At this point you don\u2019t actually need to budget anything, you just need to try and make sure everything you ever expect to spend money on is included in the list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once you\u2019ve included anything, it\u2019s time to assign all available money in your bank accounts to various items in your \u201cbudget\u201d. We\u2019ll compare how you do this in YNAB vs Mint in the next section.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Making a Budget: Mint<\/h2>\n\n\n\n Mint is a bit old-school when it comes to budgeting. This is because it uses the standard approach of assigning a \u201cgoal\u201d for each bill. Meaning, you assign it a monthly limit you want to keep it under.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To get started with creating a budget in Mint, select Budgets<\/strong> from the menu, <\/p>\n\n\n\nNext, select the Create a Budget<\/strong> button. <\/p>\n\n\n\nYou\u2019ll select each category (budget item) one at a time, assign the recurrence of that bill, and the maximum amount you want to spend (or have to spend) for that bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You\u2019ll need to do this for every single budget item that you either have a bill for, want to save for, or investment you want to make.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This really is no different than a standard budget you might create in Excel. The only difference is that Mint brings in your actual spending patterns over time and then compares your actual spending with those budget spending goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What you\u2019ll notice is that the end result of Mint is this: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
You\u2019ll know when your overall spending is getting out of hand before the end of the month.<\/li> You\u2019ll see which budget items you\u2019ve overspent on each month.<\/li> Mint tends to induce a lot of guilt since overspending on budget items is often inevitable.<\/li> Handling unexpected expenses in Mint is difficult and adds to your financial planning stress.<\/li> The bill notification emails from Mint can get annoying if you don\u2019t turn them off.<\/li> Overall, the budgeting interface and process is complicated and time consuming.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\nMaking a Budget: YNAB<\/h2>\n\n\n\n Making a budget in YNAB is going to set your head spinning at first. This is especially the case if you\u2019ve always used the old-school monthly budgeting approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you\u2019re expecting to \u201cassign\u201d a monthly amount to each budget item at the start of the month, you\u2019re going to have to relearn everything you\u2019ve ever thought about making a budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The YNAB approach is that you\u2019ll only plan out your spending as far into the future as you can with the cash you currently have on hand. \u201cTo be Budgeted\u201d gets loaded with more funds any time you receive a paycheck or any kind of positive cash flow into your bank account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You\u2019ll need to go down the list of your budget items and assign pieces of those \u201cTo be Budgeted\u201d funds to each budget item that is due the soonest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As you work down the list, you\u2019ll need to make sure only to assign funds to those things where the due date is coming up the earliest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once your \u201cTo be Budgeted\u201d amount is drained, you\u2019re done until the next time you receive a paycheck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The other side of budgeting is assigning which categories your recent spending appears in. You\u2019ll need to do this nearly every time you log into YNAB by selecting each bank account and assigning which category each item belongs in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over time, as you assign your spending activities, you\u2019ll see that activity subtracted from the amount that you budgeted for those.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is where YNAB gets very interesting. If you overspend in a category, you\u2019ll see that in red. You\u2019ll actually need to cover this overspending by either assigning more \u201cTo be Budgeted\u201d money to it (if you have any left), or reassigning funds from other budgeted categories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What you\u2019ll notice is that the end result of YNAB is this: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It forces you to control spending in your categories (like dining out) so that you don\u2019t have to \u201csteal\u201d money from other categories that are important to you (like saving for a car).<\/li> Assigning incoming funds to budget categories feels like you\u2019re actually spending that money, which forces you to be more realistic about your spending.<\/li> YNAB helps you build savings in different categories of your budget, and promotes pride when you actually accomplish that.<\/li> Not having imported due dates for bills forces you to track due dates in another system, so that you assign your available funds to the most critical bills first.<\/li> The underlying psychology of YNAB budgeting makes accumulating funds in your bank accounts come naturally.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\nYNAB Vs Mint: Overall Comparison<\/h2>\n\n\n\n So when comparing YNAB vs Mint, which one wins? In this case, there\u2019s actually a very clear winner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mint is built upon the old fashioned concept of making a monthly budget, setting goals, and then beating yourself into submission with guilt as you fail every month. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mint does have the benefit of being integrated with every single bank account and company that you have bills with, but with that integration comes an enormous security risk. Should anyone ever hack Mint servers, every single one of your financial accounts are vulnerable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
YNAB, on the other hand, uses a very innovative approach. It literally makes you plan out all incoming funds the moment you receive them. If you want to save money, you need to make sure all bills that are due before your next paycheck have money assigned to them before you set aside money for savings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The benefit to this is that you\u2019re no longer looking at your bank account to decide if you can afford something. You\u2019re looking at your budget. If you haven\u2019t allocated money for that brand new couch, you\u2019re going to have to steam money from something else that may be equally important to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That is the secret behind why YNAB works so well, and why it\u2019s clearly the winner over Mint, hands down.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Creating a budget is one of the first things people learn to do when they start \u201cadulting\u201d. That is, if they want to stay on top of their growing list […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":71711,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ub_ctt_via":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-71710","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-software-reviews"},"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.online-tech-tips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/YNAB-vs-Mint-Which-is-the-better-budget-app_.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Ryan Dube","author_link":"https:\/\/www.online-tech-tips.com\/author\/rdube\/"},"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\t
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