Sample data: an invented household, not connected to any YNAB account.Changes you make stay on this page and reset when you reload.About Money on RailsES
How Plan Quality works
What each check measures, how it scores and where the rule comes from.
The Plan Quality Rating
- What it measures
- How well your plan is built, not whether you stick to it. It looks at what you assign, not what you spend.
- How it scores
- The average of the three checks below, a third each. A check that can't be scored yet counts as 0. 80 and up is well built, 60 to 79 is solid with gaps, under 60 needs work.
- Why it's used
- Three well-known rules of thumb, each one you can act on in YNAB.
Needs, Wants, Savings
- What it measures
- The share of what you assign a month that goes to Needs, Wants and Savings, over the months you pick. Categories Outside my plan and ones waiting for review are left out.
- How it scores
- 100 minus half the total gap from 50 / 30 / 20. For example, 60 / 25 / 15 is 20 points off in total, so it scores 90. What it would take shows how much to move a month, and between which buckets, to land on 50 / 30 / 20.
- Why it's used
- It's the simplest widely used guide to a plan's shape: enough for the basics, room to enjoy life, and something put away.
- Sources
Emergency fund
- What it measures
- How many months of Needs your emergency fund would cover: its balance now, divided by what you assign to Needs a month over the months you pick.
- How it scores
- Months covered out of 6. Six or more scores 100. What it would take shows how long you'll take at your current pace, and what a month gets you there in a year.
- Why it's used
- Common guidance is three to six months of essential costs. We aim for six, so losing an income for a while doesn't break the plan.
- Sources
True expenses
- What it measures
- Costs that don’t come every month: car repairs, insurance, gifts. Setting a little aside each month keeps them from knocking the plan off track. Point each one at the Categories, or a whole group, that hold its money. A whole group includes Categories you add to it later.
- How it scores
- Each one that applies to you is funded (a YNAB target, or money assigned this month) for full credit, underfunded for half, or has no Category for none. The check is the average. The ones that don’t apply are left out, and you turn them back on in Settings. The cost a month comes from each target spread over its cycle, or from the average spent where there’s no target.
- Why it's used
- It's YNAB's own rule for how a plan should be built: break big, rare costs into monthly amounts.
- Sources