Tracking Accounts in YNAB | Part 1: Should You Add Them + Adding Liabilities
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- Опубликовано: 31 май 2024
- We budget the dollars we have, but what about all those others loans and investments? Meet YNAB's simplistic way of keeping an eye on your overall net worth: tracking accounts. In this two part series, learn how adding tracking accounts may benefit or detract your budget, how to manage liabilities (part I), and how to track your assets (part II) within your YNAB budget.
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Love her videos!!!!! The way she does this makes you WANT to pay attention. Keep it up!
I know, right? I think I binge-watched all her older ones.
Neat trick with the reconciliation. I prefer actually adding the interest charge as a transaction so that it is there for record keeping purposes. Then I perform the reconciliation and it matches my account statement from the financial institution without having to add the 'fudge factor'.
This lady is magical! I'm loving her fun quirky video presence!!
Thanks Aisha! More where that came from! every other friday!!
-Hannah 🌻
"Cause that's kind of why we're here...cause you needed a budget, remember?"
Fucking murdered us lmao
Wouldn't it be better to add a separate transaction with "interest" as the payee in that account?
Just added my first tracking account yesterday for my Flexible Spending Account. I want to track it since it’s a use-it-or-lose account. Thanks for another great video!
This is a fantastic idea
Why would you add interest by reconciling rather than entering it as a transaction? As far as I can see reconciling doesn't create a paper trail for why the balance changed, but entering an interest transaction would do that.
@M J Z you can edit the ' entered automatically by YNAB' memo to eg interest....
27k left to go on my mortgage im totally doing this so I can do the happy dance when im done.
Your sense of humour in your videos always just cracks me up 😂
These are excellent things to consider and lady- you slay in these videos. I've watched other ones that put me to sleep but yours always motivate and inspire me.
Thanks so much Jodie, I'm beyond delighted to hear that! Just trying to make videos I would want to watch 😔
-Hannah :
Tracking accounts is one area of YNAB I haven't explored, but this video kinda makes me excited to put my student loans in there since I can definitely pay it off by next year! Thanks for the encouragement Hannah. Ya nailed it again 😁
I really love tracking accounts, I have about 15 between liabilities and assests. Besides seeing the balances, it gives me an accurate picture of net worth. Most of my liabilities though are linked accounts, as most companies have the set up. The video above did not mention this, and wanted to pass it on. The work is very minimal once set up.
You are so naturally funny! Love watching:)
Thank you I was really struggling! I love your videos and they've given me hope to keep tackling the YNAB method.
Is there no way for YNAB to automatically apply an interest percentage to loan payments if it's a fixed rate? Seems simple.
Maybe it is a Kansas thing but i love your fun quirky humour
Ha! EVERYONE is quirky and fun in Kansas. If not, straight to jail.
🌻 Hannah
Love tracking accounts as it helps to see the full picture.
Love the video, but .... interest is an expense or $265 for car loan and $35 for interest, but still love the video
I use a tracking account to track my doggy daycare packages. Dollars are full days, pennies are half days. If I buy a package with 20 days, I add $20 to the account, then subtract $1 per dog per day when they go.
Love your videos!
Had no idea this was even a thing, adding student loans now 🎉
I used a tracking account for my student loans. It felt awesome to close the account in YNAB after paying my student loans in full!
“...cause you needed a budget, remember?” Lol
First, I love your videos. So entertaining and educational.
I've always felt that you should budget for interest. After all, you are paying the bank to give you the money, and I want to know how much the bank is making from me versus actually going to the purchase price of the car! I put the car payment transaction in when I make it, then when the interest is charged, I add it as a separate transaction. Because interest fluctuates, I just budget that amount to the interest category at that time and take from the car payment category. Is this not advised? Or just a different (albeit more complex) way of doing it?
Indeed :) So informative AND entertaining! And thank you very much for this adjust your account feature. Until now I've inserted my interest manually every month in order to match the balance. No need for that anymore jihuu :D
Trust me, you are the best intro!!!!
Thanks for the video - I don’t adjust from reconciliation, I add the interest as a transaction. This means that I can get toolkit reports showing how much interest I pay.
I also have super “Australian 401k” and I put in a transaction for money gained or lost on the share market, again toolkit then shows my gains and losses.
Maybe an idea for future video is to show toolkits and what it can do?
Sharleen Davis toolkit is not a YNAB extension or am I missing it?
Super stoked about being able to track debt payoff and assets!!
I am tracking my mortgage...but only a little amount of my monthly payment actually goes to paying it down. I get how to reconcile a tracking account on the computer, but I mostly use my phone. Is there a way to fix the actual paid-down amount when using the mobile app?
When transferring from a chequing account to a tracking account (one that is a liability), does it affect the age of my money (i.e., considered to be spending rather than paying down debt)?
I have two tracking accounts: One for a debt that's gonna be paid in full in less than a year, and one for keeping track of my pension contributions. Both are there to make me feel good. (The long-term liabilities aren't tracked; that'd just be depressing.) It'll take a little more effort to track them but I'll enjoy it.
OT: Just have a request. Can this playlist (Heard if from Hannah) be sorted from oldest to newest?
What about when you make additional principal-only payments? Shouldn't that bring the base loan amount down? I use USAA and principal payments aren't making a difference (perhaps I should call USAA, cuz this makes no sense to me--do you have a rational explanation to help me when I call them?).
Interesting. I seem to have done it wrong all this time.
I just record my mortgage payment as an expense, and then from time to time I reconcile the tracking account to show how much I still have to pay off.
I was using tracking for my mortgage and student loan but seeing this, I don’t need them. I do have a question, if I try to close the accounts, it wants to move the money. Should I just ignore them?
Can I transform a savings account into a tracking one, if I messes up in setup?
How can I change savings to tracking? I have all my accounts in the account sidebar but only want the accounts like checking and one savings?
Create new account and move all transactions might work
Hmm, what if I basically use my non-retire
ment brokerage accounts as my checking account? I find I have to keep "ghost transferring" into my checking just to categorize my spending. All of that just because you can't spend from an investment account, ugh.
Works fine at final reporting since my different account statements contain the real transfers and transactions but it's annoying that I have to work around this on YNAB pretending to move money between these accounts just to get the full functionality of the site.
For example, to categorize my data subscription fees I have to "transfer to checking" then spend from checking at that category even though the money never left my brokerage. Know what I mean?
*Actually* just realized I can simply list it as a regular account. I'm not even blond.
Trying to figure out how to work with a "prepay account, such as pre-paying my oil for the year. I'm not sure if tracking account works. I pay the lump some once a year. Then as I receive deliveries, I need to enter the bill to show my oil usage. I've tried a few different senerios. I can't get it to work. It's opposite of a credit card.
I am not sure on this! I do know you can contact YNAB support for questions like this though-- they should know a good solution!
why is my savings account being shown as a tracking account?
how do i track brokerage accounts? like if i bought some shares of a company, then they appreciate and then i sell them for a profit? how would i implement that into the budget?
You have to manually reconcile them like she shows at the end of the video. Tracked accounts will not update accurately like budget accounts unfortunately.
What happens to those accounts that are linked? In the video you show yourself making a payment from the checking account to the tracking account but would this not be reset when the checking account goes and refreshes the bank balance from my provider? This was the only part that I found confusing, otherwise this video was very informative and I've added a tracking account for general bills I need to pay the family back for, which should prove to be useful for keeping track of those expenses.
When the checking account syncs it will link the transaction in YNAB, it will not reset.
I was confused about this exact point here too. So if I enter the transaction in my checking account as a transfer to “dacar” tracking account then when ynab does an automatic import from my bank will it recognize that the payment for dacar is entered as a transfer to “dacar” tracking account and not create a 2nd transaction line in my checking account. I hope what I wrote made sense. Lol
Great to know about tracking...but I have 4 areas of expenses I need separate budgets for and have separate bank accounts/cards for--personal, personal business, ministry and ministry business. Should I have 4 YNAB accounts?
Great question! If they're all accounts you're spending out of regularly and they all have their own separate banking accounts, then I personally would use four different budgets for all of them! Main reason being it can be hard to identify where the money comes from and where it should go once it hits your "Ready to Assign" category.
For example, if you have all of your bank accounts "linked" to their respective banks and you get an inflow transaction imported for three or four of those accounts all around the same time (A $1,945 paycheck for work, a $7,493 paycheck from a client, a $1,783 donation to the ministry), it'll all just get lumped together in your "Ready to Assign" and you'll need to do a little math on your end to know how much of the "RTA" amount should go to which budget categories.
BUT, if they each have their own respective budgets with only their respective bank accounts linked to them, you can insure that no money will ever cross over into an account/budgeting category it's not supposed to. That sounds like a lot to keep track of on your end! Way to go!!
🌻 Hannah
Does it matter if I put a loan under a "Tracking" account or a 'Budget" account? Seems like they'd work similarly...
The Part 2 of this video answered my own question. Whew!
If my checking account is linked, would the $300 be removed twice? Like once for the manual entry and then another time when it detects the check from the bank?
Nope! If you manually enter a $300 outflow transaction from your checking, and a day or two later the same transaction is imported from the bank via your linked account, YNAB will link the two up so that your budget doesn't get any duplicates! You can tell they've been link by a "link" icon on the left of your transaction. However, YNAB will always ask you to approve it just to make sure it's doing the right think by linking the two into one! If you ever find that you *are* getting duplicate transactions (one you entered yourself and another from the bank that aren't linking together), make sure all the info was entered right in your manual transaction!
🌻 Hannah
@@YNABofficial thanks Hannah. Just discovered YNAB last weekend and it’s already made my financial life so much better.
Oh, NIIIIICE! Oh, you've got a lot of good stuff comin' to you down the road, my friend :) YNAB has a lot of helpful features we can take a while to discover and understand sometimes, but those tools are the exact same ones that will make managing your money easy peasy and (dare I say) even FUN. Lemme know if you have any questions on certain aspects of YNAB or functions in the budget and I can try to point you to some videos that will help!!
🌻Hannah
Would it not be worth tracking all assets/liabilities to check your net worth or else it would be worthless??
When you have this paid off how do you hide it? I want to do this for my student loans but there is like 10 different accts? I don't want them to show once paid off.
Hi Christel! When you've paid off an account, you can click the little pencil icon by the account name to manage it. At the bottom of that pop-up, you should see a "Close Account" button. That will move the account into a new group called "Closed", which you can keep toggled off. Hope that helps! 🙂
- Ben M 🎨
It would be nice to see what happens when the car loan is paid off. The liability tracking account changes to an asset tracking account, and you adjust the asset value periodically :-).
Does tracking accounts (linked accounts) Do they update automatically?
No. I see no reason to link them other than getting the initial balance. After that you have to manually adjust your balance based on market changes.
how do you get the icon next to the category?
Hey friend! This article will help you if you like to use YNAB on a computer:
docs.youneedabudget.com/article/196-using-emoji-in-your-budget
If you use YNAB on your phone, all you do is pull up your emoji keyboard and add the emoji right into the category name!
-Hannah 🌻
Thank you , and I like you you are the best !
Ha! Well thanks, friend!!
-Hannah 🌻
I guess I will need to watch that video. I’ve been going to my phone app to add the emojis. 🥴
Well, definitely deleted mortgage and car loan less than two minutes in!
My rule is add Emergency Fund and Roth IRA as tracking accounts. The Roth IRA obviously will get deleted once I pull the trigger on a robo advisor or brokerage. Once my emergency fund is fully funded, i.e. 6 months of living expenses saved, then I'll add budget lines for the next savings goals: Car, House, Travel, etc., and keep all my money consolidated in one account (chequing).
That's why I use them, and that's how I think that most others should use tracking as well. It's an accountability thing. I personally never think you should ever mix your emergency fund into your budget. It's exactly for that purpose -- cover your budget in case of an emergency.
I really don't know if what I'm saying makes any sense, but it sure does to me. Lol.
Oh, that makes tons of sense! If the emergency fund is meant to be spent in case of *true* emergency, then it's not necessary to put it in the active budget and it will help with accountability, for sure. I'll say though, for those who are in a pretty tight financial spot, having their emergency fund in their budget is actually pretty essential, because they might need that money ready at any moment. I'd say the range of "emergencies" is a little broader the less money you have, and narrower the more money you have, because each of those parties is prioritizing different things. The car breaking down is a definite emergency to the person who only have $1,000 in the bank and is just trying to get the bills paid, but not so much to the one who's been prioritizing that potential expense all year long. It all just depends on your circumstances at the time! Both make sense to me.
🌻 Hannah
@@YNABofficial Ahhh yes you're totally right! Maybe I'm coming at it from the angle where I'm already ahead by two months.
An "emergency" for me means I can't buy my next meal, or pay my next month of rent (the only two things that could potentially directly lead to death). For me, a broken car doesn't lead to death.
At any rate, really appreciate your in-depth lessons here Hannah. If it wasn't for you and Nick, I'd be LOST in the world of YNAB!
Woo hoo!!! You're absolutely welcome, Mike! I'm learning right along with you every step of the way, so so glad the content has been helpful for you!! :)
🌻 Hannah
I’m restarting my evaluation of YNAB (I tried it years ago). I have to see how it goes because I keep different accounts as my “envelopes.” Oh my, the confusion. 🥴 I think I have it worked out, but I still need my spreadsheet to track my categories because my YNAB category groups are just wonky. I didn’t even add all my other savings accounts yet. 🤦🏽♀️
I know it would be easier to just have one account but I want to minimize my risk in the event my debit card is compromised.
✔️
What's the impact of never reconciling my accounts?
Without a reconciliation you are on the hook for 100% accuracy. You won't know if you've ever made a mistake without reconciliation. And If you don't reconcile at least semi-regularly it could be very difficult to track down a mistake if not nearly impossible
This is the one area that Mint actually does better than YNAB. Are there any plans to add the ability to connect to our financial institutions for liability accounts and automatically pull the transactions? Just like a bank account does...
They do, click "import" and you can connect it to any account YNAB direct import supports
You can add them as a linked account if the bank has it set up. The only difference is choosing the Liability option when adding the account.
Fake it until you make it?
Yeah its from *Realhacker001* on iG 🔑🔑🔑
Well, what about couples? I am motivated to budget, my wife not so. Is there any video you think can help me bring her onboard? Counseling is not what I am after😋
I have a friend (to whom a bunch of friends and I offered one year of YNAB for her birthday) in the exact same situation. She wants to budget, he doesn't. You have written guides (yay!), which she had read and he hasn't. Help is appreciated xD
Check out Nick True's Mapped Out Money channel and podcast - he and Hannah talk about getting on the same page as a couple. They are big YNAB users.
@@linnakat6848 much appreciated.
My friend said he got his wife involved by putting each thing up on a wall they would both see often. On occasion he asked how happy they are about a specific item and if it's still worth that much. I think this simplified way of looking at spending could lead to interest in seeing a budget.
I handle all the money. My husbands wants us to be on track but he doesn’t care about the day to day stuff. Whenever he would spend, it would throw off my budget. Now, he has a separate bank account and debit card for his spending and the stuff he is responsible for. He manages that account and it never messes up my budget. For example, if he has $100 free spending plus he buys all supplies for our horse ($200), I write him a check for $300 and he does a mobile deposit into his (other) account and uses his debit card. I try to check in once a month on the main budget, reviewing any changes or concerns. Works so great for us!! ( Also agree with the suggestion to check out Nick True!)
Of course you should. I disagree it should be mandatory. If you dont track them you definitely wont pay it off.
I prefer to track in a different system. I use Undebt.It for tracking that stuff. Seeing it every day in YNAB was demotivating for me. But tracking it elsewhere so that I only go into it once or twice a month made it feel different. Plus, I can see in Undebt.It how many more months to pay off our debts, and play around more with how much extra payments will make a difference, etc. I use the two in conjunction with one another to help keep me motivated to both pay down my debts (Undebt.It) and keep myself on track and not adding to the debt by planning our spending (YNAB).
Well I did pay off several accounts without tracking them
I need tracking accounts for everything....my ADHD doesn't allow me to not see things on a daily basis. Object Permanence is not my specialty.
Oh my gosh, I totally get that!! Ever since I added my 401k to our budget, it's actually encouraged me multiple times to up how much we put in there. Before that, pigs would be flying if my 401k ever crossed my mind. 🤣
🌻 Hannah
This lady makes me laugh. I did set up a tracking account, but only for the account I want to make progress on this year.
I was using tracking for my mortgage and student loan but seeing this, I don’t need them. I do have a question, if I try to close the accounts, it wants to move the money. Should I just ignore them?
Hey Felicia! If you write in to support, they'll help you figure out how to handle the closing of a tracking account and how the money movement should work! Give em a ding at www.youneedabudget.com/help-center 👍🏼