
Separating savings (I know, I know)
Hey everyone,
So I have been using YNAB for about 2 years now. I have a decent grasp at it but after all the searching and reading I've done I still have a question. I am curious how you all manage your savings when reconciling weekly(or however often you do it). In order to reconcile and get my balances to match I have to subtract the amount in savings from the available amount. Because YNAB includes this in your available amount and my checking does not. It's kind of clunky to me. How do you all ha for this or is this as good as it gets?
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Hi, Pilot! You have a few options that I can see.
One would be to create a category called Savings and put your Savings account balance there, so you are tracking that money in YNAB.
Or you can remove your Savings account from YNAB so that money is no longer included in your available balance.
Or - and this fits best with YNAB's philosophy - you should consider what that Savings money is really for. Is it a generic emergency fund or rainy day money? Is it intended for something like home repairs or a vacation? Then those categories are where you should track the money. And once your money is in the right categories, it doesn't matter which account it's in because the purposes are all tracked in YNAB.
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https://www.youneedabudget.com/the-relationship-between-your-budget-your-accounts-its-complicated/
A savings account is a type of financial product with certain affordances. Just because money is in that account doesn’t mean it is savings.
A checking account is a type of financial product with certain affordances. Just because money is in that account doesn’t mean it’s not for a longer-term purpose.
Your budget tells you what the money is for. The account balances tell you in which financial product it is being stored. Look at the cleared balance in your savings account at the bank, and compare it to the cleared balance in YNAB. If those match, you’re done reconciling.
If the things you are saving for in your budget don’t have as much available as you’d like, move money until they do. These two things are entirely separate.
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Steel Blue Pilot said:
Separating savings (I know, I know)Do you though, really? Do you? 🙂Once you evolve in YNAB, there will be no need to physically separate your savings. (See the link above courtesy of WordTenor.) Categories will do that job. I'm not saying you won't have a savings account with a healthy balance. You should and you will if you continue to follow the YNAB method. The only difference between a checking account and a savings account is the interest earned. Keep enough in checking to pay your bills plus a nice buffer. The rest you can keep in savings and make a little extra dough on the side. Let your categories define the purpose of all funds across all checking and savings accounts.