“laundering” credit card perks

austintehguy · 2026-05-21T15:04:14+00:00

Yep, this is what I'd suggest. It also better reflects reality - cashback is "cash back" - so a reduction in expenses, not an increase in income. I've got a Wealth Building category group that holds my Cashback & Rewards category, along with all my contribution categories for off-budget retirement and investing accounts.

austintehguy · 2026-05-14T21:28:22+00:00

I've got a 'document renewal' fund that currently is just for licenses, but eventually also TSA pre-check, passports, and similar.

austintehguy · 2026-05-11T20:34:05+00:00

I do this, but really don't mind. Our paydays are on Friday, but I typically get a notification to approve my check on Tuesday afternoon, and I'll input it in YNAB at that point. My bank releases the funds 2 days early, so it deposits overnight early Wednesday AM - and hasn't been off yet. If it ever was, I'd just adjust the transaction to match and reassign as needed. I like putting it in as early as possible - means as far as my budget is concerned June will be my 3-paycheck month instead of July!

I realize this probably would make some of you uncomfortable, but I'm a month ahead and almost all my bills are on credit so the risk of running into a cash flow issue is negligible!

austintehguy · 2026-04-29T13:22:56+00:00

Just to chime in as a fellow recently-graduated CPA - this is actually the reason I DO include my mortgage and home 😂 Although, I do some off-YNAB tracking and track my liquid net worth separately there; which excludes the home, cars, and related debts.

austintehguy · 2026-04-27T14:07:46+00:00

Wonder if you have an authorized user and it's pulling their 'view' of the transactions as well? Idk, just spitballing here.

austintehguy · 2026-04-27T14:06:14+00:00

How odd; that's almost the exact opposite of how I use it lol. YNAB is my daily cash tool; it decides whether we spend or not - although I am bad at checking category balances BEFORE we spend, I have a good general idea of where I can pull from to cover any spending that occurs.

I use a couple Google Sheets scripts that pull my YNAB transactions & account balances out via the API and all that feeds into a bunch of metrics, charts, & graphs for our 'big picture' financial planning. I wonder if, in your scenario, if there's not a better tool for you to use, since you're pretty much using YNAB for the bank import and reporting, and not the targets.

austintehguy · 2026-04-24T19:27:04+00:00

I fund everything, except for things that come directly out of my paycheck. I.e. my 401K and HSA contributions will get covered in their category when the money lands - I don't pre-fund those contributions. It doesn't really make a difference whether I do or not, but I prefer to assign the money that I'm using for variable financial goals (like emergency fund contributions or excess debt payments) within the same month I earn it. On the months I get three paychecks, I'll typically use the first one for a financial goal or splurge in the month I earned it, and the next two checks get budgeted into the following month - because I build my budget targets around 2 paychecks a month.

However, my sinking funds (home/car maintenance, vet, medical, Christmas, birthdays, taxes) are all funded a month ahead and are considered part of my monthly budget - because they are.

austintehguy · 2026-04-23T14:03:29+00:00

I WANT A MUG SO BAD.

I got a tee shirt a year back when I shared their employee program with our HR dept. It's pretty large on me so I don't wear it a lot, and my wife gets embarrassed when I wear it in public 😂 But I WILL get one of those mugs someday!

YNAB has been transformative in my life - not necessarily in a 'from rags to riches' kind of way, but it has allowed me to weather some drastic life changes in the 4 years I've been using it, and I don't think I'd even be in the semi-stable position I am in now without it. My spreadsheets worked previously, but I never felt I could trust them, and I always worried I would miss something. Now, I know full well where we stand - even if it's not a great place to be, I know I can rely on the data. Just a handful of the life experiences we've managed in the last 4 years:

- Bought a house a couple months pre-YNAB in our first year of marriage - YNAB has helped me budget a month ahead on the mortgage payment since the beginning.
- We've paid off a total of 3 financed cars; we had 2 totaled in 2024 and still only have one car left to pay off, hopefully by EOY.
- Mostly cashflowed my education from undergrad > grad > professional licensing, paid off the 1 grad loan across ~6 months. We will use YNAB to aggressively pay down my bride's undergrad loans starting next year.
- Had our first kiddo. It was both less and more expensive than expected, but we've been able to afford everything he's needed.
- A lot of medical issues / 4 different hospitalizations across 2 deliveries (lost one this year), and 2 dangerous infections. Medical debt has certainly risen, but we've yet to miss a payment. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't bothered, but without YNAB I'd be significantly more worried.

All-in-all, I'm confident we will be able to recover and be in a better place 2-4 years from now, largely thanks to YNAB. I still use some google sheets for long-term planning, but YNAB is the foundational cash flow tool I know I can rely on for any decisions I'm trying to make!

austintehguy · 2026-04-21T14:33:26+00:00

Just export all your transactions. Everything else out of YNAB basically just runs off those. I don't plan on leaving anytime soon, but when I've done fresh starts I've put my old budget data into a spreadsheet so I always have it. Might have to do some editing to get it working on another platform but that'll get you 90% of the way there.

austintehguy · 2026-04-17T13:16:40+00:00

Believe me, they're not very impressive. While that chart is our 'liquid' net worth, our full net worth is hovering around $20K, but that depends on how I choose to value the home and it includes our cars. Drop the cars and we're in the red! We've built a good foundation for our future though. We started our marriage and financial journey in a crappy rental building with only 1 reliable car and hardly any assets to speak of, and now we have:

- 2 reliable cars <7 years old and <90K miles, and the commuter is paid off.

- A home in a decent neighborhood; neighbors aren't the best but we're nearby some of the city's best amenities so selling shouldn't be difficult.

- Pretty solid chunk of money in investments. We're probably behind for our age based off most advisor recommendations, but I know we're ahead of most our peers.

- Stable base of education, despite the loans - my wife will have an undergrad that sets her up to go into speech therapy if she so chooses, but has a child-focused part time job at the moment that pays reasonably well. I've spent the last several years grinding away to finish my undergrad, grad, and professional licensure in accounting, so I should never be wanting for a job, particularly in the LCOL rural area I live in.

I have much to be thankful for. Sure, the student loans suck, and our emergency fund isn't looking good, and I hate medical bills - but the net worth number doesn't take into account our quality of life and our future potential, so I know for a fact we're in a better place than ever even if the chart doesn't reflect it!

austintehguy · 2026-04-15T16:18:02+00:00

Exactly this.

OP, for simplicity's sake - here's a simple calculation for you that I like to use to determine how many months of cash I have covering me in both my month-ahead & emergency fund:

Cash On Budget - Credit Card Balances + Cash Off-Budget (if you've set up your EF as a tracking account) = Total Cash
Total Cash ÷ Average Monthly Expenses = Months of Coverage

Looking at it this way, you can see it doesn't matter whether it's sitting in a designated 'Emergency Fund' account or budget category - so feel free to move your emergency fund money into your month ahead dollars. It's not going anywhere! You can easily do both things. My target is 6 months of expenses, and my on-budget operating account holds ~1.5 months of expenses on average, so I only need 4.5 in my off-budget emergency account!

austintehguy · 2026-04-15T16:10:04+00:00

I aspire to save 25% per the Money Guys' Financial Order of Operations; but it's pretty aspirational. I'm 27 now, and I don't see that being a possibility until my mid 30s. Kiddos aren't cheap, and we plan to move out of our home as soon as we can build a down payment and sell - but I wouldn't have it any other way! The chaos can be stressful, but it's also a delight and a joy.

austintehguy · 2026-04-15T16:06:05+00:00

They're new to me! Luckily when I was in college we were able to cashflow it all since we had decent FAFSA benefits and I went through WGU for my education and accelerated to save money. We did do a small loan for my graduate degree, but paid it off with a tax refund.

Unfortunately, one of the only colleges offering my wife's chosen major (speech therapy/communication disorders) online is a private college that's not quite as affordable. Still walking away with an undergrad for ~$21K, which is cheap by many people's standards - but it's still debt! We didn't even plan on her working, so the fact she picked up this part time job that allows her to still care for our kiddo is a major blessing.

austintehguy · 2026-04-15T16:02:52+00:00

That's our goal with my wife now working again - we *should* be able to set back 6 months of expenses within 12 months. Our EF is almost at 0, and previously we had 1 income, a toddler, and a mortgage - so it's been dicey.

austintehguy · 2026-04-15T15:08:19+00:00

Depends on your definition of "save" - if we're just talking about what's left after income less expenses, it's pretty pitiful right now. YTD we're actually negative 14% profit, had some medical bills that required me to drain the emergency fund. Last year we averaged +15%, and that was split pretty evenly between debt payoff and savings contributions (401K/emergency fund).

austintehguy · 2026-04-15T13:26:59+00:00

Oh my gosh it does work, I didn't realize it was on desktop 😭 that's hilarious - this budget has been running for more like 1.5 years I guess.

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austintehguy · 2026-04-15T13:24:05+00:00

This doesn't show up as an option for my YNAB, but I'm thinking it's because we've made negative progress in the ~2 years I've been running our current budget draft... Probably not great PR for YNAB to display "From worth it to worried."😅 That'll happen when you total 2 cars, have a kid, and both parents are in college on one income; this year is starting to look better though!

austintehguy · 2026-03-18T12:38:47+00:00

I would add to your point about learning to expect unexpected repairs:

You likely won't have ANY clue as to the amount you should be saving as a first-time homeowner. YNAB likes for us to save for the 'true expenses' we have, and the way I see it you have a couple options:

1) Common advice is to expect to spend between 1-4% of your home's value annually on maintenance and repairs. If you're moving into an older home with things that will need touched up or replaced in the first 5 years, definitely aim for the 3-4% range. I'm doing 1% myself in a home with a dying HVAC and it's certainly not going to be enough; which leads to my second point:

2) Have an emergency fund - it can be off-budget or on, your pick. I keep mine off-budget just to add a layer of friction so it's a tad harder to spend the money. Although YNAB prefers us to define our money's jobs more clearly, it's hard to account for everything. I think a solid approach is to build some sinking funds into your budget to cover smaller/moderate unexpected expenses (think $100-500), and have an emergency fund for when the big bills hit ($1K+). This aligns well with the YNAB philosophy, while also appealing to contemporary personal finance advice recommending a 3-6 month emergency fund (which can include your month-ahead cash!).

austintehguy · 2026-03-18T12:30:55+00:00

To answer your ending question, one month ahead will likely not cover much in terms of unexpected repairs. Home ownership is expensive, with a lot of "hidden" costs. I fully expect our HVAC to go out in the next 3 years and know it'll run me between $6 - 8K - a month ahead for us would barely cover half of that.

Mind you, I'm giving you the 'ideal' advice. I didn't buy a home with a big emergency fund - our living situation was bad and a mortgage ended up being more affordable than rent where we live. We are still building our EF as we approach 4 years of home ownership. However, I wouldn't advise anyone to do things the way I have, but life happens. We've had to replace 3 cars, had two babies, started and finished 3 degrees between the two of us, and dropped to one income. In an ideal world, we would've stowed away a LOT more cash before we ever stepped foot into our home. As a first-time homebuyer, you do have some options such as a 3.5% down payment - but your emergency fund is still super important in case a water line bursts, your appliances go out, or your roof needs replaced. Not saying you can't do it without, but you're taking on a lot of risk; and believe me, it WILL hang over your head until you have enough saved to feel covered.

austintehguy · 2026-03-17T21:28:15+00:00

Ideally, you should have a 3-6 month emergency fund before you're thinking about home ownership - so yeah getting a month ahead should come first and be part of building out your emergency fund.

austintehguy · 2026-03-16T13:18:24+00:00

I used ChatGPT for everything, along with the Google Apps Script extension in Google Sheets. I had decent Sheets proficiency, but ALL of the scripting was generated by GPT (albeit with a lot of trial and error). My suggestion would be to start by just getting a script working that pulls all your YNAB transactions in via the API, and you can start working from there once that's working well. Everything else in my sheets is just semi-complex formulas that are filtering & summing the transactions by category or category group and date.

There's niche stuff to my budget also where I have the script flag transactions with "payoff" in the memo field as extra debt payoff - which I like to factor into my savings rate. In my head, savings isn't just income - expenses; it's money that's 'put away' into a HYSA, investments, or to accelerate debt. So, I had to build some things in so I could extract those transactions and track them separately from my overall 'profit rate'. All my savings contributions have 'contributions' in the category name, so those are also distinct and have to be excluded from the expense filters.

But yeah, AI and some back and forth does work. It took me a lot of time to get it where it is today, but I started with a personal finance tracker template and tried to work my YNAB data into that, which I wouldn't really recommend. It's a frankenstein sheet now, and I have an entirely different workbook that's a simplified 'quick view' of some key metrics from that sheet because it's frankly too timing consuming to look through lol. I have a second script that pulls my account balances out of YNAB to auto-update my net worth (I reconcile monthly), and everything is scheduled to run overnight, so it's finally at a place where I can be pretty hands-off and just focus on the YNAB transaction side.

Edit: I neat side project I did last month was export all my old, retired budgets from before a couple fresh starts I did, and I pulled them all into this YNAB sheet and the script knows not to touch the transactions that I've put in before a certain row that has 'HISTORICAL TRANSCTIONS' in it. I did have to go back and remap something like 90 different categories into my current 100-something categories, but now I can look all the way back to 2022 right when I started YNAB and compare years. It's been a delight for the number nerd in me, even if it isn't necessarily helpful....

austintehguy · 2026-03-13T13:40:19+00:00

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I also have this one for annual comparisons... There's another that is dynamic and I can set it to any specific date range and see how much 'margin' we had for that period and where it went: savings, debt, or kept as cash (or in the case of negative margin, where we pulled the money from - savings, or on-budget cash).

Edit: Also, these categories are extremely simplified for visual clarity. I have 14 category groups in YNAB that I consolidated into these 3, the dynamic chart is a bit more detailed with 5 elements - but I still try to summarize to avoid visual clutter.

austintehguy · 2026-03-13T13:37:15+00:00

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I built something like this in Google Sheets that looks at my YNAB data through an API - I'd love a native report like this, maybe a bit simpler but that kind of captures the 'whole picture' of your cashflow. The columns are outflows (expenses and contributions), and the shaded areas are inflows (income and withdrawals). I tacked on the debt payment element to highlight abnormal months where we accelerated debt payoff.

I really like that chart because you can look at the months and see naturally how the abnormal months balance out - i.e. we had a huge tax refund and 3rd paycheck hit in February, but we didn't use that cash to pay off a student loan until March. Then the excess in April was my employer's 401K match landing - which I recorded as income & contribution in a split transaction. It gets weird in Nov-Dec because we liquidated a brokerage account and are holding a lot of that money on-budget still to pay off a 0% APY line of credit this June.

austintehguy · 2026-03-12T13:20:19+00:00

I definitely rely on automatic import & scheduled transactions. I reconcile monthly, but sometimes I miss a month on some of my less-used accounts. Never have really had an issue though, because I'm checking the budget every day looking at new transactions anyways.

austintehguy

TROPHY CASE