#109 - Don't Make These Common YNAB Mistakes!
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
I'm Ben and I'm Ernie and you're listening to Budget Nerds. No, you are not. Well, Ernie, today we're talking about common YNAB mistakes. And usually when we talk about this, it's like beginner mistakes, right? And we have some of those, but this is Budget Nerds and a lot of veteran YNABers watch this too. So we're going to talk about some of those too, but I think we'll start with some common setup mistakes. And if you are a veteran YNABer, then you can help new folks avoid these mistakes. So that'd be good.
Yeah, this is a search term that we see regularly come through our channel. I know it gets asked on social and to the support team. And so we thought, hey, no two better people at YNAB to talk about common mistakes than someone, Ben, you who's involved in social, me who's an educator, I'm teaching workshops. So these are things that we encounter on a regular basis.
I thought you were going to say no better person to do it, to talk about these mistakes than the people that made all these mistakes. Because a lot of them, yeah.
That's the thing. Yeah, a lot of these were mistakes that I made at the beginning.
Yeah, so we can get into that. Well, the first one, we'll just get right into it, shall we? Using the software without learning the method first. I think this is a huge one, and I think we need to do better about teaching the method in the software, and we're working on that. But a lot of folks come in with this preconceived notion of what it means to manage their money, or maybe they've been using a spreadsheet or something, and they kind of try to make YNAB do that. But this is opinionated software. We have a way of doing things, and it's different than you've done it before, probably. And if you come in with a preconceived idea, YNAB is going to fight you on it. It really is, right?
Yes. And it is very different than anything you've done in the past. Something Jesse always used to say on his Whiteboard Wednesdays and on his podcast, and you probably remember this, was forget everything you've learned about budgeting. And I just remember that really sticking out to me. And it's not like, oh, I just completely... Because it's tough to forget what you actually have learned. But it made me lean into all of the YNAB resources. Especially the method. At the time, it was the four rules. So what do these rules actually mean? And how are they implemented in the software? And once I really started leaning into that YNAB methodology... that's when things started to click. Oh, I can't do it the way I used to.
I need to start doing it this way instead.
I saw somebody on the last episode that we did about you can start YNAB anytime, right? I read that was two episodes ago. I don't remember. But anyways, the comment was, I have been waiting because I wanted to wait till the first, but I use that time to watch every video about YNAB is... So I was like, okay, you know, maybe that is a good reason to wait. Because you're going to start on a really good footing. Like you're going to get started right. And my parents just started YNAB. Knock on wood, it sticks for them. It'd be so cool. Nice. They had a lot of high praise for you, Ernie, for your getting started video. Let me tell you. They were like... especially my dad was like oh ernie's great so oh that's so nice yeah i'm so glad they watched those videos first because they get it and you know they don't come in with all these preconceived ideas and kind of struggle you know so uh very exciting um
when people get it like that. And then, you know, sometimes people come in and struggle a little because, you know, they don't understand the method, but they learn it and it's fine. But if you can learn it first, I think it helps, right? Absolutely.
That's huge. All right. Another common mistake is you get hung up on categories and targets. So this is for the, well, I would say primarily the new YNAB-er. But I think seasoned YNABers can get hung up on categories and targets as well. And here's what I mean by that. Trying to get the perfect list of categories.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–6:07
2
How should you learn the YNAB method before using the app?
6:07–15:28
3
Why shouldn't you get hung up on creating perfect categories and targets?
15:28–51:09
4
How and why should you add savings accounts as budget accounts (not tracking)?
51:09–1:04:10
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Budget Nerds
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