Almost 1 year into YNAB and I use reoccurring Spending Goals for 49 of my 70 categories. I wish "Average Spent" was a built-in Goal Amount for a Monthly Spending Goal. It would be a great fit for reoccurring bills like water, electric and gas which have seasonal variability.
That would be really cool! When Ernie said he just uses average spent for some categories I was super intrigued. But actually building that into a goal would be pretty neat. I'm going to put a bug in the ear of our product team about it. :) ~BenB
@@YNABofficial Thanks Ben! Just submitted a feature request for this and encourage others to leverage that form as well. It’s a super quick/easy form, and Product Managers can’t roadmap what they don’t know we want :)
I didn’t realize how nice the new goals are until I was helping my mom set up her fresh start a while back, and then I immediately ran off to re-do all my goals. I love the spending goals for bills and groceries! Also really enjoying setting up repeating goals for things like annual subscriptions, property taxes, etc.
Took a look and I've got 40 categories and most of them have goals - my favorite use of the Spending goal is for Groceries - I've got it set up as a Weekly spending goal, so in a month with 5 weeks (or at least 5 Saturdays) it automatically accounts for 5 weeks of groceries instead of 4 and helps with those pesky extra weeks that sneak in-between months.
I’m newer to YNAB & am working to use it less as an expense tracker and more as a budget. Tbh, it's like turning a rusty crank! I’ll look at my goals again today to see if I can make some more headqay.
I love the goals and all my categories have a goal attached. It soothes the itch of the old way I used to Budget which was planning for the future (with imaginary money) rather than zero based with real money.
I use a savings goal for variable monthly expenditures like utilities. I set the goal to be slightly above the highest monthly bill from the past 12 months. When I spend in the category, I top up the category from my reserve holdings so that it always stays at the goal amount. I keep track of the previous 12 bills in the notes section of the category.
This is where I really wish they had an "Available" goal. I don't budget into next month (to avoid the "stealing from the future" bug), but I want the money in the category to be there before the end of this month for next month's bills (most of which are due in the first 10 days of the month). Right now, I use a savings goal, but I would LOVE to have a goal which let me set a target Available amount (aka Amount to Maintain). A target Budgeted (or now Assigned) amount isn't helpful, as I'm budgeting the amount I spent back into the category to be ready for next month, and that is a variable amount.
I’ve been using YNAB for years but just recently starting using it something other than expense tracking. I actually organize my budget by goal type which seems to match how much control I have over the category. So my spending goal groups are items that I can reduce my spending (like dining out) or are variable accounts where I don’t want my balances to get out of control. Almost everything else is a savings goal without a date that either matches the expense amount or for true savings I just watch until I hit my target balance then shut off the goal. I just wish there was a monthly savings goal with a target balance maximum.
Organize by goal type-that's an interesting way to set up the budget (and one I haven't heard of yet)! Also, I like the target balance max idea and submitted that request to our product team. Thanks, Chris! ~Ernie
Speaking of appliances... luckily I had it in my appliance fund but after having to go back and forth for over a month with the home warranty that approved to repair my HVAC but couldn't get the part and kept stringing me along saying they will get it to my contractor, I ended up having to spend almost 8K for a new system. It still hurt, but boy am I glad I had that fund all ready in YNAB and was able to just write the check. Fund that category, Ben! 😉 As far as goals, I use monthly spending for bills, monthly savings for my day to day categories so they can flex more from month to month, and the target savings for my emergency and other non-specific true expenses.
I'm using Needed For Spending for all of my monthly and other periodic bills (from bi-monthly to annual). I use savings targets if I have a specific timeframe in mind (like I need to buy airline tickets by a certain date) and justs about everything else, it's just monthly savings targets (some of which I might not fund in a given month).
All are Monthlly Savings Builder here but I set them up before the new types were added. I also like that the "Underfunded" amount is consistent each month, unless I change something.
Recently changed most categories from spending to monthly savings goals because I'm trying to see how much I actually need monthly in various budget situations (ie. retirement, lost-my-job-no-frills, etc) and with needed for spending categories the amounts were too variable to make accurate assessments.
One struggle I have with goals is that if you fund it but then use some money from that category to roll with the punches the goal says you are underfunded... no, category x, you don't get more money! But for the rest of the month it keeps telling me I need to budget more money...
It helps me to think about the goal colors like traffic light colors. Yellow doesn't necessarily mean something's wrong, in the same way that a yellow light doesn't necessarily mean stop. It means "Pay attention! Make sure you know what you're doing here." But I'll admit, there are definitely times when I wish I could just switch that color back to green. 😉 - Ben M
It's the little things that catch my eye. Great job, especially on using the by date function for repeating frequency. It was an eye opener not having to make the calculation.
Re: printers - One day, I fought with my inkjet printer for 3 hours because I wanted to print a page, and it was doing all the nasty things inkjets do when you don't print terribly frequently: streaks, missing color, etc. Finally, after wasting a ton of ink trying to get it to print correctly, I wised up and ordered a color laserjet. Best. Purchase. Ever. No more wasted ink, and it's ready to print the moment I am, regardless of how long it's been. I might print 100 pages in a day, and nothing for the next two months, but no matter what, it's always ready. An inkjet cartridge that I don't actually get to print much with is far more expensive than a toner cartridge I get to fully utilize.
I have set up various types of goals... The only thing that bothers me is that if you have a monthly savings goal, and you reallocate some of the money for a higher cause (in my case the 100 Envelope Challenge), it shows that category as underfunded. Drives me nuts. It makes it much harder to roll with the punches, too, without creating yellow categories. So if you have goals on everything it just feels like a much more restrictive budget.
I got inspired by this video to revisit a couple of my categories and change the target types to the correct type. I rolled my sleeves up and prepared for some fun budgeting work. Alas, once I looked at the categories, they all already had the correct target types. Nothing to do. What a disappointment! :D
Christmas, needed for spending. You set how much you want to spend by 12/25. That way you save all year, and when ever you find the perfect gift you can spend it. If you use a simple save by date for Christmas you can’t spend anything before December.
Dishwashers 🤦🏻♀️ (so expensive; you’d think they were made of gold!!). We have a horror story (for Ben). Our rental dishwasher sh#t itself so we purchased a new one (after 3 prior maintenance call outs). Then, the following month our own dishwasher ‘lost its load’ - water all over the floor - and, it was too old to bother going down the repair route. We had the money saved, but the home appliance and rental appliance TSB categories took a pounding! And, as for printing ink … they must make that goo out of diamond juice! More expensive than the damn dishwashers (it seems)!!
Almost 1 year into YNAB and I use reoccurring Spending Goals for 49 of my 70 categories. I wish "Average Spent" was a built-in Goal Amount for a Monthly Spending Goal. It would be a great fit for reoccurring bills like water, electric and gas which have seasonal variability.
That would be really cool! When Ernie said he just uses average spent for some categories I was super intrigued. But actually building that into a goal would be pretty neat. I'm going to put a bug in the ear of our product team about it. :) ~BenB
@@YNABofficial PLEASE
@@YNABofficial Thanks Ben! Just submitted a feature request for this and encourage others to leverage that form as well. It’s a super quick/easy form, and Product Managers can’t roadmap what they don’t know we want :)
Pure genius
@@YNABofficial oo I love this idea!
I didn’t realize how nice the new goals are until I was helping my mom set up her fresh start a while back, and then I immediately ran off to re-do all my goals. I love the spending goals for bills and groceries! Also really enjoying setting up repeating goals for things like annual subscriptions, property taxes, etc.
They really are nice! I should probably use them more myself. 😅 ~BenB
Took a look and I've got 40 categories and most of them have goals - my favorite use of the Spending goal is for Groceries - I've got it set up as a Weekly spending goal, so in a month with 5 weeks (or at least 5 Saturdays) it automatically accounts for 5 weeks of groceries instead of 4 and helps with those pesky extra weeks that sneak in-between months.
I just discovered this feature this week! It's great! No more surprises!
I’m newer to YNAB & am working to use it less as an expense tracker and more as a budget. Tbh, it's like turning a rusty crank! I’ll look at my goals again today to see if I can make some more headqay.
*headway
I love the goals and all my categories have a goal attached. It soothes the itch of the old way I used to Budget which was planning for the future (with imaginary money) rather than zero based with real money.
I use a savings goal for variable monthly expenditures like utilities. I set the goal to be slightly above the highest monthly bill from the past 12 months. When I spend in the category, I top up the category from my reserve holdings so that it always stays at the goal amount. I keep track of the previous 12 bills in the notes section of the category.
That's smart! Utilities are one of those expenses that vary widely with weather, I'm always amazed by how much they can swing from month to month!
This is where I really wish they had an "Available" goal. I don't budget into next month (to avoid the "stealing from the future" bug), but I want the money in the category to be there before the end of this month for next month's bills (most of which are due in the first 10 days of the month). Right now, I use a savings goal, but I would LOVE to have a goal which let me set a target Available amount (aka Amount to Maintain). A target Budgeted (or now Assigned) amount isn't helpful, as I'm budgeting the amount I spent back into the category to be ready for next month, and that is a variable amount.
I have gone back and forth with goals, it's great to see how they are used in real situations, very helpful! Now I'm setting up my goals!!
I’ve been using YNAB for years but just recently starting using it something other than expense tracking. I actually organize my budget by goal type which seems to match how much control I have over the category. So my spending goal groups are items that I can reduce my spending (like dining out) or are variable accounts where I don’t want my balances to get out of control. Almost everything else is a savings goal without a date that either matches the expense amount or for true savings I just watch until I hit my target balance then shut off the goal. I just wish there was a monthly savings goal with a target balance maximum.
Organize by goal type-that's an interesting way to set up the budget (and one I haven't heard of yet)! Also, I like the target balance max idea and submitted that request to our product team. Thanks, Chris! ~Ernie
@@YNABofficial That is a great idea! I would love this for my emergency fund category - I want both the max balance and a set monthly amount in one.
Speaking of appliances... luckily I had it in my appliance fund but after having to go back and forth for over a month with the home warranty that approved to repair my HVAC but couldn't get the part and kept stringing me along saying they will get it to my contractor, I ended up having to spend almost 8K for a new system. It still hurt, but boy am I glad I had that fund all ready in YNAB and was able to just write the check. Fund that category, Ben! 😉
As far as goals, I use monthly spending for bills, monthly savings for my day to day categories so they can flex more from month to month, and the target savings for my emergency and other non-specific true expenses.
I'm using Needed For Spending for all of my monthly and other periodic bills (from bi-monthly to annual). I use savings targets if I have a specific timeframe in mind (like I need to buy airline tickets by a certain date) and justs about everything else, it's just monthly savings targets (some of which I might not fund in a given month).
Learned something new about the credit card goal as an alert! Thanks, guys!
All are Monthlly Savings Builder here but I set them up before the new types were added. I also like that the "Underfunded" amount is consistent each month, unless I change something.
I'm a new ynab-er (since May) and I use the needed for spending goal most often.. It makes more sense to me.
Recently changed most categories from spending to monthly savings goals because I'm trying to see how much I actually need monthly in various budget situations (ie. retirement, lost-my-job-no-frills, etc) and with needed for spending categories the amounts were too variable to make accurate assessments.
One struggle I have with goals is that if you fund it but then use some money from that category to roll with the punches the goal says you are underfunded... no, category x, you don't get more money! But for the rest of the month it keeps telling me I need to budget more money...
It helps me to think about the goal colors like traffic light colors. Yellow doesn't necessarily mean something's wrong, in the same way that a yellow light doesn't necessarily mean stop. It means "Pay attention! Make sure you know what you're doing here."
But I'll admit, there are definitely times when I wish I could just switch that color back to green. 😉
- Ben M
It's the little things that catch my eye. Great job, especially on using the by date function for repeating frequency. It was an eye opener not having to make the calculation.
“ Budget Nerds for Retirees “
Re: printers - One day, I fought with my inkjet printer for 3 hours because I wanted to print a page, and it was doing all the nasty things inkjets do when you don't print terribly frequently: streaks, missing color, etc. Finally, after wasting a ton of ink trying to get it to print correctly, I wised up and ordered a color laserjet. Best. Purchase. Ever. No more wasted ink, and it's ready to print the moment I am, regardless of how long it's been. I might print 100 pages in a day, and nothing for the next two months, but no matter what, it's always ready. An inkjet cartridge that I don't actually get to print much with is far more expensive than a toner cartridge I get to fully utilize.
I have set up various types of goals... The only thing that bothers me is that if you have a monthly savings goal, and you reallocate some of the money for a higher cause (in my case the 100 Envelope Challenge), it shows that category as underfunded. Drives me nuts. It makes it much harder to roll with the punches, too, without creating yellow categories. So if you have goals on everything it just feels like a much more restrictive budget.
I got inspired by this video to revisit a couple of my categories and change the target types to the correct type. I rolled my sleeves up and prepared for some fun budgeting work. Alas, once I looked at the categories, they all already had the correct target types. Nothing to do. What a disappointment! :D
😂😅
I love that credit card alert tip! I will definitely be trying it out. The new update didn't have any changes that will affect that, did it?
As a budget nerds devotee, I appreciate the printer update 😁
If I can't laugh about it regularly, I'll just ending up crying! ~Ernie
Christmas, needed for spending. You set how much you want to spend by 12/25. That way you save all year, and when ever you find the perfect gift you can spend it.
If you use a simple save by date for Christmas you can’t spend anything before December.
Good explanation for the 3 goal types.
Ernie! HP Instant Ink!!! Life saver.
I still miss to see three month in a glance 😔
55 categories would give me anxiety 😂
I struggle with my 5 categories already 55 is 🤯
To me, the few categories, 😊the better for me
Yes Ben! Printer ink is crazy expensive…
It's a RACKET I'm telling you! Though I'm not sure I know what that word means. 😂 ~BenB
Dishwashers 🤦🏻♀️ (so expensive; you’d think they were made of gold!!).
We have a horror story (for Ben). Our rental dishwasher sh#t itself so we purchased a new one (after 3 prior maintenance call outs). Then, the following month our own dishwasher ‘lost its load’ - water all over the floor - and, it was too old to bother going down the repair route. We had the money saved, but the home appliance and rental appliance TSB categories took a pounding!
And, as for printing ink … they must make that goo out of diamond juice! More expensive than the damn dishwashers (it seems)!!
Oh good grief! That dishwasher failure sounds like a nightmare! I do not want anything or anyone in my house to "lose its load." ~BenB
@@YNABofficial 😆 That’s for sure!
Ben’s shirt!
LOL! Love you guys.
This home edder says that printer is an eco tank lol
I have to pay off too much debt before I even feel like making another kind of goal.
You go this, Rick! Hey, have you heard about our Debt Bootcamp? Might give you some extra motivation. :) ~BenB
www.youneedabudget.com/debt-bootcamp/
Still can't make heads or tails out of my budget and this app. Anyone fluent in these and is willing to help a girl out?
Goals? I think you mean targets…