I just started the YNAB free trial and I don’t think it’s for me. I used Albert in the past, and liked how it automatically categorized everything for me. It doesn’t look like that’s YNAB’s strength, so I’d rather go with something else.
I want to set a budget but also be able to automatically categorize my transactions so that I can just glance at it to know how much I have left for the month/week/year in that category. Albert let me save within the app, but I don’t necessarily want to take the money from my current savings account; rather just be able to allocate it virtually while keeping it all in one place. We make most transactions over a few credit cards and then pay off each month (except, of course, this month—the first month I’ve ever paid interest, the driving force for wanting to budget differently).
I have an Android, so it needs to work on Android tablets and phones (no laptops).
Blai said:
Oh, the irony that the YNAB cult complains this sounds like an ad, but everywhere on Reddit all you get is what sounds like YNAB ads from users. Lmao.
I was just thinking the same thing right before I saw your comment.
Is this a low-key advertisement for Albert? Yeesh.
YNAB automatic categorization gets infinitely better once you manually classify the first one. And, frankly, that makes perfect sense because how would YNAB know ‘a priori’ how you want a specific transaction located in your (presumably) custom categories.
I tried YNAB twice and hated it both times. Earlier this year, I decided to try Monarch, and so far, I’m happy with it. Anytime you assign a category for a transaction, it will ask if you want to create a rule, and I always do. The next time a transaction comes through, I don’t need to update anything. I find this helpful because I get a lot of subscription transactions and credits back or Costco transactions. (I have three buckets: regular groceries/shopping, food court, and gas, and when I make a rule, it knows that anything under $10 is food court. lol)
List of apps to choose from; they all have different price plans and functions. I chose Wealth Position for flexibility. Short- and long-term finance planning, future forecasting up to retirement and beyond. A little complex to set up, but if you understand the concept behind the software, you can do so much more to plan your finances and see a really good picture.
The YNAB auto-assign works pretty well; you just have to train it up. How long have you been using YNAB? And YNAB is perfect for the savings…you assign to your savings categories, but you don’t need to move money around accounts to match; in fact, it’s discouraged.
I personally don’t think trackers work. There’s nothing there that moves money. You’ll see what you spend, but what’s stopping you from continuing? Nothing.
Say you wanted to budget $600 for groceries per month, but you come to find out you have a week left, and you already hit that. Do you not buy groceries? Or still go? Same for gas?
I find giving yourself $300 weekly to shop does it better. You know you only have $300; now you have to spend it wisely because there is no more money to pull from. I think you need to move the money out of your spending account to not spend it.
If you don’t like Monarch, another similar one is EveryDollar. I went with Monarch because my bank wasn’t supported with EveryDollar, but I actually liked EveryDollar better.
@Hart
Is it safe to use Monarch? I have anxiety over linking all bank accounts and credit cards with a third party. What if the data gets breached or leaked?
This one hardly ever gets mentioned, but I use Credit Karma to track expenses. If you are looking to just track all the info in one place and be able to edit the categories, it hits the mark. It also lets you see all your account balances in real time.
I used to use Mint before CK bought it, so my info automatically transferred over. I decided to stick with it, and it worked out for me.
You’re the one who creates the categories. It will learn which payee goes once you tell it where, but since your category could be ‘YOO DIS SUM GUD SHIT’ and ‘LETS GOOO,’ how would it know where to put them?