Budget Nerds

#75 - The Ultimate Guide to Targets in YNAB

Oct 4, 2023

The podcast explores the use of targets in the YNAB app, including how they help organize and track expenses, managing variable expenses like groceries, setting targets for monthly bills and non-monthly expenses, and the benefits of the overfunded workflow. They also discuss different target types in YNAB and strategies for managing yearly subscriptions.

57:05

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Quick takeaways

Targets in YNAB are a powerful tool to organize expenses and understand their timing, helping you allocate the necessary funds each month.

Regularly reviewing and adjusting targets in YNAB based on actual spending and savings goals ensures they accurately reflect your financial situation.

Deep dives

The different types of targets in YNAB

YNAB offers a variety of target types, including needed for spending, savings balance, monthly savings builder, payoff balance by date, and pay specific amount monthly. Each target type has its own purpose and can be used to effectively manage different aspects of your budget. It is important to regularly review and adjust your targets based on your actual spending and savings goals.

Introduction

2min

The Benefits of Using Targets in YNAB

7min

Managing Variable Expenses and Changing Grocery Shopping Habits

2min

Setting Targets for Monthly Bills

8min

Setting Targets for Variable Expenses

5min

Benefits of Overfunded Workflow

13min

Different Target Types in YNAB

10min

Managing Yearly Subscriptions and Dealing with Targets

10min

Forecasting is kind of a dirty word at YNAB, because the Four Rule are all about budgeting the dollars you have now, and not counting on future dollars that haven't arrived yet. However, it's still useful to plan for future expenses, and understand how the timing of those expenses will affect how much money you need to set aside each month to cover them when they come due. Expense timing can be complex, too -- some things hit weekly, biweekly, monthly, others hit at odd intervals like every 3 weeks or 6 months. YNAB has tools to handle these! Targets are a powerful way to organize and understand your expenses no matter how complex the timing is.

Ben and Ernie dive deep into the various target types available in YNAB, and clever ways you can use them to track expenses, track debt pay down, and more.

Share your YNAB wins with Ben and Ernie!

budgetnerds@ynab.com

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