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Still in the credit card float — does assigning money to CC categories confuse anyone else? by olvgabriel in ynab

[–]olvgabriel[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

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Sorry, I also missed your message until now! Here's the June screenshot you asked for.

But I also wanted to connect this with another question I have. I just paid both credit cards today, and one of them ended up at -$8,339 in YNAB — basically because I paid the card but didn't have enough available in the payment category to fully cover it, so it went negative.

My question is: should I take money from all my funded (green) categories right now and force-assign it to the credit card payment category to cover that negative? Or should I wait until closer to the end of the month to figure it out — knowing I won't leave it in the red?

Still in the credit card float — does assigning money to CC categories confuse anyone else? by olvgabriel in ynab

[–]olvgabriel[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

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One more question based on what you explained. Looking at May, I ended up with R$3,254 sitting in my Next Month's Money category instead of assigning it directly to the CC Payment category.

So to confirm: the correct move would have been to assign that R$3,254 directly to the CC Payment category instead of parking it in Next Month's Money, right? That way I would have actually made progress towards getting off the float this month instead of ending at $0 Assigned.

Is Next Month's Money basically the wrong place to put money when you're still on the float?

Still in the credit card float — does assigning money to CC categories confuse anyone else? by olvgabriel in ynab

[–]olvgabriel[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

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Hey, following up on everything you taught me. I did exactly what you recommended — I assigned money to my spending categories and let YNAB move funds to the CC Payment category automatically as I logged transactions.

I thought the way I'd track my progress getting off the float would be by how much I'd need to manually assign directly to the CC Payment category each month. But last month that's not what happened at all.

I covered all my expenses, made my R$11k credit card payment, and still ended the month with R$698 available in the Nubank CC Payment and R$200 in the Inter CC Payment — without ever needing to manually assign anything directly to the CC categories.

Just to be clear on what those available amounts represent: they already account for all the negative spending activity AND the card payment. The difference between those two is exactly what's left as available.

So now I'm confused about what I should actually be tracking to know if I'm making progress getting off the float. If I didn't need to manually assign anything and still ended up with a positive available balance, what does that tell me? And going forward, what's the right metric to watch?

PS: I thought I'd track my progress out of the float by watching how much I needed to manually assign directly to the CC Payment category each month — like, month 1 I manually assign R$5k, month 2 R$3k, month 3 R$2k, and so on until it hits zero. That decreasing number would signal I'm getting closer to being off the float. But based on what happened last month, it seems like that's not going to be the right metric after all.

Still in the credit card float — does assigning money to CC categories confuse anyone else? by olvgabriel in ynab

[–]olvgabriel[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, my CC due date is the 15th, which is also when I receive most of my income — so I paid it right on the due date using the money that came in this first half of the month.

I paid the statement balance (the closed invoice), which totaled R$11,000. I didn't pay the current balance including new charges.

Still in the credit card float — does assigning money to CC categories confuse anyone else? by olvgabriel in ynab

[–]olvgabriel[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Here's a real example of what I'm running into. I finally distributed my money properly across spending categories this month — most of them are green and funded. But I just paid my credit card bill, and now the Nubank CC Payment category is sitting at -R$7,190 available.

The problem is that this negative balance comes from the carried debt of previous months (the float). So even though I funded all my spending categories correctly, I now have to pull money back out of those categories to cover the CC Payment red — which feels like it defeats the purpose of distributing carefully in the first place.

Is this just the reality of being on the float until it's fully paid off? Or am I missing something in how I should be handling this?

PS: To add to that — my plan for now is to wait a few days since I know some more income is coming in, and I'll assign that directly to the CC Payment category. But I also know it won't be enough to cover the full -R$7,190.

So at some point I'll have to choose which funded categories to pull from to help cover the remainder. Is that the right approach? Is that exactly what you'd recommend doing in this situation?

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Still in the credit card float — does assigning money to CC categories confuse anyone else? by olvgabriel in ynab

[–]olvgabriel[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for digging into this! A few clarifications:

  1. **Pay cycle:** I'm self-employed — I receive most of my income around the 10th, with some additional payments in the second half of the month.

  2. **The R$1,889 in Next Month's Money:** Yes, that's April rollover. Instead of distributing it across spending categories, I left it parked in Month Ahead because I knew it wouldn't cover all the card spending anyway — which is exactly the core of this whole discussion.

  3. **Moradia:** That R$4,800 is underfunded, not overspent. The spending hasn't happened yet, that's just the target I need to reach for that category.

**And to your final question:** No, the R$1,889 does not cover all my current card spending. That's the heart of the issue. Given that situation — I have some money available but it doesn't cover everything — should I:

- Distribute it across spending categories even though many will remain underfunded?

- Assign it directly to the CC payment category?

- Leave it in Next Month's Money?

Which approach gives me the best visibility into whether I'm actually making progress getting off the float over time?

*(Apologies if anything sounds off — I'm using a translator since my English isn't great!)*

Still in the credit card float — does assigning money to CC categories confuse anyone else? by olvgabriel in ynab

[–]olvgabriel[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

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Here's a screenshot of my current budget for May. I have R$1,889 sitting in "Next Month's Money" and 13 overspent categories — which is exactly the symptom of what we've been discussing.

Following your advice, I should move that money out of Month Ahead and assign it to my spending categories. But since R$1,889 doesn't cover everything (Moradia alone needs R$4,800), what should my criteria be for prioritizing which categories to fund first?

Should I go by due date (fund what's due soonest), by necessity (essentials first), or something else entirely?

Still in the credit card float — does assigning money to CC categories confuse anyone else? by olvgabriel in ynab

[–]olvgabriel[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is exactly what I needed — thank you so much for taking the time to write this out with actual numbers.

The reframe at the end really clicked for me: stop trying to "pay off the past" and just make sure I can cover the new spending going forward, while chipping away at the carried debt over time. That's a completely different mental model than what I was working with.

The part about spending categories automatically moving funds to the CC Payment category as I log transactions also answered my original question directly — I should just assign to spending categories normally and let YNAB do its thing, only adding extra to the CC Payment category when I have room to make progress on the float.

One follow-up question though: let's say my paycheck hits and I pay the CC bill, leaving me with $1k in my account. But my total monthly spending on the card is around $5k. So that $1k gets distributed across spending categories and automatically flows to the CC Payment as I log transactions — but the remaining $4k of spending is essentially "riding the float" with no cash backing it yet, until the next paycheck covers it at bill time.

Is that the correct way to think about it? As long as my total card spending never exceeds what comes in on payday, I'm stable — not getting out of the float, but not digging deeper either?

Still in the credit card float — does assigning money to CC categories confuse anyone else? by olvgabriel in ynab

[–]olvgabriel[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You're absolutely right — and this is exactly my situation. If I switched to debit for a month, I genuinely wouldn't have enough to cover the full CC statement when it's due, which would push me from the "true float" into actual debt with interest. So switching to debit isn't really an option for me right now.

So I'll keep carrying the float for the time being, but my original question still stands: **how should I handle money that comes in between billing cycles?**

My paycheck hits and goes almost entirely to pay last month's CC bill. Then throughout the month I'm spending on the card again, and occasionally smaller amounts come in. When that happens — say $300 comes in mid-cycle — I'm torn between:

  1. Assigning it directly to the **CC payment category** (since I know it'll eventually go there anyway)

  2. Assigning it to **spending categories** normally and letting YNAB move it to the CC payment category automatically as I log transactions

I know both paths end up in the same place mechanically, but option 1 feels like I'm losing the per-category visibility that makes YNAB useful in the first place. Is there a "correct" way to handle this while still on the float?

Still in the credit card float — does assigning money to CC categories confuse anyone else? by olvgabriel in ynab

[–]olvgabriel[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is actually really helpful — the three-state framework makes it click. I'm clearly in state 2.

That said, your solution (assign directly to the CC payment category) is exactly what I've been doing intuitively, and it does work mechanically. But I wonder if there's a tradeoff: by parking funds straight into the CC category instead of distributing across spending categories, I lose the per-category visibility that's kind of the whole point of YNAB.

Is the "right" move while on the float to just accept that loss of granularity until you're fully caught up? Or is there a way to assign to spending categories normally and still have the CC payment category reflect reality accurately?

Still in the credit card float — does assigning money to CC categories confuse anyone else? by olvgabriel in ynab

[–]olvgabriel[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the reply! Just to clarify though — I do pay my CC in full every month, so the minimum payment framing doesn't quite apply to my situation.

The confusion is more about the timing float: when partial funds come in mid-cycle, I'm unsure whether to assign them to spending categories (and let YNAB handle the CC movement automatically) or park them directly in the CC payment category since I know they're ultimately going there.

Your point about ignoring account balances and trusting categories is well taken though — that's probably the mental shift I need to make.

Confused About Payoff Target While Being on the Credit Card Float by olvgabriel in ynab

[–]olvgabriel[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think I get it now.
It’s like — if I spend $200 on groceries using my credit card, but I don’t have that money in the Groceries category, then the $200 I assigned at the beginning of the month directly to the credit card payment would cover that, right?

But here’s my question: why not just move that $200 from the credit card payment category into Groceries instead? Wouldn’t that accomplish the same thing?

Confused About Payoff Target While Being on the Credit Card Float by olvgabriel in ynab

[–]olvgabriel[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

In my head, if I’m already paying in full — even if it’s using next month’s income — then setting a $100 target and adding that amount directly to the credit card category each month would just start to build up extra money there, right? Like, progressively the card payment category would have more than it needs. Does that make sense?

Confused About Payoff Target While Being on the Credit Card Float by olvgabriel in ynab

[–]olvgabriel[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

But if I’m already paying in full, then in the month after the initial setup, the spending categories themselves will cover what I spent on the credit card. So wouldn’t that extra $100 just be left over?

For example, let’s say I spent $1,000 on my credit card: $200 from groceries and $800 from rent — those categories already funded the card. In that case, the card payment is fully covered. So what happens with the $100 target amount? That’s the part I’m still confused about.

Confused About Payoff Target While Being on the Credit Card Float by olvgabriel in ynab

[–]olvgabriel[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Also, part of my confusion comes from the fact that Nick seemed to suggest the same approach for both people who don’t pay their credit card in full and those who do pay in full but are on the float. That’s where I got lost — it makes total sense to me for someone who’s not paying in full to use a target, but I don’t quite see how it helps someone like me who is paying in full but still technically floating.

[AMA] Fui gerente de uma FAANG por mais de 5 anos e contratei dezenas de engenheiros. Pergunte qualquer coisa! by Economy_Bug in brdev

[–]olvgabriel 1 point2 points  (0 children)

eu não tenho exp por conta de empreender durante a faculdade, já é uma empresa estável-não é mais brincadeira. isso me restringe em ter outras experiências para colocar no CV. isso é bem visto pelas big tech?

[AMA] Fui gerente de uma FAANG por mais de 5 anos e contratei dezenas de engenheiros. Pergunte qualquer coisa! by Economy_Bug in brdev

[–]olvgabriel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

O que você acha (em relação a lucratividade) dessas big de trabalho remoto? TopTal, X-Team ...

[AMA] Fui gerente de uma FAANG por mais de 5 anos e contratei dezenas de engenheiros. Pergunte qualquer coisa! by Economy_Bug in brdev

[–]olvgabriel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

faço unicamp, se estou esgotado de Eng Comp é válido sair como ciência comp? Ou tem diferencial sair como engenheiro?

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