Whatif blog

How much does cutting one category actually help?

Fri, 13 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Spending less in one category saves its amount every month, and the saving adds up a little each day. Your balance on any day is higher by what the cut has saved up to that day, and no more. So a cut lifts the lowest point of your year by what it has saved by the lowest day, not by what it saves over the year. When that day is a few weeks after the cut starts, it gets a few weeks of it. And because the cut lifts later days more than earlier ones, the lowest day itself can move earlier, to a day that has had less of the saving.

YNAB budgets the money you have today, and a smaller target is a smaller job for that money each month. YNAB doesn’t walk your accounts forward a day at a time, so it can’t show which day of the year the cut reaches first, or how much of it has arrived by then. A forecast does, and how Whatif forecasts a YNAB budget explains how one is worked out.

How much of the cut reaches the lowest point

Here is one budget showing it: the Austin household, Whatif’s sample budget, forecast from 13 November 2026 to 30 November 2027. As it stands, its lowest point is $296.48, on 14 February. Its Dining out category has a YNAB target of $240.00 a month, and the forecast spends that. Take it to $140.00 a month from 1 December and change nothing else: the year’s spending falls by $1,200.00, and the lowest point is $479.07, on 14 January. The cut raises the year’s lowest point by $182.59.

Month	Lowest point	On
November 2026	$2,150.00	14 November 2026
December 2026	$2,206.91	14 December 2026
January 2027	$333.91	14 January 2027
February 2027	$296.48	14 February 2027

The Austin household’s cash, 13 November 2026 to 28 February 2027, a day at a time. Its lowest point is $296.48 on 14 February 2027, and it does not go below zero.

The chart is the budget as it stands. The forecast spreads a category’s month across its days, so the cut saves a little every day from 1 December: $45.16 by 14 December, $100.00 by the last day of December, and $145.16 by 14 January.

Why the lowest day moves

As it stands, the year’s two lowest months are January and February, and their lowest days are a month apart. The yearly auto insurance renews on 13 January, the day before the 14th, so January’s 14th is low, and February’s 14th is lower still. Why the balance is lowest after a yearly bill follows that renewal through the months after it.

The cut lifts February’s 14th more than January’s, because February has had a month more of it. That is enough to put January’s 14th underneath. The year’s lowest point is now the January one, a day that has had only $145.16 of the cut, and the $182.59 it rises by is measured from February’s old low.

Month	Lowest point, as it stands	With the cut	On
November	$2,150.00	$2,150.00	14 November
December	$2,206.91	$2,252.07	14 December
January	$333.91	$479.07	14 January
February	$296.48	$546.49	14 February
March	$397.91	$743.07	14 March
April	$427.81	$874.47	14 April
May	$901.41	$1,446.57	14 May
June	$1,331.81	$1,978.47	14 June

November does not move: the cut starts in December. From December on, each month’s lowest day is still the 14th, the day before the 15th’s paycheck, with the cut or without it.

Where the rest of the saving goes

The forecast closes on 30 November 2027 at $11,654.48 as it stands and $12,854.48 with the cut, $1,200.00 apart: the whole of it, twelve months from December to November. Most of that arrives after the year’s lowest day, when the line is already climbing. The auto loan is paid off on 28 March 2027 and the Visa card on 1 July 2027, and their payments stay in checking after that.

Month	Lowest point	On
November 2026	$2,150.00	14 November 2026
December 2026	$2,206.91	14 December 2026
January 2027	$333.91	14 January 2027
February 2027	$296.48	14 February 2027
March 2027	$397.91	14 March 2027
April 2027	$427.81	14 April 2027
May 2027	$901.41	14 May 2027
June 2027	$1,331.81	14 June 2027
July 2027	$2,361.40	14 July 2027
August 2027	$3,413.40	14 August 2027
September 2027	$4,443.80	14 September 2027
October 2027	$5,517.40	14 October 2027
November 2027	$6,529.80	14 November 2027

The Austin household’s cash, 13 November 2026 to 30 November 2027, a day at a time. Its lowest point is $296.48 on 14 February 2027, and it does not go below zero.

A single expense is the other way round. It lowers every later day by its full amount at once, so a low that comes after it falls by all of it. A monthly cut reaches each later day only in part, and reaches the earliest of them least.

Finding it in your own budget

Whatif reads your YNAB budget — balances, scheduled transactions and targets — and forecasts it a day at a time. On What if, a scenario changes a category by a percentage and draws the result as a second line against the forecast before anything is saved, with the lowest point said under it. On the plan’s own spending rows, a figure being typed is drawn as a second line in the same way. None of it changes your YNAB budget. The Austin household is the sample budget: open it with no account needed, and nothing you change here is saved. To see what one category does to your own lowest point, connect your YNAB budget; the fourteen-day trial needs no card.

How this was worked out

The household is the one the sample budget opens, forecast from 13 November 2026 to 30 November 2027 with its schedules and targets as they stand on that day. The cut is a single category change, Dining out set to $140.00 a month from 1 December 2026 to the end of the forecast, folded over that forecast the way What if folds one, with nothing else changed. The saving by a day is the gap between the two forecasts at the close of that day. A month’s lowest point is the lowest balance at the close of any of its days, the first of them when two are equal.

If I change a YNAB target, does my forecast change?

Thu, 12 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT

If the forecast’s figure for a category is still YNAB’s target, it changes when the target does: edit the target in YNAB, and the next sync moves the forecast with it. If you have stated a figure of your own for that category, it does not: your figure stays, and the forecast goes on using it. Either way the sync writes down what it did, so a forecast that moved can be traced to the target that moved it.

YNAB keeps a target on each category and tells you what it asks you to assign this month. It budgets the money you have today; it does not walk your accounts forward a day at a time, so a target changed in YNAB says nothing about how low your cash gets in March. A forecast built from those targets has to say which figure counts when one moves. How Whatif forecasts a YNAB budget covers the rest of what goes into it.

Where the forecast’s spending comes from

When a budget is first read, each category with a target becomes a spending row in Whatif’s plan, at the target’s figure and on its rhythm. A category paid by a scheduled transaction becomes a row at the schedule’s figure and on its date. That plan is what the forecast walks forward.

This is the forecast for Whatif’s sample budget, the Austin household, worked out from its balances, its scheduled transactions and its targets as they stand on 12 November 2026, with the lowest point marked.

Month	Lowest point	On
November 2026	$2,132.66	14 November 2026
December 2026	$2,204.76	14 December 2026
January 2027	$331.76	14 January 2027
February 2027	$294.33	14 February 2027
March 2027	$395.76	14 March 2027
April 2027	$425.26	14 April 2027
May 2027	$898.86	14 May 2027
June 2027	$1,329.26	14 June 2027
July 2027	$2,355.68	14 July 2027
August 2027	$3,407.68	14 August 2027
September 2027	$4,438.08	14 September 2027
October 2027	$5,511.68	14 October 2027
November 2027	$6,524.08	14 November 2027

The Austin household’s cash, 12 November 2026 to 30 November 2027, a day at a time. Its lowest point is $294.33 on 14 February 2027, and it does not go below zero.

In a connected budget, each row that came from a target follows it: change the target in YNAB, and the next sync redraws the line from the new figure.

A row follows YNAB until you state a figure

Each spending row is in one of two states, and the plan knows which.

A row nobody has touched follows YNAB. It holds the target’s figure, and after every sync it is brought into step with what YNAB says now: a new amount, and a new rhythm if the target’s changed too. A row with no figure that gains a target in YNAB is filled from it and counted from then on.
A row with a figure you stated is yours. Stating an amount anywhere makes it so — typing one in, adopting the average of past months offered beside the row, setting a payment on a debt’s card. From then on no sync changes the figure, whatever YNAB’s target does.
The way back is one click. When YNAB’s target differs from your figure, it sits beside the row, labelled YNAB target. Taking it puts the row back on YNAB’s target, and it follows from then on.

Some things change the forecast without changing whose figure a row holds. A snoozed row is out of the forecast until the month you pick, and a row that followed YNAB before the snooze goes on following it. A scenario is a change laid over the forecast, not an edit to the plan, so it changes no row’s figure and no row’s state. A row made from a scheduled transaction carries the schedule’s figure and date rather than a target’s, and a change to the target does not move it.

None of this reaches YNAB. Whatif connects to YNAB with read-only access, and what read-only access means explains why the target in YNAB is never touched, whichever figure the forecast uses.

When YNAB withdraws a target

Removing a target, or deleting or hiding its category, is followed the same way.

A row that follows YNAB follows it out of the forecast. Its figure goes to nothing and the row stops counting, the state a category with no target is read in. If a target is set again later, the row is filled from it again.
A row with your figure keeps counting. The sync leaves it as it is and says what YNAB did under it.

What Notifications records

Every change a sync makes to the plan is written down when it happens and listed on Notifications, so none of it is silent. A notification is a record: it stores the row’s name and its figures as they were at that sync, and it is never rewritten.

What YNAB did	A row that follows YNAB	A row with your figure
Changed the target	Takes the new figure; the notification gives the old one	Keeps your figure; the notification gives YNAB’s new one
Removed the target	Leaves the forecast; the notification gives what it was	Still counted; the notification says the target is gone
Deleted or hid the category	Leaves the forecast; the notification gives what it was	Still counted; the notification says the category was deleted or hidden
Created a category with a target	Arrives as a new row, in the forecast	—

One sync says nothing: a budget’s first read. Every row is new then and nothing has changed, so the plan is read in setup instead of as a notification per category. New notifications are listed first, and the navigation counts the ones nobody has read.

Seeing it on your own budget

Whatif reads your YNAB budget and forecasts it a day at a time, with the lowest point and the day it falls on. On the Spending screen, a row whose figure is yours shows YNAB’s target beside it wherever the two differ, as the one click that follows it again. A sample budget shows the whole product with no account needed — nothing you change here is saved. To see which of your own rows follow YNAB, connect your YNAB budget; the fourteen-day trial needs no card.

My month breaks even, so why does my balance get so low?

Wed, 11 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT

A month that breaks even ends about where the month before it ended. That is a comparison of two days, and if you are paid at the end of the month, both of them are days a paycheck has just landed on, among the highest your account sees all month. The bills on the 1st, the spending on every day after them and the wait for the next paycheck all happen between those two days, and none of it shows in the difference. A month can end even and spend half its days far below either end.

YNAB budgets the money you have today. It doesn’t walk your accounts forward a day at a time, so it can’t show how low the balance goes between one month-end and the next. A forecast does, and how Whatif forecasts a YNAB budget explains how one is worked out.

How low a month that ends even goes

Here it is in one budget: the Austin household, Whatif’s sample budget, forecast a day at a time from 11 November 2026. February 2027 starts from $5,057.68, the balance at the close of 31 January, and closes at $5,089.68: $32.00 better off. Its lowest point is $292.16, on 14 February, $4,765.52 below where it started. It is also the lowest point of the whole twelve-month forecast.

Month	Lowest point	On
February 2027	$292.16	14 February 2027

The Austin household’s cash, 1 February 2027 to 28 February 2027, a day at a time. Its lowest point is $292.16 on 14 February 2027, and it does not go below zero.

On 1 February, $3,260.00 leaves in one day: childcare, the mortgage and the Visa payment. By the close of the 14th the dated items have taken $4,048.00 and the category spending $717.52, and nothing has arrived. The second half of the month gives it back: $2,900.00 of pay on the 15th, $450.00 of contract invoices on the 20th and $2,900.00 of pay on the 28th.

Why the month-end is the month’s highest day

The second paycheck lands on the last day of February, so the balance the month ends on, $5,089.68, is the highest of its 28 days. Every other day of February closes at least $1,755.01 below it.

That month-end balance holds pay that has not yet met the next month’s bills. On 1 March the same $3,260.00 leaves again, and with that day’s category spending the balance closes at $1,783.39.

What a month’s total says across a year

Month	Starts from	Closes at	Month’s total	Lowest point	Below the start
December	$6,853.68	$6,885.68	$32.00	$2,202.59	$4,651.09
January	$6,885.68	$5,057.68	−$1,828.00	$329.59	$6,556.09
February	$5,057.68	$5,089.68	$32.00	$292.16	$4,765.52
March	$5,089.68	$5,140.37	$50.69	$393.59	$4,696.09
April	$5,140.37	$5,574.37	$434.00	$422.69	$4,717.69
May	$5,574.37	$6,026.37	$452.00	$896.29	$4,678.09
June	$6,026.37	$6,433.37	$407.00	$1,326.69	$4,699.69
July	$6,433.37	$7,435.04	$1,001.67	$2,349.95	$4,083.42
August	$7,435.04	$8,487.04	$1,052.00	$3,401.95	$4,033.09
September	$8,487.04	$9,539.04	$1,052.00	$4,432.35	$4,054.69
October	$9,539.04	$10,591.04	$1,052.00	$5,505.95	$4,033.09
November	$10,591.04	$11,643.04	$1,052.00	$6,518.35	$4,072.69

In every one of the twelve months, the lowest point is on the 14th.

The month’s totals run from −$1,828.00 in January, the month the yearly auto insurance is paid, to $1,052.00 in each month from August. How far each month falls below where it started hardly follows them. Apart from January, it is never less than $4,033.09 and never more than $4,765.52, in a month that ends $32.00 up and in a month that gains $1,052.00 alike. What leaves between the 1st and the 14th is much the same every month, and that is what sets the fall. Why your YNAB balance is lowest the day before payday goes through those fourteen days item by item.

What a month’s total does decide is where the next month starts. From February on, every month closes above where it started, so each starts higher than the one before, and each month’s lowest point is higher than the last. A month’s lowest point is where it starts less what leaves before the first paycheck: breaking even holds the first of those still, and says nothing about the second.

Month	Lowest point	On
November 2026	$2,133.01	14 November 2026
December 2026	$2,202.59	14 December 2026
January 2027	$329.59	14 January 2027
February 2027	$292.16	14 February 2027
March 2027	$393.59	14 March 2027
April 2027	$422.69	14 April 2027
May 2027	$896.29	14 May 2027
June 2027	$1,326.69	14 June 2027
July 2027	$2,349.95	14 July 2027
August 2027	$3,401.95	14 August 2027
September 2027	$4,432.35	14 September 2027
October 2027	$5,505.95	14 October 2027
November 2027	$6,518.35	14 November 2027

The Austin household’s cash, 11 November 2026 to 30 November 2027, a day at a time. Its lowest point is $292.16 on 14 February 2027, and it does not go below zero.

Finding it in your own budget

Whatif reads your YNAB budget — balances, scheduled transactions and targets — and forecasts it a day at a time, and shows the lowest point and the day it falls on. Each month of the forecast opens on its own page, a day at a time, with its lowest point and its day beside where it closes. The Austin household is the sample budget: open it to see February a day at a time, with no account needed, and nothing you change here is saved. To see how low your own months go between their month-ends, connect your YNAB budget; the fourteen-day trial needs no card.

How this was worked out

The household is the one the sample budget opens, forecast from 11 November 2026 to 30 November 2027 with its schedules and targets as they stand on that day. A month starts from the balance at the close of the day before it, because the balance on the 1st has already paid the 1st’s bills, and the month’s total is where it closes less where it started. Its lowest point is the lowest balance at the close of any of its days, the first of them when two are equal. The table leaves out November 2026, which the forecast joins on the 11th.

How low does my account get before a payday on the 25th?

Tue, 10 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Paid once a month on the 25th, the stretch your cash has to last runs from one 25th to the 24th of the next month, across the 1st. The bills that leave in the days after payday — rent, the mortgage, loan payments — take their share first, and everything after that runs on what is left, so the lowest day is the 24th, the day before the next payday. If something else arrives in the middle of the month, the stretch has two low days instead of one: the day before that money lands, and the day before payday. Which of the two goes lower depends on whether the money in the middle covers the days after it.

YNAB budgets the money you have today, and a paycheck on the 25th is money you give jobs to when it arrives. It doesn’t walk your accounts forward a day at a time, so it can’t show how low the 24th will be, or whether a day earlier in the month goes lower. A forecast does, and how Whatif forecasts a YNAB budget explains how one is worked out.

Which day is lowest between two paydays

Here is one budget showing it: the Stockholm household, one of Whatif’s sample budgets, forecast from 10 November 2026 to 30 November 2027. Its salary, 38 500,00 kr, lands on the 25th. A second, smaller inflow, 7 500,00 kr of consulting invoices, lands on the 12th. Its cash is three accounts together: checking, a savings buffer and a cash wallet.

From the payday on 25 December to the day before the next, the lowest point is 261 272,78 kr, on 11 January, and the balance on 24 January is 261 927,24 kr. From 25 January to 24 February, the lowest point is the day before payday itself: 270 761,18 kr, on 24 February, with 11 February at 270 840,17 kr.

Month	Lowest point	On
December 2026	269 153,20 kr	31 December 2026
January 2027	261 272,78 kr	11 January 2027
February 2027	270 761,18 kr	24 February 2027

The Stockholm household’s cash, 25 December 2026 to 24 February 2027, a day at a time. Its lowest point is 261 272,78 kr on 11 January 2027, and it does not go below zero.

What leaves after the 25th

In the three days after the payday on 25 January, four payments leave: the mortgage, 8 900,00 kr, and the student loan, 1 100,00 kr, on the 27th; the car loan, 3 150,00 kr, and the housing fee, 4 250,00 kr, on the 28th. Together they come to 17 400,00 kr. From the close of 25 January to the close of the 28th, 18 979,73 kr leaves: those four payments and three days of category spending.

After that come the Visa payment on the 1st, 1 500,00 kr, the streaming and gym charges, and the category spending — Groceries, Electricity, Eating out and the rest — which the forecast spreads across the days of the month. From the close of 25 January to the close of 11 February, 29 060,50 kr leaves.

Why the 11th and the 24th come so close

The 7 500,00 kr on the 12th lifts the line, and the thirteen days from the 12th to the 24th take it back down. In a 31-day month, those thirteen days carry 6 845,54 kr of category spending, less than the invoices, so the 24th closes above the 11th: in January, 654,46 kr above it. In February, the same month of spending is shared across 28 days, and the same thirteen days carry 7 578,98 kr, more than the invoices. So February’s 24th goes lower than its 11th, by 78,98 kr. In a 30-day month like April they carry 7 073,73 kr.

A gym or streaming charge that falls between the 12th and the 24th narrows the gap the same way. In September both fall in it, and the 24th is the lowest day of that pay period.

Every pay period in the forecast

Payday	At the close of payday	Lowest point	On	The day before the next payday
25 November 2026	274 019,19 kr	251 533,78 kr	11 December	251 739,24 kr
25 December 2026	289 712,66 kr	261 272,78 kr	11 January	261 927,24 kr
25 January 2027	299 900,66 kr	270 761,18 kr	24 February	270 761,18 kr
25 February 2027	308 678,19 kr	276 748,78 kr	11 March	277 403,24 kr
25 March 2027	315 376,66 kr	286 743,72 kr	11 April	287 169,99 kr
25 April 2027	325 125,86 kr	289 834,78 kr	11 May	290 489,24 kr
25 May 2027	328 462,66 kr	299 829,72 kr	11 June	300 116,99 kr
25 June 2027	338 072,86 kr	310 210,78 kr	11 July	310 726,24 kr
25 July 2027	348 699,66 kr	320 398,78 kr	11 August	320 465,24 kr
25 August 2027	358 438,66 kr	330 231,99 kr	24 September	330 231,99 kr
25 September 2027	368 187,86 kr	340 807,85 kr	11 October	340 874,31 kr
25 October 2027	378 847,73 kr	352 141,06 kr	24 November	352 141,06 kr

Of the twelve pay periods, the lowest day is the 11th in nine and the 24th in three. In none of them are the two more than 654,46 kr apart. Each period’s lowest point is higher than the one before, because the household is paid more than it spends, and the line climbs across the year.

Month	Lowest point	On
November 2026	233 938,40 kr	11 November 2026
December 2026	251 533,78 kr	11 December 2026
January 2027	261 272,78 kr	11 January 2027
February 2027	270 761,18 kr	24 February 2027
March 2027	276 748,78 kr	11 March 2027
April 2027	286 743,72 kr	11 April 2027
May 2027	289 834,78 kr	11 May 2027
June 2027	299 829,72 kr	11 June 2027
July 2027	310 210,78 kr	11 July 2027
August 2027	320 398,78 kr	11 August 2027
September 2027	330 231,99 kr	24 September 2027
October 2027	340 807,85 kr	11 October 2027
November 2027	352 141,06 kr	24 November 2027

The Stockholm household’s cash, 10 November 2026 to 30 November 2027, a day at a time. Its lowest point is 233 938,40 kr on 11 November 2026, and it does not go below zero.

In a budget paid twice a month, the low comes before each of the two paydays instead; why your YNAB balance is lowest the day before payday works through one with bills on the 1st and pay on the 15th.

Finding it in your own budget

Whatif reads your YNAB budget — balances, scheduled transactions and targets — and forecasts it a day at a time, and shows the lowest point and the day it falls on. The Stockholm household is one of the four households in the sample budget, a menu away from the one it opens, with no account needed, and nothing you change here is saved. To see how low your own account gets before your own payday, connect your YNAB budget; the fourteen-day trial needs no card.

How this was worked out

The household is the Stockholm one from the sample budget, forecast from 10 November 2026 to 30 November 2027 with its schedules and targets as they stand on that day. A pay period runs from a payday to the day before the next one, so the days before the first payday and after the last are left out. Its lowest point is the lowest balance at the close of any of its days, the first of them when two are equal.

How far will one big expense set me back?

Mon, 09 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT

An expense you pay once lowers your checking balance by its full amount on the day it leaves, and every day after that starts from the lower figure. Nothing in your scheduled pay and bills pays it back, so the gap stays open for as long as the forecast runs. If the year’s lowest day comes after the expense, the lowest point falls by the whole amount. A low that came before it does not move at all. So how far one expense sets you back is decided less by the month you pay it in than by the lowest day still ahead of it.

YNAB budgets the money you have today, and a repair is one more thing that money is given a job for. YNAB doesn’t walk your accounts forward a day at a time, so it can’t show which later day the repair makes the lowest, or how far below it the balance goes. A forecast does, and how Whatif forecasts a YNAB budget explains how one is worked out.

How far one repair moves the lowest point

Here is one budget showing it: the Austin household, Whatif’s sample budget, forecast from 9 November 2026 to 30 November 2027. As it stands, its lowest point is $287.83, on 14 February. Add a $1,200.00 car repair on 16 November, a week from the forecast’s first day, and change nothing else: the lowest point is −$912.17, on the same day. The repair lowers the year’s lowest point by $1,200.00, the whole of it.

Month	Lowest point	On
November 2026	$2,133.04	14 November 2026
December 2026	$2,153.26	14 December 2026
January 2027	$325.26	14 January 2027
February 2027	$287.83	14 February 2027

The Austin household’s cash, 9 November 2026 to 28 February 2027, a day at a time. Its lowest point is $287.83 on 14 February 2027, and it does not go below zero.

The chart is the budget as it stands. With the repair, the same line runs $1,200.00 lower from 16 November on. The lowest point moves by the full amount because its day comes after the repair. November’s own lowest day, the 14th, comes before it, and it is $2,133.04 with the repair or without it.

Which months go below zero

The household’s mortgage, childcare and property tax leave on the 1st to the 3rd, and its pay arrives on the 15th and the 30th, so each month’s lowest day is the 14th. Why your YNAB balance is lowest the day before payday works through those months. The repair does not change which day that is. It changes how far each 14th falls.

Month	Lowest point, as it stands	With the repair	On
November	$2,133.04	$2,133.04	14 November
December	$2,153.26	$953.26	14 December
January	$325.26	−$874.74	14 January
February	$287.83	−$912.17	14 February
March	$389.26	−$810.74	14 March
April	$417.55	−$782.45	14 April
May	$891.15	−$308.85	14 May
June	$1,321.55	$121.55	14 June

With the repair, the line first crosses zero on 9 January, at −$513.28. That is the day the household’s yearly auto insurance renews, which why the balance is lowest after a yearly bill follows through the months after it. From then on the line is below zero on 42 days, each of them in the days before a 15th’s paycheck, in every month from January to May. The last is 14 May. After it, the line stays above zero for the rest of the forecast.

How long the repair stays in the line

Nothing in the forecast pays the $1,200.00 back. The household’s pay and bills are the same with or without it, so every day from 16 November to the end of the forecast is $1,200.00 lower. The forecast closes on 30 November 2027 at $11,631.58 as it stands and $10,431.58 with the repair, $1,200.00 apart.

Month	Lowest point	On
November 2026	$2,133.04	14 November 2026
December 2026	$2,153.26	14 December 2026
January 2027	$325.26	14 January 2027
February 2027	$287.83	14 February 2027
March 2027	$389.26	14 March 2027
April 2027	$417.55	14 April 2027
May 2027	$891.15	14 May 2027
June 2027	$1,321.55	14 June 2027
July 2027	$2,338.50	14 July 2027
August 2027	$3,390.50	14 August 2027
September 2027	$4,420.90	14 September 2027
October 2027	$5,476.50	14 October 2027
November 2027	$6,461.90	14 November 2027

The Austin household’s cash, 9 November 2026 to 30 November 2027, a day at a time. Its lowest point is $287.83 on 14 February 2027, and it does not go below zero.

The line comes back above zero because it climbs past the repair, not because anything repays it. The auto loan is paid off on 28 March 2027 and the Visa card on 1 July 2027, and their payments stay in checking after that. From February on, each month’s lowest point is higher than the one before, with the repair or without it.

The most next week can take

A payment on one day lowers every later day by its amount and nothing else. So the most a single expense on 16 November can be before the line goes below zero later is the lowest balance from that day to the end of the forecast: $287.83, the balance on 14 February. That figure is set by a day three months after the payment, which is why a repair paid in November is measured against February.

Finding it in your own budget

Whatif reads your YNAB budget — balances, scheduled transactions and targets — and forecasts it a day at a time. On What if, a one-off is one of the changes a scenario makes: give it a day and an amount, and it is drawn as a second line against the forecast before anything is saved. A spending added on one day says what it does to the whole forecast — the lowest point, or the day cash goes below zero — and the most that day can take before cash goes below zero later. None of it changes your YNAB budget. The Austin household is the sample budget: open it with no account needed, and nothing you change here is saved. To see what one expense does to your own forecast, connect your YNAB budget; the fourteen-day trial needs no card.

How this was worked out

The household is the one the sample budget opens, forecast from 9 November 2026 to 30 November 2027 with its schedules and targets as they stand on that day. The repair is a single one-off of $1,200.00 on 16 November, folded over that forecast the way What if folds one, with nothing else changed. A month’s lowest point is the lowest balance at the close of any of its days, the first of them when two are equal, and a day below zero is one that closes below zero.

Can an app connected to YNAB change my budget?

Sun, 08 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT

An app connected to your YNAB budget can change it only if YNAB granted it access that permits writing. With read-only access it cannot, whatever the app is built to do: the refusal happens at YNAB, on every request that would change anything, and nothing in the budget moves. So the question to ask of a connected app is not what it promises to leave alone, but what access it holds.

YNAB’s API lets an app ask for read-only access when you connect it. A token granted that way can read a budget and nothing else: YNAB refuses any request made with it that would change data. That makes read-only a property of the credential, held at YNAB, rather than a policy the app chooses to follow. A promise in an app’s terms is the app’s to keep; a read-only scope is YNAB’s to enforce.

What Whatif asks for, and what it does with the answer

Whatif connects to YNAB with read-only access. It cannot change a budget, a transaction, a category or a target — not by design choice, but because the access it is granted does not permit it.

Three things in the code keep that true, each of a different kind:

There is one scope, and it is not a setting. The connect flow asks YNAB for read-only access, and nothing in the codebase can ask for more. A configuration value is one deploy away from being wrong, so there is no configuration value.
The scope YNAB grants is checked, not assumed. When YNAB hands back a token, Whatif reads the scope on it. A token that does not say read-only is refused and never stored, because a credential with more access than the promise allows is not one Whatif keeps.
Every request to YNAB is a read. The code that talks to YNAB has one way of making a request, and it reads. There is no request in it that sends anything to your budget.

What it reads

From the budget you choose, Whatif reads your accounts and their balances, your categories and their targets, your scheduled transactions and your payees. That is what the forecast is built from, and how Whatif forecasts a YNAB budget explains what it does with each of them.

Individual transactions arrive in the same response. Whatif keeps them only if you turn on the screen that adds up how past months actually went, and deletes them when you turn it off or disconnect.

Here is what that reading produces, on Whatif’s sample budget: the Austin household’s cash a day at a time for twelve months, worked out from its balances, its schedules and its targets as they stand on 8 November 2026, with the lowest point marked.

Month	Lowest point	On
November 2026	$2,087.76	14 November 2026
December 2026	$2,151.09	14 December 2026
January 2027	$323.09	14 January 2027
February 2027	$285.66	14 February 2027
March 2027	$387.09	14 March 2027
April 2027	$414.98	14 April 2027
May 2027	$888.58	14 May 2027
June 2027	$1,318.98	14 June 2027
July 2027	$2,332.77	14 July 2027
August 2027	$3,384.77	14 August 2027
September 2027	$4,397.17	14 September 2027
October 2027	$5,470.77	14 October 2027
November 2027	$6,456.17	14 November 2027

The Austin household’s cash, 8 November 2026 to 30 November 2027, a day at a time. Its lowest point is $285.66 on 14 February 2027, and it does not go below zero.

Every input to that line is something read from a budget, or a figure the reader of that budget stated in Whatif.

Where your changes go instead

Whatif is a place to change things, and none of those changes reach YNAB.

Your corrections live in Whatif’s plan. When a target is out of date and you state the real figure, the figure is stored in Whatif, and the forecast uses yours from then on. The category in YNAB keeps its target. A row follows YNAB’s target until you state a figure of your own.
A scenario is a change laid over the forecast. Cutting a category, adding a one-off or moving your income draws a second line against the forecast. Saving a scenario saves it in Whatif.
The assistant reads. Every figure it gives comes from a tool that runs the forecast or reads the spending screen’s own totals, and none of its tools writes.
A sync runs one way. It reads YNAB and updates Whatif’s copy: it fills in what is missing, follows a target that changed under a row that follows it, and writes each change it makes to the plan on Notifications. A row whose figure you stated keeps your figure.

What read-only does not cover

Read-only is about writing to YNAB. It says nothing about what Whatif keeps on its side, so that has its own answer: what was read from a budget is stored to build the forecast, kept fresh by a sync every hour, and removed from Whatif along with your plan and scenarios when you disconnect that budget.

YNAB’s access tokens last two hours, and Whatif renews them in the background so a sync can run without you. YNAB can also revoke an app’s access to its API at its own discretion. If it did, Whatif would stop reading; it still could not write.

Seeing it on your own budget

Whatif reads your YNAB budget and forecasts it a day at a time, with the lowest point and the day it falls on. A sample budget shows the whole product with no account needed — nothing you change here is saved. To see the forecast for your own budget, connect it; the fourteen-day trial needs no card. The connection asks YNAB for read-only access, and Whatif refuses a token that does not have it.

Why is my balance lowest after a yearly bill I saved for?

Sat, 07 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT

If you set money aside every month for a yearly bill, that money never leaves your checking account until the bill does. Assigning it to a category in YNAB changes what the category has available; it does not move cash. So on the day the renewal is paid, the whole of it leaves at once, and every day after that starts lower by the full amount. The year’s lowest point often lands after the bill, at the next day the account was already going to be thin — the day before a payday, in the month after the renewal.

YNAB budgets the money you have today, so a yearly bill you have funded looks taken care of, and in the budget it is. YNAB doesn’t walk your accounts forward a day at a time, so it can’t show the day the renewal leaves checking, or how low the balance gets in the weeks that follow. A forecast does, and how Whatif forecasts a YNAB budget explains how one is worked out.

How far one renewal moves the lowest point

Here is one budget showing it: the Austin household, Whatif’s sample budget. Its auto insurance is $1,860.00 once a year, and the next renewal is 7 January. The forecast starts on 7 November 2026 and runs to 30 November 2027.

With the renewal, the lowest point of the forecast is $283.48, on 14 February. Take the renewal out and change nothing else, and the lowest point is $2,087.32, on 14 November. The one bill lowers the year’s lowest point by $1,803.84 and moves it three months later.

Month	Lowest point	On
December 2026	$2,148.91	14 December 2026
January 2027	$320.91	14 January 2027
February 2027	$283.48	14 February 2027
March 2027	$384.91	14 March 2027

The Austin household’s cash, 1 December 2026 to 31 March 2027, a day at a time. Its lowest point is $283.48 on 14 February 2027, and it does not go below zero.

The lowest point moves by less than the bill because, without the renewal, it is a different day. Without it, the forecast’s lowest day is this month’s 14th, before the renewal would have been paid. With it, every day from 7 January on is $1,860.00 lower, and the lowest of those days, 14 February, is lower than 14 November.

Why the low comes the month after

The household’s mortgage, childcare and property tax leave on the 1st to the 3rd, and its pay arrives on the 15th and the 30th, so each month’s lowest day is the 14th. Why your YNAB balance is lowest the day before payday works through those months. The renewal does not change which day that is. It changes how far each 14th falls.

Month	Lowest point, with the renewal	Without it	On
December	$2,148.91	$2,148.91	14 December
January	$320.91	$2,180.91	14 January
February	$283.48	$2,143.48	14 February
March	$384.91	$2,244.91	14 March

December is the same either way: the renewal has not been paid. From January, each month’s 14th is $1,860.00 lower with it.

January holds the renewal, and its 14th is a week after it. February has no yearly bill, and its 14th is lower again, by $37.43. February has 28 days, so the same month of category spending is shared across fewer of them, and more of it has left by the 14th. That is as true without the renewal as with it: without it, February’s 14th is also $37.43 below January’s. What the renewal adds is that February starts from what the renewal left behind.

How long the renewal stays in the line

Nothing in the forecast pays the $1,860.00 back. The household’s pay and bills are the same with or without it, so the gap opened on 7 January stays open for the rest of the forecast. The forecast closes on 30 November 2027 at $11,620.11 with the renewal and $13,480.11 without it, $1,860.00 apart. The next renewal, in January 2028, is past the end of this forecast.

Month	Lowest point	On
November 2026	$2,087.32	14 November 2026
December 2026	$2,148.91	14 December 2026
January 2027	$320.91	14 January 2027
February 2027	$283.48	14 February 2027
March 2027	$384.91	14 March 2027
April 2027	$412.40	14 April 2027
May 2027	$885.99	14 May 2027
June 2027	$1,316.40	14 June 2027
July 2027	$2,327.02	14 July 2027
August 2027	$3,379.02	14 August 2027
September 2027	$4,391.42	14 September 2027
October 2027	$5,465.02	14 October 2027
November 2027	$6,450.42	14 November 2027

The Austin household’s cash, 7 November 2026 to 30 November 2027, a day at a time. Its lowest point is $283.48 on 14 February 2027, and it does not go below zero.

Across the year, the line comes closest to zero in February and climbs after it. It does not go below zero with the renewal or without it.

Finding it in your own budget

Whatif reads your YNAB budget — balances, scheduled transactions and targets — and forecasts it a day at a time. A yearly bill scheduled in YNAB lands on its own date in the forecast, at its full amount, whatever its category holds. The forecast shows the lowest point and its day, and each month opens a day at a time, so the day a renewal leaves and the low after it are both on the line. The Austin household is the sample budget: open it with no account needed. To see where your own yearly bills land, connect your YNAB budget; the fourteen-day trial needs no card.

How this was worked out

The household is the one the sample budget opens, forecast from 7 November 2026 to 30 November 2027 with its schedules and targets as they stand on that day. The forecast without the renewal is the same budget with the auto insurance’s scheduled transaction taken out and nothing else changed. A month starts from the balance at the close of the day before it, and its lowest point is the lowest balance at the close of any of its days, the first of them when two are equal.

What happens in a month with three paychecks?

Fri, 06 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT

If you are paid every two weeks, most months bring two paychecks and two bring three. Twenty-six paychecks a year fill twelve months of two and leave two over. The third paycheck always lands on the 29th, 30th or 31st, because a month only fits three when its first arrives by the 3rd. So a three-paycheck month does not lift its own lowest day: that day has passed before the third paycheck arrives. What it lifts is the months after it. The run of two-paycheck months before it is where your cash falls furthest behind.

Two paychecks are two twenty-sixths of a year’s pay, which is less than a twelfth of it, while a mortgage, rent or childcare comes due once a month all the same. Each two-paycheck month is short by the difference, the shortfall adds up from one to the next, and a third paycheck pays it back.

YNAB budgets the money you have today. It doesn’t walk your accounts forward a day at a time, so it can’t show which months hold the third paycheck, or how low your cash gets in the months before one. A forecast does, and how Whatif forecasts a YNAB budget explains how one is worked out.

Which months get the third paycheck

Here is one budget showing it: the Austin household, Whatif’s sample budget. It is paid $2,900 on the 15th and the 30th, $69,600 a year. Laid out every two weeks instead, from its next payday, 15 November, the same pay is twenty-six paychecks of $2,676.92. The forecast below starts on 6 November 2026 and runs to 30 November 2027, and opens on the two-weekly pay; the household’s own rhythm is a press away.

Paid	Each paycheck	Lowest point	On	Days below zero
Monthly	$5,800.00	$281.33	14 Feb 2027	none
Every four weeks	$5,353.85	−$949.73	3 Apr 2027	16
Twice a month (now)	$2,900.00	$281.33	14 Feb 2027	none
Every two weeks	$2,676.92	−$949.78	3 Apr 2027	16
Weekly	$1,338.46	−$949.78	3 Apr 2027	21

Austin household, Whatif's sample budget, forecast a day at a time from 6 Nov 2026 to 30 Nov 2027. Every rhythm pays the same $69,600.00 a year, first on 15 Nov 2026, and nothing else changes.

On this calendar, the third paychecks fall in May and October. May’s land on the 2nd, 16th and 30th; October’s on the 3rd, 17th and 31st.

Month	Paychecks	Starts from	Lowest point	On	Closes at
December	2	$6,396.69	$1,793.18	12 December	$5,982.53
January	2	$5,982.53	−$257.10	9 January	$3,690.37
February	2	$3,690.37	−$302.15	6 February	$3,276.21
March	2	$3,276.21	−$686.55	6 March	$2,878.73
April	2	$2,878.73	−$949.78	3 April	$2,839.57
May	3	$2,839.57	−$466.72	1 May	$5,522.33
June	2	$5,522.33	$963.31	12 June	$5,528.17
July	2	$5,528.17	$1,614.12	10 July	$6,067.88
August	2	$6,067.88	$2,703.83	7 August	$6,673.72
September	2	$6,673.72	$3,442.38	4 September	$7,279.56
October	3	$7,279.56	$4,526.97	2 October	$10,562.32
November	2	$10,562.32	$6,492.47	13 November	$11,168.16

Every month’s lowest day is the day before its first paycheck, and from December to May that day moves from the 12th of December to the 1st of May.

What the two-paycheck months take

A two-paycheck month brings $5,353.84. Paid on the 15th and the 30th, the household gets $5,800 every month, so each two-paycheck month is $446.16 lighter, while the mortgage, childcare and property tax come due as they always do.

From the close of November to the close of April there are five of them in a row. The balance goes from $6,396.69 to $2,839.57. Paid twice a month, the same five months take it from $6,842.85 to $5,516.53. The two-weekly pay is $2,230.80 further down by the end of April, which is five times $446.16.

That is what takes the line below zero. It first goes there on 8 January, and it spends 16 days below zero before May. Paid twice a month, the same household never goes below zero: its lowest point is $281.33, on 14 February. The bills and the spending are the same in both, and so is the year’s pay, to within eight cents.

What the third paycheck does to the lowest point

The lowest point of the whole forecast is 3 April, $949.78 below zero: the day before the 4 April paycheck, in the last two-paycheck month before May.

May itself still starts low. Its lowest day is the 1st, at $466.72 below zero, before any of its three paychecks. The third arrives on the 30th, and May closes at $5,522.33, $2,682.76 above where it started. After 1 May the balance does not go below zero again.

October’s third paycheck does the same at a higher level. October’s lowest day is the 2nd, at $4,526.97, and the third paycheck on the 31st lifts it to close at $10,562.32. Paid twice a month, October closes at $10,562.40. Two three-paycheck months have paid back ten lighter ones, short by eight cents: twenty-six paychecks of $2,676.92 come to $69,599.92, as a payroll rounding to the cent would pay them.

Finding the third paycheck in your own budget

Whatif reads your YNAB budget — balances, scheduled transactions and targets — and forecasts it a day at a time. A paycheck scheduled in YNAB every other week is forecast on its own dates, all twenty-six of them, rather than as twice a month, so the months with three show as three. The forecast shows the lowest point and its day, and each month opens a day at a time. The Austin household is the sample budget: open it with no account needed. To see your own third paychecks, connect your YNAB budget; the fourteen-day trial needs no card.

Paid twice a month, the Austin household’s lowest day is the 14th of every month instead, and why your YNAB balance is lowest the day before payday works through those months.

How this was worked out

The household is the one the sample budget opens, forecast from 6 November 2026 to 30 November 2027 with its schedules and targets as they stand on that day. Its pay, $2,900 twice a month, is divided into twenty-six paychecks, rounded to the cent, and paid every fourteen days from 15 November into the account it is paid into now; nothing else in the budget changes. A month starts from the balance at the close of the day before it, and its lowest point is the lowest balance at the close of any of its days.

Why your YNAB balance is lowest the day before payday

Thu, 05 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT

If your mortgage, rent or childcare leaves on the 1st and your first paycheck arrives on the 15th, the lowest your checking account gets each month is the 14th. Every bill due before payday has left by then, the everyday spending has gone on every day, and nothing has come in. A month that breaks even on paper can still come close to zero on that one day.

YNAB tells you what each category has to spend today. It doesn’t walk your accounts forward a day at a time, so it can’t tell you how low the 14th will be, or which month’s 14th is the lowest. That is what a forecast is for, and how Whatif forecasts a YNAB budget explains how one is worked out.

Here is that day in one budget: the Austin household, Whatif’s sample budget, whose big bills land on the 1st to the 3rd and whose pay lands on the 15th and the 30th. Over the next three months, the 14th is the lowest point each time: $2,144.59 in December, $316.59 in January and $279.16 in February, which is the lowest point of the whole twelve-month forecast. The figures below are the engine’s, worked out a day at a time from 5 November 2026.

Month	Lowest point	On
December 2026	$2,144.59	14 December 2026
January 2027	$316.59	14 January 2027
February 2027	$279.16	14 February 2027

The Austin household’s cash, 1 December 2026 to 28 February 2027, a day at a time. Its lowest point is $279.16 on 14 February 2027, and it does not go below zero.

What leaves before the 15th

December starts from $6,840.68, the balance at the close of 30 November. By the close of the 14th it is $2,144.59. In those fourteen days, $4,696.09 leaves and nothing arrives.

Month	Lowest point	On
December 2026	$2,144.59	14 December 2026

The Austin household’s cash, 1 December 2026 to 31 December 2026, a day at a time. Its lowest point is $2,144.59 on 14 December 2026, and it does not go below zero.

Day	Item	Amount
1 December	Childcare	−$980.00
1 December	Mortgage	−$1,680.00
1 December	Visa	−$600.00
3 December	Property tax	−$380.00
5 December	Streaming	−$18.00
8 December	Student loan	−$260.00
9 December	Gym	−$45.00
10 December	Internet & phone	−$85.00
1–14 December	Category spending	−$648.09

The dated items come to $4,048.00, and $3,640.00 of that is gone by the close of the 3rd. The last line is spending with no date of its own — Groceries, Gas & transit, Dining out and the rest — which the forecast spreads across the days of the month, so each of the fourteen days carries its share.

What arrives after it

From the 15th to the 31st the month runs the other way. $2,900.00 lands on the 15th, $450.00 of contract invoices on the 20th and $2,900.00 again on the 30th. Against that come three dated items — electric, the car loan and a Roth IRA deposit, $735.00 together — and the second half’s share of the category spending, $786.91.

December closes at $6,872.68. Over the whole month the household is $32.00 better off. A month’s total says that, and nothing about the $4,696.09 that came and went in the middle.

Which month’s 14th is the lowest

Month	Starts from	Lowest point	On	Closes at
December	$6,840.68	$2,144.59	14 December	$6,872.68
January	$6,872.68	$316.59	14 January	$5,026.68
February	$5,026.68	$279.16	14 February	$5,058.68

January has one more bill in its first two weeks: the auto insurance, $1,860.00 once a year, on 5 January. Its first fourteen days take $6,556.09, and its lowest point is $1,828.00 lower than December’s.

February has no yearly bill, and its lowest point is lower again. Two things make it so. January closes $1,846.00 below where it started, because the insurance is paid out of it and nothing extra arrives to cover it, so February starts from $5,026.68 rather than $6,872.68. And February has 28 days: the same month of category spending is shared across fewer of them, so its first fourteen days carry $717.52 of it, against December’s $648.09.

So the lowest day of the year is not the month of the big yearly bill. It is the month after, which starts from what that bill left behind.

Why it is always the day before payday

The forecast reaches thirteen calendar months, from this November to next, and in all thirteen the lowest day is the 14th. The insurance in January changes how far the 14th falls, and not which day it is.

The day is set by the calendar, not by the amounts. Every bill due from the 1st to the 14th leaves before any pay arrives, and the category spending goes on leaving every day, so the day before the first payday is the day the month has paid the most and been paid nothing. That is why a lowest point is a day rather than a month: the month’s total for December is $32.00, and its lowest day is $4,696.09 below where it started.

Finding the day in your own budget

Whatif reads your YNAB budget — balances, scheduled transactions and targets — and forecasts it a day at a time, and shows the lowest point and the day it falls on. The Austin household is the sample budget: open it to see each of these months a day at a time, with no account needed. To see your own 14th, or whichever day it is for you, connect your YNAB budget; the fourteen-day trial needs no card.

How this was worked out

The household is the one the sample budget opens, forecast from 5 November 2026 to 30 November 2027 with its schedules and targets as they stand on that day. A month starts from the balance at the close of the day before it, because the balance on the 1st has already paid the 1st’s bills. Each month’s lowest point is the lowest balance at the close of any of its days, and the first of them when two are equal.

How Whatif forecasts a YNAB budget

Wed, 04 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Whatif takes the budget you already keep in YNAB and walks it forward one day at a time, starting from today’s balances. Every day adds what lands that day and takes off what leaves, so the forecast can tell you the lowest your cash will get, the day it gets there, and whether it ever goes below zero.

YNAB is built around the money you have today. Whatif answers the other question: where that money will be next month, and the month after.

What it reads

Whatif connects to YNAB with read-only access. It cannot change a budget, a transaction, a category or a target, because the access it is granted does not permit it.

From your budget it reads:

your accounts and their balances, which are where the forecast starts;
your scheduled transactions, which are what lands and leaves on known days;
your categories and their targets, which are what you expect to spend.

Those become your plan: income, spending by category, debts and assets. The plan is yours to correct. If a target is out of date, you state the real figure, and the forecast uses yours from then on.

How each day is worked out

The forecast is arithmetic. For each day ahead it starts from the day before, adds what you are paid that day, and takes off what is due: bills on their due dates, spending by category, and debt payments on the days you make them.

Question	What the forecast answers
Will this hold until payday?	The lowest your cash gets before then, and the day it does
Will cash go below zero?	The first day it would, or that it does not
Where does the year leave me?	Cash and net worth at the end of the forecast
What if I cut one thing?	The same forecast with and without the change

The figures come from rows you can see and correct, so a number you do not believe can be checked. Why your YNAB balance is lowest the day before payday works through one budget’s months this way, a day at a time.

This is the forecast for the sample budget Whatif opens, a day at a time for a year:

Month	Lowest point	On
November 2026	$2,085.26	14 November 2026
December 2026	$2,142.41	14 December 2026
January 2027	$314.41	14 January 2027
February 2027	$276.98	14 February 2027
March 2027	$378.41	14 March 2027
April 2027	$404.69	14 April 2027
May 2027	$878.29	14 May 2027
June 2027	$1,308.69	14 June 2027
July 2027	$2,309.84	14 July 2027
August 2027	$3,343.84	14 August 2027
September 2027	$4,329.24	14 September 2027
October 2027	$5,402.84	14 October 2027
November 2027	$6,433.24	14 November 2027

The Austin household’s cash, 4 November 2026 to 30 November 2027, a day at a time. Its lowest point is $276.98 on 14 February 2027, and it does not go below zero.

What it leaves out until you say

A forecast that guesses quietly is worse than one that asks. So Whatif leaves some things out of the cash line until you answer:

A category with no target and no scheduled transaction. It is left out rather than averaged from past months, and you can count it with the figure you expect.
A credit card nobody has said how they pay. Its balance is shown as a question at the top of the forecast, never placed on a date Whatif made up.

What it will not do

There is no investment return, inflation figure or tax model anywhere in it, and it gives no advice. It reports the arithmetic on your own budget, and the conclusions are yours.

It also does not copy how YNAB assigns money to categories. It forecasts cash leaving your accounts, which is the thing that can run out.

Changing one thing

The forecast is where you start. What if is where you change one thing — cut a category, add a one-off, move your income — and see it as a second line against the forecast, before anything is saved.

You can look around a sample budget first, without connecting your own.