Learn How to Get the Most Out of Targets in YNAB 

so many people have probably asked them hundreds of times lol

I know you don't want to do math, but I think this is it if you want to do it :) Payment amount x 13 then divided by 12.

​​@@trackchik6 this is just one example of where daily/weekly would come in handy. I have requested it as an extra feature a few times. Australia seems to do a lot more fortnightly or 4 weekly expenses

Wow, that's fascinating! I wonder why they work on that billing cycle? I'd do what @trackchik6 suggested, but totally see where you're coming from with wanting even more customizable targets! Dropping a feature request to our developers let's them know what users are wanting in the app, so it's worth a submission if you're up for it! It doesn't necessarily mean that feature request will come to fruition, but if we see the same request coming in over and over, we definitely add it to our list of potential features to consider! Here's that form! ynab.typeform.com/to/Pt6cek?typeform-source=docs.youneedabudget.com 🌻 Hannah

Yay! That was the hope! 😂 🌻 Hannah

That's a great tip!! Worst case scenario: you're ready for that bill a month ahead of schedule. It's a win-win! 🌻 Hannah

So fun!! I love a little YNAB spring cleaning 🥰 🌻 Hannah

Great! The hope was that they'd be more "plug and play" and self-explanatory. Just complete the sentence and you're off to the races! 🌻 Hannah

💃 🌻 Hannah

For real. Sounds amazing. 🌻 Hannah

Well, we arguably also enter "teenage dumb" when we hit 13, so probably not entirely inaccurate 😅 🌻 Hannah

#slayallday 🌻 Hannah

Good point, good point! Another user pointed out that target type doesn't actually matter on consistently priced bills like the internet-valid point 😂 And I guess I'm so used to OVERSPENDING my groceries that I've never even had a scenario where I have money left over at the end of the month in that categories, so that's probably why I do it that way 😂 🌻 Hannah

@@YNABofficial These days it would take a miracle to have extra in the grocery budget!

Word. 🥵 🌻 Hannah

After I set my laptop back down on the desk and evaluated what in the world kind of job I have that let's me hoist a computer above my head like a caveman... me as well, Mindy, me as well 😅 🌻 Hannah

​@@YNABofficialat the end and now I'm yawning. Thanks. 😂😂😂 Have a great day!

Thrust upon you against your will too, I'm assuming. Dang yawns. 🌻 Hannah

Would highly encourage some snacks and fun drinks along with it! Make it a fun little date! 🌻 Hannah

nailed it

Use the "Custom" target with the "Set Aside Another" option and then enter the due date... I think that option will not trigger the target to replenish as you spend from it!! 🤔🤔 I hope this helps! 😄😄

"Needed for Spending" would've been the correct target type to select with our old targets! However, if you make sure your current apps/browser are up to date, you should now be seeing the new target types! The new target types operate on this exact scenario you're talking about: they assume you'll be spending from the category each month, and won't dock you for spending out of a fully funded category. Just like @arambladen3087 said, a custom "set aside another" target type with your wedding date applied will do just the trick! If you DO want to create a more of a "no touchy" type savings target that will prompt you to put more money in if you spend any out of the category, this is where you'll use the custom "have a balance of" target type! If you add a date to it, it will tell you exactly how much to drop in that category each month to meet your target by the time you want, and if you spend from it during the month, it will prompt you to refund the category right away in order to keep up with your savings goal. Hope this answers your question! 🌻 Hannah

Thank you all!!

Oh, that's a fascinating idea! Like "Contribute $200 every month up to $10,000" so when you spend from your home emergencies fund, you fill it back up to $10,000 again at the $200/mo pace? That's a great idea! You should submit that as a feature request! It doesn't guarantee we fulfill that request, but it let's our team know it's a feature people are wanting. The link to submit feature ideas is here: ynab.typeform.com/to/Pt6cek?typeform-source=docs.youneedabudget.com 🌻 Hannah

The segments are weekly targets. It will look different depending on whether it's set aside another or refill up to.

Ok thanks. I don’t have any weekly targets, so I’m still confused!

@@ryanconnolly1718 If you have your categories set for a "Monthly: Set Aside Another" then those segments mean: Left line - Old money budgeted in previous months. Right line - New money budgeted in the current month. I hope this helps! 😄😄

ryan, @arambladen3087 nailed it! It just represents extra money in your category that rolled over into the next month beyond your current month's target amount. This help doc might help you out! support.ynab.com/en_us/progress-bars-a-guide-SkDEhot09 🌻 Hannah

lol, I think the real question here is do iiiiii know mike's mic. And the answer after googling is... I guess now I do 😂 🌻 Hannah

The underfunded button should actually still be quite helpful in this scenario! If all categories have targets with the appropriate due dates and target types added, YNAB's "underfunded" button will determine which categories are most important to fund first (or partially) using only the amount of money in Ready to Assign. After applying the underfunded button in the web app (or before applying the assignment in the mobile app), you can then shift any money around that you'd rather assign differently. So if YNAB decided to fund your "household supplies" category with the auto assignment, but YOU would rather wait to fun that category and put all your extra money toward your "groceries" category first, you can make that change post-assignment. Still takes a little time, but worth playing around with! 🌻 Hannah

I use weekly target and divide the biweekly amount by two. That way I can overfund in the first week or double-fund in the second week. Either way YNAB keeps me reminded. It's the same amount either way, and if you're working towards Rule 4 it eventually won't matter.

I would do the same Eric just suggested! If I need to pay my nanny $800 every two weeks, I'll set a weekly target for a $400 weekly amount. This makes sure that I'll be setting aside $400 each week for the nanny, equaling $800 every two weeks. Even better is that if the bill is always due on a certain day (or, for example, I always pay the babysitter every other Friday), YNAB will account for how many Fridays are actually in that month, making sure I set aside $400 each time-this is good! You may find you have some "extra" money sitting in this category for a while, but it's not truly extra, because eventually-when I finally hit that inevitable month where I need to pay the babysitter three times instead twice-I'll be fully prepared. I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any more questions on that approach! 🌻 Hannah

If you are using YNAB, it does not matter if all of your money is in one account or ten. You budget all money into the categories (and create targets) , no matter where the money is held. If this is difficult to understand, you may wish to take some of of their learning courses.

One of the big benefits of YNAB is not having to have a whole slew of different accounts. The categories serve this function. If dollars are assigned to a savings category, those same dollars can't be utilized elsewhere (assuming you're using YNAB as intended, not overspending your categories.)

@dpayne1943 is all over it! With YNAB, which account your dollars are stored in doesn't actually matter-it's the categories that keep your dollars organized. Anytime you spend money (like on groceries), you'll record that transaction and categorize it to your groceries category, which it will then subtract what you spent from the available total. This ensures that you are indeed ONLY spending grocery money on groceries, and not accidentally spending away your vacation savings or your emergency fund on bananas. If you would like to make sure checking account dollars are only assigned to certain categories and savings account dollars are only assigned to certain other categories, I'd encourage you to group all of your savings categories into one larger savings category group. You can then select the entire category and ensure that the "available" amount for the category matches the account total in your savings bank account. However, I personally just make sure I always have enough money in my checking account to do my general spending, and outside of that I don't pay much attention to which bank account my dollars live in-YNAB is the thing that tells me which dollars I'm allowed to spend on what! I hope this helps! Let me know if you have more questions! 🌻 Hannah

The simple answer is no. If you just started YNAB, you start from that point and move forward with what you have available in your bank accounts... If you have been tracking your spending somewhere else (like on a spreadsheet or a budget book) before YNAB, then that should be your reference to your future spending!! There is no completed/perfect month, there's always something that will derail the budget one way or another!! That's why it is up to YOU to ensure your months go as smoothly as you possibly can!! I hope this helps 😄😄

Hi there! YNAB is focused on handling the dollar we have right now, so we encourage users to start from right where they are the day they start their trial and not worry about past spending/income. What I would encourage you to do instead is set up a target for each category for the amount you expect to spend in that category (make your best guess for now, and adjust overtime as your spending trends become a little more clear). Once you've fully fleshed out all the targets in your spending plan, you can select all categories and look at the dollar amount on the "underfunded" button in the Auto Assign menu. This amount tells you how much money you would need to fund a month's worth of your expenses/savings according to your targets! You can then evaluate and adjust from there as you like. I hope this helps! 🌻 Hannah

Yes, exactly! So, say, if you were to overfund a category one month using the "refill up to" option, once you hit the 1st of the following month, YNAB will recalculate how much is needed to add to that target after accounting for the rollover from the previous month. 🌻 Hannah

If you will reliably spend the category down to $0 every month, it really does not matter what you pick. The options are instructing YNAB whether or not consider leftover money when setting the targets the following month.

She did say you can change the target if you know which target option to use! For people who are confused about which one to use (since this is a new feature to all YNABers), it is recommended to use the "Set Aside Another" option until they figure out which target option is for what category!! I hope this helps! 😄😄

Okay, good point good point, I'm picking up what you're putting down. I suppose for something like the phone bill or the internet bill, it actually does make more sense to use the refill up to option since you don't even need to "build up" a back log of cash in there. For things like the electric or water bill, which I never know how much they're gonna cost, I like "set aside another" so that some extra can build up in there like you also said, but you make a very good point! I think I thought "set aside another" made sense because there would never be any reason my internet bill would be charged *more* or *less*, so might as well set aside the exact amount every time, BUT... a "refill up to" target does this too. And in the off-chance that I did ever get a random discount on my internet bill, it would credit that extra to next months target. So... you sold me! @monchichi4545 is also right, that with consistent bills that you spend down to $0 every month, the target type doesn't really matter. So I suppose just follow your heart on those! 😂 But, great point! 🌻 Hannah

​definitely agree, that is the point, in the end: with fixed, predictable expenses, the type of target doesn't really matter after all 😊 Actually, the REAL point is... keep up the excellent content please, these videos are awesome!!

Haha! Well, THANKS! And thanks for being an active, thoughtful listener! Keepin' me SHARP 😂 🌻 Hannah

Choose $200/month & "set aside another $200." This should build the dollars in the category during the cheaper months to have extra $$ for the more expensive months.

You can still accomplish this. Set the target to your highest electrical bill ($400). Then, set it to refill up to $400. That way, in your months where the amount is lower, you'll have to put less in there the following month to refill it. When the big $400 rolls around, you'll already have that much saved up!

@@MrsSauer-vh6kh Thanks, That is what I am currently doing. Thought it would be nice if there was a way to have YNAB roll the extra into the next year

The money will rollover to the next month in both cases, whether you use "set aside another" or "refill up to"! The difference is that a "refill up to" target type will take the rolled-over money and apply it back to meeting your target for the next month, where as the "set aside another" will simply keep that money in that category *in addition to* fully meeting the target on top of that. If I have a target set for $100 on a category this month and I spend $50 out of it: - a "refill up to" target type would put that remaining $50 toward my target for next month and only prompt me to add another $50 to the category, leaving me with $100 in that category next month. - a "set aside another" target type would still retain the $50 of rollover, but prompt me to assign ANOTHER $100 to meet my target, leaving me with $150 in that category next month. Hope that helps! 🌻 Hannah

Crystal clear, thank you Hannah!