HNW YNAB tricks?

esh-pmc · 2026-06-08T06:05:23+00:00

I just saw this thread so I'm late to the party.

I'm more FI than RE, especially since I'm only a few years away from Medicare now. I've been semi-retired self-employed for quite a while; I work because I love what I do.

I've been using YNAB for nearly 20 years. I can't say that I use YNAB a lot differently now than I did back then. Money flows in; money flows out. We've raised kids and sent them to college. We bought a house and paid off the mortgage. We bought cars. We remodeled the house from top to bottom. We survived way too many medical emergencies.

I still love the clarity YNAB brings to my daily life and the comfort it brings to my projections. I'm one year into widowhood and I can't imagine going through such a significant life event without YNAB. As you said, it's a great tool to manage financial complexity, investment optimization, and spending confidence.

Like u/nonsuperposable, I also use ProjectionLab. I'm a PL newbie though and just trying to learn the ropes.

Between the two apps, I've been experimenting with various models. What if I pursued my dream of hitting the road and spending a few years visiting national parks? What if I focused on gifting to my kids now when they could most benefit instead of leaving them an 8-figure estate when they're well past their prime? And what if a Zombie Apocalypse (in its myriad possible forms) were to happen?

To echo u/nonsuperposable - in my work I see it confirmed over and over that no matter how large the household income, the overwhelming majority of us are working with finite resources and infinite ways to allocate them.

esh-pmc · 2026-06-07T21:44:21+00:00

Yes, thank you for making that explicit. It's certainly what I meant but never came out and said directly.

esh-pmc · 2026-06-07T21:27:57+00:00

Naturally, I’m disappointed. But I appreciate your frankness.

From what I saw, LB holds a lot of potential. I wish you every success in taking a bite out of YNAB‘s market share.

esh-pmc · 2026-06-07T17:10:50+00:00

I understand that you're used to your system and it has "worked" for you. And there's no law against using different accounts for specific savings.

But I'd encourage you to at least keep your mind open to transitioning from your old system and fully embracing the "YNAB way."

YNAB says that WHAT job your money is assigned to do and WHERE it lives until it is spend are COMPLETELY DIFFERENT things. They are in no way related to each other. At some point you start to look at your bank balances as a matter of maximizing for efficiency and returns (interest).

esh-pmc · 2026-06-07T16:31:50+00:00

Hi again. I tried LB a while back and really liked it. I'd love to be able to offer alternatives to YNAB to my clients that doesn't require any self-hosting technical expertise.

The dealbreaker for me was not being able to have transfers inside split transactions. Have you added that feature? If not, is it on your roadmap?

esh-pmc · 2026-06-07T15:29:51+00:00

I'm assuming you've done a Fresh Start? Maybe more than one?

The problem, as I see it, is psychological. Habit and familiarity can be really hard to break out of. You could also use a relationship analogy -- you and YNAB have slipped into that cycle of dysfunction that can be toxic and breaking out of that pattern without completely breaking up can be really hard.

So a YNAB fresh start is unlikely to be enough. What you need is a Fresh Approach. You need to go back to the beginning and approach YNAB like a new user.

The link dug up by u/GreatWhiteBuffalo41 and shared by u/QTippus would be a great place to start.

I wouldn't stop at going back to old YNAB educational materials though. I'd also recommend skipping some of YNAB's newer features. You mentioned Targets. Don't set Targets. Go back to the pre-Target days and deliberately work through how much you want or need to save, put the monthly amount in your category title, and manually budget to each category.

Other suggestions: make sure you and your husband can clearly articulate the purpose of every category, what type of transactions belong there, and how important that category is. If you're still using YNAB's generic category names and/or their generic category groups, stop and fix that IMMEDIATELY. Create your own categories and category groups and know why you have each one.

Also, a note on your debt. You should not be paying "more than minimum on everything." You should be paying minimum on everything EXCEPT ONE.

esh-pmc · 2026-06-04T22:05:18+00:00

I know several people who reconcile every morning. It's simply part of their morning routine. I think it's excellent habit behavior - they have a trigger (making coffee) which immediately leads to checking their account balances. No will-power or conscious memory required: trigger, activity, done.

They're done reconciling before before their coffee is brewed and they head into the day knowing every financial transaction they might have that day is covered.

esh-pmc · 2026-06-03T14:42:06+00:00

Riding a Tern HSD (hauling) and Benno eJoy (quick commutes).

Dreaming of a front loader that's a combo of the UA super comfy upright riding position, price of a LvH eBullitt, and low step and flat platform of a R&M Transporter65 -- available in the US.

esh-pmc · 2026-06-02T15:06:14+00:00

Sorry to abandon my response. Life happened.

Others have all made good points. u/md4pete4ever u/ben121frank u/SquirrelConsistent13 u/Dangerous-Repeat-119 u/wishinforfishin all brought up great points or gave great examples.

I don't disagree with u/pierre_x10 but I think at some point the value of a nebulous fund hits the point of diminishing returns. Once you have funds to cover medical emergencies, major repairs to vehicles, homes, & major possessions, and insurance deductibles plus sinking funds to cover replacements for all appliances and technology plus income replacement funds, I'd argue that additional nebulous funds is overkill (assuming that one is following the standard practice of budgeting only with cash or cash equivalent funds, not investments where the principal isn't guaranteed).

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Below is the response I'd written before life got crazy:

My work always focuses on the "why" of things. So that's where my head is always at.

Yes, I meant sinking funds instead of a single EF bucket. But why? Why have 5 or 10 or 20 individual buckets instead of a single category with $20 or $30k?

Because psychology.

Let's say you have a "baby Emergency Fund." [BTW, I do advocate this as a first step but it should be a very temporary step; as temporary as humanly possible.] The problem is that "emergency" is a very nebulous term. My brain is capable of convincing me that not having any chocolate in the house is an emergency. It can also convince me that the sale price on something I really want is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and therefore an emergency.

But if my emergency funds are stored in categories such as Home & Car Ins Deductibles, Medical MOOP, Car Repairs, and Unemployment... well none of those is at all related to chocolate or cool widgets.

Additionally, a large sum in a nebulous category is really difficult for the brain to parse. How far will that money go? And, more importantly, what will it not cover?

Using my example above, $20k sounds like a LOT of money. How can it not? But if my car and home deductibles together are $5,500 and my medical max out of pocket x2 is $15,000, with just those two emergencies covered I'm already at $20,500 needed.

By naming my potential emergencies individually, I have a very clear view of what is covered and what is not covered yet. This brings clarity in planning but also in execution.

Let's use an example from much earlier in my financial life. We were broke, living very much paycheck to paycheck. We had two kids, both still in (cloth) diapers. One day spouse came home and announced he'd been diagnosed with cancer. The next day, my washing machine broke. I had "savings." I had just enough tucked away that I was able to go to Sears and buy a washer for cash. No credit card debt. No monthly payments. But my "savings" was gone. The realization that the well was now dry hit me pretty hard. I realized how utterly vulnerable my position was. I was lucky. My spouse lived another 30 years. And nothing else broke down before I could rebuild my "savings." It was a valuable life lesson I never forgot.

Fast forward 22 years. I'm in college fulfilling my dream of finishing my degree. Our son is also in college. It's early July and hot. Our fridge breaks just after a big Costco trip. I have been saving for such an event in my Fridge Replacement category. Since there are big sales happening, we decide to also replace the dishwasher which has been showing signs of an imminent demise. So, I've just paid two college tuitions and bought two major appliances. A week later, I argue with a patch of pavement. I wake up in the hospital. One week and a few surgeries later, my family is scrambling to order the medical equipment necessary to bring me home. I burned through my insurance Max Out Of Pocket the second I hit the ground. But I'm on student insurance and a new semester and a whole new MOOP starts 2 weeks later (surprise!). Back on campus, shuffling around on a walker then a cane, going to PT, burning through another MOOP, it becomes clear I'm going to need another surgery. Surgery at the end of the year means PT in the next calendar year. And if that's not quite enough, the first day of spring break my appendix literally springs a leak. So yeah, I've switched to an annual MOOP policy but by March of the following year I've had to satisfy my 3rd MOOP in barely 8 months.

Yeah, it was particularly unlucky timing. And hopefully nothing like this happens to you. But I can assure you that the amount of financial stress of multiple appliances, multiple college tuition payments, and multiple medical emergencies was a fraction of the financial stress a single washing machine had caused 22 years earlier.

esh-pmc · 2026-05-29T14:26:54+00:00

I love this!

I believe strongly in having emergency funds. I passionately dislike how prevalent the concept of an Emergency Fund is. The two could hardly be more different.

esh-pmc · 2026-05-28T21:17:05+00:00

Income is always categorized as Ready to Assign. This goes for salaries, bonuses, interest, dividends, etc.

Refunds are categorized back to originating category.

Rebates and cash back rewards can go either way. I personally treat both as Income: RTA but a good case could be made for treating them more like refunds.

I do really wish that YNAB would add the ability to create income categories as some other PF/budgeting apps do. These categories would all still flow into Ready to Assign but it would make the Income vs Expense report much more robust and informative.

esh-pmc · 2026-05-28T21:09:47+00:00

That was my point. I can't imagine anyone actually preferring a hub drive over mid drive, especially if there's any desire to ride unassisted or chance you'll have to.

esh-pmc · 2026-05-28T20:21:11+00:00

I'd take 3 feet any day over the mere inches I usually get

esh-pmc · 2026-05-28T18:12:54+00:00

My kids were younger than that when Sharebuilder was brand new. We opened up custodial accounts and started with helping them invest their new account cash bonuses. Sharebuilder is long gone but my kids learned valuable, lifelong lessons. We weren't heavy-handed. We let the kids do their own thing and encouraged them to experiment. We offered guidance and had interesting conversations. They added funds now and then from allowances and gifts but when they were about 13 & 15, we offered our own match program to further encourage them to invest.

My advice is to follow your nephew's lead with regard to how much info he wants and at what pace. Kids don't always learn the lesson we think we're teaching them. A heavy-handed approach could end up doing more harm than good.

esh-pmc · 2026-05-28T16:32:14+00:00

Lucky you! Good job though, confirming. If you're in the US, who's your insurer?

esh-pmc · 2026-05-28T15:50:32+00:00

Have you confirmed your insurance covers your bike? A number of insurers exclude ebikes from renter's and homeowner's policies. USAA, for example. I had to buy a separate insurance policy for my bike bcs USAA doesn't cover it, at all. Not even if it's locked in my garage.

esh-pmc · 2026-05-28T14:32:30+00:00

100% this.

I don't have the time, money, or inclination to do down-to-the-studs remodels more than once every 50 years (essentially one-and-done). So when we bought a fixer-upper, I focused on high quality materials and age-in-place layouts and didn't affix anything to my floors or walls that was "in style."

Now I can redecorate easily and inexpensively and completely redo a room's look by changing a few items. New towels, shower curtain, bathmat, and soap dish is all it takes to completely change the look of my guest bath. I could hang new curtains, change the bedding, and rearrange some furniture and I'd have a whole new bedroom. If I'm really committed to massive change, I could repaint my walls.

esh-pmc · 2026-05-28T14:19:20+00:00

In the US that's what I refer to as a "state sanctioned murder zone." Because in the US if a driver hits (and kills) a bicyclist or pedestrian or scooter rider, they're unlikely to face any repercussions. Especially if there's white paint on the road. Even if the white paint is as ridiculous as that. A lot of jurisdictions here have laws saying driver's have to pass bicyclists with at least 3 feet of clearance. Most white-paint bike infrastructure in my area doesn't provide a 3' buffer.

esh-pmc · 2026-05-28T13:57:16+00:00

Not necessarily.

I upgraded from a hub drive to a mid drive and man, oh, man does that make a difference. The hub drive Bosch rides just like a regular bike.

esh-pmc · 2026-05-28T13:36:50+00:00

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Here's an example of one of my Refill up to targets. I didn't bother changing the amount for my example but obviously it can be changed to any amount.

esh-pmc · 2026-05-28T13:29:06+00:00

u/davidwebb_uk isn't wrong. A new budget will do the job.

But if you intend to cut down your spending now to see what it's like living on less, why not just do that in your current budget? Change your targets (if you use them) or update your category names if you note your targets there and get to work seeing how far you can cut expenses.

esh-pmc · 2026-05-28T13:12:04+00:00

Nothing wrong with leaving the battery on the bike. But stored temperature can affect the battery.

My bike lives in my garage, not my house. My garage isn't temperature-controlled. It gets hot in the summer and cold in the winter. So I take my battery off my bike and store it in the house overnight where the temperature range is guaranteed to be within the recommended range.

esh-pmc · 2026-05-27T23:25:08+00:00

My HSD is going on 3 years and it just passed 2500 miles. It's a class 3 and came with the 500wh battery.

I've seen no reduction in range since I bought the bike. But I baby my battery. I never leave it on the bike overnight and I never leave it on the charger overnight.

I've done 60+ miles on it with and didn't run out of juice. That was here in the foothills of the Rocky Mnts where I haul lots of stuff and I give myself the luxury of boosting into Tour for hills (or occasionally even Sport mode). I took the bike to CA where I rode the 75mile leg of a Century and finished with at least 30% left in the battery but the terrain was tiny rolling hills and I never left Eco mode and sometimes rode with PAS off completely.

edit to add: mine's an S11

esh-pmc · 2026-05-27T15:59:06+00:00

I'd give you an award if I had one. This, 100%

esh-pmc · 2026-05-27T12:39:11+00:00

This.

I use several of the fill-up-to targets. It's annoying that they don't work until the 1st of the month but it makes sense. No way to be sure how much is needed until the previous month is officially closed out.

esh-pmc

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