YNAB is a zero-based budget method. If you follow Rule One: Give Every Dollar a Job, you’ll budget every dollar to zero. It can feel tempting to leave money in Ready to Assign and bask in its green glow. It might give you a feeling of abundance. But it’s not helpful. In fact, it’s counter to YNAB’s method. If you want to do YNAB right, give those dollars a job and assign them to categories in your budget when the dollars come in. Don’t wait until you’ve spent the money to assign it.
If you’ve funded your entire month’s budget and still have money to assign, congratulations! You’re following Rule 4: Age Your Money. Simply create a holding category (mine is called Future Month) or go ahead and click into the next month and start budgeting that money. (I’m more comfortable with having a holding category, but that’s a topic for another blog post.)
On the flip side, don’t budget any money you haven’t yet received. That’s also counter to YNAB’s method. If you have a negative Ready to Assign because you’ve assigned money that you expect to receive, but haven’t received yet, then you can’t trust your budget. And you’re robbing yourself of the peace of mind that comes with using YNAB. If you find yourself with a negative Ready to Assign, click on the Fix This button and move money from your budget back to Ready to Assign until you get to zero. (For a more detailed explanation of a red RTA, check out this YNAB support post.)
Remember: Both positive and negative Ready to Assign numbers should be temporary. At the end of a YNAB session, make sure your Ready to Assign is a nice grey $0.00.
Leave a Reply