervisory or administrative support role. I think service is important, but a public servant doesn't make all that much, at least not historically.
Exactly. One has to trust the math. Consult a financial expert if you don't understand interest. Math doesn't lie, and debt isn't evil. We've been led to believe it is, because so many people got so royally fucked in 07-08. But in the end, if you do solid research, and abide by tried and true investment principles (history is still a thing, and it's a bit longer than seven years), then you shouldn't worry about your debt load as just a number. It's not a moral issue.
Average rate of return for investments: safe to assume 3-6% Average interest rate of all my debts: way above that Prepayment penalties? None. -Not sure about car, but none on CCs, none on student loans I think I'm generally pretty safe. My debt is mostly student loans at 6.8% and credit cards in the range of 12-18%. Not sure about the car note, but that's the last one I'm worried about.
Ours cost $1500. It was dope. We held it out on an island, invited 13 people, paid for dinner for everybody and then had a potluck reception two weeks later at my uncle's house (he's got 5 acres of park-like land). Not sure about your deposits, but you can reef back on that shit.
Our stories start out similar, then diverge drastically. Going to Maui on Thanksgiving (even that was a compromise to my family; I wanted Koh Samui or maybe even the Maldives--somewhere nobody would follow). 15 friends and family are joining us. Maui isn't cheap, but, hey, 15 people isn't that many. Even at $200 a plate, you're not too deep. Then comes the fun part. We said, "Hey, we'll have a party sometime after we come back." Once our moms got hold of that idea it was a completely transformed into a fucking nightmare regular old straight up wedding reception, thus completely and utterly ruining the whole idea behind going to a far off place where only the loyalists would attend. So, while you're technically right that I can get out of this bullshit and only lose my $1000 deposit, I'd never live it down. It's written in goddam blood. There are many times that I'm appreciative that I have a large, close-knit and supportive family. This is a rare exception.
Yeah. That's always been an intellectual problem I've faced with the whole thing. I'd much, much rather have the down payment on a house than a wedding, and they generally seem to cost about the same - though of course both can run high, depending on the house and/or wedding.
I'm on track to spend about $20k of my own money, and about $15k of my parents' and in-laws' money. It's ridiculous. No other way to put it. It'll be fun though, and of course you feel grateful that all these people want to support you. It's definitely about more than finance, but the money alone can give you a heart attack.
Damn, that's fucking brutal. My IRA is at 7.5% right now and I was bitching to the credit card when it was at ten and a quarter. The last loan we got on a car, the loan officer at the bank was physically pissed off; the rate we were offered ensured that the bank would be making $475 in total towards the purchase of a new Honda Fit. I think the rate was under 2%. Sometimes it's good to be a fogey.
And my credit score isn't bad, to boot. I have one delinquent record on it from a bank of all things, and I can't wait when that fucker drops off in another year or two. Every other bill I've ever had I have always paid early/extra/on time. I might get a lower rate if I called and asked - but I don't want a fucking lower rate. It'll only apply to new purchases anyway. I want no more debt.
I paid off a credit card on February 13, 2007. February 14 I got laid off from my job. Then I had to run the card back up again to establish another life in LA while putting my wife through college in Seattle... paid it off again just a couple months ago, but not without some serious trepidation. Figured it was entirely possible I'd lose my good gig yet again. I was actually relieved when the annual fee kicked in a day before the payoff went through, thereby giving me a balance of $69. Damn right I waited until the gig was done for the year before I paid it off completely. When the universe sends you signals like that...
Congratulations. I'm still at the point where I'm waiting for my paychecks to be at all considerable. Not to say that I'm not trying to create good habits because I don't make shit, it's just that creating sub accounts for different emergency funds like car repair, broken lightbulb fund, medical, etc., seems patently goofy right now when I'm funding them with such a small stipend. I'm not complaining though.It's exciting because now i feel like I am actually making dents.
FWIW, I don't get the point of creating multiple sub accounts for that kind of stuff. I have 4 bank accounts. 3 are all linked and really function almost as one account - it's a virtual wallet set-up by PNC (shameless plug) where I have one checking, one sub-checking, and one savings. Every paycheck I put a little money in the savings - that's what ends up getting pulled away for my short term emergencies. Every paycheck I immediately pay all bills due between that date and the next paycheck. If I have something that comes out automatically, like car insurance, I move that money to the sub-checking so that i can't spend it. I move it back the day of or before the automatic pull. The fourth account is a no-touch savings at a separate bank. It's linked to my other account but any money transfers take 5 days, so it's a good way to make sure I don't spend it. Technically I have a card for that account but I haven't activated it. That's my "no touch/SUPER rainy day/SUPER emergecy/Six month fund/mortgage" money. There is only a pittance in there but it grows every paycheck. So that's how I budget. I keep an excel spreadsheet and I plot out usually about 3 months in advance so I know I've got all my bills accounted for, I can see when I have extra paychecks and allocate that money, and see how much spending money I'll have. The one account is never touched, otherwise the money fluctuates and moves freely between the 3. Personally, I think $60 to spend on budgeting software is incredibly ridiculous.
I wouldn't disagree. Ironic, too? And it seems after reading about your personal finance system that you wouldn't need something like YNAB. As for the idea behind subaccounts, the benefit is completely psychological. I like to see my progress within each goal, but I guess you could do the same with an excel spreadsheet, so it's practically the same thing, huh?Personally, I think $60 to spend on budgeting software is incredibly ridiculous.
I use this app called Toshl to track my spending. It's good because living in Phnom Penh I'm regularly spending in three different currencies, so I plug in the amount as I spend it, in the currency I spent it in, and the app generates a running total in NZD for me so I understand how much I actually spent that day. It's been really helpful setting a barometer for how much I need to earn freelancing to cover expenses ($30USD a day). At first I was really apprehensive about whether I could survive here just freelancing, but because I tracked my data I was able to work out that I only need to secure the equivalent of an hour's work a day to cover costs and the rest can be savings. My bank app (bank of NZ) is also really handy for making various savings accounts on the fly which is perfect for goal-setting. Does your bank offer something similar?