YNAB definitely seems like a great tool not just for analyzing CC Spending but of course for budgeting and other financial areas as well. Love how your CC Setup is based on analytics & facts to drive your decisions & how intentional you are about it. I myself, and many others are definitely guilty of acting with my emotions and chasing elevated welcome bonuses, but utilizing analytics to drive future Card decisions is always the best way to go. Of course, if elevated welcome bonuses align with that then even better. Great video Stan!
@TheCreditFrog5 ай бұрын
Thanks Matt! Yes, the elevated welcome offers are still going to be the best way to get the most value from your spend, and if you chain multiple welcome offers together, there's no need to worry about multipliers. But once day, there'll be a period where you may not be chasing a welcome offer. In that case, having a core setup (and a lot of transaction data) can help customized that setup for you! I appreciate it bro!
@gainesville3235 ай бұрын
YNAB is hand’s down the best budget I’ve ever used. If it wasn’t for YNAB, I wouldn’t be in the credit card game.
@TheCreditFrog5 ай бұрын
That's awesome to hear Tariq! I'm happy to hear that YNAB was able to improve your financial life and now you can enjoy credit cards the way they were meant to be enjoyed - massive value to you without paying any interest to the banks!
@ldcross25 ай бұрын
Just started using YNAB in January after using Mint for years. I absolutely love it! So much better at analytics and I love the way it handles my credit card expenditures. My credit rating has risen because the money is on hand to pay the current balance (not the statement balance) when due. Really helped my utilization!
@TheCreditFrog5 ай бұрын
That's great! I also moved from Mint about 3-4 years ago too and used YNAB to really help fine-tune my finances. It used to not be as great for credit cards, but they've made updates to make it a easier to understand since the app has quite a steep learning curve. I agree that it's super helpful to keep track of expenses and always be a month ahead!
@FatStacksAcademy5 ай бұрын
Oh heck yeah! I’ve been using YNAB for over 5 years now. I never knew about the toolkit extension. Looks like I just found out what I’m doing for the next few nights haha
@cristinaballi5 ай бұрын
Me, too! Thanks for telling us about the toolkit extension 🎉
@TheCreditFrog5 ай бұрын
Awesome Nate! That's longer than myself! I'm surprised you've never used the toolkit, but it is definitely a game changer! YNAB doesn't place a lot of value on reports, but I think that's a big mistake. Luckily, Toolkit for YNAB has made the reports so much easier to work with. Have fun with it haha!
@TheCreditFrog5 ай бұрын
@@cristinaballi Of course! Definitely a must-have extension for YNAB!
@LK_EBM5 ай бұрын
Would love to see you analyze your data with other "set ups" and scenario. Chase and Amex Trifecta, Cap1 Duo ... Etc.
@TheCreditFrog5 ай бұрын
Sure thing LK, those would definitely be some interesting studies to do! Will look into the data and see what I can find!
@chadpennycuff5 ай бұрын
@@TheCreditFrog That would be a great video. Here's the high-level annual spend. Run it through the C1 Duo, Vs Amex Vs Citi cs Chase tri-quad-quint-fectas - vs what Stan's actual setup. Go all in with Ink cards on team chase. And use your actual numbers as a rough guide with the data tweaked for privacy - then adjust to say an arbitrary income number. I've been talking with Matt about doing this on hotel cards setups.
@AnthonyVenture5 ай бұрын
Very interesting Stan! Truth be told, I’ve never used a spreadsheet like this so it was very interesting to learn finally what people do. YNAB seems great to track everything, almost seems like a lot of work to track for me personally 😂😂😂. I don’t know, I’ve always just kept it all in my head, but then again, my expenses really are only 3 categories so it’s not a lot to think about. Thank you for this Stan! Maybe I should be smarter and do this too 😂
@TheCreditFrog5 ай бұрын
Thanks Tony! Yeah, YNAB is an amazing expense tracking tool. Hah, must be nice to have only 3 expense categories - I certainly have more than that, but if you have a system that works great for you to help curb spending, then that will be the best one. YNAB is great for diving into the nitty gritty. Glad you enjoyed the video! You're a smart man in my book!
@Dopadroid5 ай бұрын
I've been using YNAB for years now. I also use the toolkit extension but mostly to help customize the other parts of the app, not so much the report. The data you get from the toolkit report you mentioned in the video is the same stuff you see with the built-in report except for the "spending by payee"
@TheCreditFrog5 ай бұрын
Yeah, the native reports section does similar things, but the Toolkit really makes those charts and graphs way better aesthetically - and much easier to read too. I think it's great for customization as you said, but since I've had it, I've never really even looked at the native Reports because Toolkit Reports are so much better!
@theartist3955 ай бұрын
Late to the party as usual. A suggestion specifically because you mentioned LA is the notoriously difficult Aerospace FCU Platinum and the much easier Logix FCU platinum. The Logix is more practical so my focus. They have BoA style premium rewards the more you have with them, with loans counting towards that total. It starts at a 1.5% and goes to a flat 3% on everything at $100k. $100k is very very easy to do with a home loan. Say $2k a month spend for $60 cash back plus mortgage payments. Your thoughts?
@TheCreditFrog5 ай бұрын
Oh that's interesting! I've never seen a structure where you get better rewards the more debt that you have. 3% on everything is pretty solid so that would definitely be a card to consider if it fits your strategy. Again, I'm not sure if rewarding people for higher balances is the way I would go, but if you can handle it, 3% on everything is nice.. as long as you stay in debt??
@theartist3955 ай бұрын
@@TheCreditFrogfor sure, but a home loan is usually well above that $100k mark and on a 15-30 year term is standard. I’m not sure many of us would still be playing the game in 30 years. 🤷🏻♂️ if it’s a competitive rate I could see it being well worth it to go with them
@CharlesT1315 ай бұрын
Hey Stan - do you get a kickback or bonus from subscribers utilizing your free trial link? Just curious since I wanted to support you for all the awesome content you make. I just signed up to test spin YNAB. Definitely need a better way to track my budget than manual excel sheets.
@TheCreditFrog5 ай бұрын
Hey Charles! Yes, I do! If you use my link to sign up and then subscribe to YNAB after your 34-day free trial, we both get one month free! I appreciate you using the link to support my channel. Once you get the hang of YNAB, you'll be amazed at how much information you can get from your budget/expense tracking! Just use this video as a guide to do the initial setup!
@MontyTheCardNerd5 ай бұрын
Love the data-driven approach you took towards maximizing overall earnings from CC multipliers. Now we know about the tool used by the master, so that we can hopefully be masters too!
@TheCreditFrog5 ай бұрын
Haha! Appreciate it, Monty! There's always something more to learn even at the "master" level so it was cool showcasing what I use to keep track of my expenses. Data-driven approach is how we can make good moves to get the best credit card value!
@jimmyjames64925 ай бұрын
Thanks for the info + video!
@TheCreditFrog5 ай бұрын
You're welcome Jimmy James!
@DreLBrown5295 ай бұрын
I just heard that credit card late fees are officially capped at $8 and will go into affect in a couple of months.
@TheCreditFrog5 ай бұрын
That would be nice just in case it happens! Hopefully we’re not paying any late fees though!!
@arteephact5 ай бұрын
Have tried YNAB in the past but could never get the CC usage figured out. I like the way you laid it out here and will have to give it another shot. How does the actual payment of the CC bill work in this setup ?
@TheCreditFrog5 ай бұрын
Definitely give it another shot! I know that it's confusing at first, but once I got the hang of it, it's an incredibly powerful app. As I mentioned, because this app is essentially a register, you would just enter in the payment amount into the app, and YNAB will keep track of it.
@maagjohn5 ай бұрын
Thanks!
@TheCreditFrog5 ай бұрын
You're so welcome! Thanks for the question, and appreciate the Super!
@wp43105 ай бұрын
The $600 for food for 4 for a month is not even close to realistic.
@TheCreditFrog5 ай бұрын
Ain't that the truth. These expense examples need to be doubled, but I worked within the challenge I was given!
@maagjohn5 ай бұрын
Please don't hold it against Stan. I am the one who established the parameters and I will readily admit I did little research. However, I include this link from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. As a qualifier, it was published as of Sept 2023 and so has 2022 data. It states that for an average income of $94,000/yr, $9,343 is spent on food with $5,703 being in home food and $3,639 being eating out. The parameters I gave Stan was to assume an income of $70,000. Given these are averages and the average is 33% more income than the target I gave Stan, I think it is logical to assume an average family with $70,000 would spend less than $9,343/yr www.bls.gov/news.release/cesan.nr0.htm