You Need a Budget (YNAB) Review
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If you want to learn how to manage your money better, YNAB is a great tool to help you do so.
9/10
Cost
8/10
Features
9/10
Ease of use
9/10
Services
9/10
You Need a Budget, otherwise known as YNAB, is a popular budgeting tool that helps customers take control of their finances and proactively manage their money. YNAB features a proven savings method, access to real-time information from all your accounts, goal tracking, reports, and more.
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What is YNAB?
If you’re struggling with your finances and need some help staying on track, YNAB comes highly reviewed. Unlike some other budgeting programs and personal finance apps, YNAB takes a proactive approach that tracks where you spend your money and encourages you to plan and account for every dollar spent. This can help you stop living paycheck to paycheck, save money, pay down debt, and improve your financial health.
YNAB isn’t free to use—a subscription costs $14.99 per month or $99 per year. That makes it pricier than some competing budget apps, like Credit Karma or Personal Capital. But YNAB’s unique saving and budgeting approach and robust financial tools have earned it a devoted following. Plus, YNAB can help you save money, so you may find that the monthly fee more than pays for itself.
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How does YNAB work?
If you’re curious about YNAB but don’t want to commit upfront, the company offers a 34-day free trial period for customers to try out the product.
To start a free trial, you’ll first need to create an account with a username and password. Creating an account takes just a few seconds, with no payment or payment method required upfront.
YNAB is customizable, but it does start you off with some basic monthly budget categories, including immediate obligations like rent and utilities, monthly “true expenses” like auto maintenance and insurance premiums, debt payments, quality of life goals like vacations, and just-for-fun goals like eating out and miscellaneous shopping.
To start using YNAB, it’s recommended that you link an account. This can include bank accounts like checking accounts and savings accounts, credit card accounts, and more. While this step isn’t necessary, YNAB allows you to automatically import transactions and income from your linked account, making it easier to track everything and assign a purpose to every dollar you earn.
After you link accounts, the next step is to start setting goals. YNAB features a unique budgeting system in that, instead of just retroactively tracking and categorizing spending, it encourages you to plan for routine spending using goals proactively. For example, you can set a goal for monthly software subscriptions, they work to save up that amount for next month’s expenses.
After you set your goals, the next step is to develop a budget. YNAB gathers information from your linked accounts about how much money you saved. You can then create a budget that allocates this money to various monthly expenses. You can budget money for expenses like rent and utilities and other purchases like software subscriptions and restaurants. YNAB even has a designated category for “stuff I forgot to budget for,” in case you need more wiggle room.
You can also set up any scheduled transactions you already know the cost, like monthly insurance premiums and rent payments. This makes it easy to visualize your cash flow, your basic expenses, and how much you’ll have leftover to spend on other things.
If you need to move money from one category to another, YNAB makes it easy. For example, if you plan to spend less on groceries one month and dine out a little more, you can move some of your budgeted spending from “Groceries” to “Dining Out.” This is also helpful if you’ve accidentally overspent in a particular category and need to shuffle the numbers around to make your budget work.
Along with its helpful budgeting software, YNAB also comes with plenty of other tools that can help you to visualize your finances and set you up for financial success. This includes tools that estimate your spending, net worth and monthly income vs. expenses.
As noted, you can use YNAB for free for 34 days. After that, you can sign up for a monthly or annual subscription to continue using the service.
How much does YNAB cost?
The trial period gives you time to test out the budgeting software, track expenses, and get a feel for how using YNAB can help you to master your finances and save money. After that, YNAB costs $14.99 per month for a monthly subscription or $99 for an annual subscription, which totals $8.25 per month.
YNAB’s pricing is more expensive than many similar free tools. That said, YNAB claims that new budgeters save an average of $600 in their first two months and $6,000 in their first year. This means that, for many customers, using YNAB can more than make up the cost of a subscription.
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YNAB features
YNAB has plenty of great features that make it a beloved budgeting tool.
Proactive budgeting
One of the biggest differences between YNAB and its competitors is that it takes a proactive approach to budgeting. Rather than just passively tracking spending, YNAB encourages you to make a forward-thinking plan about how you will spend your money. YNAB’s four rules help prevent overspending and ensure that every dollar is accounted for.
Flexible tools
YNAB is extremely flexible and can work with you regardless of your budget and goals. Whether you’re struggling to get out of debt, break the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle, or just want to save up some money for a nice vacation or an emergency fund, you can use YNAB any way you want.
Real-time information
YNAB features seamless syncing with your linked accounts so that you can get real-time information about your earning and spending. It also allows you to share finances with a partner for shared budgeting.
Goal tracking
Part of YNAB’s forward-thinking approach is an emphasis on goals. Instead of reacting to spending and earning, YNAB encourages its customers to set goals for themselves regarding personal finance. Whether this means saving money, paying down debt, or just reigning in spending in a particular area, YNAB is set up to help you succeed.
Reports
When it comes to personal finance, sometimes it can be hard to see the big picture. Luckily, YNAB makes accessing a zoomed-out view of your finances easy. Using YNAB, you can view your net worth, spending trends, and the month's income vs. expenses, with plenty of graphs and charts to help you visualize your progress.
Helpful customer support
YNAB is dedicated to helping its customers make the most of its budgeting software. Helpful customer support representatives can answer questions, troubleshoot problems, and provide advice if you’re ever stuck or unsure how to make the best use of YNAB. They also offer free, live online workshops every week and plenty of helpful tutorials.
Referral program
Love YNAB? You can earn a free month of YNAB when you refer family and friends.
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Who is YNAB best for?
People struggling to manage their finances. If you’re having trouble managing your money and making ends meet, YNAB is a superior budgeting tool. The company has many satisfied customers who have used YNAB to get on top of their personal finances and budget for success.
People who want to manage finances with a spouse or partner. Managing shared finances with spouses and partners can be hard when only one can access a budgeting spreadsheet or tool, especially if you have separate bank accounts or cards. YNAB makes it easy to budget and manage money with other people collaboratively.
People who want to be proactive about personal finance. YNAB takes a proactive approach to personal finances, unlike many other budgeting tools. If you’re looking to track spending and play an active role in managing your money, YNAB is a great fit.
Who shouldn’t use YNAB?
People who want a free tool. YNAB isn’t free; it costs $14.99 per month or $99 annually. This means that it’s not a good fit for customers looking for a free tool.
People on a strict budget. YNAB excels at helping customers curb spending and be mindful of their money. That said, if you’re already on a super strict budget and still struggling to make ends meet, YNAB might not be worth the cost. The tool is best for customers who have a little wiggle room in their budget and are trying to trim the fat rather than customers who are already stretched thin and already know exactly where every penny is going.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Cross-platform access. You can use YNAB through their desktop version, their iOS and Android mobile apps, as well as on your iPod, Apple Watch, or even through Alexa.
- Active budgeting. YNAB places an emphasis on proactive as opposed to reactive budgeting, which can help customers take control over their finances.
- Flexibility. While YNAB comes with basic spending categories also included, there’s infinite possibility when it comes to customizing the tool to meet your needs.
Cons
- Not free. While YNAB provides great value for the cost, it’s not free, unlike many other budgeting tools.
- Learning curve. YNAB has a moderate learning curve, and takes some time to get used to.
YNAB vs. competitors
While YNAB is a great tool, there are a few other options you might want to consider when it comes to budgeting apps.
Company | Price | Focus | Linked accounts |
YNAB | $14.99 per month, $99 per year | Focuses solely on budgeting and money management | Yes |
Empower | Free | Focused on long-term financial planning | Yes |
Credit Karma | Free | Holistic picture of your personal finances | Yes |
Empower
Empower is another great personal finance app that can help customers to save money. Unlike YNAB, Empower is free to use. In general, Empower emphasizes long-term planning, investment, and retirement, while YNAB has a stronger focus on everyday and month-to-month spending. Empower also features personalized advice from a licensed fiduciary advisor for an additional fee.
Credit Karma
In many ways, Credit Karma is YNAB’s main rival. The main difference between the two tools is in their approach to budgeting: rather than encouraging a proactive approach to budget setting, Credit Karma meticulously tracks your spending to provide an analysis of spending and saving trends that can help you make better financial decisions. Credit Karma also provides a holistic picture of your personal finances, including your total savings, debt, assets, and net worth.
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FAQs
How much does YNAB cost?
YNAB costs $14.99 per month or $99 per year.
How long is the free trial?
You can try YNAB for free for 34 days.
How can YNAB help save money?
YNAB’s proactive approach to budgeting helps customers reign in overspending, thoughtfully plan for future expenses, and cover the basics without having to think about it.
The bottom line
If you want to learn how to manage your money better, YNAB is a great tool to help you do so. It allows customers to plan for expenses, set financial goals, create a budget, and adjust on the fly whenever their circumstances change. YNAB can also help you curb spending by planning in advance rather than just retroactively tracking spending. Overall, YNAB is a handy budgeting tool that’s well worth the price if you’re trying to get a handle on your finances and aren’t sure where to start.
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Writer
Margaret Wack covers personal finance and small business and has appeared on MoneyUnder30, The Simple Dollar and Interest.com.
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