(no title)
visch | 1 year ago
> not only projects cash over time by including known expenses and incomes over time, but adjustments so I can actively reconcile
To me I would say YNAB does all of that for me, I use goals in YNAB and that gives me the projection I need. The biggest piece that's missing for me (and maybe this is what you're referring to) is how can I be sure all of my goals for the month/year add up to what I'm projecting that I"m actually making. I go to a spreadsheet for this about once a year to be sure my goals aren't impossible. But to be fair it's pretty obvious when this is happening as my goals are red for each month.
Generally when I see folks complain about what you're complaining about and I walk through their finances they tend not to actually be budgeting, they really just want a way to look at where their money is going historically and have a couple buckets for saving cash. Mint was good at this (it's finished now) but I think YNAB and apps like it (Lunchmoney) are better
calvinmorrison|1 year ago
For me, my projections are more accurate than YNAB beceause my expenses are not static. My home heating will drop off now its spring and my AC bill will start going up in July. I copy expenses from previous years over and adjust as I go.
For example last week
DATE PLANNED ACTUAL TYPECODE DESC RUNNING RECON
03/21/24 -250.00 -$208.52 X GROCERY $XXX.XX 41.48
So then later when I project the next month I go and look at budget versus actuals and so forth.
My use case is really cash flow management not savings goals, I have that as an expense that sends it into a separate bucket.