YNAB (You Need a Budget)
Price: Free to download, $5/month or $50/year to use
Compatible with: iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Android, Windows, Mac OS
Overview:
You Need A Budget, also known as YNAB, is a great app if you’re deadly serious about controlling and sticking to your budget. The app connects directly to your financial accounts and pulls in information in real-time, much like Mint. However, it is possible to use YNAB without adding your information and instead enter information manually – although this kind of defeats the purpose of software that is supposed to make budgeting easier. YNAB is also more complicated to use, and can take a good deal of time to figure out, so users are advised to have patience when first starting out.
In YNAB, every dollar you earn has to have a “job,” which means you assign every part of your income to be either spent or saved. The goal is to spend close to the amount of money you budgeted in each category based on your income and how much you think you will need for everything. If your estimation is way off, YNAB has educational material that will help you tackle the issue and teach you how to handle it. For example, if you estimate you’ll need $250 in your gambling budget and you end up spending $2500, YNAB can help you find ways to adjust or accommodate this. Unlike Mint, which suggests budgets based on your spending history, YNAB has you make a complete budget based on how much income you expect to bring in and how much you estimate you will need in each category. This system is a great way to see where every dollar and cent of your money is going.
While this gives you ultimate power over the future of everything you make, it doesn’t show you your problems from the start. How do you know how much money you can accurately give to your gambling budget if you have no idea how much you normally spend? And how can you know how much money to put in one budget if you don’t know how much you spend in the others? It’s a process of trial and error that has its pros and cons – while you might fail the first two or three months, it is a learning process and allows you to see where you’re heading and adjust accordingly. The educational material is a huge bonus as well since you learn both through experience and reading about finances.
The app features strong security as well, but it’s not quite up to the same level as other financial apps. If you absolutely require verification from a second party like an endorsement from Norton Secured/VeriSign and multifactor authentication, stay with Mint.
The biggest downside to this app is the price. It’s free to download and offers a 34-day free trial, but afterward you’ll be paying $5 a month, or $50 a year. While this is a better price than other financial apps like Mvelopes and LearnVest’s financial planner feature, it makes it hard to recommend over completely free apps like Mint.
Bottom line:
If you’re serious about taking control of your gambling budget and the rest of your finances, YNAB is a great app. The educational material can help you learn how to decrease your spending in other areas to allow the increased spending in your favorite online casinos, or budget your money to save for that trip to Las Vegas. If you’re willing to fork over the cash, the educational material and straightforward budgeting process are well worth it.
