We’re seeing a plethora of new services popping up to manage your money. What has me hopeful is that there’s a lot more excitement about this area in general. What has me not so hopeful is that we’re seeing a lot of the same reactive paradigm that plagued the personal finance software arena since the very first Quicken (no foul on Quicken there, they were quite at the forefront for the time).
There is some value in looking backward. You can pull together reports to help you prepare your taxes (a non-value added exercise, obviously, but a must) and you can pull interesting tidbits out of your reams of data:
Hey honey! Did you know that 15% of our food purchases last year were soy-related?
However, the tremendous value in a financial application comes not from the powerful, fancy, interpolating graphs that tell you everything that’s happened. It comes from the day-to-day managing of the now, and planning for the future.
We spent $45 on iPhone accessories during October.
..is not nearly as valuable as this question:
How much will we spend on iPhone accessories during October?
Why? I have no idea. Honestly, the more I see the results people are getting with the YNAB Methodology, the more it becomes clear to me that it works, yet I do find myself struggling to articulate exactly why it works.
I suppose this is why I’ve known that Reporting is a weakness in YNAB Pro (though our current beta lets you export to a spreadsheet application in oh, about 2.2 seconds) and I’ve always let other features jump ahead of it in line.
Which features took (take) precedence?
I’ve tried to focus on cutting down the minimum time required to use the software. I’ve focused on the managing and planning side of the equation (Quick Budgeting, bank transaction downloading, and with an upcoming beta, automatic payee cleanup…WALMART ABC123 becomes Walmart…it’s in alpha, etc.).
I really want to get people connected on those two aspects. Get their money in front of them more, not less. Have them be involved in the mangement and plan. I don’t want it to be automatic, I want it to be habitual. I want people looking forward and answering the right questions, not wincing from something that’s already happened.
I’m with you 100%. Reports are nice, but I’d only use them once a month when looking at “net worth”. I want to know things like what I’ve got “left to spend” or “left to save” – and the envelope system is the best one I’ve found for that. I used Money Map (also envelope based) before YNAB. YNAB forced me to do finances more simply – I appreciate that. Doing the finances takes less time and effort than before.
I look forward to the export to spreadsheet. ;)
Export to spreadsheet would be fantastic as tax time approaches.
Right now a filtered search of columns does not show any items within a multi category transaction.
I would love to be able to easily find the answer to a question like this:
How much did I spend this year in category X in all accounts?
BTW – The reconciliation feature in the latest release of YNAB Pro is excellent!!!
Checking off transactions and the popup on the tab has boosted my confidence that I can not only budget with YNAB, but also see that my total matches the bank exactly and nothing has fallen through the cracks.
I’ve never understood that aspect of “traditional” budgeting. People will make a plan for their money, but often don’t look at how they’re doing with the plan until the end of the plan period. I mean, if I’m driving, and if I’m lost, I want to know when it’s still possible to get to my destination on time, not when it’s too late.
I recently left YNAB for about a week to try another (mac-native) app. However, it was so complex, that I hated to use it. I came back to YNAB and was actually enjoying managing my money!
I think your priorities on developing new features are spot on, so don’t change. (I have yet to look at reports, truth be told).
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