The only time I’ve ever budgeted effectively is when using a method where I would roll over the balance for each category every period. So instead of having a strict spending amount for each category, some categories would gradually build up credit over time and some might go negative.
If one category built up too much credit or went negative for too long, that was a signal that I needed to change habits or review my budget. If I built up a lot of credit in one category that wasn’t needed, I’d shift it to savings (or another category that needed it) and review my budget. If I had a category that was in debt for most of the year the intention was to top it up from savings and then review that budget or make changes to my spending habits, although I never found myself in that situation.
This is more akin to savings pots with a monthly input for each budget category rather than a strict spending limit, allowing one to plan and average out, say, a whole year. Psychologically it facilitated a way of being frugal one month in order to spend more in another. And it also reflected the reality of spending, which was different each period.
This might be why I haven’t gravitated toward Summary. I think it might be nice if Summary could work in this way. But maybe it’d be too complicated. Any thoughts?
I personally wouldn’t use this feature as I like to skim the account towards the end of the month into savings. That said, I actually agree that this is a fantastic idea and should be available in the app, with an option to switch it on and off for users.
My top wish from monzo is essentially this. Being able to “rollover” budgets, and preferably choose by category too. Ideally, my personal setup would be for any remaining allowance in my grocery or transport budget to be added to next month’s grocery and transport budget (as sometimes the timing of filling up my car or doing a big shop changes, so currently some months I’m under budget and others I’m over), and for anything left in my shopping and entertainment budgets to be added to a pot which I can use on more expensive treats like a new games console or a weekend break. The rest would probably go into savings. I can almost fiddle things to this effect currently but it would be great to have a proper feature to do something like this.
Yes, agree re rollover budgets. I though Monzo would replace budgeting in YNAB but it’s not quite there. I was prepared to commit to only using Monzo instead of a credit card too; however, the way budgeting seems to work doesn’t put it in the same league as YNAB.
Yes I completely agree. We need both the ability to change the budget headings and to roll over amounts. It gives an easy way of managing the slow build up budgets without having to put them in a savings pot
The summary tab is confusing and gives the wrong message from a money skills perspective. “Left to spend” is the wrong approach. Everything should be budgeted which is YNAB is so great. Moving to Monzo makes me feel out of touch with money. You shouldn’t need to look at how much you have in your account if you’ve budgeted effectively. It’s better to understand how you are tracking against your budget, then give you the ability to re-correct on the fly when you hit a bump (always!).
I had moved from YNAB over to Monzo I’m honestly finding Monzo incredibly basic and kind of wished I hadn’t. Other banks are adding Pots to their services now - pretty basic.
The goals could be more useful. In YNAB your goals are configurable so you will be nudged how much you need to add each month to stay on track. You are also able to have different types of goals - amount based, date based etc
