Do I still need YNAB?
When I first started using YNAB over 7 years ago, I was preparing to buy my first home and had so little margin that I truly needed it, loved it, and proselytized it. I was successful getting my brain right around money, and YNAB helped me navigate shifting life circumstances. Even though I’ve been annoyed with some of the changes over the last couple of years like so many other users, I could justify the use.
But now life has shifted again, and I’m wondering not only whether I still need YNAB but also whether I can justify keeping it when I’m annoyed by so much of the company shenanigans lately. And yes, I’m calling the book a shenanigan.
I’m lucky to have a solid income and now married to my partner with an even more solid income, and we live in a LCOL area. We’re pretty frugal naturally, and so needing the level of detail I needed in previous years just isn’t where I am now. I do manual transactions, and now I often only input and reconcile them every couple of weeks.
This might be a fool’s errand since people I who might’ve been in similar positions and left YNAB probably won’t be in this sub anymore; but for people in my position, what makes you stay with YNAB even when you may not need it anymore?
ETA: thank y’all for the great discussion here! Want to make it clear that tracking/broadly budgeting is always going to be part of my financial system. I guess what I didn’t communicate well is, even if I simplify my categories and check in once a month to make sure I’m still aligned, is it worth it to keep paying YNAB $100+ ad infinitum? Is there enough inherent worth specific to YNAB to justify its cost?