A very useful web app and mobile app, YNAB lets you plan and budget your money before you spend it, letting you know exactly how much you have left over after all your bills.
Nothing that can't be done with pen/paper or a spreadsheet, but a lot fancier and easier to do!
You can use an NUS card too prove that you're a student, too, even if you're a member of The Shaw University or similar.
Latest comments (31)
Nikolai84
22 Sep 17#31
Thanks for this OP, signed up and just waiting for my student status to be approved!
Smcgie
19 Sep 17#28
Money Dashboard is basically YNAB only free and better!
GibsonSt19 to Smcgie
20 Sep 17#30
Yet not as well rated on the Play store?
Metrize
19 Sep 17#29
Just use a good old spreadsheet
s24adm
19 Sep 17#27
I had this for a year or so (and paid) and DID like it but found it limited somewhat for my needs personally. I now use "Account Tracker" app on iOS by Graham Haley which I prefer.
YNAB eventually lost me after they released an update and asked paid members to pay again :neutral_face:
frozencake
19 Sep 17#26
Thank you so much for this, needed some direction for my wreckless spending!
interfece
18 Sep 17#22
Not working only showing me subscribe and asking for payment details.
Did i do anything wrong ?
KevClark1985 to interfece
18 Sep 17#23
Click the "Get Deal" link and sign up for a student account. Asks you to register with email and a password. Then you get an email to activate your account and a separate one about the student deal. You reply to the student deal email with proof of NUS. No payment details need to be entered.
interfece to KevClark1985
19 Sep 17#25
I gave up but not many banks are supporting in Northern Ireland & no support for new Monzo Current account what i currently using .
amour3k
19 Sep 17#24
To be honest, this looks very interesting to me. :-)
KevClark1985
18 Sep 17#21
Sent a photo of the front of my NUS Extra card today and they accepted it. Seemed to have 2 months free trial as well, so have 429 days remaining and then will get 10% off my first paid year after that. Cheers OP :raised_hand:
And for anyone wondering, zero payment details need to be entered, so risk free from that perspective as it can't charge your card or auto renew.
mspychala
18 Sep 17#14
Only had it for couple of the days and my experience the past week.
MBNA - no support Barclaycard - account not recognised Lloyds - pulled balance but not transactions Amex - account connected but nothing was pulled
I know you can do File Based Import but that's not what I want. Deleted my account this morning. Going back to Excel.
KevClark1985 to mspychala
18 Sep 17#15
Have not used it yet, but from speaking to others who have, they tend to find it better not being able to easily import from the the bank. Their reasoning is that by manually tracking most transactions through the app, they feel they are held more accountable for what they spend. But can see why an upload or direct link would be useful.
ComminutedOrange to KevClark1985
18 Sep 17#19
I would agree 100% with this
However - What if I have balances that I want to track on accounts that I no longer spend? YNAB would be far more powerful if it did track these.
KevClark1985 to ComminutedOrange
18 Sep 17#20
Are you meaning accounts that are just increasing such as savings accounts? Yes it would be better to track that automatically, but surely a 2 min job every week or two? Wouldn't be any more effort than recording a spending transaction I would assume?
From what I can gather it is a great application, but is obviosuly still evolving in some aspects. I am going to try it and see if it has any positive impact. 1 year free is more than enough time to establish if that is the case, and if it is then ~£40 a year is worth it.
windym
18 Sep 17#18
Does Money Dashboard allow you to reconcile accounts? I use MS Money at the moment but want something that works across my devices (Apple) and that I can manually add transactions and reconcile them with a statement. Great deal OP but not quite what I'm after.
Vistrix
18 Sep 17#16
Been using Money Dashboard for years now. It would take a lot to make me switch.
jai47 to Vistrix
18 Sep 17#17
Also Money Dashboard supports most UK Banks and displays values on GBP :-)
iron1899
18 Sep 17#13
I've been using YNAB for 4 months and I'd whole heartedly recommend it. It can create a great mind shift in how you budget. Give every £ a job to do, roll with the punches as your budget and finances change. It lets you keep an eye on your spending habits and set goals. The iOS and Android apps are great. No automatic connections with UK banks, but paypal connects and I use a separate app to automatically load Monzo transactions. I find manually uploading my UK bank statements a good means of monitoring my spending. It works for me.
Splashmo
18 Sep 17#10
Looks interesting, but unless you're going to commit to using it after the first year it's probably not worth it. As you'll just have to enter all you info/regular payments etc into whatever you use next.
If we're doing personal recommendations, then I use MoneyWiz for iOS. Was about £5 and that's it for life. They do a free version with a few limitations I think.
Anyway, good deal, voted hot.
KevClark1985 to Splashmo
18 Sep 17#12
Pretty sure I read you don't enter any payment details for a free trial, so imagine it is the same for the student offer
ij101
18 Sep 17#11
Think it works as follows to get the free year: 1. Click on link "Get your free year.." on their website 2. Sign up using email (you get a 34 days free initially) 3. Once in, go to Account Settings and click "subscibe now" 4. They will send you an email about how to get the free year (attach pic of NUS extra card, etc).
Just did step 4 so not sure how long this takes
Lorenz
18 Sep 17#5
how do you get the 1 year subscription for free with a NUS card?
jai47 to Lorenz
18 Sep 17#9
You will receive an email asking for proof, to which you can attach a picture of your NUS card
khush01
18 Sep 17#8
If anybody needs a good budget tracker app for their phones try Monefy. Hands down best finance tracker I've used and its easy and simple too.
KevClark1985
18 Sep 17#7
Was literally about to start a free month trial after a recommendation from someone in work, but I have an NUS card so this would be perfect to try it for a year. How do you get the student deal? Is it like Amazon where you send a photo of the NUS card to an email address?
OliverBanks91
18 Sep 17#6
I've used YNAB for 3 and a half years now, and it has easily changed my life.
The UK banks that currently work are TSB, and AMEX UK, as far as I know. And they're relatively recent additions. I much prefer entering stuff manually anyway.
It used to be that you got the subscription free by emailing a picture of your student card to their support team. probably still works the same.
Borgia1
18 Sep 17#3
Thanks. It says it links to banks
Does that apply to the UK and what it involve, do you know?
bloooo to Borgia1
18 Sep 17#4
I don't think the list of banks in the UK is as good as it is in the US. I don't use the link as you have to store your Internet banking passwords in full. I enter the transactions manually every few days and actually look forward to it to see how the budget is affected
robot1000
18 Sep 17#2
How does it compare to Money Dashboard (which is free)
bloooo
18 Sep 17#1
I've been using this for a year now and would highly recommend it. Takes a bit of getting used to but has really helped me to budget effectively
![Fresh Breakfast Meat Box (Using code) @ Campbells Meat [Haggis / Lorne Sausage / Bacon / Black Pudding & More]](/images/topics/208684_1.jpg)
![[Xbox One] Q. u. b. e: Director's Cut on Deals with Gold](/images/topics/208716_1.jpg)
Opening post
Nothing that can't be done with pen/paper or a spreadsheet, but a lot fancier and easier to do!
You can use an NUS card too prove that you're a student, too, even if you're a member of The Shaw University or similar.
Latest comments (31)
YNAB eventually lost me after they released an update and asked paid members to pay again :neutral_face:
Did i do anything wrong ?
And for anyone wondering, zero payment details need to be entered, so risk free from that perspective as it can't charge your card or auto renew.
MBNA - no support
Barclaycard - account not recognised
Lloyds - pulled balance but not transactions
Amex - account connected but nothing was pulled
I know you can do File Based Import but that's not what I want.
Deleted my account this morning.
Going back to Excel.
However - What if I have balances that I want to track on accounts that I no longer spend? YNAB would be far more powerful if it did track these.
From what I can gather it is a great application, but is obviosuly still evolving in some aspects. I am going to try it and see if it has any positive impact. 1 year free is more than enough time to establish if that is the case, and if it is then ~£40 a year is worth it.
Great deal OP but not quite what I'm after.
If we're doing personal recommendations, then I use MoneyWiz for iOS. Was about £5 and that's it for life. They do a free version with a few limitations I think.
Anyway, good deal, voted hot.
1. Click on link "Get your free year.." on their website
2. Sign up using email (you get a 34 days free initially)
3. Once in, go to Account Settings and click "subscibe now"
4. They will send you an email about how to get the free year (attach pic of NUS extra card, etc).
Just did step 4 so not sure how long this takes
The UK banks that currently work are TSB, and AMEX UK, as far as I know. And they're relatively recent additions. I much prefer entering stuff manually anyway.
It used to be that you got the subscription free by emailing a picture of your student card to their support team. probably still works the same.