You Need A Budget: Introducing YNAB
Note: This page contains my referral link to YNAB, as denoted by a *. If you choose to subscribe to YNAB after using my link to create an account, I will be compensated at no additional cost to you. However, my recommendation for this product is based on my honest opinion. I have used and loved YNAB personally and for business for years!
WHAT IS YNAB?
YNAB stands for “You Need a Budget” and it’s an incredible budgeting app that helps you manage your money differently.
There are a lot of budgeting programs out there. But there are far fewer that are built upon the foundation of creating a spending plan for the money that you ALREADY have, not an estimate of what you MIGHT have.
This small but impactful perspective shift on money management is one of the key factors that makes YNAB great.
“On average, new budgeters save $600 in their first two months and more than $6,000 their first year.”
WHO IS YNAB FOR?
YNAB is an ideal budgeting program for any individual or business owner! If you want to be more intentional about managing your money (especially if you’re interested in implementing the Profit First system without opening separate bank accounts), YNAB is worth a try!
With one subscription, you can have any number of budgets within your account. As opposed to many other budgeting programs that only give you one budget per account, this is a huge reason why I recommend YNAB to entrepreneurs: You can have your business and personal budgets housed under one virtual roof!
A few key factors business owners should note:
YNAB has a 34-day free trial, but after that, you’ll pay either $14.99/mo or $99/yr (USD) - But I am confident that using YNAB creates an almost immediate return on your investment! Note: College students get a year of YNAB for free.
While YNAB is extremely easy to use when manually entering your transactions or importing via a CSV file, its banking import feature can save you some time. Currently, YNAB is only able to connect to accounts in the US, Canada, and the UK, but they are expanding further!
YNAB is not necessarily bookkeeping software (like Quickbooks, Wave, Xero, etc). Unless your finances are simple or you feel confident you know how to give your tax preparer accurate year-end figures, YNAB is not likely an ideal substitute for your bookkeeping. Budgeting is a separate, proactive, day-to-day activity! (If you are interested in how you can adapt YNAB for your bookkeeping as well, I’ll have a Bookkeeping for YNAB Masterclass coming soon.
Click here to read more about why I recommend YNAB for business owners!
Need help learning how to use YNAB? For help learning about YNAB’s philosophies and the tool itself, explore their Youtube channel! It’s actually a great resource.