You Need a Budget (YNAB) Reader Testimonial
By glblguy
I received a comment on one of my guest articles the other day from a frequent commentator here on Gather Little by Little named David. David is a user of You Need A Budget Pro and had this to say about it:
If you want budget software that really shows you the real truth about budgeting, check out YNAB PRO. That software has -4- laws of budgeting and also each law is explained via a video, each law is fully explained and via the video, all the operations of each law are explained…Also they have a very very well operating forum too, you can get help, post any questions that you feel you need further help with and yes they will get back in touch with you, they are very good….Jesse is the founder of YNAB PRO and I am so pleased that I found him and his wife and all of his staff, they are a true blessing to me…I strongly recommend YNAB PRO to anyone that wants to get their budget together…
Erin, is one of the coaches at YNAB PRO and she is very good…
YNAB PRO is the best investment that I’ve ever made.
YNAB Pro
I’ve been using YNAB Pro off and on for about 6-months or so now. I have to say I agree with everything David says. YNAB Pro really is a great product. While it doesn’t have every feature I would like, Jesse and his team continue to make improvements to the product to make it easier to use and more powerful.
The latest version is 2.5.6 and includes a number of enhancements primarily focused on improving application performance and usability. One nice feature is that when you download your file transaction files from your bank, YNAB Pro automatically opens. No more hunting around for those download files!
Give it a try
If you aren’t currently using YNAB Pro, I’d highly recommend you give it a try. You can read the full review I did back when I first tried it. YNAB Pro is backed by a 60 day money back guarantee, so you really have nothing to use. It really is a great piece of software, backed by an even better process for managing and budgeting your money. YNAB also has a very active user forum that is very helpful and honestly just fun to be a part of.
If you are a Mac user, sorry but no version of YNAB yet…but one is on the way.
Are you a YNAB user? If so, have anything to add to David’s comment? Add a comment!
September 9th, 2008 at 7:15 am
I could not agree more. I was bouncing off my overdraft every month until May this year when I started using YNAB.
The rules make alot of sense and once you get settled in, it is second nature to use the budget. I would recommend it to anyone.
The only worry is where all my money was going pre YNAB – I now end the month a million miles away from using my overdraft. It was a great investment!
September 9th, 2008 at 9:23 am
I started using YNAB Pro in January 2008. I love this program! I use Quicken to keep track of all my accounts and then use YNAB for budgeting. I do not use the download transactions option because I like to enter all the transactions manually (I do this with Quicken as well). I feel that when you enter them manually, you get a better understanding of your spending and not just looking at the totals. It has taken me 8 months, but I am finally living off of last month’s pay (it is one of the YNAB rules). It is such a great feeling to have complete control and flexibility for each month knowing you already have all the money you need at the beginning of the month.
This program was the final tool that was missing for me. I highly recommend this program.
September 9th, 2008 at 10:27 am
I’m anxious to try YNAB, but I’m still waiting for the Mac version…
September 9th, 2008 at 10:30 am
Eden – If you want to get into “the ynab way” you could purchase the spreadsheet version and use open office until Pro is released for the mac.
When it is released you can simply upgrade by paying the difference. Unfortunately there is no trial version of the spreadsheet (for obvious reasons!)
September 9th, 2008 at 11:20 am
Sounds pretty cool. Not something I am willing to put money towards just yet though. But thanks for letting us know about it
September 10th, 2008 at 7:17 pm
I’m a new user and so far have found it incredibly valuable in:
– uncovering unnecessary expenses
– giving a clear day to day (or week to week) picture of our finances
– creating the ‘burning platform’ urgency that DH and I need to take charge of our finances.
I definitely think YNAB fills a niche in the market – making common sense CONCRETE for those of us who lack the vision to implement budgeting…I mean REAL budgeting that sticks.
It has its quirks – I use Pro and wish it would act more like Excel in some areas, but overall a great $40 investment (and I’ve only been using it less than a month – it uncovered about 200 already that went into our Buffer to get to RULE 1).
September 12th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
I love YNAB Pro! It was well worth the $40 we spent on it. We don’t actually use it the way they recommend (building up a full month’s reserve of money in your main account – we’ve chosen to have an emergency fund and keep it in a high-interest account), but I still love it. Their latest update kind of “greased up” the program and made it run smoother and faster. Before we started with YNAB, we’d sit down with our entire transaction record for the month, some paper, a pencil, and a calculator, and categorize everything by hand. It was such a pain and took so much time. Now I can download my transactions into YNAB, categorize them, and see how things turned out. The next step is to get better at sticking to our budgeted categories!