I personally use YNAB.com to track my finances and maintain a budget. In my experience as a computer consultant, I’ve found that many clients use YNAB but lack the time to master it. I have invested that time myself, and I can pass that knowledge on to you quickly and efficiently.
Below is the process we will follow. While our sessions cover fundamental bookkeeping and accounting principles, our primary focus is mastering the software itself. YNAB is a powerful tool, but its value is only realized once you can use it effectively. We will complete the following hour-long sessions together with the goal of establishing a streamlined, functional system. Once you have mastered the basics, you can introduce more complexity and sophistication as outlined in the Advanced section below.
Categorize - connect your main financial accounts to YNAB. Start to categorize the transactions.
Categorize #2 - follow up to help the categoraziton process go smoothly. Categorizing many transactions at once by selecting them first.
Category Groups - Start to look at the categories and create category groups.
Reconcile - Reconciling accounts
Reconcile #2 - Working towards daily reconciling
At this point, you will we able to look backwards in time and see where all of your money is going.
Targets - Creating targets for future spending, ie. starting to actually budget.
Putting it all together - developing daily processing habit
categorize new transactions
reconcile accounts
cover overspent categories
allocate money that has not yet been assigned
Using the iPhone app.
$90 per hour for any and all YNAB help. 1 hour minimum and then 15 minute increments.
This eight-session package is available for $600, providing a significant savings over the standard $90 hourly rate ($720 total). Each session is limited to one hour. Under this agreement, you will pay $150 for each of the first 4 sessions, meaning the final 4 sessions require no additional payment. All sessions must be completed within three months of the final payment. While the outlined curriculum is carefully planned, we can customize our time to cover any specific needs you have regarding YNAB, budgeting, or bookkeeping.
To start, please contact me.
The eight steps above establish a "minimum viable" YNAB system. It may not represent your complete financial picture, but it provides sufficient data to be effective for daily management. Some additional steps that we can explore are:
Adding loans like your mortgage to YNAB.com. Besides simply giving you a more accurate picture of your overall financial situation, it allows you to use the PAYOFF SIMULATOR.
Adding investment accounts. I have actually decided not to include investment accounts in my YNAB because my current focus is on managing daily spending and not on long-term planning. But you could choose to add them, especially if you want to focus on long-term planning.
Adding scheduled transactions that help streamline daily processing and categorization, as well as give you insight into upcoming transactions.
Plan for annual and infrequent transactions. Once you have a year's worth of transactions—or after you simply think carefully about what expenses you have over a year—you can begin accounting and planning for those transactions accordingly. For example, you may pay your car insurance twice a year. In the first three months of using YNAB, you might not pay your car insurance. If you think through your upcoming transactions, you will think, "Ah! I will have to pay my car insurance." You can then start budgeting for it in YNAB.
Your spending habits and the services you choose are a reflection of your values and basic life principles. As you look at your budget, consider the following:
Finding the Right Balance: Aim for a level of detail that provides clarity without sacrificing simplicity. A system with too many categories becomes a chore; one with too few lacks insight.
Simplifying Management: Balance the ease of managing fewer accounts with the specific benefits of specialty cards, like those from Costco or rewards-based Bitcoin cards. Before I started using YNAB, I saw no downside to opening new accounts. Now that I reconcile daily, I’ve found that reducing the number of accounts I manage leads to much better control.
Face Your Finances: Engaging with your money and looking clearly and dispassionately at your spending habits allows you to make intentional choices. You no longer have to live life wearing a blindfold, simply crossing your fingers and hoping things will work out.
One of my main stumbling blocks in mastering YNAB was not fully understanding the commitment required to use it effectively. To help you decide if this is something you are willing and able to do, I’ve outlined my current process below.
This table shows the time I typically spend using YNAB. These tasks are interdependent; for instance, if you skip a week of daily transaction categorization, your weekly reconciliation will take significantly longer. Please note that these estimates apply to a system that is already established. It usually takes a couple of months of consistent effort to reach this point. For example, while YNAB is "smart" enough to accurately categorize recurring payments like your electric bill, the initial setup requires manual input.
How to learn on your own, i.e. many of the sources I used to learn myself.
The best way to learn is to do YNAB check-ins (processing) daily. This is the foundation of my understanding.
YouTube - offical channel, Mapped Out Money
AI - taking screnshots of screen and asking AI to explain it. I currently prefer Google's Gemini but ChatGPT or any AI would work well.