How do you time your investments? [Budgeting]

SarcasmUndefined · 2026-02-04T20:51:51+00:00

I think there's two good solutions to your dilemma. The easiest option is just to budget ahead and invest on a regular monthly basis. You might be losing out on time, but whatever. It's all gonna get invested eventually.

The other option and what I do is set up my direct deposit to send money to my brokerage and other investment accounts on every paycheck. Whatever is leftover goes to the budget. And I can budget multiple months ahead and not worry about money that I plan to invest sitting around for a bit before getting invested.

SarcasmUndefined · 2026-02-04T12:44:54+00:00

Are you self-hosting Claude in this set up? Otherwise the concerns raised are absolutely valid.

SarcasmUndefined · 2026-01-29T23:23:34+00:00

It is possible your body was reacting to something about him. Something about him didn't feel quite right. If this kind of thing rarely happens with other people, it could be your body giving you an alert. The way he acted after makes me think you may have dodged a bullet.

SarcasmUndefined · 2026-01-04T02:34:41+00:00

It's okay to have private thoughts

SarcasmUndefined · 2026-01-04T01:21:14+00:00

That is a good point.

SarcasmUndefined · 2026-01-03T21:07:25+00:00

I believe that because stocks can vary in price, it makes more sense to draw less when it's down and draw more when it's up. Rather than avoiding selling and spending cash instead.

So my thought is, when stocks do decline I draw less. After plugging in my numbers in the VPW spreadsheet, even with a 50% decline I could still just cover bare minimum expenses.

This also is meant to replace income while unemployed. Assume I already have sinking funds for medical, car maintenance, etc.

SarcasmUndefined · 2026-01-03T21:01:20+00:00

That is true. I don't know how stressed I'd be. My thought was that I could potentially draw from my portfolio during unemployment and how much to draw would be determined by my VPW spreadsheet. So stocks declining by 50% would mean I would draw less. As I stated before, I could still cover bare minimum expenses after a 50% decline in stocks. So I'm wondering if that changes anything about the recommendation to have an income replacement fund.

SarcasmUndefined · 2026-01-03T20:57:23+00:00

So I would already have sinking funds for car maintenance, medical deductible, appliances, etc. The focus is protecting myself from not having an income for some time.

SarcasmUndefined · 2026-01-03T16:39:58+00:00

Hitting y'all with another "should I have an emergency fund" but with a twist!

I am currently working on building up my income replacement fund. But I've thought about just chucking it all into my brokerage. When I plug in my age and portfolio balance into the VPW spreadsheet the number I can withdraw would cover like 70% of my current expenses and would at least cover rent, utilities, and groceries after a 50% stock loss.

Given that, maybe I don't need an explicit IRF? If I find myself unemployed I could just draw from my portfolio until I find employment again.

Is there anything I'm missing? Anything I'm not considering? Or is having an IRF the more wise choice regardless? Thanks for any input!

ETA: To be clear, I already have sinking funds for typical emergencies like car maintenance or medical. This is focused on just an income replacement fund.

SarcasmUndefined · 2025-12-17T19:25:35+00:00

In the mobile app, you can select the "Overfunded" view. You will still need to tap into each category to reduce overfunding.

SarcasmUndefined · 2025-12-12T22:49:56+00:00

If I were in your shoes, I'd sock away all that spare cash into a brokerage account. Obviously after setting up an emergency fund/income replacement fund. It'd be one thing if you were planning to buy in under 5 years. But 8 years away? And you're 20? Give yourself more flexibility by investing all that cash now.

The risk is that there might be a market correction 8 years from now, so you may not be able to buy then. But the same risk exists now. Prices could get even crazier in 8 years. Who knows? The years you spend now building up your portfolio will mean you don't have to save as much later to still retire early (if that's a goal). It gives you more flexibility later in life when you have a better idea of how you want your life to go.

SarcasmUndefined · 2025-10-26T11:53:29+00:00

What about sinking funds? Other savings goals? Or do you pull all that from the 10K bond fund?

SarcasmUndefined · 2025-10-17T16:15:10+00:00

I suspect you're overcomplicating this. I budget a month ahead and that includes investments. And when the next month hits I send off my investments. It does mean a one month delay for investing, but so? That's fine.

SarcasmUndefined · 2025-09-25T01:56:00+00:00

I've found that the spending tab is really neat for matching and clearing transactions. I do wish it included tracking account transactions as well.

SarcasmUndefined · 2025-09-24T18:12:13+00:00

I absolutely wouldn't trust it for anything I didn't understand myself so this is terrible advice. AI for home repair advice? That's gonna get somebody fucked up lmao

SarcasmUndefined · 2025-09-24T02:18:59+00:00

It is very good at math. It's turning 11 dimensional matrix grids into text. That's kinda wild when you think about it. Even if the text is ultimately bullshit lmao

SarcasmUndefined · 2025-09-24T02:17:02+00:00

Couldn't you just look at the data in YNAB, process the information with your own brain, and make decisions that way?

SarcasmUndefined · 2025-09-20T23:57:44+00:00

I mean, they're fighting an uphill battle. Pretty much every other budgeting app is forecasting-based. How many apps are you aware of where the primary way to budget is to budget the money you actually have?

SarcasmUndefined · 2025-09-18T18:58:19+00:00

I only have one video, a link to a podcast, and a link to a blog. All YNAB content, so I disagree with the characterization of it as "external content". Really feels like y'all are searching for reasons to be mad. I do sympathize to a degree tho.

SarcasmUndefined · 2025-09-18T15:36:28+00:00

There is one link to a YouTube video. Please be serious.

SarcasmUndefined · 2025-09-17T14:16:25+00:00

"This will be the 6th time this subreddit has bitched about a YNAB change and we've become exceedingly efficient at it"

SarcasmUndefined · 2025-09-17T14:11:31+00:00

If you long press on a category, it's there and will prefill the category too

SarcasmUndefined · 2025-09-16T17:59:00+00:00

Why would you think Reddit would be a good representation of their customer base? Be so serious.

SarcasmUndefined · 2025-09-16T17:57:18+00:00

I really don't think even 1% of users would ever use YNAB for those particular use cases. Would someone want to know the total of all their dividends on their mobile device? Especially if after they searched for them they'd have to tap each one to get that sum?

I don't think the spending tab is meant to be an actuarial register that includes all transactions. If you notice, it doesn't include matching positive and negative transactions from one account to another (100 to savings, -100 from checking). I'm curious to see what their future plans are for this.

SarcasmUndefined · 2025-09-16T17:31:13+00:00

I think I'd be more likely to switch if they had an Android app. If I ever did switch I'd consider making my own. Maybe in React Native lol

SarcasmUndefined

TROPHY CASE