It’s Called Currency

So many people don’t know how to handle their money. They bring home a paycheck and in a matter of days, they have no idea why they have no money left. They keep doing the same thing every month and don’t understand why nothing changes. If you’re one of them, I challenge you to make a change. Realize that money has to be managed and that “budget” is not a dirty word. Honestly, if you don’t know where your money is going, how can you expect it to get to the necessary destination?

A couple of years ago, as I was going through the weekly classes of Dave Ramsey’s “Financial Peace University”, I found a website (YouNeedABudget.com) with a budgeting spreadsheet that really seemed to get it right. It was designed by a CPA and it began with the idea that you should not be budgeting for this month’s expenses with this month’s pay. In other words, it breaks the “paycheck to paycheck” cycle.

A major focus of YNAB is “budgeting twice as effective in half the time.” Budgeting is the most effective way to manage your money—I daresay it is the only way—and to be able to manage it in less time? What’s not to love?

There is a tremendous peace of mind that comes with knowing where your money is, where it is going, and that it is there when things take a turn in a different direction. It’s like having a dental plan when a filling pops out. You don’t have to worry, you just have to take care of the scheduling.

Last night, I went back to that website and downloaded the YNAB Pro software that evolved from the original YNAB spreadsheet. The component that made me spend the extra money for the software over the spreadsheet was the ability to import transactions directly from bank and credit card downloads. The time savings of being able to track the very many debit card transactions of my household without having to type everything in was well worth the purchase price. And being able to quickly recognize changes in spending during the month and adjust the budget accordingly makes money management something I now look forward to rather than dreading. I know exactly where the money is and I no longer live in fear of it not being there when it is needed.

Looks like my Quicken software will now only be used for tracking our retirement and investment accounts. After all, why would I waste time tracking my normal daily cashflow in two places?