[calvinmorrison]

does anyone like YNAB or etc? I use a spreadsheet still and what I like about my setup is it not only projects cash over time by including known expenses and incomes over time, but adjustments so I can actively reconcile it as I move forward through time.

YNAB and other tools dont seem to help me there.

[selykg]

I use a combination of YNAB and a spreadsheet. Generally YNAB is my day-to-day and tracks my actual savings, income and spending. The spreadsheet is more for historical purposes and creating graphs or tables for monitoring long term goals (like retirement). I can always goto YNAB and see my budget, but my spreadsheet shows me the bigger picture.

I swear by YNAB, it might be costly but it saves me way more money than it costs so I consider it worth it.

[visch]

YNAB user here as well. Could you define exactly what you mean by

> not only projects cash over time by including known expenses and incomes over time, but adjustments so I can actively reconcile

To me I would say YNAB does all of that for me, I use goals in YNAB and that gives me the projection I need. The biggest piece that's missing for me (and maybe this is what you're referring to) is how can I be sure all of my goals for the month/year add up to what I'm projecting that I"m actually making. I go to a spreadsheet for this about once a year to be sure my goals aren't impossible. But to be fair it's pretty obvious when this is happening as my goals are red for each month.

Generally when I see folks complain about what you're complaining about and I walk through their finances they tend not to actually be budgeting, they really just want a way to look at where their money is going historically and have a couple buckets for saving cash. Mint was good at this (it's finished now) but I think YNAB and apps like it (Lunchmoney) are better

[calvinmorrison]

My spreadsheet is pretty accurate. If i look back my month end reconciliation is usually within 10% of what I budgeted, plus or minus.

For me, my projections are more accurate than YNAB beceause my expenses are not static. My home heating will drop off now its spring and my AC bill will start going up in July. I copy expenses from previous years over and adjust as I go.

For example last week

DATE PLANNED ACTUAL TYPECODE DESC RUNNING RECON

03/21/24 -250.00 -$208.52 X GROCERY $XXX.XX 41.48

So then later when I project the next month I go and look at budget versus actuals and so forth.

My use case is really cash flow management not savings goals, I have that as an expense that sends it into a separate bucket.

[weakfish]

I love YNAB. I think the problem may be that YNAB’s philosophy explicitly discourages projecting future income aka cash not currently on hand, and so it may just not fit your case.

[pammf]

This is pretty useful IMO, discourages me from spending now money that I'll only have in two weeks.