Hey everyone! I’m a financially illiterate woman in my mid 30s. I make a decent income, but I just can’t seem to save long-term. I’ve got a lot of debt, but I’m on top of my payments and have good credit. Does anyone know of a budgeting tool that’s good for someone who’s just starting and feels totally lost when it comes to managing money?
Every Dollar or YNAB (You Need A Budget) are both popular. I use ED but want to try YNAB.
Zeek said:
Every Dollar or YNAB (You Need A Budget) are both popular. I use ED but want to try YNAB.
Here’s a link to my google sheet and you can save a copy for personal use. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lX9eJwNj7k8McluyGriXCfqtwK1QeK2RiHYSL4xzjBE/copy Or if you want a paid subscription Monarch is my personal favorite. Redeem your extended 30-day trial for Monarch | Monarch Money Monarch does all budgeting that the google sheet can do as well as transaction tracking and setting rules to auto categorize is super easy. It also has cell phone widgets for easy tracking. If you’d like some assistance feel free to list out you’re debts/loans/CC along with interest rates and minimum payments and I’d be happy to help you structure it. Just DM me a link to your personal copy of the google doc.
@Van
Thank you so much!! I feel like an app would be most helpful. I will check out the spreadsheet as well.
Excel. List out your net take-home pay after taxes, but before retirement deductions. Create four categories of expenses: fixed costs, investing, saving, and discretionary/fun. Fixed costs are everything required to keep your life running: housing, transportation, utilities, insurance, debt minimum payments, basic groceries, etc. These are ideally around 50% of your budget, but with a lot of debt in your ledger, they’re likely to be higher. Investing is all investments - tax advantaged retirement accounts and taxable brokerage contributions. Usually recommended to be 15-25% depending on if you’re playing catch-up or not, but only after you’re out of high-interest debt and have an emergency fund. Savings is money that’s going to debt principal, to building an emergency fund, and later stretch goals like vacation fund, new car fund, etc. Discretionary is all of your miscellaneous shopping, eating out, pop-up expenses, etc. You list all of this out before the month even starts so you have a plan for your money. That plan should reflect the current goals and values you have for your life, which in your case is building up an emergency fund and clearing debt.
@LENAHZ
Thank you this is super helpful advice!!
I do budgeting and financial coaching on the side, and have helped a few redditors recently. Would be happy to help, at least as a starting point. Some people can learn this by reading or consuming content, but others need some 1-on-1 guidance to get going. Depending on which camp you are in, if interested, please feel free to DM. I don’t charge anything.
You can check out these resources to learn more about personal finance and budgeting apps: Best Budgeting Apps for Young Adults to Achieve Financial Freedom - The Learning Page Best resources to learn about Personal Finance
I think you should start with some learning before picking an app. this doc is a good short overview of common budgeting methods Understanding Budgets: Key Types and Uses | CFI Once you find a method you prefer, here is a good list for all the well known apps: Airtable