Can I sync YNAB to my bank account?

[bread]

Can YNAB be synced to my bank account so that I can see everything in real time, or do I have to enter everything manually?

[RodeoClown]

YNAB doesn't connect too your bank account, but you can download manually.
We'd recommend entering your transactions manually as you make them, because you can enter them faster than your bank can clear them, so your budget will be more accurate than relying on the automatic downloads.

Cheers,
-Ian

[sheehanje]

As stated above, you can't automatically sync bank transactions - but you can import them. At first I thought this was a bad thing, but I prefer to manually enter all my own transactions. Monitoring my bank accounts was causing some of my money issues. Other than to make sure my overall balances match up once in a while - I hardly ever check my bank accounts anymore. It's more a sanity check now to see if I haven't been overcharged for something, or that nothing malicious is happening on my accounts.

It's much better to monitor my budget rather than my bank accounts. At first I didn't trust that, but it definitely has changed the way I handle money for the better. YNAB is not an accounting program - even if it looks like one. It's built to change the way we think and handle money - and part of that is becoming very aware how and where we spend. Once you get used to the software transaction recording doesn't take much time at all.