Hi everyone, today I would like to tell you about a handy tool that I use to manage my personal finances. In the past, I've always lacked the overview of where my money was going. I didn't really know how much I was spending on what, and how to manage it in an easy straightforward way. Additionally, it was hard to set a plan for my long-term financial goals.
It was my girlfriend that told me about (and yes, made me use) a nifty tool or platform known by the acronym YNAB. Or, what it actually stands for, You Need A Budget. YNAB is a web-based money-managing platform that you can use to manage multiple budgets in an easy manner. It even comes with a mobile app that helps you to keep track of your daily spending on the go.
I've been using the platform now for roughly 1.5 years, and I must say it helped me a lot. I now feel that I have a much better grip on my spending and long-term goals.
The key is budgeting
I must admit that YNAB isn't the first financial tool I've tested and used in the past. However, it is the first that actually works for me. The key reason is the philosophy of budgeting. Instead of just keeping track of where your money is going every month, YNAB encourages you to budget all your income the moment it is in your bank account (and you can even do it before that).
You can budget amount X for the rent, amount Y for the groceries and amount Z for fun activities. While doing this budgeting, you automatically become aware of how much you spend on what. At the same time, it allows you to incorporate changes in your budget and reflect on how your past month(s) have been going financially.
Once all your money is budgeted, you can spend your money as usual. Along the way, you assign every payment to one of your predefined budgets. This is quite simple to do using the app for example. While doing so you have an instant up-to-date overview of how much of your budget has been spent and whether or not you need to adjust some of your budgets (or spending of course!).
Pretty easy right?
Long-term perspective and overview
Of course, budgeting for the next month isn't everything. YNAB also allows you to set long-term goals and keep track of them along the way. To do so it tells you every month how much money you need to set aside to keep on track of your goals. The whole thing is then topped off with some nice graphs and tables that show you an overview of your past spending and saving goals.
All-in-all a very nice platform that does the job and is actually fun to use! The main thing against using YNAB is the price tag. A standard membership to the platform will currently cost you $6.99 (I'm luckily paying $5 since I'm a member for a while now). To some, it might seem a bit steep to manage a budget, but I know from personal experience that the money saved by using the platform is more than the $6.99!
If you are interested I suggest trying out their 34-day free trial (don't ask me why they choose 34 days), check out their website. Or if you would like to help me, use my referral link. The referral link will get us both a free month of membership.
Disclaimer:
I am not affiliated with anything related YNAB, nor anyone who is profiting from the sale of anything related to YNAB. The only reason for writing this post is to share knowledge that might be useful and interesting to others. This information helped me personally and therefore I think it is worth sharing.