You Need a Budget: The Proven System for Breaking the Paycheck-to-Paycheck Cycle, Getting out of Debt, and Living the Life You Want

This book is about the YNAB system of budgeting, rather than the YNAB budgeting application. You could implement everything in this book with a spreadsheet or pencil and paper if you like.Whenever I used the YNAB application, I always felt that it was "budgeting lite." No complex forecasts, no detailed reports and (until recently) no automatic feeds pulled down from the bank. It also always seemed to be fighting me... that I could never get it to do what I wanted.I decided to dump YNAB. I already had years of experience with Quicken. I decided to try Mint and Personal Capital. Those applications had many of the features missing from YNAB. However, after switching to each of them, I felt lost. There was freedom to set things up however I wanted, but that didn't add up to better information or tangible goals.I could now tell you, to the penny, how much I spent on coffee two months ago... I could tell you how much I planned to spend on coffee six months from now. So what? How does any of that help me now? Somehow having all these new features and freedom resulted in less actionable information, and less peace of mind, than I had with YNAB.I eventually figured out that YNAB is not lite on features. It is opinionated.YNAB believes that there is a correct way to budget, and the application enforces those opinions with ruthless efficiency. It only makes you collect the information it believes to be useful, and it only presents information that helps you now. If you try to go outside its process, it will make your life difficult.That is not to say that it tells you where to spend your money. Precisely the opposite. Go ahead and budget $1000/month for iced lattes if you want. YNAB doesn't judge. But it does insist that you have the money.This book is about the YNAB opinions which are baked into the software. I have come to view those opinions as wisdom. Rather than saying "here's a bunch of features, do with them what you want", YNAB says "here is a proven process that has worked for thousands of people, follow it."This book is about explaining that process, why it is the way it is, and why it leads to better decisions and progress towards achieving goals. I already knew the basics from videos and podcasts, but this book does a great job of putting all of the information in one place and presenting it in a systematic manner. Now that some of the gaps in my understanding have been filled in, I'm sold on the process. I already learned via trial and error that I like what YNAB does. This book filled in the gaps of why it works.Highly recommended!

Contrary to your potential reaction to the title, this book does not tell you how to spend your money. It encourages you to determine your own priorities, or what is most important to you, and it empowers you to align how you spend your money with those priorities. Rule 1 teaches to give every dollar a job, and, according to the author, the other three rules are actually this same rule, just restated to make sure every possible application of how you might try to justify not using a budget is covered. Yes, it's time to remove the cognitive dissonance between your actions and what you actually value most. And the content of this book is the remedy.The first four chapters cover each of the four rules. The author's perspective in these chapters was helpful and enlightening. But the chapters on "Budgeting as a Couple" and "Teaching your Kids to Budget" were the most helpful and enlightening to me. I made some serious changes to how I manage my family's finances based on the principles and examples shared in these chapters. I also found the real-life examples shared throughout this book to be relevant and insightful.Not only would I recommend this book to everyone, but I also bought a dozen copies for co-workers. You need this book so you can learn that you need a budget, meaning you can finally give every dollar a job that is aligned with what you believe is the most important job for that dollar. Then powerful things start to happen, mainly this - your happiness increases as you reshape your financial reality into a tool to help you accomplish whatever is most important to you.

I bought the hardback book quite a while ago, probably when it was original published, and later bought the kindle version with the intention of finally getting it read. My family does use the old YNAB 4 to manage our budget so I was already familiar with the 4 Rules and felt pretty comfortable with the process we have already going.I finally read the book in January 2020. It was quite the boost to me at the time. It helped me remember that the budget process is for my benefit, and being flexible is key to being able to happily manage my income.I feel the examples are realistic and apply to most people who work for a living. I feel that the book was upbeat and positive. I feel more hopeful and optimistic after reading it.I would recommend the book if you are looking for a guilt free system to manage your money based on your personal priorities. I would not recommend the book if you are looking for a set it and forget money management solution. Being successful for your priorities will require work and effort on your part, and this book can be part of that, but it is no magic pill.

What can I say? I had nothing saved, spent whatever came in, and every single thing was a surprise. I signed up for the student trial (a year free, and they gave me an extra month!), and within that year I've saved over $9,000.00 , have covered over $4,600.00 in expenses that I planned for as opposed to took for granted (high vet bills and a moderate car repair!). I went from having horrible payment history to 100% on time payments on all of my debts and just recieved a $1,400.00 credit limit from Chase (something I never thought possible). Plus, I was able to leave my hostile work environment knowing that I had my bills paid 2 months ahead and still had 4 months in backup! Please, do yourself a favor and read this book and sign up for YNAB. I'm not kidding when I say Jesse's system changed my life and gave me financial peace of mind and control while still letting me enjoy life.

This book helped me to get a better handle on my finances and taught me a new way to think about money. My savings are now on an upward path, rather than being stagnant.

This book and it’s concepts have changed my relationship with my money and changed my life (and the live of all my friends and family members) !

Me encantó el enfoque hacía algo que muchas personas deberían de hacer; pero no hacen por mil razones, su presupuesto. El acercamiento del libro hacia el tema es muy práctico, y sobre todo, nos incentiva a llevar a cabo y mantener el buen hábito de presupuestar.

This should be compulsory reading in high school to teach our children the art of budgeting and leading a more rewarding life rather than living with the stress of a never ending cycle of debt.

I have heard about YNAB web and platform a while ago. The key concepts are already there, for free, but still I enjoyed the tips and tricks mentioned in this book & I consider it a good investment.

This book explains the principles, and if you use their portable platform to control your budget you have a very powerful tool to have your finances under control, even if you have a modest income. This is a must to get out of debt and stay in control.

I received a couple of emails about this book and ignored them and then thought I'd take a look. The book is very informative and makes a lot of sense so I went to their web page and spoke with a member of staff via webchat who advised me to start a budget immediately as my husband has had an accident and is on sick pay for approx 3/4 months so our income has dropped by approx 1k per month, which is a lot of money, to us anyway. They also advised me to google them as I'd be able to get 3 months free that way instead of the 34 days they offer, so I did, which has saved me money. They also don't ask for credit card details up front which is very refreshing but I will definitely be subscribing with them when my free trial expires. I have to say it's taking me a while to get my head around their system but they always answer my emails and I've had to watch loads of youtube tutorials but this system has made a massive difference to our family. I've had to have a conversation with our mortgage company incase things got really bad but fortunately they haven't as we are now managing to just pay our bills and feed our family of 4 (2 teenagers) on our reduced income. We also haven't had to borrow any money from my parents to survive on which is what we would have done had I not done this budget. Now that I can see what we can/are actually surviving on I have absolutely no idea where that additional 1k went every month as we have absolutely nothing to show for it. This means as soon as my hubby goes back to work I'm banking on living on last months pay check within 3 months and then concentrating on paying off debt (yep we have a lot) and also a holiday later in the year and also budgeting for 1 family meal out a month as we have never done that before as we were always skint each month. I cannot tell you how relieved I feel, even though we have nothing additional other than food & bills, I know this is only temporary, the fact my mortgage is being paid is enough (oh, and my kids are being fed) and I truly hope somebody in my situation reads this review and it helps them realise there is light at the end of the tunnel