The Budgeting App
That Changes Lives
Cliché and over-dramatic? Normally, we might agree with you, but this is the kind of feedback we hear from our customers every day.
You Need A Budget is different from anything you’ve tried before.
We won’t promise you it will be effortless. We aren’t interested in helping you “trick” yourself into saving. We will never try to dictate how or where you should spend your money.
Instead, YNAB will teach you how to prioritize and plan, so you have money for the things that are most important to you—whatever they are.
How We’re Different
YNAB is a proactive system. It requires you to be forward-looking and intentional about every dollar; it requires you to be aware, but in return you’ll be in total control of your finances, and in so doing, your life.
YNAB vs. Other Budgeting Apps
If you set up all your accounts, and get an email at the end of the month full of pie charts showing that you spent an obscene amount of money in restaurants—you still spent an obscene amount of money in restaurants. That money is long gone. This is why you’ve never heard anyone say that Mint changed their lives.
Unless you are intentional about making a plan and sticking to it, (we’re no fortune tellers, but…) there’s a very good chance the same thing will happen next month.
Looking backward (we’re looking at you, pie charts!) is certainly better than not looking at all, but it isn’t going to change your behavior.
With YNAB, we’re focused on what is in front of you, what you still have the ability to influence. Before you spend a single dollar, we’ll help you think through your priorities—immediate, short-term, and long-term—and allocate your money accordingly. Better yet, we will teach you how to use your budget to make spending decisions and how easy it is to adjust your budget throughout the month, because life.
YNAB vs. “Set It and Forget It” Personal Finance Apps
There is a very good chance that, if you are reading this, you feel like you don’t have a handle on your finances, you are stressed about money, or need help digging out of debt. There are a whole slew of apps built on the premise of doing everything for you—and at first glance, this may seem appealing.
But if the main selling point is that “you won’t ever have to think about it” or “you won’t even realize you’re saving,” nothing about your finances is really going to change.
You don’t need a robot to tell you what to do with your money. You don’t want to be so hopeless with money you have to hide it from yourself in order to save. You want to feel in control. You want to learn how to make better decisions. You want to decide what is important to you and make sure you have money for those things.
YNAB vs. Your Tried and True Spreadsheet
You should know we’re big fans of spreadsheets over here. And we are sure yours is particularly amazing. It’s comforting, you know how it works, you’ve probably been together for years. That’s great—and if you’re where you want to be financially, we wish you two a long happy life together!
But if you aren’t using your spreadsheet to make spending decisions because it isn’t always up-to-date or you and your partner aren’t always on the same page because only one of you can access the spreadsheet, YNAB might be worth a look-see.
Don’t take our word for it!
Changed lives speak for themselves.
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I can't imagine life without YNAB!
It clicked almost exactly when we started using it! We had previously been using a spreadsheet but never quite figured it out and were living beyond our means. The concept of thinking forward and assigning every dollar a job and even setting specific categories for future purchases was a game changer for us!”
Sarah
YNABer since 2015
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I stopped feeling guilty about spending money
YNAB is better than other budgeting apps because it forces me to plan only with the money I have right now. As soon as it really hit home that I should only budget with the real money I have, things started to get better and better. ”
Claire
YNABer since 2016
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YNAB has been transformative!
Since I've been using YNAB, I've realized that all of my other budgeting endeavors were budgeting in Reverse. It was just plugging in numbers without the fluidity that makes YNAB so amazing.”
Holly
YNABer since 2015
Sarah
You can do this! Right now! For free.
Budgeting is not restrictive. You won’t be spending less, you’ll be spending right. So what do you have to lose? Except all that debt and stress?
