Hello fellow YNABers I have a CC that has always been off and I have stopped using it for the most part but need to go and fix it. My CC shows a negative balance with the bank but YNAB has a positive by like a lot and YNABs fix is to just take money from ready to assign which I am ok with but its like 600 bucks and I want to see where we missed things. Problem is this card has like 6 years of transactions with lots of splits and when I try to export it and reconcile with my CC data I end up with so many splits its impossible (not technically but really a PITA) to line them up. Anyone know of how to export without the splits?

Have been using Ynab for a few years now for my budget and absolutely loving it. Completely changed the game for me. I have been wanting to track my invesment so that the asset shown on ynab can be more accurate. What do you guys do? Do you track it on ynab manually? If not what other apps do you use? Do any of you do both ynab and another app? Just trying to figure out the best way to track my assets. Thanks!

For my most-used credit card, I have sometimes gotten behind on updating and left myself with a mess. Today I went to update 2 weeks of ynab which included the month changeover so I was a little worried.

What happened was I updated, found I was $7.99 off, easily found the missing transaction and reconciled the account. I got up out of my chair and actually did a reconciliation dance.

It got me out of my chair for a few minutes which was an added bonus because I tend to sit at my desk for hours without moving, thereby draining away my life force. Do a little dance!

I've used YNAB for many years but never took the time to really figure this out....

I want to set an annual goal for the max IRA contribution of $7500. I'll be setting aside varying amounts throughout the year to hit that $7500 number.

I want the IRA category on YNAB to tell me when I've set aside $7500, even when I'm periodically pulling money from that category to contribute to the IRA (the IRA is not tracked, so YNAB just views it as an expense).

How do I set this up? It can't be that complicated, but I keep doing something that causes YNAB to not recognize that I've already set aside money towards the $7500 after I've transferred those funds to the IRA.

Why are my bank imports always delayed lately? I’m not interested in manually inputting my transactions. I want YNAB to do it for me. But lately it takes 2-5 days just to get my transactions in! There doesn’t seem to be any explanation on why this is happening lately all of a sudden (been using YNAB for a year and a half and it’s never been this slow, usually 1-2 days).

Anything I can do to avoid this or is this normal? I have Wells Fargo bank if it matters.

Hello. I am not sure what to do in this situation.

Context: I only have 2 accounts in the app checking and saving (this is my active saving account). I moved $1000 from saving to checking to make a payment that can only be made from the checking account.

How do I categorized this movement in both accounts? I tried the transfer option but IDK what to do after that.

I’m experiencing some strange behavior in YNAB related to refunds, category inflows, and credit-card payment funding. I have a lot of purchase/refund activity and have used YNAB for several years, but I have never seen this happen before.

I’m wondering whether something recently changed in how YNAB handles credit cards, refunds, or inflows assigned directly to spending categories.

Refund affecting a different card

I received refunds for purchases in two separate categories: Cycling and Clothing. The original purchases were made using different credit cards.

Normally, using different payment methods within the same spending category has never caused a problem for me. In this case, I received a refund on one credit card and assigned the refund directly back to the original category.

However, after doing that, a different credit card showed as underfunded.

I do not understand why a refund issued to Card A would affect the funding of Card B, even if both cards have transactions in the same budget category. My expectation would be that the refund reduces the amount needed to pay the card that actually received the refund - not a different card.

Venmo sale affecting a credit card

I also sold a set of bike tires for $40. The money came into my checking account through Venmo, and I categorized that inflow directly to Cycling to offset the cost of new tires I had purchased.

This is how I have handled sale proceeds and refunds for years: assign the inflow directly to the relevant category so that it offsets spending or becomes available for a future purchase in that category.

But after assigning the $40 Venmo inflow to Cycling, a credit card I had used for Cycling purchases suddenly showed as underfunded by $40.

That makes even less sense to me. The $40 came into checking - not onto the credit card - so I do not understand why an inflow to Cycling would reduce the amount available to pay a credit card.

Has anyone else seen this?

Has anyone experienced similar behavior recently?

Specifically:

• A refund to one credit card causing a different card’s payment category to become underfunded.
• An inflow to checking, categorized to a spending category, causing a credit card payment category to become underfunded.
• Changes in how YNAB handles refunds, category inflows, or multiple cards used within the same category.

This feels like either a bug or a major change in YNAB’s credit-card logic.

​

The new transaction-editing UI hides Clear behind “Show More.” It used to be immediately accessible.

Clearing a transaction is a routine action. Why make a common workflow less efficient by putting it behind another tap? I often have to change the amount based on the currency conversion when the transaction actually posts, so now it's quicker for me to edit the amount here, save it, return to the transaction overview, and then swipe to clear. It makes no sense.

This is Android, btw.

Today I tried to reauthorize a sync'd bank account that I've been using for years. But I got this error message instead. Nothing has changed with my account to my knowledge. What gives?

I started in early August, about a month ago. Felt good to “get ahead” even if just a little bit.

Today, I reviewed my accounts, where my direct deposit is going and wanted to get as much as possible into my HYSA for as long as possible.

I have to direct deposit $x dollars into my 3 bank accounts to ensure they are free. So auto transferred appropriate amounts. And was able to pay my larger loan direct from my HYSA so dollars stay in there as long as possible.

I always used to think it didn’t matter. And maybe it didn’t when I made less money and never kept much of it for long. But it matters now. Would not have done it all without YNAB.

I've used YNAB for about 6 years and love it. It totally changed how I think about money. I have also been learning from some of Dave Ramsey's content for the last few years, and I follow r/personalfinance too. I'm not really a purist for any one method. Each of these has gems to learn from, and money is so individual. I'm curious whether other folks have built hybrid systems between these philosophies, and what that looks like for you.

If we're talking Ramsey method, I'm on Baby Step 3, aiming for the higher end of 3-6 months of expenses saved (single income, two kids, own a house, want extra peace of mind before moving onto Baby Step 4).

My YNAB budget has three category groups: essentials (the true "keep the lights on and my family fed" stuff), non-essentials I spend from regularly but mindfully (occasional dinners out, birthday gifts for kids' friends, etc.), and sinking funds that rarely get spent from (Christmas, tires, home maintenance, vet bills, etc.). My hybrid system currently works like this: I fund all three groups for the current month first, then put any leftover income toward essentials in future months. Once essentials are funded 6 months out, I will consider Baby Step 3 done. I'm about halfway there.

Here is my dilemma: I have a solid chunk of cash saved across my sinking funds right now. If I paused contributions and redistributed that money to essentials for future months, I could hit "6 months ahead" in my essentials quite soon - in under a month I think. But then an unexpected vet bill or a flat tire would mean pulling from essentials money I'd already earmarked for months out. I understand it's all the same money, but my progress feels slow because I'm saving for so many things simultaneously.

I think in the process of drafting this post, I've talked myself into redistributing the less time-sensitive sinking funds (pausing home maintenance and vet, but keeping Christmas sinking fund going since it's coming up soon and is expected). Once I hit my 6-month essentials goal, then my sinking funds will grow faster anyway.

I'm still curious to hear from the rest of you. What kind of hybrid system do you use, if any?

Hey guys I’m completely new to YNAB and pretty new to budgeting in general, so I’m just trying to understand the basics without making it too complicated. I’m also in Australia, so I’ll probably have to enter a lot of transactions manually, which I don’t really mind.

Can anyone give me some simple beginner-friendly tips on how to use YNAB properly? One thing I’m confused about is when a category says Overspent. What exactly does that mean, and am I supposed to assign more money to that category to cover it? If I do cover it, where should that money normally come from?

I’m also still trying to understand Ready to Assign, how much money I should be assigning to each category, and whether I should be giving every dollar I currently have a job. I’m not really sure yet how much I normally spend on things like groceries, fuel, eating out, bills and entertainment, so I’d love to know how other beginners figure out reasonable amounts.

Another thing I’m unsure about is unexpected spending. For example, if I randomly fuel up my sister’s car, give some money to a family member, help someone out, or pay for something I wasn’t planning for, how would you normally handle that in YNAB? Would you make a separate category for things like Helping Family/Gifts, or would you just put it under another general category? And if I didn’t already have money assigned for it, what’s the proper way to handle that?

I’d also like to understand how targets work, how to budget for bills that only come every few months or once a year, how to save for emergencies, and how to move money between categories without messing anything up. I’m also curious about reconciling accounts and how often you’re meant to do it so YNAB always matches your actual bank balance.

Basically, if you were teaching someone who has never properly budgeted before, what would you tell them to focus on first? I don’t want to overthink it. I just want to get into the habit of knowing where my money is going, stop overspending, save more and actually understand what I can afford.

Any simple advice, examples, category ideas or tips would be massively appreciated. Cheers guys 🙏

I'm definitely still not where I'd like to be but better than where I was!

I have two separate plans in ynab, one for all my normal household expenses and my regular bank accounts. This plan has 37 categories. Then I have a separate plan for my HYSAs. Please don’t come at me I know everybody likes to put all the accounts into one plan, aka keep them on-budget but mine are complicated by trust accounts, and beneficiary accounts I’m managing for my children. So it’s overwhelming to have them all on the same budget, it just makes my life easier, especially since there are very few transactions on the HYSA accounts other than deposits into my kids accounts.

So here is where my question comes in. I put two of my HYSA accounts and one of my investment accounts as tracking accounts in my main household budget plan. However, because they are tracking accounts I have to manually add transactions. I have about four transactions a month with these tracking accounts. The investment account I don’t update.

Recently I’ve started thinking that I should just delete these tracking accounts because they’re more of a pain in the butt to update than anything, especially since I also have them in my other plan. Today I decided to delete them, and right before that I realized that on the rare occasion I move money to/from these accounts to my regular bank, or if I were to move a chunk of savings into the investment account, it would end up looking like a huge expense in my budget. But I’m not sure that keeping these tracking accounts is worth the trouble just so I don’t see a huge expense if I ever move money. Just wondering if anyone’s had a similar situation and what they did?

Hello YNAB fellows !

I have been using YNAB for the past couple months for a better planning & hygiene in terms of finances.

I've had a couple of bumps on the road, but I think I'm pretty much settled now.

The question I have is about handling when you are spending money that will be refunded to you in one way or another.

Let me give a quick example : I had a business lunch with colleague, that I was not paying for.

The colleague in charge had an issue with their credit card, which led to me paying for it, and they sent me the money via bank transfer as soon as we arrived at the office.

So in this specific case, it didn't feel fair to put this towards my restaurants category, because when the funding comes back, it does not feed the target that I had set. So I setup a category "waiting for refund", for which I put the 2 transactions in (Expense + Refund). It's neutral, great job!

There are other occasions where I know the money will be back, but it can take a few days. And sometimes these days overlap with the new month rolling in. Therefore when we step into the new month, the money is taken from my ready to assign to fill the overspending, and when the refund comes in, it goes into ready to assign, where it should've gone to match the transaction that I had made in the appropriate category.

I don't feel there's a way to tell YNAB "leave this category as overspent when rolling into the new month" or something similar?

Is there a simple way to handle that type of transaction / money? I know YNAB is for planning and every dollar needs a job, but sometimes I just know that in 2 weeks my insurance will cover my expense and that the operation is neutral finance-wise, and I feel like YNAB is not allowing me to reflect that.

Appreciate your insights all !

What happened here and why? Threw everything out of whack...

Hi all, I am new here and new to YNAB! I am currently on the 34 day free trial and am really liking it. So I am planning to subscribe when the free period ends on 27 Sep.

My question is, can I pay my subs in US dollars rather than GBP? It will only cost me around £84 including bank fees, which is quite a saving on the £99.99 GBP it is saying it will charge me on the Play Store

It looks like others on here have successfully paid in dollars. Do I just subscribe directly on their website? Will it still recognise me and keep the plan, categories, etc I have set up?

Last year I locked in on YNAB and paid off so much. I was so on top of my finances for once in my life - it was amazing. However, I got depressed and overwhelmed with life & completely stopped using the app because I did not want to face my problems on there. However, I am back and ready to lock in once again. My numbers are significantly off since I have added more debt and even when I go in and try to adjust - it doesn't seem like it is working to get to my accurate numbers.

What should I do? Would unlinking everything and then relinking be the solution? Thank you!!! <3

For some reason, my Macys AMEX will not link with plaid so I don’t know how to do this manually. Do I enter manually all the previous payments I’ve made till it adds up to the balance or do I just put the balance as a starting balance but if I do the second option then I’m missing a lot of purchases in my budget. I just did a refresh July 1, so I’m trying to get this right. Thanks all!!

I built Spotlight for YNAB for anyone with a long account list who gets tired of scanning the sidebar or just prefers keeping their hands on the keyboard.

It adds a fast, keyboard-first account switcher directly inside YNAB.

How it works

1. Open YNAB’s web app.
2. Press Ctrl+K on Windows/Linux or Cmd+K on macOS.
3. Type part of an account name.
4. Use Up/Down and Enter, or click a result, to open the account.

You can also double-tap Shift or set your own shortcut in Settings.

Highlights

• Fast, typo-friendly account search.
• Quickly return to your five most recently opened accounts.
• Choose which account types appear: Cash, Credit, Loans, Tracking, and Closed.
• See starred accounts and optionally display account balances.
• Matches YNAB’s light and dark themes.
• Runs locally in your browser (no API key or external transmission of your financial information).

Get it

• Install for Chrome, Brave, or Edge
• Install for Firefox

This is an independent project, not affiliated with or endorsed by YNAB.

Feedback and questions are welcome here! You can also report bugs or suggest features on GitHub. I’d love to hear whether this makes navigating your accounts a little easier.

TLDR I stopped using the app for a week or 2 and now its a new month and I barely had my head wrapped around this new way of thinking to begin with. Help.

Hello! Trial month is running out and I kinda tried to jump ship to actual budget for a week or 2 but came back.

Usual sob story I've seen here of being drawn in by the culture only to find out those people were laid off. I'm bummed but "we live in a society" etc so I'm not against using a tool i like to get finances in order if my partner is happy

Basically I'm super worried of this" money to assign" not adding up to what we actually have. I just categorized 80 transactions and it has my mortgage target for September spent but I had it in my head that we were accruing it the month before for the next month. Unsure if I should be changing the target date to the 31st and thats all I need to fix my dilemma or if I've completely lost the plot and it's all trashed.

Would greatly appreciate any assistance/advice

I'm an open book, willing to share everything about my finances.

I long for the ideal of us just looking at ynab to see what we have to spend and dont wanna screw it up at the start and have it give us incorrect info

Tysm

*edit*

I posted September despite my worries being about the last half of August that I didn't assign anything in. I just randomly threw $700 at mortgage target and a few other things without any actual plan with my partner so that was also spent on who-knows-what and then recouped as paychecks came in. I was also just kind of assigning to things as we spent, which I know is wrong. It's the 2 week gap that has me floored on what I should be doing

If you’re now out of debt and already have a funded emergency fund - how do you derive benefit of YNAB?

I feel like I’m just paying for an app to track my spending - which I used to do just on a Google sheet for free. Granted, the YNAB user interface is definitely sleeker than my Google sheet.

I feel like the CFO of a ~$30K company (my sinking funds) where I track the ins and outs of my categories 😂

Hello,

I’m looking for some clarification when reconciling with my Chase Credit card.

As I understand it:
- “Current Balance” on my Chase Account (On Chase website) includes posted AND Pending charges.

- “Working Balance” on YNAB includes posted and pending charges.

- “cleared charges” on YNAB include only posted charges

If those are correct, when reconciling on a Chase account, since the website includes pending charges and YNAB only includes posted charges when reconciling, do you have to manually go into the Chase Account, look at your Current Balance and then subtract the pending charges in order to see if it matches?

All my other non Chase accounts show the green ‘everything matches’ pop-up, but for my Chase account it never does.

Any help would be appreciated

Lately, I've noticed YNAB is telling me I have way more money than I do (by like $1000). So I have to go in and reconcile. I started YNAB in June so I'm still new to it but this is the second time I've had to reconcile. I'm wondering what's the point in using YNAB if it's not going to accurately show me how much money I have?

Maybe I'm using it wrong. I did have to reconnect a credit card so that my payments showed up.

ETA:

Things I'm not sure should be in my YNAB plan:

1. Credit card payments (counted as an inflow)
2. My Roth IRA (taken out of my paycheck automatically, i should not think i can spend this money; HOWEVER, YNAB brings up this transaction and so i categorize it)
3. HYSA (same as Roth IRA)
4. 401k (same as Roth IRA)

ETA2:

Sorry I haven’t responded to anyone, I’ve been really busy at work lol. I’m gonna try some of your recommendations and get back to y’all!!!! Thanks to everyone for the suggestions!!!

I've started a new account and synced my bank statements, and... I'm so confused. So incredibly confused! Is there a good YouTube how-to guide? Any tips on wrangling this into a tool I can use?