What’s New

The secret to a budget that works is to have one that bends but doesn’t break. Here at YNAB, that means we pull a Rule #3 and Roll with the Punches. Just one problem: sometimes we move money in our budget only to wonder, “Wait, what did I just do?” We’re excited to announce that your budget now has a trail of breadcrumbs to show your recent history.
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Financial goals? Oh you’ve got ’em. You’re saving for your next laptop, a sweet summer vacation, and a bathroom remodel all at the same time. Wouldn’t it be just dandy to glance at your budget and know exactly where you stand on every single category?

Well today is your lucky day because now you can take a quick glance and know exactly where you stand with new progress bars in your YNAB budget.

Progress bars show you how much you have budgeted and spent in each category —yup, that means you can finally see if you still have room in the grocery budget for that caramel cookie crunch Talenti gelato. Bonus: take your Category Name real estate back—you no longer need to add them as a text note in your Category Names!

Just look at this crayon box of colors! But also, did you feel your heart start racing? This is not the budget you’ve known and loved. Has it gone through puberty?! Is its voice changing?

No, silly. This is your same budget. Are you over the initial shock? Stay with us, because they’re pretty cool! (And I’ll admit, I know exactly how you felt just then when you saw it for the first time. My budget! My precious budget! But I’m a week in and I’m diggin’ ‘em. You’re gonna be like…what did we even DO before progress bars? Give it T-minus three more budget checks. You’ll be there.)

If you’re a direct import user, you are well aware of the black-box phenomenon of credit card transactions. Example: you buy a Snuggie® on Amazon or feast on a taco dinner at your favorite local spot. If you’re not entering transactions yourself, you’ll swipe your card and promptly forget about that transaction. That is, until you open your budget multiple days later and it suddenly appears. 

Maybe it’ll bring you back to that delicious salsa verde, or make you curse and go yelling around to family members about what was the $24.51 on Amazon? What was the $12.15? Either way, the transactions now eat up some dollars from your partner’s fun money (“But the Snuggie is clothing! Not fun money!”).

Well, with the release of our pending transactions update, we’ve cut down on that black box phenomenon to reduce the lag time between swiping and transactions appearing in your budget. That means your budget will be even more up to date!