YNAB You Need A Budget

[Revi]

Hi YNAB'ers,

I'm 18 years old and I've been tracking my expenses for about 2 years. For 2 years I've been filing the receipts in two great binders. I started after having a long conversation with a successful self-made entrepreneur, one of the nuggets of advise he gave me was, "Track every penny." I also somewhat enjoy the process of filing and organzing my own finances (sad I know!). When I was studying poker I read a book which said, 'Treat your poker like a business'. I adapted the methodology to 'treat your life like a business'. Anyway, I digress. Basically, I love the idea of YNAB. Too long have I been mind-numbingly entering digits into Excel - what are we living in, the '90s?

Onto the substance of this topic: currently living with a family friend, and because I have an unstable income, he's doing me a favor by only taking a third of my earnings as rent rather than a fixed amount. What this brings to YNAB budgeting is that I cannot budget effectively because I never know how much my rent will be, and also what my income will be. I've read about this briefly, however my boss pays on a weekly basis rather than monthly, and sometimes I take home an 85% cut of income for the week (happens). Obviously such huge fluctuations in bills and income leaves me pretty helpless in terms of budgeting, as they'll either be a huge deficit or surplus in my categories.

For the last few weeks I've been noseying about the forum, and the general age range is no where near my own, (no offense young -- but still relatively older -- people!) am I simply too young for YNAB? My thought process is that I'll be better off if I start early, but perhaps as the target market for YNAB is above my own, a lot of the functionality will be lost on me. Also $60 of disposable income for a student is a fairly big hit!

I know that I've rambled on somewhat in this post, and I could have been more concise, however from what I gather you're a fairly friendly bunch of folks, and with the evidently great community present here, I have a feeling you don't mind socially rich posts.

All replies will be diligently read, studied and appreciated!

Thanks,

Revi.

[Joel]

You absolutely can and should use ynab! I started at 18 with an unstable income and sporadic bills. I would recommend reading my journal to see the stages I went through. You dont have to have a buffer to use ynab, and the fact your rent is variable is really not a huge deal. Give the trial 34 days and I think it can work for you! (It did for me!)

ynab is designed for people with unstable income and variable bills!

[Revi]

Thanks Joel, that's really reassuring. I will definitely read your journal -- especially as you also started at 18! Perfect. (I'm also convinced I'm a future millionaire, funny that! )

[Joel]

Thanks Joel, that's really reassuring. I will definitely read your journal -- especially as you also started at 18! Perfect. (I'm also convinced I'm a future millionaire, funny that! )

Give the software a shot and ask any specific questions you are struggling with... With unstable income you have choose what your priorities are for each dollar of income. Some are fixed bills you have to pay (first), some are variable bills you have to pay (second), and some are periodic bills that are not paid monthly that you need to save for each month (third), and then you get to decide how much to spend on other discretionary expenses (mandatory fourth and optional fifth). I recommend setting a master category for each of these types of expenses instead of a traditional category structure.

[Darx]

As a person who wishes I'd started when I was your age, I would encourage you to start now. Try YNAB, and if you like it I bet you'll find some creative way to make it a priority to spend the $60 on YNAB instead of something else. I can absolutely guarantee that if you start treating your money with the mindset of the YNAB method now while you are young and stick with it, you will get that $60 back more than 100 times long before you're my age. It's an investment in the financial stability of your future. It will be worth it if you use it and work with the method, even if it feels like a big bite of your disposable income now. Wishing you lots of luck and congratulating you on your early start toward being aware of your money!

[ckuptime]

I have just started my 16 year old on YNAB. She gets an allowance and does not have a job, as she is available to us to watch her younger sister when needed. And in exchange, she has a car and expenses taken care of. I want her to start learning to manage money. She doesn't have many categories yet, but she helped choose them. Clothing, music, food, gas, and special savings. She is picking it up quick and is using the iPhone app as we'll.


Sorry So Short. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[DonGately]

Hi YNAB'ers,
For the last few weeks I've been noseying about the forum, and the general age range is no where near my own, (no offense young -- but still relatively older -- people!) am I simply too young for YNAB? My thought process is that I'll be better off if I start early, but perhaps as the target market for YNAB is above my own, a lot of the functionality will be lost on me. Also $60 of disposable income for a student is a fairly big hit!

As you've probably guessed by now all of us "older" YNABer's wish we'd started at your age. The income fluctuations might make it a bit more work to budget and track all your expenses but this is a situation that makes it more important to do so.

I assume the $60 you refer to is the cost of the program and while that may seem like a lot of disposable income for a student the investment is worth it. The $60 I spent on YNAB last year is the best money I've spent in years and it will come back to you much sooner than you expect.

[Revi]

That makes a lot of sense. Thanks DonGately. I am now completely reassured.

Thank you for all your responses!

[los lobos marinos]

I'm another one who wishes I had found YNAB when I was 18. But having said that, PCs didn't exist in that era, nor cell-phones, DVDs, CDs. We did have the wheel though....

Joking aside, the method is so good and when combined with the YNAB program and the brilliant support on offer, you'll get the $60 back in no time at all. One of the best investments you'll ever make methinks!

[YYC27]

If memory serves ... Jesse created YNAB while he and his wife were still in university, specifically because they found budgeting based on highly variable income to be so difficult.

[brown685]

Revi,

I would suggest that YNAB is exactly what you need in your situation.

YNAB is not really about how much money can I spend on something. It is about which things do I spend my money on, and making those choices. You have highly variable expenses and income. Great. You still need to decide what things are going to get money and which are not.

I would try it out and see how it works for you.

James

[kaitlin]

I started YNAB at 18 (I'm 19 now, as of today..) and I would just say that a huge part of what I love about it is that it's the ONLY system I found that could handle variable income. YNAB is built for it! The rent fluctuating so much is a bit trickier, but I'm sure you'll find a way to manage it. (Ironically, it might actually be easier while you're budgeting 'paycheck to paycheck' rather than having a buffer. I'm not sure.) Good luck!

[Revi]

I think I'm sold on the idea of YNAB now. I've sort of worked out how I'd budget. I've looked at the last year of my rent/income and made an average of what I earn/pay. That figure has given me a rough idea of what to budget around, and so now it's not such a hit and miss.

Happy birthday Kaitlin! I'm 19 on the 16th ahha. Despite my income/rent situation, I DO like the idea of 'buffering', and I'd like to make it work if I can. Thanks for your input!