I'm a big fan of YNAB.

Being fully automated would certainly be nice, but grabbing a set of CSVs from my bank once a month is a not a big deal and the software does a reasonable job of matching categories once it has some data.

>'Unless you're a multimillionaire, you can probably benefit from using it.'

I'd imagine so.

What I think makes YNAB really valuable is that is that it's loose enough so as not to become a mess if you aren't consistent and exacting about keeping it up to date.

You're going to get something out of it even if you don't bother to create a specific allowances. Simply going with suggested categories and generating a budget based on prior outflows will provide a useful perspective.

I used Mint for a number of years, but the automated stuff was constantly wrong and the passive downloads broke all the time after Mint switched away Yodlee's data aggregation.

I tried for years to use Mint, but it's too passive. Too easy to ignore. With YNAB, every purchase goes in when we make the purchase, and I found it keeps us more honest about our budget estimates and also helps to curtail frivolous spending.

To each his own, of course.

I have yet to get it to balance any month too. Some categories (e.g. clothing) we work on an annual budget, so overspending in these categories rolls forward; that doesn't seem to work smoothly.

My partner can't get her head around it at all, which is a bit of a bummer.

What I'd like is a much simpler system based on the old T account (envelope accounts are similar) where each category functions as a virtual account, showing what was spent, inter-category transfers and overall status.

There is also other random income that's not income. In the UK it's common for savings account interest to be paid back into the linked current account. For me that's not income to be spent each month, that's money to be re-invested.

None of this addresses ease of use though - or does no one else (or their partner) find YNAB confusing and difficult?

It should be uncomplicated once you grok it. I signed up for their free course. It helped.

I thought no one did that anymore ?

That's very clearly not what we're talking about here. I wouldn't be surprised if (for personal use, not work) the "bubble" is a more accurate descriptor for those who _do_ need desktop software. The only people I know who use anything on the desktop beyond their browser are software engineers, PC gamers, and people who use niche software, all with a quite-above-average level of computer-savviness.

Walk through an office building, Work+Excel are still the software of the day in most businesses.

Aaaand that makes it the third time that it's been clarified that this conversation is about personal usage, not office work. Jesus dude...

I'll take your downvote (on this and my earlier comment, in the ten minutes since I've posted this) and lack of a response as an admission of your error. It would be nice if you could express that in a less juvenile way though...

http://www.youneedabudget.com/support/article/linux-installa...