YNAB Savings Guide: How To Budget Your Savings 

Anyone else watched enough of this videos they just want to buy Nick a kayak?

I've been watching all your videos, and hope you get those kayaks.

I swear.... I've watch this video at least 30 times, and I'm still learning stuff🤦🏾‍♂️

Thanks Nick. I was frustrated with YNAB on not knowing how to handle savings, but your video clears it up nicely.

Great job breaking down what so many people find confusing about YNAB. It really is trying to help you keep it simple. And if you keep it simple, you'll keep doing it because then it's fun.

I am on my YNAB trial period and without this video I would not have thought about continuing. Good video my friend!

Ok. So I have had YNAB since 2011. I have watched a few of your videos and I swear my brain feels so much smarter. I think I can finally use YNAB for more than just a tool to track my spending. I think I can actually start budgeting!! I think I just got excited. Thank you!

I've watched your whole series and it was instrumental in getting my YNAB up and running. Thanks Nick

I use the “lazy” method throughout the month and then do one transfer at the end of the month to make it all match. I like that because the info is always close and I don’t have to do so many transfers. Otherwise I would be transferring to savings each week and probably get transfer fees. Thank you for the informative videos!

I have spent so much time trying to make this work before finding this video!! Thank you 🙏🙏

I decided to try YNAB because I found your videos when I was looking for reviews on the service. So I am a newbie, but I am going to give the third way to handle savings a go. I'm that person with 7 accounts to keep track of each category of savings & chequing. My fiancé works seasonally and if I don't have stuff sectioned off into accounts we would likely burn through it too quickly. When it comes time to spend the money I will come back and rewatch that part of your video to make sure I don't mess up! Thank you so much for taking the time to produce these tutorials. YNAB and your tutorials are my new budgeting weapons. :)

This video really helped to clear up how to conduct savings in YNAB. Best demonstration by far. Also for those who need separate savings I would highly recommend Ally savings. You’re able to create different buckets to give you a visual of your savings breakdown without physically having all of those savings account. I have a bucket in my Ally to mimic my buckets in YNAB. And the great thing- its only one account. I even have a DO NOT TOUCH bucket in ally and in YNAB

I was about to not subscribe to YNAB because I have not been able to crack how to track savings. The third method of setting it up as a tracking account was EXACTLY what I needed. Now YNAB has a yearly subscription from me. Thank you!

#3 method is best for me! Love love love this tutorial! Thank you!!!

3 years ago and it keeps good and sound! Thank you for this Nick!

Your videos are amazing! These are the videos YNAB should be making, it’s crazy they don’t have anything anywhere near as clear as yours. Thanks for taking the time to make them!

Hi, Nick. I just started using YNAB again after taking an almost two-year break (completing my master's degree and budgeting was a bit too much to do simultaneously). I've been frustrated about how to track my savings accounts without having them reflect in the budget. Using the previous version of YNAB, it was a no-brainer. However, with the all-web version, there's a learning curve. I think your video answers my questions, though you went so fast, I had to repeat several parts to get a clearer understanding. That said, I think that method #3 is the best option for me. I'm a visual person, so when what's showing in the budget doesn't match what's in the side-lined account, I just shut down. Thank you for your expertise!

Nick.... I have been using YNab for a few years and your clear explanation s have made me decide to stick with it.... I just about gave up but I'm a believer. Thank you!

Wohoo! That was AMAZING! I've never got the thing with on and off budget accounts correctly. I've created a "inbetween-categorie" to get this outside the budget and back to the budget thing work. Thank you so much for your clear explanation! Greetings from Germany ;)

Bless this video. I am brand new to YNAB, literally on the 3rd day of the free trial, and was super confused on how to actually determine what I'm saving with it, and this cleared up a lot for me. Also cleared up a lot on how to use YNAB in general. Thank you!!!

Wow! Thank you so much for creating this video! I have multiple savings accounts for different reasons and I was wondering how to do the transferring! Absolutely briliant!

Wow Nick! I just had a lot of "Ah ha" moments watching this! I was also quite confused with how to handle savings in YNAB and this video totally cleared up the confusion. Thank you so much. I'm going to be trying the 2nd YNAB method and the tracking method and see which one works best for me. Thanks again for taking the time to make this. Keep up the great work! 🙏🏾

My God, your video helped me so much more than the YNAB vids. I've inadvertently been using Option 2, and my budget has been thrown off, but I understand why now. Thank you!

The third way works best for me, but I didn’t understand why it would double spend. I kept entering the money from the off budget savings account into the Inflow category. This was so helpful!

I've been looking around on how to do this exact thing and this video answered all of my questions,. Thank you for making this!

Thank you so much! I have been struggling to figure out that last method and you explained it perfectly!!

This video has addressed the primary reason I wanted to start a regular account of where my money is and what to do with it. What you said in the first video I watched is exactly what had happened: hated the tedious and aimless endeavor of assigning every transaction to a category that I was already paid in order to move forward, as the rules of the platform. I have funds that cover months of expenses, and all I want/need to do is ensure my short term goals align with my long term financial plan. Thus, contributions to retirement is the primary goal I want to focus on. As you showed, I called it quits after a couple hours, where I was budgeting Jan expenses, creating havoc in YNAB complying to the rules, without any clear picture of my retirement goals sort or long term (though debating if I should link my actual retirement accounts because I have no clue). Expenses exceeding income isn’t my problem, it’s what do do with that money and what to use it for. I’m going to dive back in after watching a few more of your videos in the event it addresses this: Sincerest gratitude.

EXCELLENT VIDEO!!!! thanks for all your help Nick!

Fantastically explained. This helps a lot. So many different ways to meet people's needs. Thank you very much

Love your videos Nick. I love using method 3 and have been doing so for years. A great explanation of all the methods. You are an incredible You Tuber. Cheers.

after two failed attempts at using YNAB, I finally have a working budget - all I needed was the introduction and this savings video. You are amazing, thank you!

Thank you so much. brand new to YNAB, needed the info on off big savings!

Thanks Nick, these YNAB videos are a life saver. Really enjoying this fresh view of our finances. Keep up the awesome work!

Thanks Nick! I am so grateful for your VERY helpful videos. I am only a couple days into trying out YNAB and was getting frustrated. You are convincing me already what a great tool this is. Thanks! Keep up the fabulous work!

TY TY TY! 4 days into my trial and I was about to end it. your videos are solo helpful. I hope they appreciate you... I know I do!

Very helpful! This is my 4th attempt to set up ynab and this is the very best assistance I've seen so far.

Thank you! This solved all of my confusion!!

This video was SOOOO helpful. Method #2 will make it so easy to track different goals. Thanks!

Thank you Nick. I have had my savings accounts on budget and have been frustrated with the reporting of income expense. I’ve saved for moving, transferred Money from savings back into checking and paid with credit card. Though the money was available the reporting indicates a net going “over budget”. I will make adjustments to for savings off budget. Thank you again for your clear explanation, instruction. It’s appreciated!!!

Thank you for this video! I recently goofed up my budget due to adding a small savings account inside of the budget which made me think I had about $100 more to be budgeted than what I really did. This video helped me identify what I did wrong and how I was going to manage savings from this point on.

I literally spent 15 min with YNAB chat trying to figure this out today. I told him I felt like I what worked for me was a tracking account and he tried to talk me out of it. From now on I'm just going to watch your videos when I have a question!!

Thanks, Nick. You're a lifesaver! I'm a multi-savings account guy and this was sinking me until your video explained it so well.

Brilliant Nick. I prefer option 1 to avoid unnecessary transfers between Budget and Tracking accounts. People should NOT be tempted to look at how much balance balance is left in the bank; instead look in the budget allocation before spending. It requires mindset change and a little bit of discipline to get used to it. But it's totally worth it.

Thanks for this recommendation of this video! It really helped explain some things I was confused about with savings accounts/categories!!!

This was incredibly helpful! Thank you!

These videos really helped me learn the program. Thanks for taking the time, Nick!

Thank you so much for these tutorials! I’m so excited to start saving with my ynab budget :)

man thank you so much for making these videos. Started using ynab about a year ago because of you and it completely changed the way i handle money. Starting to add tracking accounts now and anytime i need to know something about this program you're the person i come to.

Thanks Nick, I was really struggling with how "savings" worked. You're 3rd/tracking method is exactly what in needed. YNAB needs to make you head of their education section. Way better than their in-house videos.

I like the Tracking way for the savings and adding to Assets! I am going to use this and, over time, maybe transition to one account. Thanks for this video!!

I love the way you explain things. Great video.

Wow thank you so much. You have explained everything!!!

I just set up my YNAB and this helped tremendously. I am one of the one’s that has several savings accounts.I was really stuck on this and you have helped. Thank you

Your videos are extremely helpful. I was almost ready to give up. Thanks!

Thank you for this. This has really cleared everything up for me and how to use YNAB to match the way I have been budgeting in real life. Now, YNAB really works for me and my family's financial goals

Thank you for this! I've been watching your videos all day because I'm trying to seriously make a change with how I spend my money. Your videos are incredibly helpful.

This was very well done

Thanks for this tutorial! You've been instrumental in helping me understand YNAB. This video was exactly was what I was getting stuck on. I appreciate having the savings accounts outside of the budget so I can strictly focus on spending what comes into the account. This is especially true since I have my paycheck's direct deposit split into many different savings accounts.

This is a GREAT video. I learned exactly what I wanted to figure out. Thank you!

This was amazing! Obviously i'm doing the hardest option #3 but that's what i was looking for so now i know how to do it

Before this video, I didn't even realize there was an "out of budget" savings option. The YNAB way works good for me for my regular savings (I pay myself every month to supplement my income as I'm a FT student at the moment), but now I realize I can add my two retirement accounts as TRACKING, so that I can finally see my FULL financial picture in one place!! THANK YOU!! P.S. you should put your cute animals in every video. :)

I was referred back to this video (somehow I missed it!) with your mention of it in the YNAB and Profit First video posted this week. As a result, I've stopped working on the latter, and am going back in and changing some of my savings accounts to "Tracking" vs. "Budget" accounts - things like retirement, etc. You cleared up a HUGE question I had that seemed so weird - i.e., trying to budget monthly while dollars from EVERY account (including retirement, etc.) was rolling up into the total available! Let's face it, It's hard to make it work logically when you're showing $ as available that you KNOW you can't really spend! :) As usual thanks for clarifying a question I wasn't even sure I had! YNAB keeps getting better and better the more I learn. I appreciate it, and look forward to finishing the small business video after I move around our savings to the way I really want it! Carolyn & Don Madvig

Great vid. Very well explained.

I've been using YNAB for a number of years and finally committed to the web-based version last week. Found your videos - they are amazing! Concise, clear, and so easy to understand. I thought I had little more to learn about YNAB - I was wrong! Setting up my many savings accounts off budget was a revelation! Method 3 is a game changer!! To think I almost didn't watch this video. I just made the changes and feel better already. Messed up things royally trying to move existing accounts from On Budget to Tracking, but thankfully I'm not afraid of a Fresh Start. On a totally related note - a future video idea: how to move an account from On Budget to Tracking and vice versa. I'm sure it would have been painless process with your excellent instruction! Thanks for all you do.

Awesome... new to YNAB and watched your Quick Start video.. during the Quick Start video was thinking to myself how the money in accounts were tracked into the categories? --this video answered my question!

Thanks, as someone on YNAB trial I learned a lot from this lesson. I tried Toshl Pro on trial, but I felt like it was too complicated and too manual. If I overspend, the app was mad at me. On YNAB I just transfer from envelope to envelope in seconds compared to too manual Toshl Pro. I use just one checking account and one savings account at different bank with 1% interest :) As you said it is so much easier to do this was as you can have other savings on your checking account. Budget will keep everything in order. Thank you for this lesson.

Thank you so much! This was very helpful. I have 3 different savings accounts and was getting very confused how to track the actual balances. Method #2 will work for me!

Beautifully explained. Thank you very much.

This is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you, Nick, for making the world a better place :) Now my savings are in a tracking account and I like that my savings payments are reflected in the reports each month.

Best explanation Nick! I use the 3rd way and keeps things separate since I do the profit first method and set up automatic bank transfers to different accounts.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. YNAB budget accounts was driving me nuts with the "don't need to categorize" transfers between accounts. Thanks Nick, you helped me out a lot. I hope YNAB is compensating you, I was a few days away from canceling my membership because of this confusion you helped solve. YNAB should to hire you.

Nick thank you so much for your tutorials!! I have been using YNAB for 2 months and purchased it with your affiliate link!! Thank you!!

The YNAB beginner video taught me to only budget as income is available (I was trying to budget entire month and not understanding why that couldn't work) and this video finally explained how to manage and track credit card payment including interest in a way that works. Thank you Nick!

THANK YOU! I was confused a few weeks in not realizing I was in the first method that didn't rub my conscience right when my balances weren't lining up. I'm using 2 savings accounts in addition to 1 joint savings. So method three will work with me since my wife adds into our joint savings and I'd like that to be outside my budget. Great clarification. You need to get sponsored Nick. Cheers. Slowly going through your videos!

Awesome video once again! Thank you thank you for making these! :)

Love this, thank you!!! Can you make a video on how you'd recommend handling paying off debts? I can't figure out if I should make tracking accounts for them or not

I'm new to YNAB (second week) but the tracking method is the only one that makes logical sense to me for savings I'm not planning to use soon, like my retirement, emergency fund, and car replacement. Also, I really want to see reports on my savings for these. And then I think I'm gonna use the second method for saving for little things that I'll buy in the next six months. I had to watch it twice just to absorb everything, but you are such a good teacher and I really appreciate your videos. Thanks!

Nick thank you so much for such a helpful video! I only wish I would have found your vids a year ago when I was struggling through figuring this stuff out on my own... I ended up figuring out the out of budget savings technique on my own and this video would have saved me SO much time and headache. Definitely will be recommending your videos to all my friends as I spread the YNAB word 😎

I couldn't figure out why my numbers were off and canceled my subscription out of frustration. I had tried YNAB's videos and googled articles, but something was just not right. Now I'm following your videos to set up my budget and get a fresh start. Thank you for these videos!

Thanks for this Nick. I am definitely one of those people who like multiple accounts and need to use tracking. This process has made YNAB so much easier and more intuitive for me. Thanks for the tutorial and all of your work in this space

Thank you, This was so helpful. This was driving me crazy

Thanks Nick, massive help!

The third option (Tracking) is perfect fo me!

This is another great YNaB tutorial. I tried and failed at YNaB twice on my own. On the third try I got it down with help from your excellent videos! I am gonna be a YNaB budgeting monster, now. Thanks again. #liked #subscribed

You are talented at teaching. I truly appreciate your method of explaining how things work.

Thank you! This gave me some insight and allowed me to simplify my budget a bit. I never thought to deal with my children's allowance accounts and my HSA as tracking accounts. So much easier!

Thank you! I was doing it the “Lazy Way” but I actually prefer the YNAB way. I have one savings account for my big Savings Goals and one for my True Expenses, so having those separate category groups is very helpful

This helps a lot. I have multiple savings accounts in my high-interest account and I typically only use that high-interest checking account when I am spending from those savings accounts. I also have one where I put money aside for taxes. which doesn't need to be in my budget until tax time. I am definitely going with the last option of tracking my high-interest saving account and only spending in the high-interest checking account what that account has reached it's goal.

explained clearly, thanks 😊

ayyyyyy method 3. Hell yes

Wow, this is great - it's given me insight as to how to handle my freelance income, which I currently keep completely separate (paying myself a monthly salary). There are tedious overlaps (like, when I pay for a business taxi I don't carry a business coin purse around - it comes from my personal wallet and then I have to reimburse myself and I'm giving myself a headache just typing about it). Once I get the hang of this (it's my first few YNAB days!), I may add a business account as a separate Tracking bucket.

I been using the tracking way for years on YNAB4 and now just recently found your channel. very informative since I found out there are other ways to use YNAB

Great video, you really are good at explaining things in detail compared to YNAD themselves.

You're a lifesaver my friend! Thanks :)

This video seriously cleared up my confusion from the first tutorial. I’m thinking, why the hell do I need to budge all of my money, I only want to budget the checking account. Anyway, thank you thank you.

You are a gem, Nick True. You are an angel

Fantastic Video Nick!! I just started on YNAB in the beginning of this month..I am very engaged with this process and hoping to reach my goals in a faster way. So I chose to follow your option 2. I have a Savings Acct and I created a Christmas goal of about 50.00 per month. I bank with BofA and I want to leverage my "Keep the Change" option as part of the funding for my monthly goal. So if I moved, let's say, 20.00 throughout the month via "Keep the Change", I will budget the remainder to achieve that Goal from my checking to Savings just as you explained on your video. So far everyday there is an outflow from Checking into my Savings Acct with a Payee named "Keep the change" along with a Christmas Savings Category (makes sense) and then the next day I have Savings Inflow with the same Payee and Category (again makes sense). I am reconciling by EOD to the penny (Finally every penny or dollar is being accounted for). However, the issue I am now encountering, is that the balance of my Savings Account inside the Budget on the left side, is not matching with the overall Balance of the Savings inside my Budget. What I found out is when I click on the Christmas Savings Activity field, I am seeing both the Debits (from Checking) and Credits(Savings) which basically nets out to 0.00. I see that you explained the process around the 14 min mark, but I am accounting for the Outflow from my Checking automatically so I do not need to do the manual entry. Any insight would be much appreciated. Some other Online comments mentioned to cancel the Keep the Change feature, and just budget the money straight forward. I would hope YNAB could account for this option, and maybe it is a Payee or Category assignment issue on my part. Again, thanks for making all these videos, and I will reviewing more of them.

Nick, your videos have been my only resource as I have been getting started with ynab, and so I wanted to say TY! I have watched all of your videos at least twice, I used your link to get my first 2 months free, and I just thought I would let you know how much I appreciate your expertise! :-)

Thanks for another great video. I use a mix of methods 1 and 3: Method 1 for short-term savings goals, method 3 for long-term savings/investments (true "do not touch" accounts). The example in method 3 where someone would actually spend the amount in that tracking account seems messy to me. That person probably should use one of the first two methods, in my opinion!

Nick, one thing missed. The tracking way is simpler if you start from scratch and you have 0 savings to start off. If you already have savings and you set up the starting budget then you won't have a "spending" for this. If you were to spend the money and do a transfer it won't show up in the reports. The only way would be to: 1. Add 10K (example) to your checkings as a virtual starting money 2. Create the tracking account 3. Set spending category immediately and transfer to tracking. This might be really hard because you may not know in what you are spending this.