Today’s Whiteboard Wednesday is an extension from another we did a few weeks ago on Simplicity.
I go over the usefulness of dashboards, and the danger in making them completely useless by providing yourself with information that 1) doesn’t change often and 2) isn’t relevant to any decision you’re currently making. (And the beanie’s back).
Please help us spread the word by sharing the video via the links below!
Thanx Jesse,
Excellent presentation. You’re right about seeing the ongoing balances. I don’t need to see my account (except probably checking) on a daily basis. I am going to “hide” the others right now.
Thanx Again…
Great presentation, once again Jesse.
I very rarely show my account balances in YNAB3 not only for this reason but also for screen real estate.
I also order my categories and collapse those that are less important to me to free up even more screen space.
As per my post to the YNAB3 forums for features/enhancements, being able to group accounts and then collapse them (just like the major categories) could further remove the clutter, so that only the accounts you want to see on a regular basis are displayed!
Regarding your request to ‘spread the word’ for YNAB and share the wealth, how about providing some banner graphics of various sizes for us to use on our own sites?
@AdrianB,
Thanks for the comment — noted on collapsible accounts :) I’ll see if I can’t work up some resources for sharing…just once I get this tax course out the door…
Keep up the great work with “Whiteboard Wednesday”…very good info, especially for those new to YNAB.
I too want to spread the word about YNAB through my “financial bootcamp” class and have made several requests for “education materials” as directed. However, to date, I’ve had no response to my requests…am I missing something? Otherwise, I’m a HUGE fan of YNAB and all your efforts/service/support…
Darren,
I’ve responded to your emails each time but they’ve bounced each time as well :) Once you have your email squared away, let me know and I’ll send some info along!
It sounded like you were arguing for a change to how YNAB’s dashboard works and that long-time users of the program may have balked at it. Am I reading too much into that?
I would love to see common category balances in that left pane.
@Michael, perhaps a bit too much reading — I would like to make the left pane be a bit more…optional with what it shows. Longer-term though. Right now we’re just trying to fry the speed fish.. Noted re: the beanie. Though the pioneers were likely faithful church goers, no? ;)
BTW, the beanie look makes it look like your an internet pioneer and the tie makes you look like you’re at sacrament meeting. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But then again I’m about your age.
thanks for the presentations. You need to send out some sort of notice or email to let people know you are doing these. I just stumbled upon them today.
how about one on downloading transactions from bank accounts. I haven’t had time or tried to do that yet and would love to have a demo.
@Linda, you can subscribe to the blog via RSS, or subscribe to our YouTube channel as well :)
WTG!! I love seeing people pay down debt and get on top of their finances! And at a young age – you’re unstoppable!!
Thanks Jesse, you prompted me to find the ‘hide’ button for accounts. I like being able to reconcile them once a month, but other than that you’re right — I just don’t need it.
I really enjoy the Whiteboard Wednesday. Thanks very much for providing tips on how to simplify your financial life. You are 100% correct on to much clutter you will lose sight of the big picture – “Financial Bliss”
Interesting presentation. You’re kind of making the case for the two-budget system I followed for two years, where the escrow budget had a bunch of categories that I only looked at for about a week out of the month, while the household budget had fewer dollars but more activity. Three weeks of the month, I worked with one budget. The other week, I worked with two budgets.
Of course, I’ve merged the two budgets, so now I have my efund and various medium and long term savings categories showing up on my budget page looking the same, the same, the same, the same, a change, the same, the same . . .
Fortunately, I’m pretty good at picking out the categories I need to pay the most attention to.
Hi Jesse!
These WW videos are great. I would like to add that for me, I love seeing my various debt accounts on the screen. Every last one of them. Seeing those balances there in red, staring at me, taunting me, makes me even more angry and fired up to pay them off.
I find it is helpful to stare your demons straight in the eyes – as you are looking at your budget and trying to justify a trip to McDonald’s.
We have several debts left and are working on our 2nd mortgage now. It is a big honkin’ amount, and I agree that for most people, those kind of balances don’t decrease but maybe once or twice a month. For us, and others on aggressive debt reduction plans, we are chunking money at it as it comes in our door. Just this month, I have sent 6 payments in to that one mortgage account – 1 as my regular payment and 5 as principal reduction payments.
The rest of the debt accounts sit there in my dashboard – just seeing there motivates me to pay off our 2nd mortgage quicker so I can kill them too. GRRRRRRR!!!!!!!
@Liz,
If you find those debts staring you in the face to be motivating, then it sounds like you’ve certainly found the right solution for you!
Total agreement with you on this. This is the very reason I moved from another budget program that was envelope based. It allowed me to budget how I wanted, but it was very much like the cluttered, information-overloaded dashboard you describe. Budget software is something I’m going to stare at a lot; I want to look nice. YNAB strikes the balance.
But one suggestion I mentioned several times in the forum… please get rid of the blue boxes that surround the budgeted amount. All those extra lines serve no good purpose and add complexity. And as many have mentioned, have 5 months on screen at once is overkill. I can shrink the screen size down to where just two months fit, but then when I switch to account view have to make it bigger again to read that screen comfortably. But I understand and support tackling the speed issue first. Having said all that, I love the layout and simplicity of the new interface.
Btw, I’ve narrowed down my budget categories and am loving the simplicity.
I think we could still have some “tell” for the eyes without having to use the blue boxes. I agree that they add clutter, but as Darren mentions, I don’t want to confuse people as to where they can interact with the budget. I’m sure we’ll find a solution that does both.
I disagree about the blue box outlines around the budgeted amount. They highlight data entry and thus give definition to the budget screen. As I input data into each cell, the outlines naturally direct my focus to the needed spot. Additionally, each master category line displays the total without an outline box, showing that it is not a user input cell. To remove the outlines, in my opinion, would actually add complexity to the view by forcing your eyes to work harder.
Hi Jesse, I’ve been using YNAB for almost two years now and I am so happy with YNAB 3! These Whiteboard Wednesdays have been thought provoking for me, I appreciate the opportunity to think a little more about how I use the software are how I could be using it better. This one and the category one both have me thinking a lot! Thanks for putting this together.
You said it, Jesse.
Stuff that doesn’t change on a constant basis isn’t going to be of help if we’re constantly checking it out too often. If we just let it be and every once in a while when a change may happen or on a set routine of every two weeks or a month, then things will start to look better and we’ll feel much better about looking at it.
Thanks for making it easy to share YNAB. I’m on board!