You Need A Budget Pro - Personal Finance Software Program

You Need A Budget Pro - Personal Finance Software Program

Category: (Software)

1 new, starting at $59.95

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Editorial Reviews

You Need A Budget (YNAB) Pro cuts to the chase with your finances. The software focuses you on the foundation of your finances: the Budget. Experience has shown that when your budget is intact, and functioning correctly, everything else takes care of itself (the bills are paid on time, retirement contributions are made, and unnecessary debt is eliminated). The software is built around Four Rules of Cash Flow. These Four Rules will help you maximize the value of every dollar, get out of debt, save for retirement, and reach your other financial goals. Where other software packages tend to be the products of years of feature creep, YNAB Pro offers you exactly what you need: a simple, straightforward system to manage your money.

Customer Reviews

Excellent Software

Reviewed by Safety First, 2010-02-06

YNAB Pro is excellent budgeting software. For anyone who says "I have a budget," I challenge them to use this software and see just how well their budget works versus this one. Several friends have taken the challenge and realized that their budget isn't as accurate/accountable as YNAB, AND they realize that they are overspending in some way. The concept of a zero-based budget allows you to see where all of your money is going, and to set limits on every category. This budget program is also excellent for planning for future expenses, such as Christmas. Create a total, divide by 12 (if you start in Jan, that is), and start putting the money away. Come Christmas time, you'll have the money for everyone, and not have to worry about using credit cards. It also subtracts your overspending from the next month's budget funds, continuing to make you accountable for your spending.
The only disadvantage of the software is that it is not SUPER easy to use, and I wouldn't recommend just trying to figure it out on your own. You really need to go online and use the tutorials and "Getting Started" options to really understand how it works. However, it is well worth the effort. YNAB has great lessons and guidelines, and if you use the program, you will improve your spending habits and be able to live off last month's income.

Just create an Excel spreadsheet.

Reviewed by kiwanissandy, 2009-12-11

This software is nothing more than a glorified excel spreadsheet. I downloaded the free trial offer from their website and used it and after several frustrating attempts at using I just deleted it off my computer and created an Excel spreadsheet that I could actually figure out. Don't waste $50.00...keep it in your checkbook.

Life Changing - I'm not kidding!

Reviewed by C. Bender, 2009-11-15

I have given up on just about every money management program out there. I could never get all the numbers from all the accounts to match up. I could never grasp where my money was or where it was going. I thought it was just me. It wasn't.

YNAB is amazing. It's simple and intuitive. I was up and running within a few days of installing it. I had some questions that were very quickly, and very kindly answered by members of the fabulous forums. Even though, as I see now, they had all been asked and answered countless times before.

Jesse (the creator of this software) and his whole team, not to mention all of the folks on the forums, really and truly want to help you get control of your money. Unlike most of the other programs out there that really just want to get your money, period.

This is truly a case of someone who's first goal was to design a very usable piece of software, and only then decided to make it available for others to benefit from.

YNAB is not for everyone. It does not have anywhere near the bells and whistles of the big name money management options out there. If you want to be able to track the compound interest earned on your millions, this is not the right program for you.

If you're struggling to get out of debt or just to get a handle on where your money goes every day, get this. I have learned to save for upcoming bills, vet care, insurance, car repairs, and all of life's other little surprises. I am no longer living paycheck to paycheck. I hate to sound sappy, but this little program is worth it's weight in gold. Buy it!

YNAB Pro its the Best!!!!!!!!!!

Reviewed by Aidelis B. Duran, 2009-11-14

This is the best Budget, Money Management that you could find!and let me tell you I have been using a lot of Budget Softwares including Mvelopes, and this one by far is the more easy and fun to use. LOVE IT!!!!

YNAB is literally the second best purchase I've ever made

Reviewed by Pen Name, 2009-11-05

I've used a lot of personal finance software over the last 20 years, from Quicken, to Microsoft Money, to online sites like [...], and none of them have been as effective at helping me reign in my spending as You Need a Budget. Anyone considering this software needs to understand the fundamental difference, that YNAB is note the same as those programs. It has one single goal, and that is to help people live with a budget. Although it does have reporting features, it is not designed with the purpose to help you track your finances, or set up an IRA, or track your spending for tax purposes like a lot of other programs have. If you have no interest in living off a budget this software is not for you.

If you do think you'd like to use a budget, there is no better place to start than YNAB. I had always considered a budget before, but didn't like the idea of being forced to only spend a certain amount on food, or not be able to go out to eat if I wanted to. If I wanted something I bought it. I worried about paying for it later. That's how I found myself in fairly large credit card debt. Ever since I've been old enough to work, I have been living paycheck to paycheck. If I lost my job I would be in serious trouble two weeks later. Finally, after reading the reviews and recommendations for YNAB I decided to try it out. YNAB software is completely different from something like Quicken's budgeting software because it takes a completely different approach to budgeting by providing 4 simple rules and setting up a buffer system with your money. The 4 rules are:

Rule One: Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck - This is the fundamental premise behind the program. Basically, you save up enough money until you have an entire month's income saved up (your buffer). Once you have done that, you roll this income into your budget, and use it for your next month's expenses. This is where the program really starts to work. The paycheck I deposit on November 1 will not be spent until December 1 at the earliest. That means that all of the money I am spending in November is money that I received the month before, in October. Knowing that I have all my expenses completely paid for the next 30 days is a fantastic feeling. While other employees at my office are rushing to the bank immediately after getting their checks, I can relax and deposit it the next week if I want to. I don't have to worry about wiring my mortgage payment to my bank so it gets posted in time, because the money is already sitting in my checking account. If I lose my job, I have at least the next 30 days worth of expenses paid for. Now to me, the idea of saving up an entire month's salary sounded impossible. I am used to spending ALL of my money when I get it. I would be lucky to have an extra $100 leftover at the end of the month. However once you start budgeting and can see how much you are spending on something, and when you are given a goal, it is very easy to save. I was able to build up my buffer and start really using the program after about 6 months (that may seem like a long time but it is worth it).

Rule Two: Give Every Dollar a Job - This rule means that you have to budget every single dollar you receive. The purpose of this is to make sure all your money is accounted for, and so that you can see where it is going. This is a great rule because it is much easier to budget when you can see how much you're spending on something. I was amazed to find out I was spending up to $500 a month on dining out for myself alone! It was easy to reign that in to $200 a month, which gives me an extra $300 to save or spend on my debt.

Rule Three: Save for a Rainy Day - Of course, a budget can't account for everything. You can't really budget a month in advance for a car wreck you don't know you're going to have. That is why the program encourages you to save money for emergencies. That way, if something comes up, I don't have to worry about it affective the rest of my budget. This rule is also there so you will have future expenses accounted for. I know I am going to have to buy Christmas presents and pay car taxes in December, so every month, I add $50 to my budget for this category. I do the same with that dental appointment I have every 6 months, and add $10 a month to it. That way I don't have to freak out when I have to spend a lot of money in one month. That money is effectively, already "spent" and my bills are evenly distributed every month. I actually had my car taxes and all Christmas presents "paid for" by August of this year.

Rule Four: Roll with the Punches - Occasionally, you will make mistakes and over or under budget. I do this pretty frequently. The software is able to alert you of this so you can make adjustments. This month I overspent on gas. It was easy to adjust for it, because I just reduced my budget on gifts for myself and added it to gas. Even if I can't find a way to make up for it in the current month, YNAB will roll that deficit over to the next month.

The version 2 software is fairly simplistic, and I wish there were a lot more options, especially with reporting. I don't want it to lose its focus on budgeting, and I don't want it to become as bloated as Quicken, but there are more features that could be added to let people use it as all-in-one software and get rid of software like Quicken completely. It would be nice if I could select a payee and see every single transaction I've made to them and how much money I've spent at McDonald's in the last 4 months (you can already do this by category, just not by payee). So some people may need to use YNAB side by side with something like Quicken until it catches up. A few of my issues will be addressed with the release of YNAB 3 (which you will get as an upgrade if you purchase version 2 now). The 4 rules and the actual program of dealing with a buffer have a bit of a learning curve to them, and took me a little while to understand how it actually works, but the support forum at their web site combined with a thorough reading of the manual a couple times led me to eventually figure it out. Don't expect to just install the software and start using it without some instructions first. You need a thorough understanding of the buffer system and the rules for this program to be effective. It's hard for many people with existing debt (myself included) to understand why you should save up a one month's salary before using that money to pay off debt. The forum is a great place for explaining that reasoning. The forum also offers an amazing amount of support that I have not seen with any other software. Users are eager to help explain the four rules or provide general financial advice in terms of budgeting. Jesse, the creator of YNAB, frequently visits the forums to answer questions, and it impresses me how much user input from the forums he takes and puts directly into the software.

For anyone with existing debt, the program comes with some bonus software, including a debt snowball (made popular by personal finance guru Dave Ramsey)program. I strongly suggest anyone with debt combine YNAB with a debt snowball method for helping to eliminate their debt. I have had the same large credit card debt for the last ten years that I could never escape from. Thanks to YNAB and the debt snowball method, I have managed to pay off about 40% of that and will have it paid off completely within the next two years (I know the exact date it will be paid off). YNAB's debt snowball program is okay (it's nothing fancy and very simple), but I prefer the free debt snowball spreadsheet I found at another site to it. They are both very similar though. I strongly suggest that everyone who isn't currently using a budget give the YNAB software a try.