YNAB Targets 2024 Update

[@mappedoutmoney]

Download The Target Decision Tree: nick.ck.page/ynab

[@shaunasweet8335]

You are the absolute best at explaining YNAB!

[@tmooney75]

That bit about setting yearly targets for the right month was gold. I’ve driven myself crazy trying to figure that one out. Thank you!

[@mappedoutmoney]

Awesome, so glad that cleared things up for you!

[@sheilahunter4194]

Thank you for making YNAB videos again.🎉

[@mappedoutmoney]

Glad to be back at it :)

[@YourFriendAndy]

Do my eyes deceive me??? Or is Nick BACK?? Happy to see you back, sir!

[@mappedoutmoney]

Back from a long hiatus of working behind the scenes. Excited to be back in action. I've missed it - we need to reconnect and catch up!

[@EfLuis]

Because of you a year ago, I joined YNAB and never looked back. It is a game changer. I wish I knew about it years ago.

[@mappedoutmoney]

Glad to hear that! Thanks for watching

[@mcbguerout]

Thank you from France. I'm starting to use YNAB and find your videos very informative. In slow speed and with French subtitles, it's TOP!

[@mappedoutmoney]

So glad the videos are helpful for you! Even with the subtitles, I appreciate you watching :)

[@laabel5969]

thank you so much. Your explanation of yearly targets and exact due day was exactly what I didn’t know I needed to know!! LOVE IT. FYI I actually printed a real live paper copy of the target decision tree and will now make another coffee before giving every category a target

[@kritter16]

Omgee @Nick True I have missed you! Yay so glad to find your YNAB videos again!

[@mappedoutmoney]

Glad to be back :)

[@amytaylor9268]

Whoo hoo he’s baaaaaaack!!!! Yess! This was a super helpful refresher!

[@mappedoutmoney]

So glad to be back :)

[@shadowandbosco]

very helpful tips - I've listened to Mr. True's YNAB tutorials and they are all very useful and practical. Between him and Hannah, I am feeling very comfortable with YNAB and it has greatly helped me control my spending

[@mappedoutmoney]

So glad to hear the videos have been helpful for you! We appreciate you watching.

[@Moonblossom62]

WB Nick, Nice to see you making YNAB Video's again!!

[@mappedoutmoney]

Glad to be back :)

[@melanieriley7138]

I'm so glad you are back, this is so helpful

[@mappedoutmoney]

Glad it helped!

[@lw1405]

I adore targets! 😁 and I love that you have a YNAB video! Looking at your screen I would love to take a peek into your Views. What is in Breadcrumbs? And Fund with Distributions. I started YNAB 6 years ago and your videos are gold for actually learning the program I always recommend your Beginner video and credit card video.

[@chrisnewbold2348]

Thanks for the video Nick!!! We just started using targets for every single category and i know they changed the way they do targets so this deep dive is super helpful! Glad you're back!!!!❤❤❤

[@mappedoutmoney]

Thanks! So glad to be back, and glad to hear this helped you out.

[@teris8416]

Yessss! So glad to see you back! 🎉

[@mappedoutmoney]

We're glad to be back!

[@elademayo2653]

Welcome back, Nick!

[@mappedoutmoney]

Glad to be back!

[@meesunuh42]

Oh wow!! Nick has a YNAB video 😮

[@mappedoutmoney]

We back : )

[@JG-ov5zo]

This is exactly what I needed! Targets were so confusing and all the videos I found were prior to the new updates. Thank you Nick! Hopefully YNAB will come up with a bi weekly paycheck function in my lifetime!

[@mappedoutmoney]

So glad it was helpful for you! And yes, maybe the bi-weekly thing will happen one day.

[@vitiligoboi]

Targets were confusing me for awhile, but now I have targets for everything but my eating out, shopping and things that are more wants than needs. Appreciate these in depth videos! 🙏🏽💯

[@mappedoutmoney]

Of course, appreciate you watching!

[@SplelcHeKCFWT]

One of my biggest frustrations with YNAB is not being able to easily use the underfunded amount to see total monthly expense. Becuase as you mentioned some categories adjust to a larger amont if they arent funded durinf a month, even if i plan on fully funding all my categories by the end of the month. The only way I've managed to get around this, is to fully fund every category and let my ready to assign category go negative. Then switch to a blank month to get an accurate underfunded amount. Then go back and undo the funding i did to get back to a $0 ready to assign.

[@ortizurbangarden]

Another good example for “Set Aside Another” for groceries would be if you’re bulk buying at stores like Costco where you need a lot of money up front with longer periods in between. Along the same lines, I have a butcher that I will buying half a pig from and that requires a lot of money up front.

[@mappedoutmoney]

Great example! You’re totally right. Also, sometimes when buying meat in bulk like that I’ll setup a brand new category just for that. And then set the target to repeat quarterly, every 6 months or yearly depending on the cadence. We used to buy a half a cow for the year and set it up as a separate category.

[@SulmanRiasat-w1i]

Long awaited !!! Thanks again

[@mappedoutmoney]

Glad to be back :)

[@Johnsoncrna]

Thank you for doing this video, Nick! I was wondering why I was having trouble with my yearly goals not resetting.

[@mappedoutmoney]

So glad this helped!

[@BrittM643]

You’re back!!!

[@mappedoutmoney]

Glad to be back!

[@Spp235.]

Started using YNAP in Dec 2023. Targets are a game changer. The one thing that I miss (not a target) but certainly would like to set a “reporting comparison number” for tags. I.e. compare tags actual spend against a number that I defined outside of budget. And setting a target would be even more helpful if it provided a suggestion based on say average of YTD or last 12 months.

[@mappedoutmoney]

All good ideas, perhaps YNAB will make something like that possible in the future. Glad you've found targets helpful

[@bitloin]

I have been using YNAB for five years now and it has been such a powerful, life-changing tool for me. Your videos are what got me started! Thanks so much! By the way, did you ever buy those kyaks?

[@mappedoutmoney]

Thanks for watching! And we did not :) Ultimately our life changed and our location with it and subsequently our ability to use kayaks regularly went down to the point that it no longer made good sense. We shifted that money elsewhere for now. But who knows, maybe one day they’ll make it back in the budget!

[@LydiaMoodyinFlorida]

Thank you for this video. I was always underfunded and I realize now that I need to cut back on some categories to get into balance.

[@mappedoutmoney]

So glad this helped Lydia!

[@baldyhardnut260]

Can you do an updated YNAB video discussing the new features added since your tutorial video?

[@mappedoutmoney]

Just wait a couple more days... Coming to you - this weekend :) As for this specific video you're currently commenting on - it is up to date with the updated targets. Hope that helps!

[@baldyhardnut260]

@@mappedoutmoney thanks, much appreciated

[@gmercer0122]

Trying to figure out how I enter bi weekly payments in there when there is no option for bi weekly targets

[@jankamp964]

Thank you Nick, very helpful again. We have gyms with a very annoying billing cycle (every 4 weeks instead of every month), so if I understand it correctly there are 2 ways to solve this with targets: or calculate the average monthly costs over the year, or just budget the double amount so you're always safe in case you get the rare case there are 2 billing cycles within 1 month. Because of this 4week cycle the billing date always comes earlier than the previous month, for me its unclear how to apply the "by" date for the target in this case - is there any way to do this right?

[@renatodep]

Thank you!

[@mappedoutmoney]

Glad it helped!

[@Kidglove57]

Great video - thank you!! Am I right in thinking that there is no: 1) automatic way to cap the amount I save in a category? For example £50pm but accumulating no more than £600? I have been able to do this in open source Actual Budget but in many ways I prefer the security of being with a profitable software house like YNAB 2) to target multiple annual amounts in one category - for example annual subscriptions Thank you!

[@_justuni2266]

I'm not sure I understand your second question, but if i understand your first question, the "refill" option should work the way you want it to. Maybe try it out and see?

[@mcbguerout]

I've been using YNAB for a while now and there's one thing that really surprised me: you can open as many budgets as you like, but you can't SAVE your budgets and you can't COPY one budget onto another (for testing purposes, for example). I don't know of any software that doesn't let you save your data!

[@mappedoutmoney]

So you can download your data to your computer and then save it. Also you can copy the budget structure and accounts (just no the transactions) by using the make a fresh start feature.

[@beckynett]

Helpful! Thanks.

[@caseytruffo6505]

Thanks for a great video Nick. I am still trying to figure out the total of all my targets (to compare them to my income to see if I might be overbudgeting, which I think could be happening). I went to a future month (Nov) where nothing was assigned and looked at the 'underfunded amount'. But it seemed too low. Then I saw that while I had not assigned any money for that future month (Nov), I did have 'money available' that was funded in October and is not yet spent so it looked Available in Nov. The plan would be to spend it in October and then it would not be available in November -- at which point the underfunded in Nov would likely be higher. Should I reset available amounts in the future month (Nov) to 0 to look at the underfunded to see the total of my targets? Thanks for all the help!

[@mappedoutmoney]

Hey Casey, the available amounts you see in Nov won't affect the underfunded number at all. So if you have nothing ASSIGNED in Nov, and you go look, whatever the underfunded number shows is accurate. If it still looks weird I would go group by group and select one group at a time to see what the underfunded number is just for that group, and check each group to make sure each looks reasonable. But the available amounts you speak of from October that show in Nov, won't have any impact on the underfunded number at all. Hope this helps!

[@caseytruffo6505]

@@mappedoutmoney Nick, thank you so much for the quick reply. I spent hours on it today, and your video and comment at the end of my day were exactly what I needed!! PS I started with YNAB 3 and then later YNAB 4 and quit both times because it 'didn't work for me.' In hindsight, I see that I was budgeting more than my income. A few months ago, I realized that I was pulling from my savings every week for my overspending, so I knew I was spending more than my income! At that time, I saw an ad for YNAB and KNEW it was the answer. I am only 45 days in, but I understand Rule 2 better than I ever have. Before, I did Rule 1 and then Rule 3, which was essentially tracking without accountability. During this last month (September) with YNAB, I have reduced my overspending significantly. So much so that I have not pulled from my savings, and I have even saved $500. October is a five-week month, so it may take some more work to get through it, but I am on it with YNAB. Bless you, the rest of the team, and thank you!!

[@mappedoutmoney]

@@caseytruffo6505 So cool, and so glad to read this Casey :) Keep up the great work!

[@hasole9669]

Decision tree ftw

[@mappedoutmoney]

Glad you like it!

[@adammcallister5047]

If you set a category with "refill up to" (e.g., $800 in Groceries in January), then fully fund the month ahead (February), but have a remainder of $50 in Groceries by end of month January, what happens to Groceries in February? It will be at $850 even though you really only wanted to refill up to, but because you pre-funded the month ahead, you're over. How does YNAB deal with this?

[@paulaarcher4964]

If you are planning to use the "Fill Up To" option, do you have to forgo the option of budgeting a month ahead? When I get paid on Dec 31st, I already have money assigned to January and want to Fill up February with my Dec check. This seems to make all targets act like "Set aside another". Should I be doing this differently?

[@jamesmeyer2365]

Thank you Nik! One question…if I have my apartment cleaning for $95 every 6 weeks how do I put a target for that since you can only set a monthly or yearly target? Thanks in advance.

[@mappedoutmoney]

Good question, there's certainly a few ways you could do this. Personally I would think about it like this. once / 6 weeks is about 8.5 times per year. I'd round up to 9 to be safe. 9 cleanings per year at $95 = $855 Divide by 12 to get the monthly average = $71.25 / month I'd set a monthly target, with set aside another for $71.25. You may need to budget $95 in the very first month and second months depending on when the next cleaning falls, but after that, you'll be good to go.

[@iamamitshinde]

I believe YNAB should not require users to log in and should instead store all data locally and use iCloud for backup.

[@madameovary1303]

So how would you handle this situation: you are saving monthly towards an annual bill. The due date of the bill is on the 1st day of the month, but your monthly income does not come in until later. Would you set the target to be that month and allow the category to become overspent, or set the target to the end of the previous month, and then reset the target for the next year after the bill has been paid?

[@ystebadvonschlegel3295]

Divide by 11 instead of 12.

[@mappedoutmoney]

I would set the target to be the day that it would actually process. And rather than letting it be overspent - ideally, I'm pushing to get one month ahead in the meantime. Which means I'm pushing to use my income from this month for next month's income. Example, if the annual bill is due on July 1st. In an ideal world, I've been working hard all year to get ahead enough so that when I get paid in June, I'm able to actually click ahead into July and fund some of the bills that occur early in July (like mortgage, utilities) and also this annual bill. So in this way, I'm not leaving it overspent. Hopefully this makes sense, nick

[@ystebadvonschlegel3295]

Targets = proper management of sinking funds. I.e. you can’t really budget long term without using a target.

[@mappedoutmoney]

Completely agree