Frankly, we were almost certain we would love the book before we even opened it. The You Need A Budget system is the sharpest, best way we’ve found to deal with our money. And we have heard something similar from many others. Additionally, Jesse has consistently had a method of making budgeting, a possibly dull theme, fun and engaging.
So here’s our interpretation of the YNAB book, with a little FAQ tossed in.
YNAB: The Short Version
What I like most about You Need a Budget (the book) is that it centers around how, yet on why. Money is a tool, an asset we can use to get to the life we desire. Obviously, money itself isn’t sufficient, yet in case that we have a few, we ought to use it in a way that lines up with our qualities and assists us with understanding our needs. But, we regularly don’t. At the point when the manner in which we’re using our money doesn’t uphold our most noteworthy needs, we feel financial pressure and stress.
A spending plan is the manner in which you can have an outlook of your money as to what is most important to you, and ensure it’s working in the direction of achieving those needs. You can also take our no spend challenge to keep and manage a track on your money spendings. Using one’s priorities as the main impetus behind the entirety of all your money decisions, you will then easily figure out how to use the money mindset you really need to get to the lifestyle you desire.
Not at all like other traditional budgeting systems that suggest some specific rates for different spending classes, Jesse is stubborn about not guiding you with your money. While a one-size-fits-all planning format will not work for the vast majority of people, YNAB’s Four Rules encourage you to plan and use your spending that will work for you regardless of your financial circumstances!
YNAB Software Vs YNAB Book!!
We know many people have been using YNAB for quite a long time, numerous at our own suggestion. In case you as of now use the YNAB strategy or the YNAB software, you may wonder whether the YNAB book adds anything valuable.
In case you know and use YNAB, about a large portion of the book will not be great new material. This is the part devoted to showing the four principles of YNAB. While the principles have changed a bit (essentially in name) since we turned into a YNABer, in case that you’ve invested any energy with the YNAB video training, this half will be an agreeable (and ideally intriguing and engaging) survey.
All things being equal, I think the book is exceptionally worth while. In spite of the fact that I enthusiastically took an interest in the entirety of the live online classes and view myself as saturated with the YNAB procedure, perusing the book gave me useful groundbreaking thoughts and helped me have some developments in my financial philosophy.
The text is sprinkled with individual stories and encounters of individuals who have learned and accepted the YNAB reasoning. We love these, particularly when their circumstances are altogether different from ours.
The book goes further into the needs that drive your budget planning in any case. This includes an entire section about budgeting as a team that truly digs into “yours, mine, and ours” needs. It’s anything but a section about training your children to the budgeting plan.
Also, in case that you are concerned that this book will be an infomercial for the YNAB budgeting stage, it’s not. The software is referenced incidentally, yet Jesse is extremely evident that these standards can apply to a plain spreadsheet or even a pencil and paper spending plan.
Four Rules Of YNAB: Quick Overview
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Give Every Dollar A Chance
You get to make a decision about what you want your money to do. The basics are that you are the only one who can assign work to the dollars and let the money work for you. That sounds natural, but it is an enormous shift from conventional budgeting. This changes the way you think about money and managing it perfectly makes all the difference.
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Embrace Your True Expenses
Your basic expenses are the ones that you spend for each month, but your legit expenses include all of those that come up less frequently, be it “predictable” (like thrice-a-year vehicle insurance premiums) or “inevitable and unpredictable” (like vehicle repairs). With budgeting money to all such categories a bit over time, you can easily avoid the shock of the big bill breaking down your budget plans all at once.
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Roll With The Punches
A flexible budget is a success budget & not a failure. When your priorities shift, so should your budget. At times, new spendings comes up that you didn’t consider during your monthly budget plan. If the new expenses are a better way to realize the priorities than the prior plans for the usage of that money, you can & should reassign your money to do what you wish.
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Age Your Money
The longer you can hold onto your money, the better it is. The aim here is to increase the time gap between when money is earned & when that money is spent. This is where you can be a month ahead. In fact, this rule is also known as “Live on Last Month’s Income.”
YNAB: Things To Dislike
The fourth rule which was “Live on Last Month’s Income” which we personally think was more pragmatic & powerful than the new rule “Age Your Money.” Within the newly titled rule, it is advisable to live on last month’s income. But the prime focus was shifted from getting a month ahead to having as much as you can manage.
When we got through “living on last month’s income,” we knew we had achieved something significant. It’s a lot difficult to get all excited about having “aged money” lying around. When is it enough aged? How do we know if we have arrived? We totally understand what “Age Your Money” is trying to get at; We just don’t feel it.
Maybe “Age Your Money” does wonders for you. If this seems to be the case, use it. If not, you can join us in assuming that Rule Four is still “Live on Last Month’s Income.”
The only other thing we didn’t really like was quite related. Rather than a conventional emergency fund, the book just advocates for the idea of aging your money more & more. Of course, a 6 month emergency fund is practically similar to a six-month-old money in your deposit accounts. The section was a little forced one.
Maybe you’ll like the book’s way of conveying & thinking.
Other than these two shortcomings, we loved it. It is quite an easy read, but has enough substance that we found quite significant and some new ideas we are going to run with. In addition to this new material, revisiting the same principles in a different way helped us develop an appreciation for the “why” and engage us with the budget with better intention.
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Final Say On The Book!!
This post is a review guide for all the users looking to have an outlook on the book “You Need A Budget”. From the positives to the negatives, our article covers it all. We hope you will be able to get an understanding of the message conveyed by the book. Let us shake hands for now & say our final goodbyes. For any further assistance, you can always think of us.
