Passing through
I sometimes have money coming into my main bank account which I then re-assign right away to other accounts. I would like to enter the transaction in my YNAB account to keep track of it and so that it reflects the bank statement, but I do not want it to show in my budget as it is only passing through.
How do I do this??
Thanks!
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Inflow and outflow it through the same category
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satcook .... and that category would be in the budget? I would rather not. Can I make that category not part of the budget since it has nothing to do with budgeting?
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Sky Blue Beat You can record such transactions as transfers (Transfers between on budget accounts doesn't have category)
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I don’t understand your issue. Are these other accounts a) in your budget, b) tracking accounts, or c) not in YNAB? You should represent reality. If they’re coming through your main YNAB checking account, you can’t pretend like these transactions didn’t happen.
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Superbone I have listed my bank checking account as a "budgeting" account in YNAB. The other accounts are various savings accounts at the bank. I do not want these savings accounts to be part of my budget. a)Should I list them in YNAB as "tracking" accounts?
b) Since all money received goes thru the main checking bank account (labelled as a "budgeting" account in YNAB), what category do I give the transactions when they come in that account, since that money is not to be budgeted but simply transferred out to savings.
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Sky Blue Beat You are complicating things by not having the accounts in your budget. YNAB is made to let categories define your funds’ purposes, not accounts and that is very powerful. But if you insist on budgeting by account then the only reason to have the accounts as tracking accounts is for net worth purposes or as a way to see them in YNAB. If you don’t care about that, just leave them out of YNAB entirely. However, you will have to do as satcook suggested and inflow and outflow through the same category for a 0 net transaction. It doesn’t matter what the category is since it’s a net 0. You could just use the To be Budgeted category. The money comes in for an increase of TBB of $X and then is transferred out for a decrease in TBB of -$X for no change in your budget.
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Sky Blue Beat If the money is truly passthrough, then use the same category for inflow and outflow. Like receiving birthday money for a kid in your name and depositing it to your account and transferring it to their account.
If the money is your income and you are giving it to someone else, then the inflow should be TBB and the outflow a budgeted category.
If the money is something you are saving for future spending, the savings accounts should be on budget.
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Thanks! I will do as advised and add these savings account into the budget. I realized the reason I did not want to, is a word thing: to me (and the dictionary by the way) a budget is a plan for money to be spent. Since I do not want to spend the savings for a long time, I did not want to include them in the "budget". But I guess YNAB's meaning of "budget", is not quite the literal one... Once I understand that, I can go ahead and follow your advice. Thanks!! ;)
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Sky Blue Beat Awesome. Most don't come to this understanding so quickly. Yes, YNAB is equally a savings plan and a spending plan. I personally like to emphasize my savings. Here are a couple of really good articles that lay out the relationship between categories and accounts:
https://www.youneedabudget.com/the-relationship-between-your-budget-your-accounts-its-complicated/
https://docs.youneedabudget.com/article/1679-why-doesnt-my-category-balance-match-my-account-balance
I also like to park as much as possible in my higher yielding savings accounts. The running balance feature along with scheduled transactions (bills and paychecks) help make this really easy to do.
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Superbone Thanks!!
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