this could have been an email
sara_tanaquil, have you moved to YNAB 3? They're trying to sell me on the upgrade, and they're doing a very poor job of it (dudes, tell me why it's better), so I thought I would ask if you had tried it.
Also...you haven't posted since February. And/or you're posting under seekrit lock (HEY!). And/or you've moved to dreamwidth (DOUBLE HEY!).
[Insert endless dithering over "do I install on my bootcamp partition or use YNAB 3 in OSX?" here. <- Let's face it, when these are your problems, life is pretty good.]
* * *
ETA: So I've downloaded the 7-day trial of YNAB3 (seven days? I could swear I had 30-60 days when I downloaded the trial for my current version) and here is my opinion.
The Excellent:
* Installed on my laptop (yay!) and converted the old budget file perfectly (double yay!).
* Accounts are now displayed in a side panel, so you can see account totals and budget lines at the same time. (Useful for people like me with account-centric budget items.)
* Unbudgeted and overbudgeted funds now carry forward. And they should (this has always been a weakness in the old system), but it also introduces an opportunity for flexibility that I'm not 100% comfortable with. If you gave me $100 right now, 1) I would be very pleased and say "thank you," and 2) I would immediately have to account for it in my budget. With this new version, I could just float it forward until the month I actually spend it. For people with their buffer already in place, keeping funds in the "available to budget" line is more like having a slush fund.
The Tragic:
* I've lost some screen space; consequently, I can't see my entire budget in one (vertical) glance. Most of it can probably be attributed to different screen size/resolution, but some of it was lost to excess header.
* Initial loading time for each tab (accounts/budget/reports) seems longer.
The Meh:
* Requires Adobe AIR to run. Just one more program with possible conflicts and/or vulnerabilities to worry about.
* Can't select a different color scheme...really? Did I take the hot tub time machine back to 2004?
* The new reports are very spiffy (they're what inspired me to download the trial), but they don't work well with my current master categories. When I organized my budget, I was more concerned with schedules and accounts than types of spending. (Is it monthly or annual or occasional? Is it sourced from cash or checking?) But since the reports compare only master categories at a glance...well, duh, monthly expenses are consistently higher than annual and occasional spending peaks occasionally. Thank you, Captain Obvious. Now tell me if I'm spending more on groceries or my student loan.
Also...you haven't posted since February. And/or you're posting under seekrit lock (HEY!). And/or you've moved to dreamwidth (DOUBLE HEY!).
[Insert endless dithering over "do I install on my bootcamp partition or use YNAB 3 in OSX?" here. <- Let's face it, when these are your problems, life is pretty good.]
* * *
ETA: So I've downloaded the 7-day trial of YNAB3 (seven days? I could swear I had 30-60 days when I downloaded the trial for my current version) and here is my opinion.
The Excellent:
* Installed on my laptop (yay!) and converted the old budget file perfectly (double yay!).
* Accounts are now displayed in a side panel, so you can see account totals and budget lines at the same time. (Useful for people like me with account-centric budget items.)
* Unbudgeted and overbudgeted funds now carry forward. And they should (this has always been a weakness in the old system), but it also introduces an opportunity for flexibility that I'm not 100% comfortable with. If you gave me $100 right now, 1) I would be very pleased and say "thank you," and 2) I would immediately have to account for it in my budget. With this new version, I could just float it forward until the month I actually spend it. For people with their buffer already in place, keeping funds in the "available to budget" line is more like having a slush fund.
The Tragic:
* I've lost some screen space; consequently, I can't see my entire budget in one (vertical) glance. Most of it can probably be attributed to different screen size/resolution, but some of it was lost to excess header.
* Initial loading time for each tab (accounts/budget/reports) seems longer.
The Meh:
* Requires Adobe AIR to run. Just one more program with possible conflicts and/or vulnerabilities to worry about.
* Can't select a different color scheme...really? Did I take the hot tub time machine back to 2004?
* The new reports are very spiffy (they're what inspired me to download the trial), but they don't work well with my current master categories. When I organized my budget, I was more concerned with schedules and accounts than types of spending. (Is it monthly or annual or occasional? Is it sourced from cash or checking?) But since the reports compare only master categories at a glance...well, duh, monthly expenses are consistently higher than annual and occasional spending peaks occasionally. Thank you, Captain Obvious. Now tell me if I'm spending more on groceries or my student loan.