If you buy this software, you must understand and follow this rule. Rule Three is that you should prepare for the future by budgeting additional money into categories that will have large irregular expenses.

I think it's a great program, with solid concepts. It almost feels like it's been programmed in (god forbid) Visual Basic or something. I've been using it for a couple of months now and everything seems to be going smoothly. I really like having the transaction tracking and budget tracking in the same software instead of managing it in 2 different places.

Basically you can save up money for a future expense, or just increase your savings. When I saw this section in the video tutorials on the YNAB website, I was sold on the spot -- this meant that I no longer have to keep such things in my head or cringe at my credit card bill when a big expense was due. It also gives you more control over what transactions are imported. My bank overdraft fees were signaling poor record keeping but I wanted more than a Quicken check register - I wanted to easily track my savings goals without resorting to cash envelopes!

Daily progress and measurement is essential when dealing with a budget or debt. One mistake can cost you months of work and really throw you off. For what this software does, there is absolutely no reason to need the check number. The software is incredibly difficult to work with credit cards, as it does not keep track of interest rates, and payments to those cards are very difficult to manage. Overall, though, it's hard to beat the power and simplicity of this program. While it's not immediately intuitive, to anyone willing to understand the "YNAB Way" and work with the four rules, this software program can provide powerfully simple assistance in budgeting. The start-up guide was extremely thorough and practical; I understood it despite not having much of a financial background. The money spent is nothing compared to the hours per week I save doing finances. I personally develop software. I find this software to be incredibly sound, thorough, and succinct.

Instead of spending blindly and wondering where all our money went, we now know exactly where it went, but more importantly we know ahead where it is going. YNAB makes all of this easy to keep track of, but as mentioned by other reviewers it isn't a miraculous "fix it" program.

I have savings about twice that, and I live well within my means. However, I wanted to get back in touch with my budgeting because I mainly do it in my head, and it can get stressful because I "budgeted" by limiting my expenses at all times.

I have joked for a while that I have been an unfortunate "slave" to Quicken for a few years! I HATE QUICKEN!

I consider myself fairly financially savvy. I understand financial concepts very well and have worked in finance for some time. For a while, I learned to write macros in Excel and started creating my own envelope system spreadsheet, but I was always searching for something else to make things simpler. Apparently the Quicken 2008 will allow for a more envelop budgeting experience, but I'm not going back.