Financial tracking

[Irving]

Thank you, very helpful. I almost got there by myself, but your advice really helped. I know that YNAB suggests getting rid of extra savings accounts, but I find that if all the money is available, then all the money gets spent. Also, I'm the primary budget-er, so while I generally know how much money is where, no one else really bothers to look at what's available before spending. The two major things I need to do is finish linking ALL of our credit cards first. Second I need to link a budget to each of the individual savings accounts so when I'm moving money around, it's being correctly attached to the corresponding goals. Lastly, I'm importing money from my business whenever I pay myself. I think the easiest way to address that is just to count that money as income. Having the business accounts does add a layer of complexity, but I'm sure I'll figure out what works best.

[Rumline]

You're welcome, glad I was able to help.

You can always add the business accounts as "tracking-only" accounts, so that when you transfer money from it to your bank account, it will treat it as income.

Regarding "nobody else bothers to look what's available before spending" that's a battle I still have to fight with my wife. I installed the YNAB app on her phone and showed her how to use it to check the category balances. She's getting a lot better about checking it before buying something but still isn't that onboard with entering her transactions.

If you decide to stick with YNAB I think you may eventually find that the extra savings accounts are redundant but keeping them certainly won't hurt anything. It'll make it easy to double-check that your most important savings goals match between YNAB and reality.