Here's my question of the month for You Need A Budget owner Jesse (for those interested, here's last month's question) :
Many people use Quicken or Microsoft Money to manage their finances. Is You Need a Budget a replacement for these or a complement to them? If a complement, please explain how they work together. If a replacement, please tell why someone should buy YNAB over either of the other two.
Here's his answer:
The answer to this question really depends on how much time a user wants to spend managing their money. I personally don't use Microsoft Money or Quicken. I used Quicken in the past and was disenchanted by all of the features that sat unused (and their upgrade policy).
YNAB is truly a bare-bones, intuitive, cash flow management system. It handles all your inflows, all your outflows, and the budgeting of your money in between that equation. It doesn't do anything more than that.
The beauty of it is the simplicity though. While people do just fine managing their money with more complex personal finance packages, the time investment is usually far greater for the given return. I've been happy with the two hours or so I spend each month managing our money. There are really more fun things to do than reconcile and check...reconcile and check...
In the end, it really depends on what the user wants. If they want something with all the bells and whistles, that manages their checking account(s), investments, personal information, etc. in one place, then a beefier package is certainly recommended. If they just want something to keep them on track with their true cash flow, and get the job done with very little time investment, I think YNAB is a viable choice.
One can certainly use the two as a compliment. Let YNAB handle the cash flow, and Quicken or Money handle everything else.
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As I've stated before, I think that for financial newbies, You Need A Budget is a great alternative to Quicken and Microsoft Money. But for us more-advanced users, I see it as a complement to Quicken or Microsoft Money.
I'm on my second month using YNAB. So far, I'm using it strictly for budgeting purposes, and it's taught me a lot about my spending habits. I use Quicken to manage my various bank accounts and investments. Using both works well and doesn't take much additional time.
Posted by: red2black | October 03, 2006 at 10:44 AM