You Need A Budget (YNAB) - Personal Finance Software
by YouNeedABudget.com
(Click here)
Software Summary
Manufacturer: YouNeedABudget.comBrand: YouNeedAbudget
Format: CD-ROM
Platform: Mac OS X, Windows
Model: 1.2.6
Product features:
- Mac OS X, Windows, (Windows 7 / Vista/ XP / 95, / 98 / 2000 / ME / NT)Mac OS X (10.4.11 / 10.5.4 / 10.5.5 / 10.6)
- Gain Total Control of Your Money - Stop living paycheck to paycheck, get out of debt, and save money faster with YNAB
- Benefit from four unique, powerful rules for maximizing control over your money - 1)Give Every Dollar a Job - 2)Save for a Rainy Day - 3) Roll with the punches - 4) Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck
- Gain financial peace by tracking all of your spending (dining out, groceries, bills) with one simple interface
- Be up and running in just minutes, also save time by importing your bank transactions
Software Reviews of You Need A Budget (YNAB) - Personal Finance Software
Customer Review: YNAB is literally the second best purchase I've ever made
Summary: 5 Stars
I've used a lot of personal finance software over the last 20 years, from Quicken, to Microsoft Money, to online sites like [...], and none of them have been as effective at helping me reign in my spending as You Need a Budget. Anyone considering this software needs to understand the fundamental difference, that YNAB is note the same as those programs. It has one single goal, and that is to help people live with a budget. Although it does have reporting features, it is not designed with the purpose to help you track your finances, or set up an IRA, or track your spending for tax purposes like a lot of other programs have. If you have no interest in living off a budget this software is not for you.
If you do think you'd like to use a budget, there is no better place to start than YNAB. I had always considered a budget before, but didn't like the idea of being forced to only spend a certain amount on food, or not be able to go out to eat if I wanted to. If I wanted something I bought it. I worried about paying for it later. That's how I found myself in fairly large credit card debt. Ever since I've been old enough to work, I have been living paycheck to paycheck. If I lost my job I would be in serious trouble two weeks later. Finally, after reading the reviews and recommendations for YNAB I decided to try it out. YNAB software is completely different from something like Quicken's 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. The 4 rules are:
Rule One: Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck - This is the fundamental premise behind the program. Basically, you save up enough money until you have an entire month's income saved up (your buffer). Once you have done that, you roll this income into your budget, and use it for your next month's expenses. This is where the program really starts to work. The paycheck I deposit on November 1 will not be spent until December 1 at the earliest. That means that all of the money I am spending in November is money that I received the month before, in October. Knowing that I have all my expenses completely paid for the next 30 days is a fantastic feeling. While other employees at my office are rushing to the bank immediately after getting their checks, I can relax and deposit it the next week if I want to. I don't have to worry about wiring my mortgage payment to my bank so it gets posted in time, because the money is already sitting in my checking account. If I lose my job, I have at least the next 30 days worth of expenses paid for. Now to me, the idea of saving up an entire month's salary sounded impossible. I am used to spending ALL of my money when I get it. I would be lucky to have an extra $100 leftover at the end of the month. However once you start budgeting and can see how much you are spending on something, and when you are given a goal, it is very easy to save. I was able to build up my buffer and start really using the program after about 6 months (that may seem like a long time but it is worth it).
Rule Two: Give Every Dollar a Job - This rule means that you have to budget every single dollar you receive. The purpose of this is to make sure all your money is accounted for, and so that you can see where it is going. This is a great rule because it is much easier to budget when you can see how much you're spending on something. I was amazed to find out I was spending up to $500 a month on dining out for myself alone! It was easy to reign that in to $200 a month, which gives me an extra $300 to save or spend on my debt.
Rule Three: Save for a Rainy Day - Of course, a budget can't account for everything. You can't really budget a month in advance for a car wreck you don't know you're going to have. That is why the program encourages you to save money for emergencies. That way, if something comes up, I don't have to worry about it affective the rest of my budget. This rule is also there so you will have future expenses accounted for. I know I am going to have to buy Christmas presents and pay car taxes in December, so every month, I add $50 to my budget for this category. I do the same with that dental appointment I have every 6 months, and add $10 a month to it. That way I don't have to freak out when I have to spend a lot of money in one month. That money is effectively, already "spent" and my bills are evenly distributed every month. I actually had my car taxes and all Christmas presents "paid for" by August of this year.
Rule Four: Roll with the Punches - Occasionally, you will make mistakes and over or under budget. I do this pretty frequently. The software is able to alert you of this so you can make adjustments. This month I overspent on gas. It was easy to adjust for it, because I just reduced my budget on gifts for myself and added it to gas. Even if I can't find a way to make up for it in the current month, YNAB will roll that deficit over to the next month.
The version 2 software is fairly simplistic, and I wish there were a lot more options, especially with reporting. I don't want it to lose its focus on budgeting, and I don't want it to become as bloated as Quicken, but there are more features that could be added to let people use it as all-in-one software and get rid of software like Quicken completely. It would be nice if I could select a payee and see every single transaction I've made to them and how much money I've spent at McDonald's in the last 4 months (you can already do this by category, just not by payee). So some people may need to use YNAB side by side with something like Quicken until it catches up. A few of my issues will be addressed with the release of YNAB 3 (which you will get as an upgrade if you purchase version 2 now). The 4 rules and the actual program of dealing with a buffer have a bit of a learning curve to them, and took me a little while to understand how it actually works, but the support forum at their web site combined with a thorough reading of the manual a couple times led me to eventually figure it out. Don't expect to just install the software and start using it without some instructions first. You need a thorough understanding of the buffer system and the rules for this program to be effective. It's hard for many people with existing debt (myself included) to understand why you should save up a one month's salary before using that money to pay off debt. The forum is a great place for explaining that reasoning. The forum also offers an amazing amount of support that I have not seen with any other software. Users are eager to help explain the four rules or provide general financial advice in terms of budgeting. Jesse, the creator of YNAB, frequently visits the forums to answer questions, and it impresses me how much user input from the forums he takes and puts directly into the software.
For anyone with existing debt, the program comes with some bonus software, including a debt snowball (made popular by personal finance guru Dave Ramsey)program. I strongly suggest anyone with debt combine YNAB with a debt snowball method for helping to eliminate their debt. I have had the same large credit card debt for the last ten years that I could never escape from. Thanks to YNAB and the debt snowball method, I have managed to pay off about 40% of that and will have it paid off completely within the next two years (I know the exact date it will be paid off). YNAB's debt snowball program is okay (it's nothing fancy and very simple), but I prefer the free debt snowball spreadsheet I found at another site to it. They are both very similar though. I strongly suggest that everyone who isn't currently using a budget give the YNAB software a try.
Description of You Need A Budget (YNAB) - Personal Finance Software
Praised across the internet as hands-down the "best budgeting software", You Need A Budget (YNAB) cuts to the chase with your finances. The software focuses you on the foundation of your finances: the Budget. Experience has shown that when your budget is intact, and functioning correctly, everything else takes care of itself (the bills are paid on time, retirement contributions are made, and unnecessary debt is eliminated). The software is built around Four Rules of Cash Flow. These Four Rules will help you break the paycheck to paycheck cycle, get out of debt, and save more money faster. Where other software packages tend to be the products of years of feature creep, YNAB offers you exactly what you need: a simple, straightforward system to manage your money. Remember to take advantage of YNAB's fantastic support resources: video tutorials, and free live budgeting classes for any and all interested! YNAB is built on the powerful Adobe AIR platform, which means you can run it on Windows, Mac, or Linux!Business & Office Software
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