Sometimes you just need an example YNAB budget in your private practice to get started. You aren’t sure how to set it up? Do you want to learn the different ways a budget can look? Look no further friend, there are three different examples that you can implement in your own practice.
Private Practice Expense: Monthly and Non-Monthly
The first example of a YNAB budget for your private practice is simple. Get a list of all of your monthly and non-monthly expenses together to put into the categories. Create three category groups like below, and fill them in! If you aren’t sure or need a refresher on creating categories in YNAB, check out my blog post on categorizing transactions in YNAB.
Why is this so effective? Because it’s simple and highlights the need for simple decision-making on your 4 YNAB Rules. You work from top to bottom to make sure your payroll and monthly needs are met before moving on to your non-monthly expenses with what’s left.
YNAB Budget using an Account’s Catagories
Some people use YNAB and hand the information over to their accountants. Jesse at YNAB has done this before, previously mentioned on a podcast. The way this might work out is you simply have a long list of expenses in your budget. This includes advertising (online therapy profiles probably count), employee benefits, rent, etc. Your accountant would buy you the finest wine or bourbon if you were able to hand over the numbers perfectly in these categories.
A YNAB Budget example for Multiple Projects
The last example of a YNAB budget in private practice involves multiple projects.
Your private practice isn’t only necessary for that one-on-one sessions. Maybe you are running a group. You could also venture out into continuing education for your peers. Regardless, there is a way to track whether or not a project has a positive or negative return on investment.
The first thing you’ll need to do is create a category group for income, and a category for each project. Instead of having the income go to ready to be assigned, it enters through the category inside of the “income” category group. From there, you just create a category group for each project, with a list of it’s expenses in it.
This makes sorting out income easier in the long run too, when you look in the reports sections of YNAB. When you want to compare and see the numbers for a specific project, just click the appropriate categories for that project. Viola! A simple way to keep your projects separate, but together.
