# When Ready to Assign is Negative > When Ready to Assign is negative, this means you have overassigned. Here are several scenarios that can cause this—and how to fix it! Source: https://support.ynab.com/en_us/when-ready-to-assign-is-negative-an-overview-HylZA0zCc Last updated: 2026-07-27T18:50:51.227Z Manage Ready to Assign when it's negative and you have more money assigned to your spending categories than is actually available in your accounts. Review the common causes of a negative Ready to Assign, and learn how to address them. #### In This Article [How to Check for a Negative Ready to Assign in YNAB](#overview) [What's the Solution?](#solution) [Basic Overassigning](#overassigning) [Past Overspending](#overspending) [Reconciliation Balance Adjustments](#reconciliation) [Categorizing Outflows to Income: Ready to Assign](#outflows) [Overassigned in a Future Month](#future) * * * ## How to Check for a Negative Ready to Assign in YNAB ### iOS If you only assign money in the **current** month, your most current Ready to Assign amount is available in the current month. You'll notice a red banner displaying you've "Assigned Too Much." If you are [getting a month ahead](https://support.ynab.com/en_us/getting-a-month-ahead-HJidy13C5), Ready to Assign is current in the future-most month. This means **you may not see a negative Ready to Assign in the current month** if you've [reassigned from the future](#reassigning).  It can appear as if Ready to Assign is at $0.00, even if it isn't. To check for a negative Ready to Assign while getting a month ahead, follow these steps: 1. Tap the _Plan_ tab. 2. Tap the month at the top.  3. Review the future-most month for a red banner displaying you've "Assigned Too Much". ### Android If you only assign money in the **current** month, your most current Ready to Assign amount is available in the current month. You'll notice a red banner displaying you've "Assigned Too Much." If you are [getting a month ahead](https://support.ynab.com/en_us/getting-a-month-ahead-HJidy13C5), Ready to Assign is current in the future-most month. This means **you may not see a negative Ready to Assign in the current month** if you've [reassigned from the future](#reassigning). It can appear as if Ready to Assign is at $0.00, even if it isn't. To check for a negative Ready to Assign while getting a month ahead, follow these steps: 1. Tap the _Plan_ tab. 2. Tap the month at the top.  3. Review the future-most month for a red banner displaying you've "Assigned Too Much". ### Web If you **only** assign money in the current month, your most current Ready to Assign amount is available in the current month. If Ready to Assign is negative, you'll notice a red bar at the top of your plan with a warning saying "You assigned more than you have". If you are [getting a month ahead](https://support.ynab.com/en_us/getting-a-month-ahead-HJidy13C5), Ready to Assign is current in the future-most month. This means **you may not see a negative Ready to Assign in the current month** due to [overassigning in the future](#future).  It can appear as if Ready to Assign is at $0.00, even if it isn't. Check the Assigned in Future Months section of the right sidebar for a red alert if you're getting a month ahead. [Back to Top](#backtotop) * * * ## What's the Solution? In most cases, the solution is to [move money](https://support.ynab.com/en_us/moving-money-in-your-plan-ryyCKbBJi) from your spending categories back to Ready to Assign until it’s a nice, happy $0.00 again. The exception is if your bank account has a negative balance (i.e. it's overdrawn), in which case you don’t have money to move back to Ready to Assign—check out [this article for step-by-step help getting out of overdraft](https://support.ynab.com/en_us/getting-out-of-overdraft-in-ynab-a-guide-B1blkysC9). #### How do I know what caused it in order to prevent this in the future? If none of your accounts are overdrawn, there are several other scenarios that can cause Ready to Assign to be negative. * Basic Overassigning * Past Overspending * Reconciliation Balance Adjustments * Categorizing Outflows to Income: Ready to Assign (called Inflow: Ready to Assign on Web) * Reassigning from the Future Let's review each of them! [Back to Top](#backtotop) * * * ## Basic Overassigning You’ve got $500 in the bank, but you plan $600 for that swanky new luxury bird feeder with built-in squirrel-ejector. Except you’ve only got $500. Because you can only assign money that you have available, when you assigned the $600—BOOM! Ready to Assign = **\-$100**. Gotta move $100 back to Ready to Assign and bring it back to $0.00. #### Why isn't my income showing up in Ready to Assign? If you [add income](https://support.ynab.com/en_us/how-to-add-income-and-other-inflows-H1ZNjfZJi) while Ready to Assign is negative in the current month or in any future month, YNAB will automatically apply that income to cover the overassigned amount. So if you add income and some or all of it is missing from **this** month’s Ready to Assign, consider these overassigned scenarios in the present and future months to figure out where that money has gone. [Back to Top](#backtotop) * * * ## Past Overspending [When the month rolls over](https://support.ynab.com/en_us/when-the-month-rolls-over-a-guide-rkyyd6qC9), cash overspending (red) in the previous month reduces Ready to Assign. Not sure how you ended up with that amount? Click _Ready to Assign_ on the [plan header](https://support.ynab.com/en_us/the-plan-header-BkmiuJ_C9) (in the **web app** **only**). You'll have a line total for "Cash overspending in \[past month\]" on the Ready to Assign Breakdown window.  Those overspent funds have left your bank account, so they’re no longer available in your plan. **You don’t need to go back to last month’s plan!**  Move money back to Ready to Assign in the current month until it is $0.00. [Back to Top](#backtotop) * * * ## Reconciliation Balance Adjustments We all have those moments when life gets particularly busy and we don’t [reconcile our accounts](https://support.ynab.com/en_us/reconciling-accounts-a-guide-BJFE3fHys) as often as we know we should. Next thing you know, it’s three weeks later and YNAB says you have $2000 available in your checking account—but you’re checking your banking app on your phone and you know you only have $1500. So you reconcile the account and make a [Reconciliation Balance Adjustment](https://support.ynab.com/en_us/balance-adjustments-a-guide-rko4OwILs) to get things back on track quickly. This pulls the non-existent $500 from your account balance—and from Ready to Assign. You’ll need to move money from your spending categories back to Ready to Assign until it’s no longer negative. [Back to Top](#backtotop) * * * ## Categorizing Outflows to Income: Ready to Assign Aside from Reconciliation Balance Adjustments (which are automatically created by YNAB), outflows should not be assigned to Income: Ready to Assign (called Inflow: Ready to Assign on Web). Assigning an outflow to Income: Ready to Assign will reduce the amount available in Ready to Assign by the amount of the outflow, which could cause it to go negative.  If you have an outflow transaction from an account, be sure to categorize it to a **spending** category (and assign money to cover it in that category). If no category fits the transaction, you can always create a new one. [Back to Top](#backtotop) * * * ## Overassigned in a Future Month When assigning money into future months, the most current Ready to Assign amount is in the **future-most** month.  How does overassigning in the future occur? Overassigning in a future month can occur in a few ways, but most commonly occurs when you have enough money for all the assigning you've done in the current month, but not enough for all the assigning you've done in future months. When Ready to Assign reaches $0.00 and you assign more money in an earlier month, less money rolls forward and is available to be assigned to your categories in future months. When this happens, the **future** month's Ready to Assign turns negative.  To determine whether you are overassigned in a future month:  1. Check for [uncategorized transactions](https://support.ynab.com/en_us/categorizing-transactions-a-guide-HyRl60sks#uncategorized). 2. Cover any [cash overspending](https://support.ynab.com/en_us/overspending-in-ynab-a-guide-ryWoxEyi#types) in the current month.  3. [Check for a negative Ready to Assign](#overview) in the future-most month. The solution to being overassigned in a future month? Move money from spending categories back to Ready to Assign until it reaches $0.00 in the future-most month, and make sure that [no assigned value becomes negative in a future month](https://support.ynab.com/en_us/negative-amounts-in-the-assigned-column-an-overview-rJ2fMFzyo). [Back to Top](#backtotop) * * * ## Help Us Help You! Our Knowledge Base team reviews article feedback responses weekly, and we actively revise these articles to make them as helpful as possible. That's where you come in! Our articles are scored based on the _Yes_ or _No_ ratings received below. We also collect freeform feedback for any _No_ ratings (so our team can focus in on what you were specifically searching for!). **Success**: Found what you were searching for? It would be super helpful if you click _Yes_ below. **Suggestions**: Didn't find what you're searching for and you'd like to share what terms or topics you wanted? Click _No_ below. 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