Why is YNAB so great for ADHD?

If you’ve been asking yourself ‘how can I get my personal finances in order’ as a person with ADHD, then you’ve no doubt seen some of the countless articles across the web talking about why YNAB is such a great personal finance app for people that have ADHD.

Context: I’m a personal finance coach, and I coach people using the acclaimed YNAB system. I’m also someone with ADHD and in addition to this have coached a number of ADHD clients.

Personally, as someone with late diagnosis, I was a YNAB user long before I was diagnosed, so I’ve got a fair bit of personal experience and personal opinions on the subject.

I’ll share a few thoughts here.

You can set YNAB up however works best for your brain

That’s right. The app itself (both on a device or a computer) works in a specific way to allow you to budget money into your spending plan categories, and then import or input transactions as you spend, save, invest and give from your bank accounts. However, the way you set up your spending plan or budget is TOTALLY up to you. Want to budget weekly? Tick, totally possible. Want to categorise your budget in order of what makes you most happy? Tick, totally possible. Want to organise your budget in the way that absolutely works best for you? Massive tick.

And so, that moves us along to the next thing…

Spending time YNABing is FUN

For me, this is the key bit. Using YNAB is fun! And as someone with ADHD, my brain absolutely know the difference between things it finds fun to do, and things it doesn’t. And so having my money stuff front and centre in the ‘activities my brain loves’ meant that for the first time, I was able to be out of the procrastination/avoidance cycle about all things finance, and I saw the impact on my finances straight away. Over the coming days, weeks, months and then years, that continued and there was a tangible different in my everyday life.

The setup at the start takes longer than everyday budgeting, but for me, the deep dive of hyperfocus around that was really enjoyable. I’ve heard the same from most of my ADHD clients, but for anyone who is overwhelmed by the setup part, YNAB have a whole host of different ‘how to’ content (written, on video, in podcasts… just take your pick) and most importantly for me when I started, free online classes. For people who want more personalised support, I or one of the other certified YNAB coaches can happily support you with that, but there is of course a cost associated with that.

YNAB is totally non-judgemental, and totally forgiving

Not been keeping up with transactions for a few days? No problem, entering them is an easy, satisfying task. Overspent in a particular spending category? YNAB doesn't care, it will just have you reallocate some money from somewhere else. Have opinions that you aren’t great with money? As the days rack up, you’ll start proving yourself otherwise!

You’ll also get to see what your true priorities are, through your spending, and you can either use the categories to gently change that, or you can embrace your priorities as they are and let go of the ‘shoulds’ that don’t work for you.

So that’s it. That’s my thoughts for the moment, but I’ll likely write more about this subject in the future. Have a great day.