如果您从未使用过预算服务You Need a Budget ( YNAB )，那么您可能不熟悉被称为零和预算的预算概念。
零和预算的强大功能以及 YNAB 对其的有效利用，是我们将 YNAB 评为比 Mint 更好的预算服务(we rated YNAB as a better budgeting service than Mint)的原因。
但YNAB的价值远远超出了网站或移动应用程序的功能。YNAB可以帮助您控制财务的原因在于该服务如何帮助您仅通过使用该服务来学习零和预算。(YNAB)
什么是零和预算？
当大多数人进行预算时，他们会为账单、公用事业和杂货等物品创建类别，每月花费固定金额。
无论您有多少收入，都会设定这些金额（尽管费用最好低于您的收入）。因此，通常很少考虑如何处理额外的资金。此外，这种预算形式是一种计划未来收入的方式，而您实际上还没有。
这基本上就是Mint让您使用他们的平台进行预算的方式。
这种方法的问题在于，您总是在不知道您未来的实际财务状况的情况下尝试规划未来。当意外发生时，如果您没有在预算中包括一些东西来处理它们，它可能会使整个财务计划面临风险。
零(Zero)和预算则大不相同。每次您收到收入(you receive income)时，您都需要将这些美元中的每一美元分配给账单、杂货或其他物品，这些物品将使您获得下一份薪水或其他收入。
由于您将 YNAB 同步到您的银行帐户，因此任何收入来源都会应用于网页或应用程序顶部显示的“待预算”类别。(To be Budgeted)
每次登录以管理预算时，您的目标是选择您即将收到账单的每个类别，并分配足够的“待预算”金额来支付这些账单。
注意(Note)：要正确执行此操作，您需要在另一个电子表格中维护您的账单到期日期，(bill due dates in another spreadsheet )因为YNAB没有显示该账单通常何时到期的位置。
一旦您的收入超出预算，您将需要等待下一份薪水或其他收入来源才能将更多资金分配给其他账单。因此，明智地计划并首先支付到期的账单！
YNAB(YNAB Is Better)的零和预算(Zero Sum Budgeting)如何更好
YNAB的零和预算方法可以帮助您更好地控制自己的财务状况，原因有很多。
将额外收入用于重要的储蓄(Applies Extra Income to Important Savings)
如果您的账单少于收入（您应该这样做，或者您应该考虑削减账单），那么YNAB 会(YNAB)迫使您将这些额外的资金分配给某些东西。
这时您应该考虑添加其他类别以将您的收入用于应急基金、服装购物基金、假期储蓄、假期储蓄等。这些是不可预测的事情，当您以“旧”方式进行预算时，您似乎永远没有足够的可用资金。
这意味着当您在银行账户中积累资金时，所有这些资金都有一个保留用途。当您的汽车发生故障或需要进行房屋维修时，您永远不必担心没有钱可用，因为您一直在为这些目的存入资金。
让您在支出方面保持自律(Keeps You Disciplined With Your Spending)
当您超支分配给YNAB中某个类别的资金时，您会看到余额变为红色。这意味着您需要将资金从您已应用收入的其他事物中转移，以弥补超支。
为此，您可以选择红色余额，然后使用资金转移窗口将资金从另一个类别转移到该超支类别。
这迫使您不断了解您的支出及其对您的财务产生的影响。您将无法在生日礼物或外出就餐等事情上超支，而不必通过从您关心的其他事情上拿走钱来解决问题。
随着时间的推移，这有助于您了解每个类别的剩余支出，并确保您在这些类别中的支出保持正常。
这也是一个学习的过程。如果您没有为杂货之类的事情分配足够的资金，使用YNAB将训练您了解您的真实消费模式以及您在这些类别中实际需要多少。
基于实际支出的预算(Budgeting Based on Real Spending)
当您根据未来的账单和未来收入进行预算时，您总是在猜测您认为自己需要多少。基于研究您过去的银行对账单，这种猜测可能是现实的。然而，大多数人不会花时间去做这件事。
YNAB为您提供您创建的所有类别的支出历史记录。此支出是根据您的银行帐户(what came out of your bank account)产生的内容以及您将该支出分配到的类别来分配的。
这些是真实的数字，而不是猜测。YNAB中的这些报告可以帮助您微调每次获得新收入时分配给这些类别的金额。
随着时间的推移，这可以帮助您更负责任、更现实地分配资金。它还突出了您可能不必要地超支的地方，并且可以削减，以便您可以将这些资金用于对您更重要的事情，例如假期或大学储蓄。
使您能够更好地储蓄和消费(Empowers You to Save and Spend Better)
YNAB的报告部分可帮助您更好地掌握您的储蓄和消费模式。
您可以看到以下内容：
- 您的总收入与总支出
- 饼图格式随时间变化的消费模式
- 一个折线图和条形图，显示您如何通过使用YNAB的零和预算来累积净资产。
这些图表是一个强大的反馈系统，可以让您在做出正确选择时感觉非常好，因为您将收入应用于生活的各个领域。
您会注意到，从您开始使用YNAB并应用零和预算原则的第一天起，您的净资产就开始提高。
您在保持分配的资金方面越自律，您的其他资金（如储蓄类别）每月将继续增加。这些有助于您不断增长的净资产。
使用 YNAB 和零和预算
目前，没有其他预算服务(no other budgeting service today)可以有效地帮助您正确使用零和预算。它可以帮助您以一种可持续且对您的日常生活无干扰的方式将这种方法应用到您的日常生活中。
每次您获得收入时，将这笔钱用于对您最重要的事情也会变得有趣。由于您的纪律和精心计划，看着您的储蓄类别随着时间的推移而增加是非常有益的。
YNAB Review: Wrapping Your Head Around Zero Sum Budgeting
If you’ve never used the bυdgeting service You Need a Budget (YNAB), then you might not be familiar with the budgeting concept known as zero sum budgeting.
The power of zero sum budgeting, and YNAB’s effective use of it, is the reason why we rated YNAB as a better budgeting service than Mint.
But the value of YNAB goes far beyond the website or mobile app’s features. The reason YNAB can help you gain control of your finances is because of how the service helps you learn zero sum budgeting just by using the service.
What Is Zero Sum Budgeting?
When most people budget, they create categories for things like bills, utilities, and groceries with a fixed amount to spend every month.
Those amounts are set regardless of how much income you have (although preferably expenses should be less than your income). Because of this, often very little thought is given to what to do with additional funds. Also, this form of budgeting is a way to plan for future income that you don’t actually have yet.
This is essentially how Mint lets you budget using their platform.
The problem with this approach is that you’re always trying to plan the future without knowing your actual financial situation in the future. When surprises hit, if you didn’t include something in your budget to handle them, it can put the entire financial plan at risk.
Zero sum budgeting is much different. Each time you receive income, you need to assign each of those dollars to the bills, groceries, or other items that will get you through to your next paycheck or other income.
Since you sync YNAB to your bank accounts, any source of income gets applied to a To be Budgeted category shown at the top of the web page or app.
Your goal every time you log in to manage your budget is to select each of the categories where you have immediate upcoming bills and assign enough of your “To be Budgeted” amount to cover those bills.
Note: To do this correctly, you’ll need to maintain your bill due dates in another spreadsheet because YNAB does not have a spot to show when that bill usually comes due.
Once you’re out of income to budget, you’ll need to wait for your next paycheck or other source of income to assign more funds to other bills. So plan wisely and pay the bills that are due first!
How Zero Sum Budgeting on YNAB Is Better
There are a number of reasons the zero sum budgeting approach on YNAB helps you gain more control over your finances.
Applies Extra Income to Important Savings
If you have fewer bills than you have income (which you should, or you should be looking at cutting bills), then YNAB forces you to assign those extra funds to something.
This is when you should be considering adding other categories to apply your income to like an emergency fund, a clothes shopping fund, vacation savings, holiday savings, and more. These are the unpredictable things that you never seem to have enough available funds for when you budget the “old” way.
This means that as you’re accumulating money in your bank account, all of those funds have a reserved purpose. You never have to worry about not having money available when your car breaks down or you need to do a home repair, because you’ve been socking away funds for those purposes.
Keeps You Disciplined With Your Spending
When you overspend the funds you’ve assigned to a category in YNAB, you’ll see the balance turn red. This means you need to shift funds from other things you’ve applied your income to in order to cover that overspending.
You do this by selecting the red balance and then using the funds transfer window to transfer money from another category to this overspent one.
This forces you to constantly stay aware of your spending and the impact it’s having on your finances. You won’t be able to overspend on things like birthday gifts or dining out without having to answer for it by taking money away from other things you care about.
Over time, this helps you to stay attuned to how much is left to spend in each category, and ensure you keep your spending on track in those categories.
It’s also a learning process. If you don’t assign enough for things like groceries, using YNAB will train you to understand your true spending patterns and how much you actually need in those categories.
Budgeting Based on Real Spending
When you budget based on future bills and future income, you’re always guessing how much you think you’ll need. This guessing might be realistic, based on researching your past bank statements. However, most people don’t take the time to do this.
YNAB provides you with a history of spending across all of the categories you’ve created. This spending is allocated based on what came out of your bank account and which category you assigned that spending to.
These are real numbers, not guesses. These reports in YNAB can help you fine-tune how much money you allocate to those categories every time you receive new income.
Over time, this helps you allocate your money more responsibly and realistically. It also highlights where you might be overspending unnecessarily and can cut back so that you can apply those funds to things that are more important to you like vacations or college savings.
Empowers You to Save and Spend Better
The reports section of YNAB helps you get a better handle on your saving and spending patterns.
You can see things like:
- Your overall income versus overall expenses
- Your spending patterns over time in a pie chart format
- A line and bar chart showing how you’ve accumulated net worth over time by using the zero sum budgeting with YNAB.
These charts are a powerful feedback system that’ll make you feel very good about making the right choices with where you’ve applied your income to various areas of your life.
You will notice that your net worth starts to improve from the very first day you start using YNAB and applying zero sum budgeting principles.
The more disciplined you are with keeping to your assigned funds, the higher your other funds like savings categories will continue to rise each month. These contribute to your rising net worth.
Use YNAB and Zero Sum Budgeting
Currently, there’s no other budgeting service today that effectively helps you use zero sum budgeting correctly. It helps you apply the approach to your everyday life in a way that’s sustainable and non-intrusive for your daily life.
It also becomes fun, each time you receive income, to apply that money to the things that matter the most to you. And it’s very rewarding to watch your savings categories rise over time, thanks to your discipline and careful planning.
