You Need A Budget (YNAB): Recent Episodes
Jesse Mecham
A weekly dose of just the right medicine to help you get out of debt, save more money, and beat the paycheck to paycheck cycle.
In part 3 of the latest installment of Ask Jesse, Jesse reflects on his 2023 experiment of ditching his credit card and spending only with a debit card -- which he stills does today! He also answers a question about what he eats for breakfast, and shares how his experience leasing a Tesla (which he now owns) led to him to realize that his insistence on driving a 2002 Honda Civic was really just pride masquerading as frugality.
Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:
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In part 2 of the latest installment of Ask Jesse, Jesse offers some advice about how to work with a spouse who is reluctant or disinterested in YNAB. He also discusses savings accounts for kids, and how the Mecham family uses YNAB with the kids, at each stage of age and maturity.
Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:
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Jesse's answering questions from his inbox, including questions about which retirement accounts to contribute to, how to save money in retirement when you don't have an income, and how a young person can save for multiple goals at the same time.
Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:
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Pre-order Jesse's new book! www.neverworryaboutmoneyagain.com
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Jesse reads a short excerpt from his new book, Never Worry About Money Again. How does it feel to not worry about money day to day? It's not the end of all worry, but the freedom from money worry gives you the space to think about and work through the rest of your life. As Jesse says, the way you spend isn't just a parallel to the rest of your life, it is your life.
Pre-order Jesse's new book! www.neverworryaboutmoneyagain.com
Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:
askjesse@ynab.com
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Pre-order Jesse's new book! www.neverworryaboutmoneyagain.com
Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:
askjesse@ynab.com
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Jesse shares a story about how one little donut that he passed by every day on his way to class as a struggling college student inspired him to develop a method for managing money that transformed his life, and millions of others by creating YNAB.
Pre-order Jesse's new book now! www.neverworryaboutmoneyagain.com
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Americans have done it again, setting a record $1.25 trillion in credit card debt as of Q1 2026. There was a time in not too distant history, however, when credit card debt went down, and bankers were afraid, at least for a little bit.
Getting good at money doesn't have to be hard, and money doesn't have to be a constant source of stress and anxiety. You just have to answer one simple question.
Pre-order Jesse's new book now! www.neverworryaboutmoneyagain.com
Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:
askjesse@ynab.com
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For those in relationships, getting good at money is not just a gift to yourself, it's a gift to you and your partner. Getting good at money means spending well, and spending well for a couple means putting more of yourselves out into the world via your dollars. Spending well leads to alignment, both of you on the same page regarding what you want your money to do for you and what you want your future to look like.
Getting good at money doesn't have to be hard, and money doesn't have to be a constant source of stress and anxiety. You just have to answer one simple question.
Jesse's new book is available for pre-order now! www.neverworryaboutmoneyagain.com
Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:
askjesse@ynab.com
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Over the last several weeks Jesse has laid out some of the hallmarks of going from being bad at money (which is, frankly, how most of us start out) to good at money, including the benefits of being good at money -- less stress and anxiety, enjoying life more, engaging with life more. All these wins compound over time, and eventually you can become great with money, which means you can start bending the world to your will like Neo in the matrix. Ok, perhaps that's a little embellished, but you can shape your life and the world around you by totally expressing yourself with the money you spend. It's not just getting ahead of the next month's bills, it's thinking about what you want your life to look like, what things you want to see created in the world, and knowing that money is no longer an obstacle in seeing those things come to fruition.
Getting good at money doesn't have to be hard, and money doesn't have to be a constant source of stress and anxiety. You just have to answer one simple question.
Jesse's new book is available for pre-order now! www.neverworryaboutmoneyagain.com
Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:
askjesse@ynab.com
Follow YNAB on social media:
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That's right, Jesse has a new book out and it's available for pre-order now. After twenty years of running YNAB and a decade plus of podcasts, Fan Fests, speaking engagements, and more, Jesse has distilled his thinking about money into his best work: Never Worry About Money Again.
Getting good at money doesn't have to be hard, and money doesn't have to be a constant source of stress and anxiety. You just have to answer one simple question.
Preorder your copy now! www.neverworryaboutmoneyagain.com
Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:
askjesse@ynab.com
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When you're no longer stressed about money, you begin to enjoy the things you like guilt-free. Whether it's a treat or a tool or an experience you've always wanted, getting good at money frees you up to pursue happiness in life and express more of yourself in the world. In short, it's makes you more... you!
How do you get good with money? YNAB is a great place to start! Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at ynab.com/jesse
Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@jessemechamshow
Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:
askjesse@ynab.com
Follow YNAB on social media:
Facebook: @ynabofficial
Instagram: @ynab.official
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How do you get good with money? YNAB is a great place to start! Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at ynab.com/jesse
Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@jessemechamshow
Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:
askjesse@ynab.com
Follow YNAB on social media:
Facebook: @ynabofficial
Instagram: @ynab.official
Twitter/X: @ynab
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When you're bad at money, it only brings you worry. Get good at it, however, and it's empowering. Like Thanos' gauntlet.
How do you get good with money? YNAB is a great place to start! Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at ynab.com/jesse
Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@jessemechamshow
Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:
askjesse@ynab.com
Follow YNAB on social media:
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Reality can be a scary thing. When we're bad with money (and most of us start that way), money feels, well... we'd rather just not look. Maybe if we don't look, that thing we're worrying about -- not having enough for looming bills, going into debt -- well maybe it will just go away. But we don't have to live in fear. Getting good with money means that you can face reality, and not only face it but embrace it. Make decisions with clear vision, and understand exactly what you're money is doing for you, where you want to go, and most importantly, how you're going to get there.
How do you get good with money? YNAB is a great place to start! Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at ynab.com/jesse
Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@jessemechamshow
Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:
askjesse@ynab.com
Follow YNAB on social media:
Facebook: @ynabofficial
Instagram: @ynab.official
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Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@jessemechamshow
Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:
askjesse@ynab.com
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at: www.youneedabudget.com
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Jesse offers a thought experiment (or a real experiment if you choose to actually do it, which you should!): write a letter to your past self -- you get to decide how long ago -- teaching him or her about money. Tell them about the things you've learned, some of the mistakes you've made, and what kinds of things they have to look forward to as they learn to get good with money. Jesse actually did write a letter to his past self, and he shares it on the podcast.
Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@jessemechamshow
Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:
askjesse@ynab.com
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Jesse recalls his experience as a young missionary in Germany struggling to learn the language. Every day he would take notes of words or phrases he didn't know, and every evening he would study those words. Then one day, he had a conversation with a man in Stuttgart, and he answered completely in German, without thinking or translating. It just clicked.
Money is a skill, like language, and it can just click too. But often that comes after many days and weeks and months of following the plan, giving every dollar a job, and answering the five questions about what your money needs to do for you. Then one day, before you know it, it will just click, and you'll realize you are good with money.
Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@jessemechamshow
Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:
askjesse@ynab.com
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At YNAB we often talk about how getting good with money can help you reduce stress, improve your confidence, improve your relationships, and generally bring you a sense of peace and security -- which is true! There are also some hard mathematical advantages to getting good with money. Jesse points out how getting good with money, learning to set money aside for future expenses can net you great deals. In today's age of ubiquitous consumer credit, paying for things upfront becauase you already have the money can save you anywhere from a few percent to a large chunk (Jesse references a medical bill that was nearly 60% cheaper when paying cash upfront).
Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@jessemechamshow
Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:
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Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at: www.youneedabudget.com
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For a lot of people, money carries a lot of negative connotations and emotional baggage. But when you ask kids about money, before they have had a chance to develop negative associations with it, you can hear a different story. Jesse asked his kids what they thought about money and shares some of their answers. He also discusses how the Mecham family has introduced the concept of money to their kids and helped guide them to developing good habits and skills with it.
Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@jessemechamshow
Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:
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It's an interesting question, isn't it? Imagine for a second... your credit cards are paid off, you have cash in the bank, your bills are on autopay and you don't even know when they will hit because you already have the money in your account. In fact, you get to the first day of the month and all your bills for that month are already paid for. What would this do to your stress? Your relationships with your friends and family? How would it affect the way you look at your life, your goals and desires?
This could be you... and you could become something more when you learn to get good with money.
Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@jessemechamshow
Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:
askjesse@ynab.com
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at: www.youneedabudget.com
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Remember those Snickers commercials about people acting out because they were "hangry?" We could say the same thing happens to people who are stressed about money. Maybe you're shorter with your kids, maybe you feel pressure to work more hours, to move faster, maybe you argue with your spouse more -- however your money stress manifests, it still... manifests.
There's another way. You can learn to become good with money, to gain control over it rather than feeling like it controls you, and to get rid of your money stress forever. It's called YNAB. You can check it out and try it free for 34 days here:
www.youneedabudget.com
Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@jessemechamshow
Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:
askjesse@ynab.com
Follow YNAB on social media:
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Money is the source of many relationship conflicts. It's the number one reason cited for divorce, for one. Money can, frankly, destroy relationships, but it doesn't have to. You can claim ownership of your money, and rid yourself of money stress -- and by extension, reduce your relationships stress too.
Jesse urges you to embrace curiosity — curiosity about what you can do and create with your money. You can incorporate a vision exercise into your daily routine with questions as small as "what do we want today to look like?" to big questions like "what do we want our kids' childhood to look like?" After all, discussions about money are really questions about life.
The next time you have a discussion with your spouse, partner, or child, be curious about what that person is saying. Sincerely curious. No judgment, just seeking understanding. Figuring out what you want your money to do for you is much easier when you understand you and your family's desires. Then money can become an amplifier of your shared vision, rather than a source of stress, strife, and division.
Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@jessemechamshow
Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:
askjesse@ynab.com
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at: www.youneedabudget.com
Follow YNAB on social media:
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Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@jessemechamshow
Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:
askjesse@ynab.com
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at: www.youneedabudget.com
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One of the interesting effects of using YNAB is how it shapes your vision of money through multiple viewpoints. There's the spending you are doing now, when you make a transaction, then there's the tradeoff that spending causes in the future, becuase the spending you do now impacts the spening you will do in the future.
Jesse gives the example of a man going out for sushi. The $30 he spends now on the sushi is $30 that he isn't spending on Christmas presents several months from now. The juxtaposition is a bit extreme, but the point is that unplanned spending does have an impact on your planned spending, and when you start planning how to spend your money with YNAB, then you see how your decisions now are affecting your decisions later. In a word, it's clarity.
And, importantly, when you have this clarity with your money and you clearly see the tradeoffs you are making by spending on a thing or an experience now, you can now spend without guilt or fear or anxiety, because you are owning the choice and you are happy with it.
Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube:
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Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:
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If life has pummeled you, and you've woken up from a financial bender -- hundreds of uncategorized transactions in YNAB with no recollection of what happend to all that money -- it's ok. Just get back on the horse and start again.
Jesse offers a humorous, and helpful, solution. Categorize all those transactions under a new category called "Bender," and start looking forward. Don't worry about what happened. Decide what your money needs to do for you now and in the near future, and assign the dollars you have now to those categories.
While reflecting on the past is important to understanding our behaviors and identifying areas of our spending where we need more clarity, it's only important to the extent it helps us get better at assigning money in the future. So pick yourself up, climb back on the horse (I mean, wagon) and give every dollar a job today.
Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@jessemechamshow
Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:
askjesse@ynab.com
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
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If you think you're bad with money, you're not alone. Money management is not something that comes natural to most, and it's certainly not something that most of us are taught. But getting good with money is a skill, and that's good news! No matter where you are starting, you can get better at managing your money and learn to live stress-free when it comes to money.
Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@jessemechamshow
Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:
askjesse@ynab.com
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
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You've probably got an item or two on your to-do list that you never seem to get to. Whenever you think about, you aren't in a position to act on it. There always seems to be something in the way when you have time and attention to complete the task. Yet these open loops, as they are sometimes referred to, are a drain on your attention and mental capacity.
Unpaid bills are mental vampires too, clogging up your subconscious and draining your mental energy. With YNAB, you don't have worry about unpaid bills hanging over your head anymore. YNAB helps you assign the dollars you have in your account now to cover bills in the future, so that when they come due, you simply pay them (or even better, autopay them!) and move on with life. Stress free!
Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@jessemechamshow
Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:
askjesse@ynab.com
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
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Almost everyone spends on impulse from time to time -- it's pretty normal human behavior -- but we don't always want to spend impulsively. Jesse recommends a simple strategy for dealing with your impulses: make a list! Write down all the things you want as they come to you.
Sometimes the act of writing something scratches the itch enough to satisfy your wanting. If it doesn't, however, that's where YNAB steps in. With YNAB you can not only write down your wants as categories, you can set dollars aside to pay for them. And when you do that, now you can turn those impulses into guilt-free fun and enjoyment.
Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@jessemechamshow
Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:
askjesse@ynab.com
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
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According to YouGov, one of the top resolutions for 2026 is saving more money. While Jesse has issues with the concept of "saving" money as he has discussed in previous podcasts, the intention is still clear -- people want to get to a more stable financial position, which (for most) means more cash in the bank and less debt. Jesse also points out that consumer debt continues to hit all time highs, which leads to his approach to the question: should I build my savings or pay off debt?
Jesse urges folks to consider, why do they feel the need to reach for consumer debt in the first place? Reaching for debt regularly, especially pernicious forms of debt like credit cards and buy now, pay later programs, indicates that you aren't aware and in alignment with your true expenses -- the larger and less frequent expenses that you know will happen, but aren't regular monthly bills like rent or utilities. Auto maintenance is a classic example of true expenses -- you know you'll need oil changes, transmission fluid changes, new tires, etc. eventually, but it's not a regular monthly expense.
The trap many people fall into is throwing everything they have into debt payments, only to have a true expense pop up and no cash to pay for it. So they bring out the credit card and fall back into the same cycle that got them into debt in the first place. If you turn your attention away from paying off debt for a bit and instead focus on setting money aside for these true expenses, like tires, then you can reduce your need to rely on consumer debt to cover these. Just setting aside $50 or $100 a month toward these expenses can make you so much more financially resilient, that you no longer need debt and can now begin to pay off debt from a place of stability.
All of a sudden, you are planning and thinking about money like a YNABer!
Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@jessemechamshow
Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:
askjesse@ynab.com
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
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One small change can make a huge difference. Jesse shares a recent experience with his strength training. After stagnating and failing to make gains for a long while, he read about a simple post workout drink consisting of protein and dextrose powder. He tried it, felt his recovery jump through the roof after a few workouts, and started making gains again.
There's an analog when it comes to your money. Give every dollar a job. It's the one simple rule that YNAB uses to help you finally get control of your money. Like Jesse's postworkout shake, it's simple, and seemingly a minor action. But giving your dollars jobs consistently, month over month, changes your mindset around money drastically for the better. It's one small step you can take to finally get good at money.
Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@jessemechamshow
Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:
askjesse@ynab.com
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
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Happy New Year, Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays! We hope you had a wonderful holiday season. Now that it's January once more, it's time to tally up the damage from the holiday season... that is, if you didn't plan for the damage already!
Unfortunately, Christmas and New Year's is a season where many folks go into debt. Some are still carrying debt from the prior year. Holiday spending doesn't have to be a surprise, however. If you start now, you can set aside a little bit each month so that when next December arrives, your holiday spending category will be stuffed as a stocking.
So, today, pour a cup of coffee, sit down, and tally up your holiday spending from 2025. Don't forget travel and extra groceries! Divide that number by 12 -- that's your monthly savings target for the 2026 holiday category. Set aside that amount each month and next December your holiday spending will be stress and guilt free. If you use the YNAB software, you can set this amount as a target in your holiday category and YNAB will do the math for you. Simply set a target for December with the total amount you want to save in your holiday category, and YNAB will tell you how much you need to set aside in the category each month to get there.
Here's to getting better with money, one target at a time, in 2026!
Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@jessemechamshow
Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:
askjesse@ynab.com
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Follow YNAB on social media:
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Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@jessemechamshow
Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:
askjesse@ynab.com
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Follow YNAB on social media:
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It's a common trap to think that making more money is the answer to your financial worries. Many people think that if they just had a bigger income, then they'd be able to afford everything they needed and wanted, and they wouldn't have to worry anymore. But a recent experience reminded Jesse that this simply isn't true.
Jesse spoke at an event with wealthy business owners, and he posed a simple question to the audience: "who here is worried about money?" Every hand went up. Now, these people may not be worried about paying the monthly electric bill, but they do have money worries -- perhaps worried for their kids, perhaps worried about meeting payroll... whatever the reason, the worry is there.
There's another old adage, "more money, more problems." This is closer to the truth, but it doesn't have to be that either. With YNAB you can learn to align your spending habits with your goals and vision for the future; you can bring your money in line with your idea of the good life. YNAB helps you break the paycheck to paycheck cycle and finally remove money as a stressor in your life.
Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@jessemechamshow
Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:
askjesse@ynab.com
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
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Everyone is familiar with the "savers and spenders" dichotomy: some people identify as savers and others spenders, the implication being that spenders are irresponsible with money and savers are wise and frugal. As Jesse has argued, it's a false dichotomy. In fact, YNAB's overarching goal is to help everyone become a "spender" -- a wise spender whose spending is in alignment with their priorities. A good spender knows exactly what he or she is spending for; she gives every dollar a job.
When you look at money through this lens, everything is spending, including savings. Savings is just future spending, by you or someone else that you leave your money to. Good savers are good spenders, ultimately.
Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@jessemechamshow
Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:
askjesse@ynab.com
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
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The average person is bad at money. Actually, most people are bad at money! Living paycheck to paycheck, with little to no savings and a lot of debt is the norm. But you don't have to be. Learning to spend well is the key to learning to be good with money, because all things finanical flow from spending. YNAB teaches you just how to do that.
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Jesse shares a story about helping his daughter use YNAB to plan her spending and save for an electric bicycle. The bike was $600, quite a big ticket item for a 9 year old, but together they came up with a plan and created a target in YNAB to assign money toward that goal each month. And when the day came a few months later to make the purchase... she didn't want it.
The burning desire for the bike had passed, and the clarity of the tradeoffs she would have to make to buy it set in. At the end of the day, the bike wasn't worth it to her. That is the power of YNAB and delayed gratification. By saving for the bike first, she was able to learn whether it was in alignment with her priorities. Often when the initial desire for something hits, it overwhelms our sense of priorities. And when we use debt to shortcut the time delay it takes to save up for a thing, it not only obscures our priorities but it also robs us of the choice to not buy it when the smoke clears and our sense of priorities returns.
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Jesse is taking a short break while he's on the road. He'll be back in a couple weeks!
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In today's episode, Jesse hands over the mic to YNAB team member Dave Crombleholme, who presented at the Minneapolis Fan Fest in June 2025. Dave is perhaps most famous for his idea of the Wish Farm at YNAB, but he's also spent a long time wrestling with the word budget. In Dave's presentation, he outlines various iterations of the YNAB rules over the years, explains why the concept of rules never sat right in the first place, and how trying redefining the word budget proved to be a frustrating endeavor. In the end, it was always about spending, about giving every dollar a job, and spending to build the live you want to live.
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In June 2025 at YNAB Fan Fest Minneapolis, Jesse gave a talk about how money is a medium -- not just of exchange, but, ultimately, of you. When you really examine what it is that money does in the world, it is a thing which translates your energy and effort (required to earn the money) into tangible goods and services. When you draw a throughline between your work and your spending, money just falls away. It's simply a medium for you to express yourself in the world.
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When worry creeps in to your money, the knee jerk response is to think: "I just need to make more money, that will solve my problems." But as Jesse shares in a humorous conversation with his daughter, it's interesting how quickly you can spend more and more money in your mind. Unless you're a billionaire, money has a way of becoming stressful when you're only solution is to need more and more of it.
Jesse's approach when worry creeps in? Double down on YNAB. Go back to giving every dollar a job -- which is the core principle of the YNAB method -- and taking active control of your money. Doing this not only helps you create a plan for your money, it puts you in the driver seat of your money, and helps you regain confidence in your plan, one transaction at a time.
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It's no secret, college is expensive. But if you haven't looked in a few years, college has gotten really expensive, especially certain schools with a lot of name recognition and clout. Jesse has a senior in high school, so as he's been helping with the college application process, he's been pondering: is college worth it? And more importantly, is every college worth it?
As Jesse balks at the eye watering price of Yale (over $100k a year now), he urges listeners to really check in with their "why" for college, get clear about their priorities, and not get caught up in the hype of prestige.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- The Price You Pay for College by Ron Lieber
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When you don't have a plan for your money, it can feel like money is in control of your life. That can be a terrifying feeling! YNAB can not only help you set a plan for your money, but reclaim control of your money, and control over your life.
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Money shouldn't keep you up at night, and it doesn't have to! Giving every dollar a job and asking yourself five questions about what your money needs to do not only grows your bank account, it gives you peace of mind (and better sleep)
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Did you make a resolution to have a "no buy year" this year? How's that going? While Jesse loves the idea of a no-buy year, mainly because he loves to experiment with money and behavior, he admits the concept of it is flawed. A "no buy year" typically means you refrain from making any non-essential purchases so that you can save more money. As Jesse explains, though, saving money really means being good at spending money, and the way you get good at that... is to spend money! Spend money according to a plan, after asking yourself 5 essential questions about what that money needs to do for you.
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Football season is nearly upon us, and Jesse is thinking about the pigskin again. And money, of course. When you look at the great sports movies, they usually revolve around a struggling team -- often a team of stragglers and dubious athletes -- and a great coach who motivates them, helps them find their desire to compete, and puts them in positions to maximize the abilities they do have. You can do the same thing with your money. Give your dollars jobs, identify the best places to use your dollars so that they can work together to achieve your goals. Coach your money from a disorganized mess (like a 6-year old soccer game) into an intentional, well-oiled, strategic athletic team.
It all starts with one rule, and five questions.
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Saving vs spending... there's no question which one is more fun, right? Obviously, spending! By comparison, saving feels like a chore, something you ought to do, the responsible thing to do, but is definitely less fun. After all, you get something when you spend -- an item, an experience, a service. With saving you get, well, just more money in a pile somewhere.
As Jesse points out, no one says "I have a saving problem" but you hear "I have a spending problem" all the time. It's because spending is concrete. It has weight to it. Spending has a clear line to the value of the money being spent and what you value in the spending of it.
Saving money is actually a misnomer. All money exists to be spent, whether it's now or in the future. Savings is really just spending that will take place in the future. When you follow the YNAB method and give every dollar a job, including your "savings" dollars, you are planning for how you will spend that money in the future. You're making your savings concrete, putting a vision behind those dollars.
When you reframe the idea of saving like that, all of a sudden it becomes much easier to do!
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You've probably heard the term "moving the goalposts," that is, a deceptive argument strategy in which you change the question, the criteria, or the standard by which you are evaluating something. The metaphor comes from sports, and it's a good metaphor for personal finance. Early in our adult lives we make a lot choices because money is scarce -- you choose to live with roommates instead of your own apartment, you skip buying something you want to prioritize schooling or training, for instance -- but as we get older and accumulate more financial resources our standards change and our choices change along with that. The goalposts move, so to speak.
Some call that lifestyle inflation or lifestyle creep, but Jesse doesn't like the term. It connotes something bad, something you shouldn't indulge in, but as Jesse points out, it's perfectly reasonable to want more things and different living conditions when you're older. That moldy apartment might have been fine as a college student, but with a family of five you probably want cleaner, more spacious accomodations.
So instead think of living a more expansive life as the goalposts shifting over time, and that's ok. Just take some time to reflect back on where those goalposts started, and appreciate how well your spending aligns with your priorities.
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Personal finance is personal, as the saying goes, and the only constant in life is change, to employ another saying. On that note, Jesse issues a challenge in today's episode: change your plan! Add a category, put some money in it, delete a category, shuffle some dollars around... just make a change. This is a reminder to yourself that the beauty of a plan is it's flexibility. As life changes, your plan can change along with it.
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Flying airplanes is serious business. Mistakes are costly, not just because of the cost of the aircraft; if you're flying people, their lives are on the line. Jesse knows this better than most, having two brothers who are pilots. One day he overheard them talking shop and narrowed in on a common occurence they had teaching student pilots to fly -- these pilots were afriad of "hooking," that is, making a mistake on a flight and having to redo the assignment.
Jesse realized that everyone, including people who work high stress, high stakes jobs, learns through making mistakes. He quotes his favorite definition of intelligence, which "error correction." We learn by making mistakes then fixing them. And this must happen even for the most critical jobs like flying airplanes.
The same applies to money. Can you afford to make mistakes? Of course! You will mistakes, it's all about how you error correct after the fact. That's what the Five Questions help you do. They help you clarify what you want your money to do for you, and when you make a mistake with money, they help you correct your path and get you back on track. So, ultimately, you can live spendfully, loving the way you spend.
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Jesse has ranted about credit cards and their pernicious way of separating you from your money, both literally and metaphorically -- obfuscating the way you spend and distancing your priorities from the point of sale. Today he warns against the newest form of this pernicious spending: buy now, pay later programs. It's like a credit card you don't have to sign up -- just purchase an item, and via an app like Klarna or Affirm, you can split up the cost of that item over several smaller installments.
Of course, buy now pay later programs encourage spending you don't have, rather than finding the money first in YNAB. But even if you have the money, splitting a purchase into multiple installments is just putting off the decision to purchase into the future. YNAB's goal is to help you be spendful, to spend with joy and clarity about what it is you want your money to do for you. Buying something the YNAB way means you've given your dollars a job and you have money set aside in a category meant to cover that purchase. Or, you don't have money in a category for that purchase, but you pull money from other categories to find the money -- making a clear decision to forego something else to buy this thing now.
Putting off the payment for an item is ultimately just robbing you of clarity, because the money doesn't flow out of the category when you purchase. It sits there, unused while you have the item but earmarked for a future date when the installment comes due. A buy now pay later purchase adds a layer of complexity to your spending plan, while lacking the conviction to say "do I really want this right now?"
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For some reason when the topic of money comes up, many people immediately want to jump into Excel and start exercising the so-called rational part of their brain. Money seems to demand sober, quantitative analysis, devoid of emotion which obfuscates the mathematical truth of the situation. Yet we rarely make decisions in a purely rational manner; emotion plays a large, if not bigger role, than rational thinking in how we choose to act. And if there's anything you've learned hanging around YNAB, it's that money is really just you -- it's a medium for translating your energy and effort in the world into things and experiences.
That's why YNAB came up with five questions, to help you make better decisions with your money while considering your whole self -- both your emotional needs and a rational analysis of your financial situation.
In today's episode Jesse shares the example of a conversation with a self-described highly rational friend, talking about whom he was going to marry. The conversation highlights how the biggest decisions often don't come down to rational analysis alone. Working the five questions, however, you end up at a reasonable place, considering your whole self, both rational and emotional. In a word, we call it spendfulness.
Resources mentioned in this show:
- The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel
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We talk about how YNAB is the ultimate weapon against money stressors -- as you gain control over your spending, learn to give every dollar a job, and bring your spending in line with your priorities, the stresses decrease and are replaced by a growing confidence. There are other psychological "costs" of money, such as the anxiety and mental overhead created by second guessing your choices.
Should I buy this? Can I even afford it? Should I have bought that? Is this what we should be doing right now? YNAB gives you the freedom to act, to spend your money confidently without second guessing every decision.
Like Jesse and his GE upright freezer, it doesn't mean you'll never regret your purchases, but you won't second guess the fact that you spent the money!
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Jesse reflects on his interactions with YNAB'ers at the recent Fan Fest in Minneapolis, and how spendfulness manifested in many different ways. One important takeaway for Jesse was that while practicing spendfulness could mean taking a cool international vacation, or buying something fun and interesting (and those are totally valid things to spend money on!), it could also mean having the freedom and peace of mind to take risks and embark on new ventures.
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In 2017 the Mecham family decided to live in Manhattan for three months to experience the city, soak up the food and culture, and just have fun doing something different. While they were there they chose to maximize their opportunity to eat out -- Jesse went back and counted over 140 different establishments during that 90 day stay!
After that experiment, Jesse and the family decided to try the complete opposite. No eating out for 90 days. The result? They didn't really care about it much, and now the family rarely eats out. What the experience in Manhattan taught them was that, for them, eating out is about the experience. They like big, "journal worthy" meals. Day to day eating out at average restaurants just doesn't hold much appeal.
They only know this because they have examined their priorities and tested things out. Jesse encourages you to do the same -- question why you do what you do, and try to live differently for a little while. You may find, like many, many YNAB'ers before you, that eating out is not as much of a priority as you were making it!
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It seems obvious that you should save money. It's the right thing to do, after all! But even the words that we use talk about saving money have problems -- should, ought -- loaded with moral baggage. Jesse reminds us that even money earmarked for savings is still spending, just spending that has been deferred to a later date, retirement for example. That money still needs to have a job, however. Saving for what in retirement? Utility bills? Travel? Presents for the grandkids?
Money for the future has a job just like money for the present, and when you view money through the lens of giving every dollar a job, you begin to see that money is only meant to be spent. There is no savings, only spending!
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When you really want to buy something, what do you do? Do you wait for 48 hours to cool off a bit and think it over? Or perhaps do you create a category for it in YNAB and fund it with a few dollars, just to see how it feels? Having the urge to buy something is not a bad or shameful thing, but there should be a process for weighing that purchase against your other priorities. That's what YNAB does -- it makes money more real by giving you a framework to evaluate your spending against your priorities. That way when you buy something, you can feel really good about it -- no shame, no guilt, just joy!
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This week Jesse and the rest of the YNAB team are working hard prepping for the upcoming Fan Fest in Minneapolis, so today we are rebroadcasting an interview that originally appeared on Dr. Will Cole's Art of Being Well podcast. In this interview, Jesse talks about how money stress not only leads to poorer mental health, it has real physical impacts on the body as well.
We hope you enjoy this interview. If you'd like to follow Dr. Cole's podcast, check out the links below:
- Web: https://drwillcole.com/podcast/money-anxiety-is-ruining-your-health-heres-how-to-fix-it-jesse-mecham
- Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-art-of-being-well/id1539535133
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6z1lJ5dfKNHwGGQPOFTc7E?si=22d31749ba9142f7
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It's no secret that money is a major factor in relationship conflicts. Whether it's misaligned values, a feeling that one partner is sabotaging the other's goals through their spending, or a desire to keep up with the Jones'... money has the potential to start or fuel a lot of conflict. But it doesn't have to! Often money arguments belie fundamental communcation problems, and YNAB can help by clarifying for both partners what the goal is for your dollars and whether that is aligned with your shared values.
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To many, the word "budget" brings to mine restrictions, guilt, punishment, and a general feeling of dread that they don't have control over their money, much less hit their budget goals. But this idea that a budget means setting hard limits on spending in various categories, then looking back every month to see if you were "good" or "bad" in adhering to those limits... it's all backwards!
Jesse has another way to look at "budgeting," or planning as he calls it. You give every dollar you have a job -- you look at what future expenses you know you have coming and put those dollars into categories to cover those expenses. Once you have your future expenses covered, then you start thinking about what else you'd like to do with your money: take a trip, buy some new clothes, maybe go out to a nice restaurant. Then, as life happens and your needs change, you can move the money around. It's not a failure that your spending doesn't perfectly adhere to some arbitrary category number, it just means you got new information, circumstances changed, and therefore your spending plan needs to change with it.
Once you wrap your head around this way of thinking about money, of planning for the future rather than looking backwards and punishing yourself, then you can start loving the way you spend. Guilt free.
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Judging from the difficulties many adults have managing their money, we don't do a great job collectively of teaching our kids about money. Jesse doesn't consider himself an expert on this, but he does have seven kids, and thus seven chances to instill good money habits in his own children. In today's episode he shares how he teaches his kids about money using the YNAB method, scaled down in language and concepts that younger children can understand.
At the end of the day, the goal for kids is the same as the goal for adults... Jesse wants them to love the way they spend, and imagine what money can do for them.
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Spendfulness is the new word around YNAB, but the concept goes back to the beginning of the company... and even before the company itself. In today's episode, Jesse recounts the very early days of YNAB, when the budgeting method was just a spreadsheet. Jesse realized that the spreadsheet was enforcing a set of behaviors, or "rules," around money and that those rules were the foundation of what is now referred to as the YNAB method. YNAB is more than a spreadsheet, and more than a software tool, it is a set of principles for managing money and, more importantly, learning about yourself. Knowing thyself is at the heart of spendfulness, and as it turns out, living spendfulness is what YNAB was about the whole time!
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Jesse has a long history experimenting with money. From rating every meal he and the family ate out, to "hyperbudgeting," to not budgeting at all... he's run an experiment almost every year for the last several years to see how his habits affect his financial planning. In today's episode Jesse recaps the experiments he's done, how they went (good and bad), and reminds us that personal finance is, well, personal.
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If the world seems like it's on fire right now... it may be true. But then again, the world always seems like it's on fire, at least depending on who you ask. If you ask the news, it certainly is! Fortunately, the YNAB method -- giving every dollar a job and working through the 5 Questions -- can bring peace and calm to your finances.
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On the surface, emergency funds sound like a very prudent idea. You set aside cash for unknowable, unforseeable events so that you aren't strapped when you really need it. We're not disagreeing with the idea, but an emergency fund is somewhat counter to the core principle of YNAB: giving every dollar a job. In an emergency fund, dollars are given a job, but it's a vague one.
Jesse likens it to a football coach yelling at his defense to "just stop the other team from scoring!" The coach is identifying the basic goal of the game, but there's nothing specific to help the players actually accomplish that task. A good coach instead instructs players what to do at an individual level, adjusting their positioning, technique, key reads etc. so that they can more effectively play their role on the team. The net result is the same -- stopping the other team from scoring -- but the results are far more effective.
The same is true with your dollars. While yes, we do want to set aside money for larger, less frequent expenses, the truth is many of these expenses are knowable, we just don't plan for them. New roof, new tires, plumbing repair, etc. Including these items into your plan and saving for them accomplishes what the emergency fund accomplishes, but with more clarity.
So, consider just deleting your emergency fund. Or at least make it smaller, and give those dollars more specific, effective jobs.
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All money is meant to be spent, it's just a matter of when. Some people get caught in a cycle of amassing savings with no clear goal of how it is to be spent. Jesse shares an example from his wedding of how the desire to save money can backfire, and demonstrates how having a plan for your money, whether it's in the near future or distant future, is the most important thing.
As we say at YNAB, give every dollar job.
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YNAB only asks that you follow one rule with your money, the golden rule of money, if you will -- give every dollar a job. And within that statement is implied that you must give every dollar you have a job. Many people get in trouble when they start planning for money they expect to come but don't have yet. There be dragons!
Looking at the money you have right now, and asking yourself "what does this money need to do between now and when I get paid again?" focused you on reality, and avoids asking too many what-if questions about the future and various contingencies. And it's simple. No forecasting, no elaborate scenarios. Just concrete dollars in your wallet (or bank account) right now and present needs and wants.
Simplicity is underrated. Following this simple rule over and over, multiple times a month, maybe multiple times a week, will grow your financial confidence, your decision making skills, and your bank account!
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Jesse relates a story of a couple looking at a piece of gym equipment posted for sale at their local gym. It was expensive, and Emily's gut reaction was "no, it seems spendy." After some reflection she told her husband they should talk about it more, because maybe it was really a spendful purchase.
We are faced with decisions like these all the time. Without a plan, anything can seem spendy, even good things we want to spend our money on. Likewise, we can end up spending on things we don't really care about. Then there's the question "can I afford it?" that plagues us. These swirling, anxiety inducing questions can be answered by giving our dollars a job and working the 5 Questions (see episode #724 for more on the questions).
Next time you catch yourself thinking something is too spendy, ask yourself instead, could this be spendful?
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YNAB only has one "rule" for managing your money, and that's to give every dollar a job. This is easier said than done, however, so to help with this task, Jesse presents 5 questions to clarify what you want to do with your money:
- Reality: What does this money need to do before I’m paid again?
- Stability: What larger, less frequent spending do I need to prepare for?
- Resilience: What can I set aside for next month’s spending?
- Creation: What goals, large or small, do I want to prioritize?
- Flexibility: What changes do I need to make, if any?
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You've heard the term "monkey see, monkey do," and it's true of kids and money too -- and probably not in the ways you expect! Jesse shares a couple lessons about kids and money he's learned from parenting seven children, and how kids often learn as much or more from the things you do with your money rather than what you say about money. What you say matters too, however! The main takeaway is to be thoughtful about how you engage with money, becuase your kids are listening (and watching).
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When Jesse was 25, he wrote down a goal on a notecard: to live in a paid-off house by the time he was 30. He thought that owning his house free and clear would make things feel different, give him a sense of security and freedom. At the end of the day, though, the mortgage really wasn't that big of a deal -- it was just another bill to pay. There was less satisfaction to owning his home outright than he thought there would be, and some regret when he realzied he could have invested the extra mortgage payments somewhere else and made far more return.
You may not have the same outlook on home ownership as Jesse, and that's ok! Jesse encourages you to map out not only the mathematical pros and cons of big financial goals like paying off a mortgage early, but also consider the emotional impact of the decision. Also, leave yourself some space to change your mind in the future, like Jesse did about paying off mortgages early. Personal finance is always a mixture of math and emotions, and where you fall on the spectrum is, well, personal!
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Welcome to the first episode of The Jesse Mecham Show! To kick off the new show, Jesse asks the question: what is money anyway? You might point to the cash in your wallet, you might say it's the number in your bank account, you might even say it's a medium of exchange, or a store of value. While these answers aren't wrong, they really don't capture the fullness of what money is and what it means to us.
Instead of thinking of money as merely a medium of exchange, Jesse prompts you think of it as medium of energy. You expend energy to acquire money, and then you spend that money on all the things that make you, you: things you need, things you want, things you enjoy. Money in this case is a medium, it's a medium through which your energy transfers to the world. And the more and more you get in touch with who you are, and the more you learn to spend in alignment with who you are, the more money becomes an expression of... you!
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Jesse finishes his Q&A session from his inbox with one of the longer episodes in recent memory. He also announces a big change coming to the podcast!
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Spendfulness is the new word in town, but don't be fooled! It's not just a portmanteau of "spending" and "mindfulness." Spendfulness isn't spending on the "right" or "correct" things. It doesn't mean spending on health or self-improvement, or even treating yourself. Although it certainly could include these things, limiting the definition to them is too small. Paying your electric bill is spendfulness, just like paying for a day at a health spa or a membership to a yoga studio.
Spendfulness is that feeling of never having to second guess about your money, or being able to replace a water heater (or two!) on a moment's notice with no impact to your bank account. It's resilience, it's spending with joy, it's all of these things.
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Jesse continues his Q&A session from his inbox, addressing questions such as: whether an investment advisor is worth it and what to do with an inheritance windfall. Jesse also teases some upcoming changes to the podcast!
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Jesse cracks open his inbox for another round of Ask Jesse. In today's episode he fields questions about YNAB'ing through job loss, financing a car and investing the float, and what personal finance books he recommends for kids.
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People have been doing it for years by following the YNAB method -- self-actualizing by aligning their spending with themselves. Now the YNAB team has come up with a word to describe it. It's not a budget, it's not a set of rules.
It's spendfulness.
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The Four Rules are out... the Five Questions are in! Well... not really, the Four Rules have just been transformed and clarified. As Jesse has pointed out in prior podcasts, the Four Rules were really just one rule, the first rule -- Give Every Dollar a Job.
And that is still the master rule. To clarify what giving every dollar a job means, YNAB has come up with five questions:
- What does this money need to do before I’m paid again? (Reality)
- What larger, less frequent spending do I need to prepare for? (Stability)
- What can I set aside for next month’s spending? (Resilience)
- What goals, large or small, do I want to prioritize? (Creation)
- What changes do I need to make, if any? (Flexibility)
These five questions are designed to give you more clarity about what you want your money to do for you, and ultimately how you want to spend your live. In a word, how to live spendfully.
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If you have been procrastinating about starting to manage your money, Jesse has a message for you. It's ok to start now, and start small -- and you don't have to be perfect either! Jesse has been using the YNAB method to manage his money for twenty years now, and he still hasn't reached perfection. But, he has become more in tune with his spending and learned how to create more joy in his life as a result, and he's helped millions of other people to do the same through YNAB. Jump in!
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Every year Jesse experiments with his money. In 2023 he decided to ditch his credit cards, and he continued that experiment through 2024. The result? His average bank account balance is up 18%, his time spent maintaining YNAB is down, and most importantly, money is simpler. He doesn't even miss the points and cashback rewards!
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It's almost the New Year, and that means it's time to make resolutions! Jesse loves resolutions, goals, and goal planning, and he has some advice for you this year. Before you start setting your goals for next year, do this simple vision exercise first.
Imagine that money is no object, and you have unlimited funds to work with. What would you like to do next year? What kind of things would you need to arrange in your life to make that happen? Remember money is not an issue here -- if you need to hire someone to take care of certain tasks for you, or buy something to improve your efficiency, or anything else you can think of, you can do it! Write these things down on a sheet of paper.
You have already started the process of thinking about where to spend your energy in the New Year, and wherever your energy is going, your money should be too. Now, when you bring reality back in, which means limited funds and resources, you have a clearer idea of where to focus those resources in order to help you reach your goals.
Happy New Year!
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Ebenezer Scrooge is a classic Christmas tale, a tragic character who lets his insatiable desire for money blind him to the circumstances of the people around him -- particularly his employees -- and the spirit of the Christmas holiday. He didn't even seem to enjoy spending his wealth, only the accumulation of it. While Scrooge is not a good role model for generosity or charity, he did always pay his bills on time.
Next Christmas you can give yourself a bill, or rather give yourself a bill now, and every month between now and next Christmas! Think of the things you want to buy and do next Christmas (not just gifts, but travel and cooking) and add up how much you think you'll spend. Divide it by twelve, and that's your bill to be paid each month between now and December 25, 2025. Then you can spend your money in a way Scrooge never could -- on gifts and family and generosity.
Merry Christmas!
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The FIRE movement, which stands for "Financial Independence, Retire Early," has a long-lived and strong fan base on the internet. The idea behind FIRE is simple: figure out how much money you need to live on each year, then calculate how much money you would need to save up in order to live on the returns from your portfolio indefinitely. Once you hit your number, BAM! You're retired, and live happily after ever. Right?
Jesse sees this idea as, ultimately, just another form of procrastination about money. When you put all your focus on the number you need to retire, you forget about the most important thing about money -- how you will spend it! After all, money has to be spent to be useful, whether you spend it now or save it to spend later. Saving until you hit a magic number doesn't help you get closer to figuring out what you want your money to do for you, and therefore how you should spend it.
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It's not too late! The first rule of YNAB's Four Rules is "give every dollar a job," and you can implement it right now. Take a look at your bank account balance, and think to yourself: what does this money need to do for me right now? What does it need to do for me in the future? Now you have started thinking about your future self, and being proactive. This simple step can change your life!
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Jesse grew up in a frugal family -- frugality for frugality's sake, as he describes it. As he has grown, discovered the YNAB method, and worked the four rules, he has come to a conclusion -- he is not even a little frugal! Frugality implies thrift, spending little money so as to conserve the resource. The idea is that spending money frugally is an effort to not waste money.
YNAB's four rules help you identify the things that matter in your life, however, the things you do want to spend money on. And once you have identified those things, Jesse challenges you to double down and spend more on the things that matter to you. As he has mentioned in other episodes, money is just an extension of you, and if money is you, then why would you want less of you in the world?
So Jesse is not frugal. Not even a little bit!
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It's common parlance to say someone is "good with money," but it's often said in a way that suggests some people are innately gifted with money management skills. Jesse punches back at this supposition. He argues that becoming good with money is a skill, and skills are acquired through habit -- stringing together a lot of days with good money decisions until the good decisions become second nature.
You don't have to be perfect either! Jesse cites his favorite definition of intelligence, which is error correction, i.e. someone who makes an error, realizes the error, and then fixes it, demonstrates intelligence. It turns out, error correction is built into YNAB's four habits: rolling with the punches is the process of reacting to new circumstances by reallocating money as needed. Then, in the future you can plan for those new circumstances by embracing them as part of your true expenses (habit #2).
Next time you catch yourself thinking "I'm not good with money," focus on making one good decision, then another the next day, then correcting your errors... until it becomes another skill you have acquired!
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Most folks do a lot of mental math with their money. They see something they want to buy, they check their bank balance, and start doing some mental math on what other things that balance needs to be able to pay for before they buy the thing. The problem is, mental math gets very sloppy very quickly! Life is often just too complex, with too many variables to be able to hold all your future spending needs in your head at all times. It's too easy to spend the same dollar many times over when you rely on mental math.
YNAB helps you do money differently. YNAB gives you a simple four step method for identifying all the things your money needs to do for you now, the major things it needs to do for you in the future, and, over time, getting you to start paying next month's bills with today's money so you can finally get ahead.
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Sometimes YNAB'ers talk about money being "boring." That is, working the Four Rules patientily, consistently, until managing your money becomes another daily habit. As Jesse sees it, however, there's nothing boring about working the method. Each time you work the method, and follow the four rules, you learn more about yourself and what you want your money to do for you. And there's nothing boring about you!
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It is generally accepted that the market is driven by demand. What if YNAB was really just a long con to generate demand for quality goods and services... like toasters?
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Jesse's back with another round of Ask Jesse, where he answers questions in his inbox. In today's episode, Jesse discusses his recent engagement with Marx's Das Kapital (he gave up on it), gives an update on his debit and credit card usage, and explains how too much awareness around your investments can end up be a negative.
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One of Jesse's takeaway from the recent YNAB Fan Fest in Salt Lake City is that YNAB'ers are good at iterating. They make a plan for their money, spend the money, and reflect on whether the spending was on things they were really looking for. Then, they adjust the plan. In the process, they're not just learning how to manage money, they're learning more about themselves.
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We've all done it before, saying something to the effect of: "I'd love to do X, if only I could afford it." We have all cited money as the reason we haven't done something, or bought something we say we wanted. The next time you catch yourself saying this, Jesse urges you to stop and examine why it is you are blaming money for the reason you can't do (or buy) the thing. Is it because you really want to do/buy it, or because you're seeking escape from some other uncomfortable part of your life? If you really DO want the thing, but you're blaming lack of money for it, perhaps you are feeling frustration that you have allowed less important priorities to get in the way of saving for the thing.
Whatever it is, money is not a good excuse for not doing something you really want to do. But, we blame money because there is some real friction we are experiencing, so it's worth honoring the feeling and digging deeper to figure out what's driving it. In that way, we can stop wielding money against ourselves and allow money to work with ourselves.
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Bigger bank account balances, paying off debt, saving marriages... these are all things thousands of YNAB'ers have praised YNAB for helping them accomplish. But it's not what YNAB is about. Jesse explains: YNAB is really about getting to know yourself better, and making better spending decisions as a result. It's about reducing the second guessing in your life, and spending your money in perfect alignment with you.
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Using YNAB reveals a paradox about money -- the more you engage with it, and spend time and energy on it, the more it gets out of the way and just let's you live your life. Money is you, so learning how to manage it really means learning more about yourself and becoming more in tune with your desires, your values, and your priorities.
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When you practice the four habits of YNAB, money just gets out of the way. In today's episode, Jesse reflects on his thought process about paying for kids' college. Where he used to be against it, now that he has kids in college, he is helping them pay for it. As he has talked about on the podcast many times, his thoughts and opinions change over the time; the podcast is a sort of audio journal documenting these changes. But the real win here is that because Jesse and his wife put money aside for their kids, they were able to make this decision without worrying about money. The money was not a deciding factor, leaving them free to decide whether helping their kids with college was the best decision for them. And that is freeing!
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Twenty years ago, in a galaxy far, far away... Jesse Mecham launched youneedabudget.com with a budgeting spreadsheet and a modest goal: cover the $350 a month in rent he owed for the next couple years until he and his wife graduated from college. Since then, YNAB has grown leaps and bounds beyond Jesse's original idea. In today's episode, Jesse reflects on the last two decades, thanks the people who have made it happen (most importantly YOU, YNAB users!), and wonders what the next two decades have in store.
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Jesse shares a YNAB win from his strength coach, Andrew, who is an avid YNAB'er. Andrew was shopping at REI when he ran across a pair of returned ski boots that were marked way down. They fit perfectly. Normally he would hem and haw over a purchase like this, but because he had been slowly funding a category for new ski boots the money was there. No stress, all joy!
Barbell Logic -- Personalized Online Strength Coaching
https://barbell-logic.com
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Many people bemoan the fact that they don't earn more money. But what baffles many who eventually do earn more money, is that it doesn't fix any of their financial problems! There is no income that cannot be outspent. Put another way, broken spending habits lead to broken spending, and when you have more money, that just leads to more broken spending.
Now, there are people who have a legitimate income problem, but those folks are fewer in number than you might think. The solution for most isn't more, it's spending with purpose!
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The first habit of YNAB is to give every dollar a job. We tend to think of it purely as a spending exercise, as in, what do these dollars need to do for me? Buy clothes, groceries, pay the rent, etc. But Jesse points out how this process of giving your dollars jobs can help you find more meaning in your earning, not just your spending. When you know what your dollars are doing for you, the way you earn those dollars takes on more meaning, even if the work is not intrinsically meaningful.
Beginning Balance Podcast
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/beginning-balance/id1569423517
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7APubdzXN2eeeMdNpCLkiy?si=757aff0c35ad4178
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Money sinks its tentacles into nearly everything, and those tentacles can feel like, well, tentacles, or they can feel like rainbows. Jesse wants you to look at money and see rainbows, blessing all the facets of life that money touches.
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Frugality is a virtue. At least, that's what many people in the financial space would claim. Being frugal is commonly seen as a good thing, presumably because it enables you to save more money. The environmentally conscious might see value in frugality as a means to reducing overall consumption. YNAB, one could argue, aims to make you more frugal. But YNAB is more interested in a deeper question: why be more frugal?
The first habit in the YNAB method is to give every dollar a job. To do so, you have to know what it is you want your money to do for you, where you are aiming at. Saving money is a great thing, but YNAB encourages you to ask the question: for what?
Being frugal is not an answer. It is merely the means by which you get to the answer!
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Jesse shares a story about taking a group of kids hiking, and coming down with altitude sickness on the first day. He could have quit, but he figured out a way to re-route the hike where he could safely get through. It's not so different when working with personal finances. It's tempting to just quit when things get hard, or road blocks come up, but sometimes all you need to do is slow down your plans.
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Big financial goals are great. It's what we live for at YNAB! But, life happens in between those big goals, and Jesse reminds you that it's ok to spend some money "in the meantime."
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Jesse shares a fun way to handle "fun money" from long-time YNAB software engineer Kyle. Kyle suggests creating separate bank accounts for fun money with separate budgets as well. His method evolved from the desire to keep the visibility of fun money separate from his spouse, so they could 1.) take any judgment or guilt away from spending fun money, and 2.) spend on fun things for each other without ruining the surprise!
Ordinarily, Jesse advocates for simplifying your bank accounts as much as possible, but Kyle is a veteran YNAB'er and his method may be a fun experiment for you to try in your own family!
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We organize our lives by the calendar, and the calendar is organized into months. It's no surprise then, that we tend to think of finances in terms of months -- monthly payments, monthly contributions, having 3-6 months of expenses saved. The month has a lot of utility, but it is an arbitrary division of time. Jesse examines how the month can be useful, yet also detrimental, to making money decisions.
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Jesse waxes poetic about Costco and how simple their model makes purchasing decisions. He also brings up the point that we often spend a lot of time searching for the best deal, for that one hot tip that will maximize our dollars for a certain purchase. Our time and attention is a resource as well, and perhaps we should just go buy the thing, and be done with it.
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Jesse delivers a good old fashioned rant about the evils of debt. While he may have softened his rhetoric over the past decade, Jesse is no less serious about his distaste for debt!
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Well meaning companies will bring in financial advisors to extol the virtues of investing in 401ks and matching plans, while some of their employees are still living paycheck to paycheck. With YNAB, you can take control of your money and get off the paycheck to paycheck cycle, then run to HR and take that 401k match like you stole it!
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Money can be chaotic, noisy, tinged with anxiety and fear. Or, with YNAB, it can be boring! At YNAB we strive for money to be boring, so that life can be rich, exciting, and full.
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As the saying goes, "stuff" happens. Life throws curveballs, sometimes several in a row, and YNAB'ers prepare for this financially by following the Four Rules:
- Give every dollar a job
- Embrace your true expenses
- Roll with the punches
- Age your money
Today's episode is mostly about rule #3. When you roll with the punches, you reassign money you have saved up for other expenses in the future to cover the unexpected expense you are facing right now. After working the method for a while, you'll build up more and more money in your categories, and therefore have more money available to cover unexpeceted expenses when life decides to throw you a curveball. Think of your money like shock absorbers -- it doesn't take away all the pain or stress of unforeseen circumstances, but it does take away the money stress, which can be a blessing!
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Those categories that you love to spend in, those categories that suck you right in. What if you could increase your spending in that category by 50%? Jesse challenges you that you can in fact do this, by honing in on the things you love, and the things you don't. Spend less on the things you don't love -- not because you are cutting! -- but so that you can spend more on the things you love.
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According to Jesse, absolutely you can! In fact, YNAB enables you to be more spontaneous. Planning your spending with YNAB doesn't mean locking your dollars into rigid categories that cannot change. It means setting aside money ahead of time for the things you don't know you want yet. Many people who thrive on spontaneity unfortunately end up in financial trouble, because they're never sure whether they have the money to afford their spur of the moment purchases and experiences. Using YNAB, however, you can set up categories whose only purpose is to hold money for spontaneous expenses, so that when the time comes you can spend the money without worrying about the consequences later. It's already there, and it's meant to be spent!
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We tend to think of spending as a problem that needs to be solved, however YNAB encourages spending as a thing to be enjoyed, as long as that spending is in accordance with priorities and people understand the tradeoffs they are making when they spend. In the world of personal finance we also tend to think about people who are natural spenders, but they are natural savers as well, and YNAB can help them too! Jesse responds to a comment from a YNAB team member who identifies as a natural saver, who has used YNAB to learn to love spending money as much as she does saving it.
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Jesse fields a question from the YNAB team about how he stays positive in light of rapidly increasing grocery prices.
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Jesse answers another round of questions from his inbox, including a number of suggestions for new books to read!
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It's not uncommon for people to remark to Jesse that they wished they would have found YNAB sooner. The four habits are such a powerful tool for bringing clarity to your money and joy to your spending. Today Jesse wants to remind you that regretting the past is no way to live!
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Jesse reviews the Four Rules and takes issue with those who say, "yeah must be nice to have extra money to make a plan with... everything I make is spoken for." It's true, there are some people who have a legitimate income problem. But this argument often becomes an excuse to not actually make plans for your money, to not try to follow the rules and start to get ahead on your expenses. After all, what's the alternative?
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Your biggest single expense is one you probably don't think about much... unless you're American and it's April 15th. You may think it's housing, or maybe education, or raising kids, but all those costs are dwarfed by the elephant on your income statement: taxes. We are taxed in hundreds of ways, some obvious like income taxes and sales tax, others more insidious like fuel tax, air travel tax, liquor tax, etc, etc. Jesse points this out to demonstrate something important -- you can be desensitized to almost any expense, even the single biggest expense in your life!
Beginning Balance Podcast with Jesse and Mark Butler
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/beginning-balance/id1569423517
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7APubdzXN2eeeMdNpCLkiy?si=75eb73f1ac0a49ba
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Let's cut spending! And then... what exactly? The all too common advice that you need to "cut spending" implies that your level of consumption is simply too high. That may or may not be the case, but in Jesse's experience and the thousands upon thousands of people YNAB has helped to regain control over their money, "spending less" is rarely the problem. Most people don't have a spending too much problem, they have a spending on the wrong things problem. For that reason, you'll never hear Jesse give advice to just "cut spending."
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Jesse answers another round of questions from YNAB listeners. Today someone asks whether there is such a thing as "perfect YNAB" use and if good enough use is OK (yes!). Another YNAB'er is confused on how to calculate tithes for business income, and, as always, there are some questions and comments about credit card rewards.
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Jesse answers a question from a listener who argues that becuase he carries enough cash to cover his credit card spending at all times, he is not riding the float and therefore is gaming the credit card companies. Jesse quotes Charlie Munger -- "show me the incentive, and I'll show you the outcome" (he actually said outcome not behavior) -- and observes that financial institutions have big incentives to encourage more spending, because spending increases their fees. So where there's an incentive, there's a behavior they want to encourage, and using credit cards is it. In Jesse's experience, ditching the credit card has made him less likely to impulse spend, and that experience is likely what financial institutions have figured out!
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Jesse argues that the common refrain of a thing having "inherent value" or "intrinsic value" is not actually a thing. As Jesse explains, value is a moving target, constantly shifting along with our desires and material circumstances. To a starving man, food is worth more than gold. To that same man well-fed, it can be worth little. We see this with our own money -- as our circumstances change, the categories we prioritze shift. Rule 3, roll with the punches, acknowledges the ever-shifting nature of our needs and desires, and challenges us to make trade-offs to materialize those changes in our financial plans. To that end, nothing has an inherent value, but rather a variable value, the only certainty being that it will fluctuate over time.
Beginning Balance Podcast -- the show Jesse mentions has not aired yet, but will be coming soon! In the meantime, check out more of Jesse's musings about money here:
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/beginning-balance/id1569423517
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7APubdzXN2eeeMdNpCLkiy?si=19e8c25d5b104494
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Jesse is back answering another round of questions from his inbox. Today he responds to listeners asking whether the Four Rules are really rules or rather habits, what his favorite time management tools are, and how to relate to a spouse uninterested in budgeting.
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
https://www.amazon.com/Getting-Things-Done-Stress-Free-Productivity/dp/0142000280
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals
https://www.amazon.com/Four-Thousand-Weeks-Management-Mortals/dp/0374159122
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Jesse shares a story from a YNAB'er who had a major mindset shift about money. For this person, money went from a stressful topic to envisioning it as "young creatures just looking to party." Imagining your dollars as little "you's," searching for ways to improve your life and live out your values takes away the fear and anxiety around money.
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Mirror, mirror on the wall... which category is the truest of them all? Over the last several weeks, Jesse has explored the idea that money is more than just a tool, it's a reflection of you. Your spending is a representation of your energies and your desires, and therefore a proxy for who you are. So, if you imagined the categories in your spending plan as a mirror -- what would that mirror say about you? Do you like what's in the reflection?
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One of the pervasive messages about money is that "it's just a tool," and Jesse takes issue with that! When money is reduced to a mere tool, like a wrench or a screwdriver, it invites people to be more careless with it, to use it then put it in a drawer and forget about it. Hearkening back to episode #650: It's You All the Way Down, Jesse reminds us that if a dollar is the product of your energies, then a dollar is you! You aren't just a tool -- you are a human, with desires and values which are reflected in your spending. In this light, then, money takes on a much larger role than merely "tool," and it should be treated with the importance and attention it deserves.
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Whether your bank account is looking bare and collecting dust, or flush with cash, the temptation is all the same: to run away from the money. The person in dire financial straits often wishes they had a bunch of money, because then they wouldn't have to worry about money. On the flipside, the person newly flush with cash is quick to forget about the money, because they feel like they have enough now. Inattention is a mistake, no matter how it happens!
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Jesse opens his inbox for another for round of Ask Jesse, where he answers emails from YNAB'ers about all things money, finance, and... well, life! In today's episode, one listener asks about how to deal with a reluctant partner who doesn't want to participate in the YNAB process. Other listeners share their successes paying off debt and gaining control of their money for the first time.
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Back in October 2023, Jesse asked listeners to look at their last ten transactions on YNAB and rank them on a scale from one to three, with one being spending that sucked joy from them and three being spending that sparked joy. Then he asked listeners to share their most interesting "three," the most interesting transaction that brough joy. Today, Jesse digs through the answers and discovers an interesting commonality -- the spending that sparked the most joy was spending on other people.
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A few weeks ago, Jesse put out the call to share your New Years resolutions, as well as a guiding word for 2024 -- something to help you put your resolution into action day to day. Jesse received a number of great responses, and shares a sample of them on today's podcast.
Good luck working toward your goals in 2024!
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Jesse revisits his infamous experiment in which he essentially stopped budgeting for an entire year. The result from that experiment was that he and his family spent several thousand extra dollars that they couldn't account for, and even though the extra spending was not material to the family bottom line, it still bothered Jesse. Today, he hits on what exactly it was that bothered him. Managing money well, building a plan for spending, is virtuous, and virtue is something that you do, not something that you simply have. When the Mecham family stopped following the Four Rules, they lost the habit!
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Anytime the word resolution comes up, there are naysayers claiming that they don't work. That goals don't work. Unfortunately a lot of people buy into that when they set a goal and fail to achieve it. Their failure leads them to believe that settings goals is a useless endeavour. Jesse offers some encouragement this year, for the goals you seek to achieve and those you fall short on.
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As we embrace the New Year, Jesse challenges you to pick some goals and set some resolutions. Even if you fail, you will certainly learn some things in the process of chasing a goal, and that experience is invaluable!
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Jesse wishes everyone a Merry Christmas, full of meaning and joy. Hopefully this is a day you can enjoy without worrying about money, because you've dutifully saved up for it all year, but if not -- you can always start working on next year. After your Christmas celebrations are over, create a Christmas target for 2024 and start putting a little money away now. And as Jesse says, the Christmas bill is a joyous one!
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Jesse ran across a quote from one of his favorite authors, Nassim Taleb. In his book Antifragile, Taleb advises "invest in preparedness, not prediction," which also neatly describes the goal of YNAB. We cannot predict the future with any certainty, so it's folly to behave as if we can with our spending habits. What we can do, however, is prepare for the future by embracing our future expenses, and even though we don't know exactly when (or how much) those future expenses will occur, we can save up a pile of cash to handle them.
Jesse gives the example of an old car. As his early 2000's Toyota Camry aged, he started dutifully socking away $150/mo to cover inevitable repairs as well as a replacement vehicle. Years later, he had enough for a replacement, but the car was still humming along. So in this case he did not successfully predict the future. He could have held off on saving that money and directed it toward something else. At the end of the day, however, by preparing for the day he needed a new car, Jesse had a pile of cash in his bank account. When that day didn't come, he still had lots of options, because he had the cash. If he hadn't prepared, and the car died earlier than expected... then he likely would have ended up having to borrow money for the car.
This gets back to the idea of being "antifragile." Owing money is a state of fragility, because someone else has a claim on your future cash flows until you pay off the debt. It prevents you from using your cash to prepare for the future.
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Jesse ran across a quote from author F.W. Boreham the other day that resonated strongly: "We make our decisions, and then our decisions turn around and make us." Mr. Boreham described the goal of the Four Rules in one simple and effective sentence! Working the Four Rules to create a spending plan involves making decisons -- decisions about what you value and where you want to spend your money. Those decisions stack on each other and in turn lead you to financial freedom, peace, and, ultimately, more joy with your money.
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Jesse is back with another round of questions from his inbox, including whether or not a listener should sell her rental property, whether it's worth buying a new car to relieve the stress of sticking with an old car with problems, and if pausing retirement savings to get a month ahead on expenses is worth consideration.
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Jesse has been focusing on the joy of spending money lately, and one way to achieve joy is to simply give it away. In a sense, giving away money is the ultimate way to give money the bird, so to speak. It's an act of defiance, that you don't need it, and you aren't consumed by it. But mostly, it's an act of joy, to give it away freely because your spending plan is working and your needs and wants are met.
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"You need to spend less money." "Money's not everything." But what if you don't need to spend less money. And what if money is everything? In today's episode Jesse offers up the idea that money is you -- the sum product of your energies and desires -- and if that's true, then you don't need to spend less money. You need to spend more of you on you! The more you can engage with the question of "what do I want my money to do" the more joy spending can bring you, because ultimately that question is "what do I want to do?"
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Once again, the holidays are nearly upon us. If your spending plan hasn't gone to, well, plan then that is OK. Seasons are everywhere in life. We see them every year and we see them over periods of many years. Some seasons you're really engaged with your spending and some seasons you're not. But you didn't quit. Whether you need a fresh start, or you're trucking along and spending with joy, this is a season.
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At YNAB they're called the Four Rules, but as Jesse argues, maybe they are best described as habits! The four habits of budgeting...
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Breaking news! On November 2, 2023 Intuit announced that it would be shutting down Mint, a popular personal finance app it acquired back in 2009. In January 2024, millions of users will be left looking for a replacement budgeting app. Intuit is directing users to its Credit Karma service, but it's unclear yet whether it will offer the budgeting and expense tracking features Mint was known for.
YNAB, however, still remains! Jesse points out that YNAB may not be the right solution for every Mint user -- after all, YNAB aims to help you change your behavior and thinking around spending, not just track your expenses and produce pretty graphs. As Jesse puts it, YNAB is like the movie Minority Report, where robots can predict the future and prevent crime before it happens. Mint, on the other hand, is like an episode of CSI, where there's a dead body, and everyone is trying to figure out why it happened. Mint is good at tracking expenses and telling you what happened in the past, but it leaves it up to you to determine why those things happened and how to prevent problems in the future. YNAB encourages you to create a plan for your dollars and anticipate future expenses, so that you can solve financial problems before they happen. And, because life is complex and ever-evolving, YNAB helps you roll with the punches and adjust your plan as you go. Oh, and YNAB won't try to sell you on credit cards, pay as you go plans, or other debt either.
So if you have left Mint and are looking for a new, more powerful approach to your personal finance goals, consider YNAB!
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Jesse invites you to play a game. Look at your last ten transactions and rate them 1 to 3:
- 1 = negative joy (sucked joy out of your life)
- 2 = neutral
- 3 = sparks joy
There's one catch! You can only rate two of those transactions as neutral. Why? Because Jesse said so. Then share your most interesting 1's and 3's with Jesse! Email him at:
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A dollar represents you. It is the product of your energies. Your labor and your brainpower creates products and services that you exchange for money, whether you work a job or run a business. Therefore, a spending plan is really a representation of YOU! It's you all the way down from your labors and thoughts to your dollars and how you choose to spend them. So spending wisely is not just about choosing the right things to buy, or saving for the future, it's about direct your energies -- yourself -- out into the world in the manner you want.
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In today's episode, Jesse answers questions from YNAB'ers including how to build the habit of checking YNAB before spending and how to slow down Jesse's speech patterns for UK listeners (there's an app for that!). A listener also sends in an interesting article about how airlines have essentially turned into banks via their elaborate reward points systems.
Ron Lieber on the YNAB Podcast (Episode #480)
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/you-need-a-budget-ynab/id477248343?i=1000515131147
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2qh75uqa9uzQGggz7wwYiS?si=088cd75db8be4f01
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Jesse answers your questions on today's show, including how big an emergency fund does a teacher need? A YNAB'er shares a recent talk from the chairman of the Electronic Payments Coalition which reveals the (surprise!) unscrupulous motivations of credit card companies. Another YNAB'er from India asks how to setup the budget when you have income and expenses in two different currencies.
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Spending money doesn't have to make you feel guilty! Jesse offers a pep talk to end the guilt trip, one budget at a time.
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If you think about it, there's only one thing that money can do -- be spent! The use of money is, ultimately, the spending of money. Even if you give money away, it's given to others so that they may spend it. Or if you save money, that money is being saved (and perhaps invested in hopes of getting more money in the future) so that it can be spent in the future. But it's all spending at the end of the day. In today's episode, Jesse paints a picture of spending with a budget a mind, spending with clarity (because you are in tune with what you want your money to do), and perhaps most importantly, spending guilt-free.
Budgeting is really about spending money, and spending it without remorse or guilt... maybe even spending with joy?
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Pfew! Done, finally! Jesse clears up the backlog in his Ask Jesse mailbox, answering listener questions about the nature of credit card spending in YNAB, whether YNAB'ers should still have emergency funds, and what to do when saving up for a down payment while houses continue to rise in price.
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Jesse continues to work through his backlog of Ask Jesse questions, including his thoughts on credit karma, the magic of 1% retirement contributions, and whether he would save cash in case of recession or pay down debt.
Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman
https://www.amazon.com/Four-Thousand-Weeks-Management-Mortals/dp/0374159122
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Jesse is catching up on his inbox after a summer break, and answering your questions!
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Since Jesse has been away, the emails have been piling up! Jesse works through his backlog of Ask Jesse questions today, including a woman who has a newfound distaste for credit cards... and wrote to Jesse to tell about it!
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Jesse is back from his summer break and ready to answer your questions and talk money! Long-time listeners of the podcast know that each year Jesse experiments with something in his financial life, whether its reconciliation intervals or category structures. This year Jesse decided to wean himself off credit cards entirely, and he provides an update on that project. So far it's looking good, and he expects that this will be a permanent change.
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What do you do when the biggest line item in your budget increases, like, a lot? You engage your Rule Two super powers and roll with the punches of course. Emotionally, however, it's not easy when you have to reallocate dollars away from categories to handle the increased expenses in another category. It's not just a math problem -- each of those dollars symbolizes intentions and plans, which now must be put on hold, or changed altogether.
In Ben's case, it's renovating a bathroom badly in need of a refresh. In this episode, Ben shares how he keeps his spirits up when he has to roll with punches and put plans on hold.
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Ernie is running solo today, and sharing some recent developments in his financial life that have made him rethink his budget entirely. YNAB'ers are creatures of habit, and many of us enjoy the budgets we have created and honed over the years as neat pieces of work in themselves. But as Jesse has said over and over on the podcast, the budget really exists to serve your needs and help you prioritize your spending in accordance with your values. Life is dynamic, and sometimes those needs change!
That means the budget needs to change with your life. Ernie shares how he blew up his budget and started over after a series of home renovation projects and medical bills started taxing his existing category balances. Money stress started building -- even veteran YNAB'ers are not immune to it! -- and he realized the budget was no longer serving his needs. That's the takeaway: don't be too precious with the budget you've created, even if it has served you well for a long time. And understand that money stress happens to everyone, and that's OK!
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Did you know that YNAB's Four Rules weren't always four? And contrary to popular belief, they did not spring forth from Jesse's head fully formed! No, the Four Rules developed over years as Jesse refined and clarified the YNAB method behind the software (and originally, the spreadsheet). Ben and Ernie take a quick spin through the history of the Four Rules, going all the way back to the very first YNAB website in 2004.
Budget Nerds Episode #50: A Brief History of the YNAB Rules
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https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/50-a-brief-history-of-the-ynab-rules/id1606054345?i=1000581636493
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https://open.spotify.com/episode/3AdIeFpt0ZfuM0kKEF8Yr0?si=d235636937564f38
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Ben and Ernie share their personal experiences talking to their partners about budgeting and YNAB. Every family is different, and every partnership will handle communicating about money and budgeting differently, but the important thing is that you do it! Frequent, regular money conversations help everyone stay on the same page and focused on the same goals, whether one person manages all the YNAB details or each person shares equally in that task.
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It's peak vacation season, so Ben and Ernie are comparing notes on handling the vacation budget in the moment. One the one hand, you want vacation to be vacation -- a time to unplug, be in the present moment, engaged with your family and friends. On the other hand, waiting until the end of the trip to categorize all your transactions can be overwhelming! Ben and Ernie share their approach to managing the transaction log without going crazy or burying your face in your phone the whole trip.
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Reconcile your budget, that is! Ben and Ernie discuss their budget reconciliation habits, and make a case for why you should reconcile every day, especially if you are new to YNAB.
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Ben and Ernie share a tip for making the budget feels a little less constricting -- leave a little margin in your categories! This is not an emergency fund, Ben says, but a way to give yourself some flexibility and fun.
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We all know we need to save for retirement, but it can feel a long ways away. Savings can always wait while you deal with something more urgent, it seems, until all of a sudden retirement starts staring you in the face!
The most important factors in saving for retirement are starting early, and consistency, Ernie reminds us. How do you create consistency? There's an easy trick. If you're not yet, start contributing something -- anything! -- to your retirement accounts now. That amount will be some percentage of your income. Each quarter, increase that percentage of your income you are contributing by 1%. It doesn't seem like much, but it adds up fast! And most importantly, it's a slow enough change that it gives you time to adjust. As one YNAB listener writes in, it doesn't even feel like you're missing the extra money, while at the same time it's encouraging to see your retirement accounts going up.
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Ben and Ernie ask a question that strikes fear into those who don't budget (and sometimes to those who do): can I afford this? At least for YNAB'ers, this question isn't about whether you have the dollars and cents in your bank account to make the purchase, it's about your emotion, how you feel about buying the thing in question versus something else. As Ben explains, it's about opportunity cost, and luckily YNAB is very good at helping you understand opportunity costs with your money.
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Ben and Ernie tackle the big credit card question (should you use them?) that Jesse has been wrestling with this year, with a slightly different take. Ben, of course, does not use credit cards as he shared with Jesse in episode #621. Ernie, on the other hand, has done it both ways, cutting up the credit card during times of his life where he was busy paying down debt, and now using it judiciously to accrue travel points that he can use on family vacations.
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Jesse is taking a break for the summer, so Ben and Ernie (from the Budget Nerds podcast) are stepping in to guest host. Today, they talk about paying off debt... sustainably! So many personal finance resources urge people to pay off debt as soon as they can, and white knuckle their way toward financial freedom. While this can work for short periods of time, for many people paying off debt is a marathon, not a sprint, and white-knuckling has many pitfalls.
For one, when you're throwing every dollar and focusing all of your energy on paying off debt, it's easy to ignore Rule Two -- embracing your true expenses. If you get hit by an unplanned expense and you've thrown all your extra cash at your debt, then you may find yourself reaching for the credit card... and thereby accruing more debt. So, Ben and Ernie urge you to take things a little slower. Work the Four Rules, budget for true expenses, and have some cash reserves set aside, so that your journey to pay off debt doesn't start going backwards.
And more importantly, taking things at your own pace can help you avoid burnout and stay focused on the long term goal. As long as you are aligning your money with your priorities, you are doing it right!
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Beef is pretty good aged, but you know what's even better? Aging your money! That's Rule Four -- aging your money. Basically, increase the amount of time between when you earn the money and when you spend it. By following Rule One through Three, you can accumulate cash in your categories and pre-fund future expenses, thereby increasing your options.
When you have a lot of cash available, you have options for handling unexpected expenses, taking advantages of opportunities (which require money/investment), or simply changing your strategy. It's easy to re-assign dollars that are already in categories, but you have to have the dollars there in the first place. That's the essence of aging your money.
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Be like the reed... blowing in the wind. It's not a haiku, Jesse is talking about Rule Three -- rolling with the punches. Life happens, and unexpected things are going to pop up that could break the budget. When you roll with the punches however, you check the budget, find the money for the unexpected expense in another category, and fund the expense by moving money from that category.
The key here is that you check the budget and find the money first! You don't simply spend the money and try to figure it out later.
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It's back to basics time! Rule Two in the YNAB method is "embrace your future expenses." In short, think about the things you will have to buy or pay for in the future, and act on them NOW. Car going to need new tires in six months? Don't wait till they need replacing to budget for them, start budgeting now! Save a portion of the replacement cost each month until you've reached the replacement cost for those tires.
Really Rule Two is Rule One again, give every dollar a job. You're giving your dollars jobs today, to pay for expenses tomorrow.
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Jesse is going back to basics and reviewing the Four Rules, which are the foundation of YNAB. The first rule: give every dollar a job. What does that mean exactly? YNAB wants you to live and spend according to your values and priorities -- the things that are most important to you. In order to do that, you first have to start giving your dollars jobs that are in line with your priorities. That's the heart of Rule One.
YNAB wants to hear from you! YNAB is running a contest between now and May 11th. The contest is simple: share your mother's method to living well, in the style of the YNAB Four Rules if you can. One person will be chosen at random, and the winner will receive a $100 VISA gift card!
To enter the contest, write a post with your mother's rules to live by, told in YNAB "four rules" style, on any of YNAB's social media channels -- Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Tik Tok. Make sure to tag YNAB, and include the hashtag #fourrulestoliveby in your post. Winner will be announced on May 11th, 2023!
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At a recent YNAB all-hands meeting, Sarah gave a personal presentation about her "Mama's Method," rules her mother gave her for living well. Sarah told them in YNAB Four Rules style:
- Give every moment a job
- Embrace yourself and others
- Roll with it
- Age is just a number (play a lot!)
In honor of Sarah's presentation, and upcoming Mother's Day, YNAB wants to hear from you! YNAB is running a contest between now and May 11th. The contest is simple: share your mother's method to living well, in the style of the YNAB Four Rules if you can. One person will be chosen at random, and the winner will receive a $100 VISA gift card!
To enter the contest, write a post with your mother's rules to live by, told in YNAB "four rules" style, on any of YNAB's social media channels -- Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Tik Tok. Make sure to tag YNAB, and include the hashtag #fourrulestoliveby in your post. Winner will be announced on May 11th, 2023!
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Jesse shares a story about growing sweet potatoes and shoveling dirt... lots and lots of dirt. There's a metaphor here about budgeting too. It's work, and sometimes takes a long time to pay off. But steady, sustainable work day after day yields big results!
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Jesse shares a trick for improving your Rule Two planning (Embrace Your True Expenses), and better prepare for the next unexpected expense.
Jesse suggests pulling your last six months of bank statements, and quickly scanning them for large expenditures. Look at the number of digits, and flag the transactions that have a large number of digits (to you). This should only take a few minutes. Note the payee. This exercise is the first place to look when planning for future unexpected expenses. Did you get in a fender bender and end up with a $1,000 bill from the body shop? Did you hire a plumber to fix some leaking pipes in your basement? These are possible future expenses you can use Rule Two to plan for.
Now, hopefully you won't be getting into fender benders on a regular basis! But that auto shop expense might trigger you to think about upcoming regular car maintenance that you haven't yet budgeted for. Likewise, owning a house means regular maintenance, so at some point you're probably going to call a plumber out again. Time to assign money in your budget and plan for that!
This is a good, easy strategy for improving your Rule Two thinking, and put future you in a better financial position.
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Jesse continues his rant about exploration of credit card use, observing that "paid in full" users are, technically, always in debt. Paid in full users are people who have the cash at any moment to pay off their credit card balance in full, but choose to pay off the balance before the next billing cycle. While they do pay off the balance regularly (monthly, or weekly, maybe even daily), and thus never incur interest, they are in debt until the moment they pay off the balance. And of course, after they have paid off the balance, they are again in debt as soon as they charge the next expense on their credit card.
Does the distinction matter though? Jesse ponders the question, and gives an update on his own experiment of only using a debit card for expenses in 2023.
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Jesse talks with a man who has never used a credit card -- YNAB's own Ben Barlowe, who you may also recognize from the Budget Nerds podcast. Ben is 34 years old, has four children, a house (purchase with a mortgage), and a busy life! Believe it or not, he has been able to navigate life without ever having used a credit card.
Ben discusses the reasoning behind his personal decision to not use credit cards, how he obtained a mortgage with no credit score, and how he manages day to day expenses such as renting cars without a credit card.
Credit cards are ubiquitous these days, but that doesn't mean you HAVE to use one. Ben demonstrates that it's possible to have a robust, well-planned financial life without credit!
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It's time for another round of Ask Jesse! Jesse fields questions from podcast listeners about how to manage multiple bank accounts, negative budgeting, and whether he can slow down his speech pattern (sorry Leslie!)
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Jesse challenges the idea of constantly pursuing something financially. For many of us in the modern world, our default is to always be chasing something -- more things, more experiences, more retirement funds, more debt paid down. Some of these things are a net good, some... maybe not. Jesse reminds us that our financial life doesn't always have to be in pursuit of something. It's ok to just let your money support your life, and nothing more. Can you do that, just for a little while?
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When people say "that's too expensive," what do they mean really? That they can't afford it, that it costs too much for a certain group of people, that it costs too much on principle? Jesse relates Rule One to the word "expensive" and concludes that its meaning is too slippery to be a useful term for people following the Four Rules.
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In this installment of Ask Jesse, Jesse answers questions from podcast listeners about travel hacking and credit card and debit card fraud protection. He also reads an experience from one YNAB'er who switched from using credit cards to debit cards.
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Jesse analyzes a recent situation in which he was planning to build something in his wood shop, when a friend remarked that he could buy the same thing a lot cheaper. While we talk about money all the time in YNAB, and frequently equate money with time, and discuss the tradeoffs of buying this thing versus that thing -- Jesse reminds us that we don't have to think of everything in terms of economic decisions. Sometimes you give dollars a job (Rule One) which is for sheer enjoyment.
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In response to episode #603 "You Spend More Money with Credit Cards," many listeners wrote Jesse to pick a bone with his claim that the debit card was a superior way to pay for things. The arguments usually boil down to the assertion that credit cards have better purchase protection and fraud prevention compared to debit cards. Jesse addresses these concerns, and more, on today's episode.
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Jesse answers questions from the YNAB mailbag, including whether a couple should save for new cars to replace aging vehicles, or pay down the mortgage faster, whether debt consolidation is a good idea, and how exactly do you know when it's ok to spend money?
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Jesse shares one key indicator that you are budgeting and doing your money right.
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Not having money stress is a GREAT feeling to have. But a YNAB employee, Katie, pointed out a downside to it -- people assume you make more money than you really do. Because who else would have no money stress except people who are rolling it in?
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Jesse fields more listener questions today, including what you should do when you double your income (teaser: there's really not a wrong answer as long as it's saving!), how to budget for real estate investments, and whether debit cards have sufficient fraud protection to use over credit cards.
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Jesse answers listener questions about tracking 401k deposits in YNAB and how to strategize paying off student loans. Jesse shares his evolving thoughts about credit cards, and why the Mecham household will only use a single debit card for expenses in 2023.
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Last week Jesse urged YNAB'ers not to make any sudden or drastic moves to their budget. But you know it's the beginning of the year, and that can only mean one thing! It's time for a budget burndown.
Every year Jesse burns down his budget... er, plan, and examines every single assumption built into it. Do we really need to own a house? What if we lived in an RV for awhile? Do we need two cars? What if we sold one? Etc, etc. The point of this exercise is to question everything, and in the process, better understand what your non-negotiables are. In most cases, you'll likely put most of the categories you had back into your plan. But perhaps the burn down process helps you identify a couple areas that don't really serve you anymore, or dollars that could be more useful doing a different job.
So, get ready to burn it down!
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Happy New Year! We hope 2023 is a fruitful and productive year, financially and otherwise, for everyone. It's that time of year again, the time for resolutions, big goals, and new plans. Jesse urges you to pump the brakes, however, and DO NOT make big changes to your budget. Not right now. Just iterate on what you've been doing, and try to do a little bit better than last year.
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We hope you had a Merry Christmas and very happy holiday! If you didn't use YNAB to plan for this year's Christmas bill, that's OK, you can start now for next year! In January start saving for Christmas 2023 by putting aside one twelfth of the Christmas budget each month.
Jesse also has another exercise for you. Write a little note to yourself about what went well this Christmas, and what you want to do differently next time. Then set a reminder for that note to open back up in October 2023. You'll have forgotten by then, and you'll have plenty of time to prepare to make the next Christmas even better than the last.
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Jesse shares some of the gifts he's given his wife, Julie, over the years, and why every year from now on the gifts will be made, not bought.
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Jesse answers a grab-bag of questions from listeners, including whether it's a good idea to track 401k investments in YNAB (it's not), how to budget for early retirement, good books for learning how to to invest, and more.
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It's a fact, you do. We know this because banks LOVE credit cards, and they're incentives for using credit cards rely on the fact that many people spend more money on credit than they would otherwise. Jesse meditates on the nature of credit card fees, incentives, and the game that banks play to get people to spend on credit.
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Jesse riffs on the idea that money has different "tenses," that is, money's purpose is to be spent, and spending can happen in the past, present, or future. Debt is past spending, savings is future spending, and so on. It's an interesting idea, one that might help you better visualize the purpose of money in your own life, and how it aligns with your priorities.
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Jesse riffs on the idea that money has different "tenses," that is, money's purpose is to be spent, and spending can happen in the past, present, or future. Debt is past spending, savings is future spending, and so on. It's an interesting idea, one that might help you better visualize the purpose of money in your own life, and how it aligns with your priorities.
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For everyone listening in the United States, Happy Thanksgiving! Jesse encourages us this week to step back and make a list of everything we are thankful for. Taking a moment to express your gratitude for the things you have and the things that are going well in your life is not only good for your soul, it's good for your budget too! We tend to spend so much of our time in the weeds of categories and transactions, that a little time looking at the big picture and being grateful can help us get back in touch with our priorities. Is what you have enough, is it sufficient?
As Jesse says, you really can't be too grateful!
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Jesse shares results from a recent survey of YNABers asking: "what's the biggest thing you've saved for with YNAB?" Vacations, cars, houses, college... there are some big line items indeed!
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YNAB'er Allison asks: of all the metrics in the YNAB software, which is the most important one to track? To which Jesse answers... none of them! Jesse prefers to track net worth over time, which is not captured in YNAB since it's a calculation of the value of what you own minus what you owe. As Jesse explains, though, if you are working the Four Rules well, then you will create more opportunties to save and invest money and pay off debt, all of which will increase your net worth.
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Once you've started working the Four Rules, you start to realize that most of your money is kind of... spoken for. You need to pay the rent, the utlities, insurance, and so on. When you get through the list of non-negotiables, there's often just a few hundred dollars each month to play around with in the budget, and those dollars are where the real gains are made. Like David Bach's "latte factor," the small optional expenses we accumulate without budgeting properly can add up to big savings over a surprisingly short amount of time.
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Once you've started working the Four Rules, you start to realize that most of your money is kind of... spoken for. You need to pay the rent, the utlities, insurance, and so on. When you get through the list of non-negotiables, there's often just a few hundred dollars each month to play around with in the budget, and those dollars are where the real gains are made. Like David Bach's "latte factor," the small optional expenses we accumulate without budgeting properly can add up to big savings over a surprisingly short amount of time.
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Killian, a YNAB 4 user, asks about Rule Four and the "age of money" metric. How long should you age your money before you can relax a bit and not budget so stringently?
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Jesse drops a reminder that Rule Three, when properly implemented, happens before you spend the money on that unexpected expense -- not after!
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Jesse talks with domestic abuse survivor and now advocate, Dr. Kerry Roarke. Despite a successful career in pharmacy, Kerry found herself stuck in an increasingly abusive marriage, with very little say or power over how she spent or saved money. Since leaving that relationship and righting her financial ship, Kerry has volunteered to help other women find shelter and safety from domestic abuse, and identify the red flags that signal abusive relationships.
Without access to money, women have few resources to leave an abusive relationship, find shelter and food, and obtain legal help. There are many agencies, charities, and non-profit organizations across the country that can provide resources, but finding them can be a challenge. So, Kerry helped create the Safe House app, which compiles all the local resources available to people in a single place.
You can find the app, and other resources, at https://yoursaferplace.org
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A listener, Tom, writes into the show to express some confusion over what constitutes "savings" in a budget following the YNAB method. During a call with his bank to discuss refinancing, Tom was asked how much savings he had on hand, a question which dumbfounded him. Technically, everything in the budget is savings, he reasoned, since every dollar had been subjected to Rule One, and was sitting in categories to be spent sooner or later. So... is all money just savings in that case?
Jesse offers a saying from one of the YNAB teachers, that all savings is really just... spending! Money exists to be spent -- sometimes now, sometimes tomorrow, and sometimes years in the future. But money that is not spent eventually is useless, so in that sense all "savings" is really just money waiting to be spent.
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Jesse invites YNAB Senior Support Manager Chrissy Sebald to the podcast to talk about her budgeting super skill -- saving for frequent travel with her family of six! And not just travel in and around the States. Chrissy has used YNAB to help her budget for two months of travel abroad with her family, on a middle class income.
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Jesse invites YNAB Senior Support Manager Chrissy Sebald to the podcast to talk about her budgeting super skill -- saving for frequent travel with her family of six! And not just travel in and around the States. Chrissy has used YNAB to help her budget for two months of travel abroad with her family, on a middle class income.
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In today's installment of Money Stories, Jesse talks with YNAB Ambassador Christopher Campbell, a 33-year old marketing director living in Portland, ME. Christopher learned the value of budgeting from an early age, when his mother taught him and his siblings how to put aside money for things they wanted. She led by example, too, always setting aside money for Christmas and birthdays, for emergencies or unexpected expenses, on a middle class income.
Looking to build on the budgeting habits instilled by his mom, Christopher began using YNAB 4 in 2014, and fell in love with both the simplicity of the method and the precision of the software. Using YNAB, Christopher has been able to achieve many notable financial goals -- paying off his student loans and becoming debt-free while living in notoriously expensive Manhattan, purchasing a motorcycle he had wanted since he was a kid, and helping others improve their financial wellbeing through personal coaching and social media. Christopher also enjoys travel, and has learned how to "travel hack" his way through many trips using credit cards rewards. And, because he uses YNAB and reconciles daily, he pays his cards off monthly and never carries a balance!
You can follow Christopher on Instagram: @christopherjcampbell
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In today's installment of Money Stories, Jesse talks with YNAB Ambassador Christopher Campbell, a 33-year old marketing director living in Portland, ME. Christopher learned the value of budgeting from an early age, when his mother taught him and his siblings how to put aside money for things they wanted. She led by example, too, always setting aside money for Christmas and birthdays, for emergencies or unexpected expenses, on a middle class income.
Looking to build on the budgeting habits instilled by his mom, Christopher began using YNAB 4 in 2014, and fell in love with both the simplicity of the method and the precision of the software. Using YNAB, Christopher has been able to achieve many notable financial goals -- paying off his student loans and becoming debt-free while living in notoriously expensive Manhattan, purchasing a motorcycle he had wanted since he was a kid, and helping others improve their financial wellbeing through personal coaching and social media. Christopher also enjoys travel, and has learned how to "travel hack" his way through many trips using credit cards rewards. And, because he uses YNAB and reconciles daily, he pays his cards off monthly and never carries a balance!
You can follow Christopher on Instagram: @christopherjcampbell
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Jesse invites entrepreneur and avid YNAB'er Jeremy Schneider on to the show to help de-mystify investing for YNAB'ers looking to get started. Jeremy built the successful internet startup RentLinx, sold the company in 2015, and retired a couple years after at the age of 36. Jeremy then spent two years playing video games, traveling, coaching beach volleyball, and learning about what to do with all of his money. When the pandemic hit, he needed something to fill his time, so he decided to build a resource for other people to learn the fundamentals of investing and how to build their own nest egg.
Jeremy's pretty clear that there's no magic to good investment strategy. To build wealth you need to spend less, save more, and then invest using a simple, reliable strategy, such as investing in broad market index funds. He recommends using YNAB to help with the spending less money part, then teaches the rest in his Personal Finance Club.
Jeremy has a FREE 60-minute investing basics course as well as some fun and useful web tools to understand how investments can grow over time, the futility of trying to time the market, and more.
https://www.personalfinanceclub.com/
For YNAB listeners, you can save $20 off the full Learn to Invest course using the discount code "YNAB" when you checkout. The code is good through October 2022!
https://www.personalfinanceclub.com/course/
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Jesse invites entrepreneur and avid YNAB'er Jeremy Schneider on to the show to help de-mystify investing for YNAB'ers looking to get started. Jeremy built the successful internet startup RentLinx, sold the company in 2015, and retired a couple years after at the age of 36. Jeremy then spent two years playing video games, traveling, coaching beach volleyball, and learning about what to do with all of his money. When the pandemic hit, he needed something to fill his time, so he decided to build a resource for other people to learn the fundamentals of investing and how to build their own nest egg.
Jeremy's pretty clear that there's no magic to good investment strategy. To build wealth you need to spend less, save more, and then invest using a simple, reliable strategy, such as investing in broad market index funds. He recommends using YNAB to help with the spending less money part, then teaches the rest in his Personal Finance Club.
Jeremy has a FREE 60-minute investing basics course as well as some fun and useful web tools to understand how investments can grow over time, the futility of trying to time the market, and more.
https://www.personalfinanceclub.com/
For YNAB listeners, you can save $20 off the full Learn to Invest course using the discount code "YNAB" when you checkout. The code is good through October 2022!
https://www.personalfinanceclub.com/course/
Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:
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Jesse chats with Ben, a YNAB employee and "The Dollar Scholar" on TikTok, where he educates college students and grads on the intricacies of student loans. Ben walks through the recently announced student loan forgiveness program, how much debt can be forgiven for students or graduates with Pell grants and with traditional Federal student loans, and some of the forthcoming changes to income-based repayment plans.
Ben also reminds us that not all the details of the plan have been worked out yet, and there are still open questions regarding the legality of the program, as well as potential income tax implications at the state level. Consequently, he reminds us, don't count on those forgiveness funds until they actually hit your bank account!
Follow Ben the Dollar Scholar on TikTok:
https://www.tiktok.com/@thedollarscholar?lang=en
Did you YNAB is FREE for college students? Sign up here:
https://www.youneedabudget.com/college/
Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:
askjesse@ynab.com
Jesse chats with Ben, a YNAB employee and "The Dollar Scholar" on TikTok, where he educates college students and grads on the intricacies of student loans. Ben walks through the recently announced student loan forgiveness program, how much debt can be forgiven for students or graduates with Pell grants and with traditional Federal student loans, and some of the forthcoming changes to income-based repayment plans.
Ben also reminds us that not all the details of the plan have been worked out yet, and there are still open questions regarding the legality of the program, as well as potential income tax implications at the state level. Consequently, he reminds us, don't count on those forgiveness funds until they actually hit your bank account!
Follow Ben the Dollar Scholar on TikTok:
https://www.tiktok.com/@thedollarscholar?lang=en
Did you YNAB is FREE for college students? Sign up here:
https://www.youneedabudget.com/college/
Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:
askjesse@ynab.com
School is back in session, and it's a good time to tune up the budget. Want to really nail it this year? Go back to the Four Rules, Jesse says, and simplify. Now is the time to close those extra bank accounts, the multiple credit cards, the three different brokerage accounts. Budgeting is all about helping you make better decisions, after all, and simplifying helps you do that too.
Did you YNAB is FREE for college students? Sign up here:
https://www.youneedabudget.com/college/
Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:
askjesse@ynab.com
A listener writes the show to ask: what should he and his family do with a life-changing windfall? The listener has a mortgage, and a HELOC, and some savings goals such as saving for his kids' college education. The windfall amount is enough to payoff all these things, and in addition he has recently earned a large raise. While the windfall is a huge gift, he wants to be calm, reasonable, and disciplined with allocating it towards the family's financial goals. Jesse helps walk through the problem, and identify some emotionally driven questions one should ask in this situation.
Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:
askjesse@ynab.com
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Jesse shares a few book titles he has been working through lately, and how the lessons from Jocko's Exteme Ownership have been working their way through the Mecham household and YNAB. It's not all business books this time! Topics range from leadership to the history of money to science fiction.
Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink
https://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Ownership-U-S-Navy-SEALs-ebook/dp/B0739PYQSS/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=jocko+willink+extreme+ownership&qid=1660506517&s=books&sprefix=jocko+willink+ex%2Cstripbooks%2C69&sr=1-1
Debrief to Win by Robert “Cujo” Teschner
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1732929815/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0
Layered Money: From Gold and Dollars to Bitcoin and Central Bank Digital Currencies by Nik Bhatia
https://www.amazon.com/Layered-Money-Dollars-Bitcoin-Currencies-ebook/dp/B08T7T47HC/ref=sr_1_1?crid=ZYVYV927YTEG&keywords=layered+money&qid=1660506593&s=books&sprefix=layered+money%2Cstripbooks%2C60&sr=1-1
Dune by Frank Herbert
https://www.amazon.com/Dune-Frank-Herbert-ebook/dp/B00B7NPRY8/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=dune+frank+herbert&qid=1660506937&s=books&sprefix=dune+frank%2Cstripbooks%2C74&sr=1-2
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals
https://www.amazon.com/Four-Thousand-Weeks-Management-Mortals-ebook/dp/B08FGV64B1/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3DVV12Z77CLKP&keywords=four+thousand+weeks&qid=1660507272&s=books&sprefix=four+thousand%2Cstripbooks%2C90&sr=1-1
Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:
askjesse@ynab.com
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
A listener writes Jesse to ask what he should do with his first real job and first real paycheck -- pay off debt, or start investing? This is a popular question with a few answers, and in Jesse's mind, the answers are all valid! What matters most is where you picture your life five years from now, whether you are happy with that picture, and whether your current trajectory is going to get you there.
Some people get a lot of satisfaction from having a big nest egg, even while carrying debt. Others prize the freedom they feel from not having debt more than the size of their investment accounts. And of course, some people prefer to be somewhere in between.
Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:
askjesse@ynab.com
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
There's a moment that happens when you run across something you really want -- it's like an itch that wants you to whip out the credit card and scratch it! In these moments, we're probably not very clear on our priorities and Rule One, so Jesse reminds us that the budget is the thing that helps us answer the question: can I afford this? Am I going to be OK after I buy this? And the budget answers those questions for you by bringing clarity to your priorities and the jobs you have assigned to your dollars.
Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:
askjesse@ynab.com
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Hillary writes into the show to ask: when you started giving an allowance to your kids, what things did they buy that made you cringe? Hillary is starting the YNAB allowance strategy for her kids, aged 16, 15, and 12, and is wondering how to teach them to spend the money responsibly. Jesse offers his experiences with his own kids, and some of the money lessons he has watched them learn in their own life.
Want to ask Jesse a question? Send him an email at:
askjesse@ynab.com
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Jesse chats with a number of YNAB employees who are living, or working towards living, a "nomadic" life -- living and working across the US in a variety of places throughout the year. While this type of lifestyle can create some amazing freedoms (Megan, for instance, arranges her work schedule so that she can spend her mornings skiing during the winter), it also requires a lot of careful planning! That's where YNAB comes in.
Maintaining a trailer, motorhome, or RV and handling the costs of living in new places involves lots of planning around true expenses and rolling with the punches. The nomadic ladies of YNAB share their experiences shifting to an unconventional lifestyle, and how the budgeting lessons they learned from the Four Rules have helped them make it happen.
Bringing budgeting into the workplace -- Financial Wellness by YNAB.
https://www.youneedabudget.com/wellness/
Email Jesse your stories about YNAB in the workplace:
askjesse@ynab.com
A listener writes into the show to ask about whole life insurance and whether it's worth it for a young couple in their 30's. As always, it depends! Whole life policies typically come with big fees, which of course insurance companies and salesmen like. Jesse points out that the policies can work for some people in high marginal tax brackets, however the tax savings must be carefully weighed against the earnings you could have made by simply investing in low-cost, diversified index funds and sidestepping the high fees of whole life policies.
Send Jesse an email at:
askjesse@ynab.com
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Happy Fourth of July to the American YNAB'ers out there!
Following Apple's recent announcement of their "Apple Pay Later" plan, in which customers can split the cost of purchases over multiple installments using Apple Pay, Jesse rants about the state of financing among successful companies. As he has noted before, nearly all successful companies eventually become finance companies, and Apple is no exception.
Buy now, pay later (BNPL) plans may be good for Apple's bottom line, but they are bad news for consumers. Research has discovered that people tend to buy 40% more with BNPL plans than they would have with cash. Then of course there is the interest and penalties that come with missed payments. Jesse has a bone to pick with this...
Send Jesse an email at:
askjesse@ynab.com
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
It's no surprise, but employees carry their money stress into work with them. And that stress not only affects their performance at work, it affects their happiness and, by extension, increases turnover.
Jesse shares results from a survey of over 3,000 YNAB'ers in the US who work full-time jobs in a variety of age ranges and income levels. YNAB found that only 24% of YNAB users experienced financial distress over the past two years of pandemic-fueled chaos -- pretty amazing compared to a broader survey of American workers by PWC which reported 63% experiencing financial distress. Another interesting stat: 93% of YNAB'ers reported being able to cover a $1,000 emergency expense, compared to just 13% of the PWC survey respondents. YNAB is clearly a powerful tool for financial stability!
Now, YNAB is helping to bring budgeting into the workplace with Financial Wellness by YNAB.
https://www.youneedabudget.com/wellness/
Email Jesse your stories about YNAB in the workplace:
askjesse@ynab.com
Britney writes into the show to ask, as a long time fan and follower of various personal finance resources, what should she do now that her family's budget is pretty much dialed in? How can she avoid constantly looking at the app to check that the budget is still working?
Jesse reminds us that budgeting should, eventually, become boring for everyone. It may not be the goal, but it's at least a hallmark of a succesful budgeting practice! After that, maybe it's time to find a new hobby...
Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder by Nassim Taleb
https://www.amazon.com/Antifragile-Things-That-Disorder-Incerto/dp/0812979680
Send Jesse an email at:
askjesse@ynab.com
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
It's right about the mid-point of the year... how's your budget doing? Are you still clear on your priorities, and what jobs your dollars should be doing for you? If you've found yourself Rule Three'ing everything and rolling with the punches month after month, perhaps it is time to revisit your goals, reevaluate your priorities, and revise your budget accordingly.
Send Jesse an email at:
askjesse@ynab.com
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
A listener writes into the show -- what should she do with her investments in this market? Each week she is seeing the value of her portfolio go down, and she is losing as much value as what she puts in each month. Ouch! Jesse reminds us not to panic, and to go back to your written investment plan (you have one of those, right?).
Why are you investing in the first place? What is your time horizon? Do you think the economy will grow in the (long-term) future? If yes -- and this has been historically true over a long time horizon -- then a broad market index will also grow over the long run, and sticking to your investment plan is the thing to do.
Jesse has another recommendation: look at the number of shares you own, not the value of those shares on paper. If your number of shares is going up, then your portfolio is still growing by an important metric!
Investing books mentioned in the show:
- The Little Book of Common Sense Investing by Jack Bogle
- A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel
- The Bogleheads Guide to Investing
- The Four Pillars of Investing by Bernstein
Send Jesse an email at:
askjesse@ynab.com
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
On a recent Budget Nerds episode, Jesse threw out a hot take that index investing isn't all it's cracked up to be. Jocelyn wrote into the show to ask... why exactly? Jesse explains himself in today's episode.
Investing Books mentioned in the show:
- The Little Book of Common Sense Investing by Jack Bogle
- A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel
- The Bogleheads Guide to Investing
- The Four Pillars of Investing by Bernstein
As inflation continues to rear it's ugly head in 2022, prices are going up and up, meaning budgets are getting stretched thin. Inflation is essentially another form of scarcity, Jesse points out, albeit involuntary scarcity. Jesse reminds us that scarcity is what drives us to be creative with the budget, and get more clear about our values.
Budgeting is also an active process, so this time of inflation is a good time to dig deeper into every category, find the things that are auto-pilot and re-evaluate whether they shoud continue to be so. By exercising your Four Rules muscles, you can stay positive and confident about your financial strategy even when economic prospects are alarming.
Send Jesse an email at:
askjesse@ynab.com
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
A listener writes into the show to ask: how should you track vacation spending? Vacation is a time to relax and let loose a little, but the listener wants to make sure he is pacing the family's expenses during the trip so he doesn't go overbudget.
Jesse offers a few different options, including sophisticated use of categories to track the vacation spend without creating too much complexity.
Have a question for Jesse? Send him an email at:
askjesse@ynab.com
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Kelly Frawley and Emily Pollock are attorneys specializing in matrimonial and family law, and regularly contribute to Forbes on issues related to divorce and business. In today's episode, they discuss the important questions you should be asking before marriage about money, finances, and expectations about the future. And, in the event of divorce, some of the important things you should be doing and asking during the process.
Both Kelly and Emily agree that the most important thing couples can do before and during their marriage is communicate. Whether it's about debt and how you intend to pay it off, expectations about lifestyle and living expenses, plans for retirement -- if you keep communication frequent and open, then you will feel more certainty and security about your money.
Kelly and Emily on Forbes:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/frawleypollock/?sh=1c25b3d6eb04
Kelly Frawley: https://www.kasowitz.com/people/kelly-a-frawley
Emily Pollock:
https://www.kasowitz.com/people/all/emily-s-pollock/
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Struggling with YNAB? That's OK, you're not alone, and Jesse has a few things to look at and make sure you are truly following the Four Rules. And along the way, Jesse has a bone to pick about banks and their data export practices!
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
A first-time house shopper wrote into the show for advice on how to approach the crazy, red hot housing market we are currently in. The writer wants to buy her first home, but is unsure whether she will have enough money to put down as house prices rise at a rapid pace. Jesse reminds us that, most importantly, cash equals options, and it's never a bad thing to have more cash on hand. He advises her to become an expert on her local real estate market, and really think about why she wants to buy, and what exactly she needs from a home before taking the plunge into home ownership.
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Jesse shares some case studies from the Mecham household, where he has taught his kids to budget their savings the YNAB way, giving those savings dollars a job. The kicker? Their savings sit in the same checking account as their fun money. With practice and the four rules, however, they have developed the discipline to spend only what they have budgeted for each purpose.
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Jesse welcomes Jason and Katie Hoschouer to the podcast. Together they paid off $78,000 of debt in a mere 28 months, an amazing burst of focused saving and budgeting!
Jason is a retired police officer with 23-years experience in the force, now turned financial coach. He helps other first responders get their budgets in order, pay off debt, and build savings so they don't have to live paycheck to paycheck and work tons of overtime to make ends meet. He also hosts a podcast about finance for first responders, Badges & Budgets.
GPS Financial Coaching
https://www.gpsfinancialcoaching.com
Badges & Budgets Podcast
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/badges-budgets/id1611201890
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4vcWckWJibgAaRSyY5o8bu?si=15e96a154eaf44d7
Jesse invites the CEO of YNAB, Todd Curtis, to the show to discuss the anatomy of the company, the collaborative philosophy behind the work done by the various teams and functions, and some of the previous work and experiences that have shaped Todd's attitudes about operations and business culture.
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Nina Clark grew up in a large family tight on money, but with a mother who was very good at budgeting and stretching a dollar. Nevertheless, she wasn't taught anything about money growing up, so she learned her money lessons the hard way: overdrafting her checking account and racking up debt at a young age. Things got more complicated when she went through a divorce and became a single mother. Ever determined and positive, Nina regained her financial footing and became a seasoned budgeter with a little help from YNAB.
Nina's story is also unique in that she's never worked conventional jobs, and never made much money, so she had to budget carefully to pay off her debts. While working various jobs, she started a bookkeeping service to supplement her income, throw extra cash at her debt each time she landed a new client. Nowadays, Nina's budget is helping her save for retirement, travel, and help her daughter travel the world as well.
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
It's that time of year again, and April 15th looms! Taxes are due soon, and perhaps no other financial topic generates as much confusion and as many questions. To that end, Jesse answers questions about taxes from YNAB listeners who wrote into the show. As with any tax question, when in doubt it's always best to contact a tax professional!
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Jesse compares the pros and cons of the 15 year vs the 30 year home mortgage. While there are plenty of online calculators out there that will spell out the difference in interest costs and amortization between the two, Jesse argues that perhaps the math isn't the most important factor. It's how you feel about paying off the mortgage earlier.
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
International student of mystery Mackenzie is financially wise beyond her years... all thanks to YNAB and embracing the four rules while a young college student. Since discovering YNAB Mackenzie has traveled throughout Europe, and has come up with some unique strategies for managing her budget in a variety of currencies: the British pound, the euro, and US dollars. She's also learned some lessons about careful budgeting living in some of the most expensive cities in the world, like London.
The most important thing for college students, she says, is to just get started with YNAB. Try just tracking your expenses for a month, and get some data about your spending habits. Then you can get a realistic picture of what a college budget should look like. You're always going to spend more on food than you think, she says, so your budget should reflect that. Secondly, be prepared to roll with the punches and go with the flow. Things change a lot from freshman to senior year -- work/study opportunities open up, off-campus housing becomes available, you might want a car -- and you can expect your budget will too. Learn to be OK with not having a perfect budget, and know that you will only get better at it over time.
College students can use YNAB for a year FOR FREE. You just need to provide proof of enrollment. Check the link below for more details:
https://www.youneedabudget.com/college/
Long-time YNAB team member Erin returns to the podcast to discuss strategies for managing your grocery budget. With prices on the rise, many people are tightening their budgets, and groceries are a common line item of concern. Erin offers tips for making grocery shopping simpler, avoiding unnecessary purchases, and making strategic "fun" food purchases (like frozen pizzas) for those days when you just don't feel like cooking.
As Erin reminds us, your family's grocery bill is personal! It's tempting to want to compare yourself to others, or to an average, but the best strategy is to start with where you are and find ways to adjust from there. Food is a very personal thing, and many factors play into the food choices people make (allergies/restrictions, location, busy lifestyle, food availability, etc), so keep your eyes on your own plate.
A few of Erin's favorite cooking and food-related YouTube channels:
- Frugal Fit Mom: https://www.youtube.com/c/FrugalFitMom
- See Mindy Mom: https://www.youtube.com/c/SeeMindyMom
- Ardent Michelle: https://www.youtube.com/c/ArdentMichelle
- You Suck at Cooking: https://www.youtube.com/c/yousuckatcooking
- Glen and Friends Cooking: https://www.youtube.com/c/GlenAndFriendsCooking
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
In honor of 2/22/2022, which is quickly approaching, YNAB is giving you the chance to gain a little extra momentum in your budget this year. YNAB is giving away $2,222 to a lucky podcast listener! But you have to follow a few rules to have a chance to win:
- On 2/22/2022, make a public post on Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok or Twitter and tell us what you would do with $2,222.
- Tag YNAB on your social media platform of choice (tags listed below).
- Fill out the form on the YNAB website: https://www.youneedabudget.com/22-giveaway/
For those who don't do the social medias, you can email pr@ynab.com and include promotion/contest name in the subject line.
A complete explanation of the rules and terms and conditions can be found at: https://www.youneedabudget.com/22-giveaway/
YNAB social media tags
Instagram: @youneedabudget
TikTok: @youneedabudget
Twitter: @ynab
Facebook: @iYNAB
Good luck!
Ben and Ernie return to the podcast to announce... their own podcast! Budget Nerds, the popular YouTube show for nerdy YNAB'ers, is launching a podcast on Wednesday, Feb 9th. Now you can take Ben, Ernie, and their nerdy budget adventures with you in the car, on the bus, maybe even in the kitchen!
As a bonus, Ben and Ernie share some "budget confessions" from Budget Nerds listeners.
Budget Nerds Podcast on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/budget-nerds/id1606054345
Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/show/0H1u8pqYrvz6zj6noHbkB3?si=34ab3b2a3435486b
YNAB Podcast listener Jenna emailed Jesse to share a recent win. Jenna's husband is about to finish law school, and thanks to YNAB and a lot of work and sacrifice he will graduate with NO student loan debt. First of all, BIG congratulations to you and your husband! Jesse shares some thoughts on this achievement as well as how to manage windfalls with a long-term mindset.
Join the More Money Challenge:
https://www.youneedabudget.com/moremoneychallenge/
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Jesse answers a listener question about budgeting after retirement, in particular when you are living off your retirement savings and not yet drawing on Social Security.
Join the More Money Challenge:
https://www.youneedabudget.com/moremoneychallenge/
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Jesse chats with Scott Trench, CEO of BiggerPockets and a real estate investor, about how people can get started with real estate investing and build more wealth. Scott started his working career like many business college graduates, working at a large company as a financial analyst. Early on he stumbled across the Mr. Money Mustache blog, which advocates frugality and saving a large percentage of your income to achieve financial independence. From there, Scott became interested in using real estate to build his personal wealth and reach financial independence earlier in life.
Then, an encounter with the founder of the BiggerPockets website led Scott to a job with the company, and eventually, a chance to steer it as the CEO. Along the way Scott has learned a lot about real estate investing, and purchased and managed several properties. He now uses that knowledge to run the BiggerPockets website, which offers teaching and tools for people new to the real estate market.
Scott also acknowledges the costs and tradeoffs associated with becoming a good real estate investor. He's not shy about the amount of time needed to learn the basics, suggesting around 500 hours of reading and research before considering your first real estate purchase. For some people, like busy specialized professionals (doctors and lawyers for instance) or entrepreneurs running businesses, this time might be too high a cost, and distract from their primary focus. For the right person with patience and diligence, however, real estate investing can be an excellent way to build wealth and achieve financial independence.
BiggerPockets
https://www.biggerpockets.com
Join the More Money Challenge:
https://www.youneedabudget.com/moremoneychallenge/
Jesse chats with Ashley, of TikTok fame (The Organized Wallet), about her journey finding the budgeting software through a chance blogpost to finally gaining control of her money after years of struggle. One of Ashley's keys to success is mindfulness, and she has some great exercises for improving your mindfulness around money.
A few years into her marriage, Ashley had a reckoning with money. Her husband Jeremy had just landed a big job opportunity, but it required him to travel frequently. To keep things running smoothly, Ashley needed to assume management of the budget, which Jeremy had been handling up until that point. Ashley tried hard, but was overwhelmed with the spreadsheets, the sheer number of bills and accounts, and missed a payment on one of the bills. Distraught, she ran across a blog post by A Cup of Jo about a budgeting software called You Need A Budget. She jumped in, and finally found a method to help her gain control of her money.
Ashley now has a lot of wisdom to share about managing your money. She reminds us that we're all works in progress, and just because you can't budget perfectly -- especially at first -- doesn't mean it's not worth doing at all. Small efforts add up to big change with time. She also points out that clutter in our wallets (or budgets!) often means we aren't clear on our values. Decluttering our financial lives means first getting clear on what we want out of life.
Ashley on TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@theorganizedwallet
Read more on Ashley's story:
https://www.youneedabudget.com/after-struggling-to-budget-this-book-made-it-stick/
Join the More Money Challenge:
https://www.youneedabudget.com/moremoneychallenge/
Happy New Year! It's that time again -- time for planning, goal setting, and resolutions. If you're listening to this podcast, one of your New Year's resolutions might be to save more money. YNAB can help you with that!
YNAB team member Veronica is leading the way with the More Money Challenge, a 30-day challenge to help you kick start your savings in 2022. The rules are simple, but the challenge is hard. Luckily, there's a whole community of like-minded YNAB'ers that will be running the challenge together.
Join the More Money Challenge:
https://www.youneedabudget.com/moremoneychallenge/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CYFRUQYBdMV/
TikTok: ynab.com/tiktok
It's that time of year again... time to burn it all down! The budget, that is. Every year Jesse "burns down" his budget, deleting all the categories and questioning whether the family could live without them. It's a fun thought experiment, especially with the typical must-have things.
Do you really need groceries every month? Of course you do, but what if you didn't do it? How would you survive? The point is not to figure out how to live without groceries, it's to ask the question and get your brain thinking about the deeply held assumptions you have about your consumption. At the end of the day, most of your categories will probably go back in. But hopefully, you'll rethink at least one thing in your budget, and find an opportunity to bring your spending more in line with your priorities in the New Year.
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Millions of people struggle with ADHD, and it has financial ramifications -- decision fatigue, difficulty planning future purchases, and impulsive spending habits. Jak is a coach for "ADHD'ers," as she calls them, helping people form strategies for coping with emotional highs and lows and gain control over their money. An ADHD'er herself, she found the visual aspect of YNAB highly effective in keeping her engaged with both her current spending and her long-term plans (sinking funds).
Chelsea is an intuitive eating coach, and a fellow ADHD'er who engaged Jak for coaching. Together they discovered YNAB, and joined the podcast to share its helpfulness with others suffering from ADHD.
You can find more about Jak and Chelsea here:
Jak IG: @authenticallyadhd
Jak email: authenticallyadhd@gmail.com
YNAB and ADHD Workshop: www.authenticallyadhd.com/membership
Chelsea IG: @_chelseahester_
Chelsea website: www.chelseahester.com
We're nearly to the end of 2021, so Jesse took a moment to celebrate all of your biggest budgeting wins this year. To all the YNAB users who accomplished your goals and improved your financial standing -- no matter how big or how small -- congratulations! Here's to another year of budgeting wins, breaking the paycheck to paycheck cycle, and reduced stress.
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
A listener asks -- what can I do to get my budget back on track after falling off the wagon?
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Jesse chats with the Chief Hustler of side hustles, Nick Loper. Nick has made a living out of side hustles, literally! A serial entrepreneur, Nick started a number of small businesses and side hustles before writing books about his experience and teaching others how to start their own side hustles. He is also an author, with a new book out: $1,000 100 Ways.
After helping thousands of people launch their own hustles, Nick probably has a way (or maybe 100 ways) you can start your own and bring home more money.
Side Hustle Nation Ideas
https://www.sidehustlenation.com/ideas
The Side Hustle Show
https://www.sidehustlenation.com/side-hustle-show/
$1,000 100 Ways by Nick Loper
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B099TQL3T7/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tpbk_p1_i0
Jesse answers a reader trying to save for a surprise Christmas present for his significant other, but also trying to be faithful to his YNAB budget. Jesse shares a few tricks and some "creative accounting" within YNAB to help you save up for Christmas gifts without spoiling the surprise or the budget.
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Watch out credit cards, a new game is in town, and it's waiting to trip up your budget during the holiday season. We're talking about payment plans: sort of like a credit card, sort of not, but definitely loaded with high interest, fees, and confusing terms designed to trip up customers. YNAB has a team dedicated to helping budgeters navigate their way through payment plans using the YNAB software, and ultimately get out of them altogether. Sofia Hergenrader, a YNAB expert on payment plans, joins the podcast to talk about the pitfalls of this new breed of financial products.
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Jesse answers a concerned parent emailing about their son's college experience. After raising a thoughtful and budget minded son who paid for his first semester of college by working a series of jobs during high school, the parent was dismayed by the extravagant lifestyle and expenses of his classmates. Expensive vacations, clothing, electronics -- many undergraduate students aren't living like students, and it can be frustrating for people embracing a life of responsible budgeting. Nevertheless, Jesse reminds the listener that the gifts of budgeting, responsibility, and good planning pay off in the long run far more than ephemeral luxuries.
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Of the Four Rules, is one more important than the others? Is there one rule to rule them all? In the past, Jesse has argued that rules 2-4 are essentially derivatives of Rule One. But perhaps there's another contender -- Rule Three: Roll with the Punches. Life is all about rolling with the punches, adapting to ever-changing stresses and forces in our environments. Budgeting, Jesse argues, is no different.
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Jesse answers an email from a listener wondering, should he sell his cryptocurrency in order to pay off his debt?
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Jesse chats with life coach and podcaster Krista St. Germain, a widowed mother who had to work through waves of grief after her husband unexpectedly passed away five years ago. Krista discusses her journey moving through grief, learning to rewrite the narratives of her guilt, and finding a path to grow after such a traumatic experience.
Krista helps other widowed mothers navigate their journey, and hosts a podcast discussing grief, Post Traumatic Growth, and more.
https://www.coachingwithkrista.com
https://www.coachingwithkrista.com/category/podcast/
Njeri Young is an avid YNAB user, but she didn't start out that way. In fact, it took her years of stops and starts before she finally gained control over her dollars, learned how to budget, and build a healthy relationship with money. Although some people on the internet make it look easy, Njeri's experience is common, and she has learned many valuable lessons along her journey.
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Jim and Jamie Sheils make a sobering, but important, observation -- we only have 18 summers to spend with our children before they become adults and move off to start their own lives. Jesse chats with Jim and Jamie about how we can spend more time with our children, be more present in our relationships, and manage the most precious and scarce resource of them all: time.
Jim and Jamie are the parents of four children, and help coach other families to develop tighter bonds and enjoy more meaningful time with each other.
https://www.18summers.com/about
Jim and Jamies' book: The Family Board Meeting
https://www.18summers.com/book
Jesse chats with avid YNAB'er Chris Wilson, who turned around a stressful and unfulfilling life by applying YNAB's Four Rules to his budget, and then to his life. Chris explains that the key to his transformation was learning to "simplify his why," and get clear about his values and priorities.
Chris now strives to help others find more security in their finances and more fulfillment in their lives. He offers a free coaching course via his website:
https://simplifyyourwhy.com
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Tanya Dalton is passionate about helping women take charge of their schedules and get more done. But it's not just about checking things off the list, she says, it's about giving your tasks priorities and allocating your time to the most important things. And just because something is urgent, doesn't necessarily mean it's important! Tanya Dalton shares strategies from her book "On Purpose" for getting more done, and feeling more in charge of your life.
Tanya Dalton "On Purpose"
https://tanyadalton.com
The Intentional Advantage Podcast
https://tanyadalton.com/podcast
Inspired by the ideas in Morgan Housel's book The Psychology of Money, Jesse discusses the meaning of the word "wealth," and how we define wealth in our own lives. Is it just about money in the bank, or is it about our physical health too? Or family health, or liking our job, or having options in life? It turns out, wealth can mean many different things, and perhaps it's best to look at wealth as a spectrum rather than simply a pile of money in the bank.
The Psychology of Money by Morgan House
https://www.collaborativefund.com/blog/the-psychology-of-money/
Did you know Jesse has another podcast all about business? He and veteran YNAB'er and virtual CFO Mark Butler have launched Beginning Balance to talk about the lessons they've learned consulting with other businesses as well as managing their own businesses. In today's episode, we are rebroadcasting an episode of Beginning Balance which looks at how applying Rule One -- Give Every Dollar a Job -- to a business can actually help improve its strategy.
Beginning Balance on Apple Podcasts
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/beginning-balance/id1569423517
Beginning Balance on Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/show/7APubdzXN2eeeMdNpCLkiy?si=1e2af4932ca643eb
When did that happen? It seems like the year was just getting started, and all of a sudden it's mid-October. The holidays are coming soon -- have you been creating space in your budget for your holiday spending? If not, it's not too late! There's still time to set some cash aside in your holiday spending category, plan your expenses carefully, and make some choices about your travel plans and gift giving this year.
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
It's normal to want some amount of luxury or finery in your life, but have you considered the true cost of luxuries? There might be more to it than just the sticker price...
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Jesse answers a listener-submitted question. If you've paid off your debt, and you have an emergency fund, should you start investing in the stock market? If your goal is to build wealth -- and there are many good reasons to -- then investing in the stock market is a great way to do that.
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Did you know YNAB is on Tik Tok? Yep, thanks to YNAB team member Sarah Schweisthal, You Need A Budget has been lighting up Tik Tok "stitches" with budgeting advice for the yoots. Sarah talks about her work sharing the Four Rules on Tik Tok, as well as her own budgeting journey going from being deeply in debt to traveling full-time in a travel trailer.
Follow YNAB (and Sarah) on Tik Tok:
https://www.tiktok.com/@youneedabudget?lang=en
Take the 34-day challenge:
https://www.youneedabudget.com/34dayreset/
It's been hot for years, and has recently become white hot. Cryptocurrencies have the potential to change money and finance in a profound way, but does that make it a good investment, or mere speculation? How would you invest in crypto anyway? Jesse offers his thoughts on this incredible 21st century innovation.
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Jesse speaks with renowned financial journalist William Green about his new book -- Richer, Wiser, Happier: How the World's Greatest Investors Win in Markets and Life -- in which Green interviewed numerous billionaires, fund managers, and legendary investors about their investing wisdom, mindset, and even philosophy. Even if you are just a passive index investor who does not aspire to purchase individual securities, the words of these accomplished investors contain much wisdom.
Richer, Wiser, Happier: How the World's Greatest Investors Win in Markets and Life by William Green
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1501164856?ie=UTF8&tag=thewaspos09-20&camp=1789&linkCode=xm2&creativeASIN=1501164856
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
School is back in session! And today, Jesse and Matthew Amster-Burton are discussing everything you need to do to get started investing for retirement. They break down the different types of investment accounts, mutual funds and index funds, bonds, and a few simple, stress-free strategies for investing.
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Jesse chats with Dustin Heiner, a real estate investor who quit his job five years ago after building a passive income stream sufficient enough to live on. Dustin received a wake up call several years ago when he was laid off from what he thought was a stable government job when his department lost funding. Although he was able to find a new position in a different department, he vowed to never be in that position again, so he put his energy into building a sustainable business out of real estate.
Dustin argues that most people have real estate investing backwards -- they look for good properties, buy one, then try to figure out how to make a business out of it. He works the opposite way, building systems and an operating model for the business -- how he will find tenants, how he will contract with property managers, how he will finance the property purchase, etc -- before buying a single property. Once the business is worked out, he can buy as many properties as he likes and slot them into his inventory. At the end of the day, the property is not the business, he says, it's inventory for the business!
Dustin has started a website and coaching service to help others learn to invest in real estate and build passive income streams. You can find him at:
https://www.masterpassiveincome.com
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
School is in session! Jesse teamed up with Matthew Amster-Burton (who you have heard on the Behind the Scenes series), a YNAB team member and former financial advisor, to create a short series demystifying the world of investing. For the first day of class, they cover some of the basic investing terms you will encounter.
YNAB is all about helping you save more money, but eventually some of that money has to go to work for you and earn a return. The return that your saved money can earn over time makes a huge difference in how much money you have in retirement. Armed with a little knowledge, you can start investing in your future you!
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
It's time to play a little game. Jesse and a couple YNAB team members gather to play "you might be a budget nerd if...." See if you can call yourself an official budget nerd!
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Do you pay off debt first, or invest for retirement while paying it off slower? Or do you build an emergency fund first? How much? There are a number of tradeoffs when it comes to paying off debt, saving, and investing, and Jesse reminds us that there is no prescription! Everyone's budget is personal, and will depend on their goals, values, and emotional response to the budgeting process.
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
With the Baby Boomer generation rapidly aging into retirement, more and more Generation X and older Millennials face some tough financial questions: how do you financial support parents that need medical care, or long-term assistance, but cannot afford it? Should you support kids after college by allowing them to live at home while they get their financial feet under them? Should you save for your own retirement first, or help your parents/kids first?
Jennifer Owens calls this conundrum the "sandwich generation," people facing financial pressure from supporting both parents and children at the same time. While she does not have any hard and fast answers to these questions -- it's a complex problem, with many factors to consider -- she does believe that talking about the problem and sharing the challenges helps people know they aren't alone.
Jennifer has written extensively about the sandwich generation, and she is also working with a new app called Firstly which helps families manage supporting their children and parents as they navigate different stages of life.
https://firstly.com/about-firstly/
https://firstly.com/articles/how-in-the-world-did-i-end-up-in-the-sandwich-generation/
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
As you might have noticed by now, the team at YNAB is diverse, eclectic, and full of passionate people with a wide range of interests. It is no surprise, then, that in the course of conducting these Behind the Scenes interviews, Jesse discovered a ton of interesting and, well, random things about the employees of YNAB!
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Talking about money isn't easy for adults, so it's no surprise that many adults struggle with how to talk about money with their kids. Stephanie Anne-Lyse Wealth, or just Anne-Lyse as she goes by in her publications, has some ideas for introducing children to the concept of money, saving, investments, and debt.
Anne-Lyse is the author of Dream of Legacy, a book about building not just individual wealth but generational wealth. She also hosts The Dreamers Podcast where she interviews successful entrepreneurs about their journey building businesses and wealth. You can find these resources and more at:
https://dreamoflegacy.com
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
In today's installment of Behind the Scenes, YNAB team members share their insights about personal finance, whether it's overcoming the fear and confusion of investing, learning to push yourself to achieve things you never thought you could, or better understanding our conditioning around money and success.
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
It's that time of the year again, when summer is winding down and children are starting the new school year. As seasons go, starting the new school year is a time of new schedules and new challenges. It's also a great time to rethink the budget, or simply get back in touch with the budget.
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Today Jesse asks the team at YNAB to share their top pieces of advice for new YNAB users... besides, you know, that you need a budget.
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Life hacker, optimizer, product director at Wealthfront... he wears many hats, but his passion is the same -- upgrading life without spending a fortune! In today's episode, Jesse chats with Chris Hutchins, who shares a handful of his seemingly endless number of life hacks. Whether it's saving money on travel, getting a few more dollars out of your car lease, or negotiating for coupons, Chris has a hack for just about everything.
You can follow Chris and learn many more hacks on his podcast, All the Hacks:
https://www.allthehacks.com
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
In today's installment of Behind the Scenes, Jesse asks employees why they applied for a position at YNAB, what the interview process is like, and whether the company has lived up to its reputation as the best small business place to work at (no, really, that's what Fortune said, for the second year running!). YNAB gets a lot of applications, and the hiring process is fiercely competitive, but those who have made it share their thoughts and experiences.
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
In today's Money Story, Jesse chats with a YNAB employee, the gifted artist and animator Tristan Henry-Wilson, whose work YNAB users may have seen on the YNAB website and the YNAB Youtube channel, among others. Tristan may be an exceptionally talented artist, but he didn't come into his art career easily. After receiving some unexpected financial aid, he attended Ringling College of Art and Design and earned a degree in illustration.
Tristan had a difficult time landing paying gigs in the art world, and began working a long series of odd jobs to pay rent, eat food, and, most importantly, make payments on his $80k of student loads, which a family friend had co-signed for him. After years of grinding, building his portfolio, learning how to interview, and networking into better jobs, Tristan found salaried work in New York City, and was finally able to throw serious money at his debt. At this point, the balance had grown to about $150k, but he was undeterred. With each pay increase, Tristan put more money into the debt, eventually paying it off in full after about 15 years.
Tristan's determination and perseverance was largely responsible for his success, but he also credits YNAB for helping him get smart about managing his money and finding security and peace in his financial situation.
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Experienced YNAB'ers understand that budgeting is an active, ongoing process that requires frequently engagement with your budget. Ideally, both partners in a relationship are fully engaged in the budget, but the budgeting process can take many forms. In today's Behind the Scenes episode, Jesse chats with YNAB employees about budgeting with a partner, and the many ways couples learn to navigate the routine.
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Award winning author and personal finance journalist Cameron Huddleston joins the show to discuss the uncomfortable realities of managing parents' finances through end of life care and after their death. From wills, power of attorney documents, to simply knowing where your parents have all their bank accounts, Cameron offers some practical advice on what things you need to look out for when helping your older family members manage their finances.
Of course, personal finance is a, well, personal thing for many people, and parents may be reluctant to share the details of their money. Cameron offers some tips for breaking the ice on money conversations, and how to approach parents and loved ones respectfully.
You can find more about Cameron Huddleston and her book, Mom and Dad, We Need to Talk, at her website:
https://cameronhuddleston.com
Carefull app:
https://www.getcarefull.com/
Jesse interviewed every employee at YNAB, asking them about a wide range of topics -- how they heard about YNAB, what they are working on in their roles, and their money struggles and successes. In today's Behind the Scenes episode, YNAB insiders answer the question: what's the budget doing for you lately?
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Travis Hornsby is passionate about student debt, especially helping people with lots of it find smart, effective pathways to pay it off. After a career as a bond trader, he turned his attention to building a service to help college graduates with large student debt loads navigate their way through the maze of repayment options, forgiveness programs, and tax complications that come with student loans. Travis and his company, Student Loan Planner, have consulted with thousands of students on over $1.4 billion of student debt, helping them create a repayment plan that takes full advantage of all the programs out there.
You can learn more about Travis and his work at The Student Loan Planner website. He also hosts a podcast by the same name:
https://www.studentloanplanner.com
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/student-loan-planner/id1446453497?mt=2&ls=1
Jesse interviewed every employee at YNAB, asking them about a wide range of topics -- how they heard about YNAB, what they are working on in their roles, and their money struggles and successes. Today, you'll hear from a selection of YNAB employees discussing their debt struggles, how they came into debt, and how they have used the Four Rules to pay it off.
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Jesse invites the author behind one of his favorite books, Atomic Habits, to join the podcast and talk about what he learned about setting good habits, breaking bad ones, and developing environments and systems conducive to productive habits. As James says, the things you do and accomplish in life are essentially lagged indicators of your habits. So building good habits slowly, methodically, and thoughtfully can result in big rewards down the road.
James Clear
https://jamesclear.com
Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results
https://jamesclear.com/atomic-habits
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Are you a college student, or about to go to college? It's an exciting time of your life, but it can also be a very expensive time of your life too. It's possible to keep your spending under control, and have a lot of fun, but you're going to need a budget.
College students -- you can get a whole FREE YEAR of YNAB here. Sign up, take some of the free classes, and give yourself the gift of learning how to budget and take control of your financial life.
https://www.youneedabudget.com/college/
Artist and tax professional Hannah Cole has a burning passion -- seeing art get made. And one thing she hates to see is artists being held back by money problems. After establishing herself as an artist in exhibitions in New York City, Hannah landed a job working for a design agency. There she learned she had a talent for communicating with both the creatives and management, helping each side understand deadlines, budgets, and resources needed to complete projects. Hannah went on to become a tax professional and open a tax service specializing in helping artists, creatives, and freelancers.
In addition to a full suite of tax services, Hannah's company offers money workshops to explain business, finance, and tax terms in clear language and help freelancers develop strategies for managing their money. She has also created a free, colorful guide for understanding how tax deductions work. You can find out more about Hannah, her company, and resources on their website:
https://www.sunlighttax.com
Free tax deductions guide:
https://www.sunlighttax.com/deductionsguide
Veteran YNAB'ers have a saying for what happens when you follow the four rules, budget, and have no money left over. They call it being "YNAB broke," and it's a badge of honor!
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
EDITOR'S NOTE: At 28:15 David states that generally you cannot take out money from a ROTH to pay for college without paying a penalty. David later pointed out, however, that you may take out up to $10k without penalty to pay for qualifying higher education expenses.
David Stackpole, wealth manager and Certified Financial Analyst (among other titles), joins the podcast to discuss his strategy for paying for the ever-growing cost of college. David points out that college tuition has increased nearly 1,400% since the 1970's, which amounts to a 6.4% annual inflation rate. With costs rising so dramatically and so steadily, many parents find it difficult to save enough for their children's college education. David has a unique strategy for dealing with this problem, however.
David recently published a paper outlining his approach in the University of Louisville's Journal of Student Financial Aid, which you can find here:
https://ir.library.louisville.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1701&context=jsfa
In today's money story, Carol Kissinger tells her story of discovering YNAB after moving from America to Berlin. She had never been good with money, was indebted to her parents for years, and frequently argued with her husband about money. Moving to Berlin put new stress on her bank account, until she discovered YNAB. The Four Rules helped her put a simple framework around money and clarify what it was she was spending on.
As it turns out, impulse purchasing was a recurring theme in Carol's budget. She and her husband would see money in the bank account after pay day and start buying things... without first reserving money for rent, utilities, and the various unplanned expenses that inevitably come up during the year. With an ADHD diagnosis, Carol found it particularly difficult to stop impulse purchasing without having a solid plan of what to do with her money after pay day. YNAB provided a framework for her to budget her dollars and give them jobs before they got spent. She found initially she had to "roll with the punches" frequently as she would forget about irregular expenses, but as she made it through the first several months of budgeting it became easier to predict those and her budget became more stable.
Most importantly, Carol discovered in the process of budgeting with YNAB that some of her long-held preconceptions were really just not true. She believed for a long time she was simply bad at money, and nothing would change that -- it was just a part of who she was. After paying off every dollar of debt to her parents and building an emergency fund, she could no longer say that about herself, and her personal narrative changed. She wasn't just not bad at money anymore, she was good with money. This transformation has extended outside her budget too. Carol and her husband were always very messy housekeepers, she says, to the point where they didn't want to have company over. After going through the budgeting transformation with YNAB, they now have a much cleaner home!
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Personal finance journalist, news anchor, Certified Financial Planner, and now author, Bobbi Rebell explains what it means to be a "financial grownup." The essential part of being grown-up with your finances is realizing that it's no one else's responsibility to make a budget, put money in your retirement account, or educate yourself about financial terms and concepts. It's all up to you! Luckily, there is a wealth of easily accessible information that you can learn from, including Bobbi's own podcast.
You can find out more about Bobbi, her new book "How to Be a Financial Grownup, her podcast, and her "Grownup Gear" on her website:
https://www.bobbirebell.com
After receiving shocking financial news that credit card spending in 2021 is up over 20% compared to 2019, Jesse asks the question: are you still budgeting out there?
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Jesse chats with two people that are passionate about personal finance and share a common trait: they are high income earners. YNAB doesn't often talk about people earning high incomes, but contrary to popular belief, earning a lot of money does NOT mean you don't need to budget!
As Ivan Smirnov and Daniel Chen attest, high incomes often come with high cost of living areas, where housing costs can run well into the 7 figures for homes or multiple thousands for rent. High income can also come with lifestyle inflation, as well as debt from post-graduate student loans and professional programs. Both of these things (and much more) can be managed with an effective budget, and Ivan and Daniel share their tips in keeping their costs under control and managing their investments using YNAB.
Ivan Smirnov is a software engineer at Google, and he loves to share his personal finance journey and YNAB power tips with friends and co-workers. He writes occasionally for a couple blogs:
https://ivansmirnov.name
https://ivans.io
Daniel Chen is a former Big 4 accountant, personal finance entrepreneur, and currently the Head of Business Development at a personal finance educational startup Brightside. You can find Daniel on twitter:
https://twitter.com/chenthusiast?lang=en
YNAB for Good: https://www.youneedabudget.com/good/
After years of experimenting with his budget and budgeting process, Jesse decided to do the unthinkable in 2020. He went an entire year without a budget!
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Jean Chatzky, long-time personal finance writer and correspondent for The Today Show, CNN, MSNBC and other high-profile shows, joins the podcast to discuss the unique issues women face in their financial lives. She has recently written a book about her research and experience working with women on improving their financial security, and she runs a website dedicated to educating and coaching women in financial matters called Her Money.
Jean's book -- Women with Money
https://womenwithmoneybook.com
Her Money Podcast
https://hermoney.com
Jesse offers six tips for newlyweds learning to manage their money as a couple for the first time.
Check out the YNAB blog for more!
https://www.youneedabudget.com/money-lessons-i-wish-i-had-learned-when-i-was-25/
Jesse celebrates -- can you believe it?! -- the 500th episode of the You Need a Budget podcast. Nearly 10 years ago, Jesse started this podcast as an experiment. Over the years the mics have been upgraded, the acoustics have gotten better, but the message has remained the same: follow the Four Rules, and make your dollars work for you and your priorities.
Jesse reminds us that, much like doing the podcast, budgeting is mostly just doing the work, day in and day out. Budget is a verb, an activity that you do every day, and simply showing up and continuing to do it over time yields big results.
YNAB the company is still growing, and so is the podcast. Jesse and his longtime friend and corporate finance expert Mark Butler have launched a new show for small businesses called Beginning Balance. Download and subscribe here!
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/beginning-balance/id1569423517
Jesse interviews Steve Colon, CEO of Bottom Line, an organization that helps students of color navigate the complex, time-consuming, and high stakes college admissions process. Bottom Line doesn't stop with admissions, either. Through their unique DEAL rubric, they help each student set a plan to graduate within six years, with no more than $31k debt, and find high quality jobs. Along the way they meet regularly with students, to provide a network of support and ensure students can meet their goals and graduate on time.
Bottom Line has recently partnered with YNAB to provide students with financial education to manage both their tuition and student life costs as well as their personal finances during and after school.
You can find out more about Steve and the Bottom Line organization here:
https://www.bottomline.org
Today Jesse gives a sneak peak at a new show launching on the YNAB podcast network -- Beginning Balance. Together with his friend and business mentor Mark Butler, a virtual CFO and business expert, they explore the financial issues of small businesses and how to solve them. This is the first episode of Beginning Balance, which will begin airing weekly on Fridays.
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Jesse chats with Chanel Reynolds, author of What Matters Most and founder of the Get Your Shit Together website, dedicated to helping people navigate the confusing, difficult, and emotional aspects of end-of-life planning. In 2009 Chanel's husband was killed in a road cycling accident, and she found herself, very suddenly, a widow, a single parent, and overwhelmed dealing with the many medical, legal, and family issues that death brings with it.
Today Chanel helps others plan for the what-ifs and eventualities of life, and encourages people to start having conversations with their spouses, parents, and other loved ones about what they want when it comes to their end-of-life. Although these can be difficult conversations -- and people often avoid them for that reason -- she recommends to start by focusing on the love, and how you want your loved ones to feel, and what quality of life means to them. From there, you can visualize what end of life might look like and start the basic planning steps: having an emergency fund, documenting your digital accounts and passwords, preparing a will, and power of attorney for medical decisions.
You can learn more about Chanel, her book, and her work here:
https://getyourshittogether.org
Today Jesse is sharing an interview he did with Jaclyn Johnson of the Work Party podcast for her Budget Broadcast Series. Jesse talks about the early days of YNAB, how to get serious with your side hustles, and explains the Four Rules to a new audience.
You can find more from WorkParty, including the original interview, here:
https://dearmedia.com/shows/work-party/
Jesse chats with Sami Womack, who paid off nearly half a million dollars of debt after hitting financial rock bottom during the birth of her first child. Stuck in a different city on business travel, her husband almost missed a flight home to be at the birth... because they had maxed out all their credit cards, and the last minute ticket was $800.
Sami and her husband had made most of the financial mistakes you could make. They were behind on all of their bills, including mortgage payments and property taxes. They had three properties -- their home, a rental home, and a piece of land Sami intended to build a business on but could not secure financing -- but were facing foreclosure on them. They were eating out frequently, and spending lots of money on food.
The added stress of children brought them to a financial breaking point, at which point Sami started googling for help. She found YNAB, and began budgeting her current dollars, instead of her future dollars, for the first time. It took a major lifestyle adjustment, and the sale of their land and rental property, but the Womack's managed to pay off their debt.
Sami now helps others pay off debt and reach their financial goals with personalized coaching and budgeting plans at:
https://www.asunnysideuplife.com
She also hosts A Sunny Side Up Life Podcast: https://www.asunnysideuplife.com/podcast
Former NFL athlete, husband, father, and coach -- a man of many identities you might say -- Anthony Trucks joins the podcast to talk about how what's holding you back from reaching your goals might just be an identity problem. Anthony runs a coaching program call Make Shift Happen where he helps people to make consistent action toward their goals in 90 days.
Making an identity "shift" is a key part of the process, visualizing yourself as the kind of person that does the things needed to have success in business, family, or other areas in life not because those are things you ought to do, but because they are simply a part of you. The Rock doesn't fight himself to go to the gym and workout, he does it because he loves it. Physical fitness is part of his identity. Anthony challenges us to think about what identity we want, and to start viewing ourselves as that. Then action can follow.
You can find Anthony, his coaching services, and his speaking engagements at:
https://anthonytrucks.com
Jesse does NOT like payment plans, and neither should you!
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
In today's episode of Money Stories, Jesse chats with Abbie Shepherd, a clinical psychologist who recently earned her PhD and is working her first real job after her long journey in higher education. Most people understand that earning a PhD takes a lot of academic rigor, but few realize that it is very taxing on the budget as well. In addition to incurring student debt during the multi-year PhD process (usually preceded by a Masters degree and Bachelors degree, for which you may incur debt as well), it's difficult to work and earn money along the way.
In Abbie's case she typically worked for minimum wage when she could during her demanding PhD program. Meanwhile, her husband worked as a pastor, which is a lower earning field. Needless to say, money was tight during those years, but Abbie and her husband kept a clear head and long term vision. Abbie knew that a PhD would give her the most flexibility in her work -- she could work as a clinician, or teach, or both -- so they kept their expenses as low as possible while she was in school. They knew they would incur student debt for her coursework, but they worked hard to keep it to a minimum and not use student debt to fund their living expenses, like rent and food. Likewise, they limited their consumer spending, avoiding the pitfall of running up large credit card bills. By focusing on the long-term benefits of her PhD and having a strategy to minimize unnecessary debt (while being mentally OK with incurring necessary student debt), Abbie was able to ease some of the stress of her financial position as well. Nevertheless, Abbie came out of school with six figured student loan debt that she is eager to tackle.
As a self-described enneagram type 1, Abbie admits budgeting and planning around money comes naturally to her, but YNAB has made an impact as well. Abbie discovered YNAB just a couple months ago, but it was the concept of aging her money and rolling with the punches which drew her in. The flexibility of the software was a bonus. Abbie is a responsible credit card user, paying off her balance in full each month, and she enjoys the rewards and points she earns in the process. She likes that the YNAB software can easily help her track expenses on the credit alongside her bank account.
Abbie has created an Instagram account to report on her debt paydown and budgeting tricks. You can follow her there @budget_crush.
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Jesse chats with marketer and entrepreneur Noah Kagan, former Director of Marketing at Mint, former Facebook employee, and currently the owner of AppSumo, a daily deals website which offers entrepreneurs discounted software from top software companies. In a sprawling conversation, they touch on the critical importance of taking action on your ideas in business, determining why you want money in the first place, setting one-year gameplans, and more.
AppSumo
https://appsumo.com
Noah Kagan on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/user/crxnamja
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Assets? Liabilities? Balance sheet? FBI's? What does it all mean? Jesse helps you understand some of the basic financial terms that come up often in YNAB, as well as some YNAB-specific lingo related to the software and the budgeting process.
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Jesse walks through some hidden features of the YNAB software you probably didn't even know existed!
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
While there's no way to prepare for being a parent without actually becoming a parent, you can prepare financially for the experience. Chelsea Brennan shares some tips on how to do this, and what kind of difficult conversations you need to have with your spouse and family as part of the process.
After a successful career as an equity analyst and hedge fund portfolio manager on Wall Street, Chelsea became a mom and followed a new passion in life -- helping other moms be more financially stable and reduce their money stress. Today she runs a website and podcast dedicated to this mission called Smart Money Mamas, with resources for helping moms define their values, have important conversations, and take steps toward securing their financial future.
Smart Money Mamas website: https://smartmoneymamas.com
Smart Money Mamas Podcast: https://smartmoneymamas.com/podcast/
At YNAB your data is exactly that -- YOUR data. Financial data is personal and sensitive, and as Jesse explains, YNAB does not and will not touch that!
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Jesse chats with productivity master Jeff Sanders, host of the 5AM Miracle podcast. As the title of his podcast suggests, Jeff loves to wake up early, but he doesn't necessarily think you should. Instead, Jeff focuses on setting clear boundaries around your work time, family time, and personal development time (especially physical fitness).
Especially in the remote working arrangements that are increasingly common today, it's important to separate the home office from the kitchen, living room, and bedroom. Too often the proximity of the home office lures remote workers into working all day, with no clear lines between work time and personal time. This leads to lower productivity, more stress, more burnout, and more tension in relationships. In his podcast and his productivity coaching work, Jeff shows how you can set better boundaries around work and personal life and live life with more intention.
You can find Jeff at his website: https://www.jeffsanders.com
5AM Miracle Podcast: https://www.jeffsanders.com/podcast/
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
In today's money story, Jesse chats with Erika, a 32 year old married woman who found herself struggling in the deep end of credit card debt. Until YNAB, Erika always managed her money with her bank statements -- if there was enough for her current outflows, good! There wasn't much of a plan or cushion for surprises, however.
Shortly after getting married Erika began to feel trapped in her debt payments, which had become burdensome due to the credit card debt she and her husband had racked up for their wedding. After some close calls where she questioned their ability to even pay the rent, Erika discovered YNAB and began to make changes.
While she and her husband are still climbing out of the hole, they've made a big dent in their debt load and have created a solid plan for aging their money, acknowledging their true expenses, and rolling with the punches.
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Jesse chats with author Mary Marantz about her book Dirt, the story of her life journey growing up in poor, rural West Virginia to eventually attending Yale Law. Mary grew up with a strong, hard working father who instilled in her a vigorous work ethic and a love for her hometown. However, her working class roots cast a shadow of doubt over how high she could climb in the world, and how qualified she could feel amongst those from different, more economically priveleged backgrounds. Dirt is the story of Mary reckoning with the good and bad of her upbringing, and how it shaped her into the woman she is today.
How does this relate to money? Money is all about feelings, and often our upbringing instills deeply seated ideas about how to earn and spend money that are hard to shake as adults. Mary's story is a powerful reminder that doing the work to better understand yourself, your history, and your place in the world prepares you to make lasting changes to your decision making around money.
Dirt by Mary Marantz
https://marymarantz.com/dirt
Mary Marantz on Instagram
@marymarantz
Student loan payments have been frozen for several months due to COVID-19, but that doesn't mean your budget has to be frozen. Jesse strategizes ways for you to address student loans during the grace period.
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Jesse chats with Laura Vanderkam and Sarah Hart-Unger, two time management experts and the hosts of the Best of Both Worlds Podcast, a show all about balancing busy lives and careers. Sarah is a pediatric endocrinologist while Laura is a writer (and author of I Know How She Does It), and both of them are also busy mothers. While they approach the challenges of time management with different strategies, they are both experts in making things fit in a busy life without getting burned out.
Sarah and Laura point out that the things you spend your time on -- the things you say yes or no to -- are ultimately a reflection of your values. If something doesn't fit in your priorities, you simply won't do it. Sounds familiar, eh? Money, or rather the things you spend money on, is also a reflection of your values, as Jesse has argued on previous shows. So, the first step in wrangling your time management problem is to take a hard look at the things you value and see if the things you are spending your time on actually align with those values.
Secondly, Laura reminds us that everyone has the same amount of time in a week to get things done, to relax, to pursue hobbies. 168 hours every week, in fact. Unlike money, this resource is equally distributed to all, and we cannot change the amount of time we have. So, being mindful of how you spend your weeks not in days, but in hours, can be a useful exercise. Do you have a hobby that you wished you spent more time on? A stack of books you wish you could finally read? Start tracking your time, and you might be surprised to find a spare hour or two that you were previously wasting on mindless tasks (or social media). Like spare change, these hours can slip between the cushions of the weekdays and weekends.
Best of Both Worlds Podcast
https://theshubox.com/best-of-both-worlds
Laura Vanderkam
https://lauravanderkam.com
Best Laid Plans Podcast with Sarah Hart-Unger
https://theshubox.com/best-laid-plans-podcast
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Whether it's because of changing careers, preparing for a child, or some other life event, you and your partner may need to downsize from two incomes to one. This has a major impact to your budget! But, with some planning, you can make a smooth transition. The easiest way, Jesse says, is to live on a single income before actually losing the second income. With a little help from YNAB, you can practice this and ensure that when the second income goes away, you know how to make your dollars stretch without stress.
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
New York Times columnist and bestselling author Ron Lieber joins the podcast for a frank discussion about the ever rising cost of college and whether it's even a good idea for young people today. Evaluating the true cost of college, as it turns out, is essentially a budgeting exercise. There's the sticker price for tuition and room and board, but the real analysis lies in examining the hidden costs, as well as the hidden benefits. Ron Lieber helps us break those down and demystify the college problem.
Ron Lieber
https://ronlieber.com
The Price You Pay for College
https://ronlieber.com/books/the-price-you-pay-for-college/
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Buying a house is a stressful experience, especially in the current market where low supply and high demand have pushed prices up and up. Naturally, house shoppers worry about overpaying for a house, or whether they've overpaid for a house they've already bought. We'd all like to perfectly time the market and buy at the lowest possible point, but it's very difficult to do.
Jesse reminds house shoppers to check in with their reasons for owning a house before they worry. Is your house a real estate investment that you are buying with an exit strategy? Then purchase price is very important, and you should be worried about overpaying!
But are you buying a house to be your home? In that case, it's not an investment, it's the place where you live, and the purchase price only matters insofar as it fits your budget. If you value the lifestyle that a house offers, and that house fits your budget, then don't sweat whether you have overpaid or not. You are giving your house dollars the job of securing housing that fits your needs.
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
What does budgeting have to do with nutrition? A lot, actually, explains Kali Langevin, a nutritionist and Registered Dietitian who has spent 16 years working with athletes in United States Soccer Federation. Kali is also a long time YNAB user, and joins the podcast to explain how the Four Rules can be applied to nutrition. Much like Jesse encourages people to be mindful of their spending habits -- giving dollars jobs that accomplish the things that you value -- Kali encourages people to be mindful of their eating habits, being intentional with meal times and the rituals around food.
Kali on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kalilangevin
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
This week's Money Story comes from the vivacious Diania Merriam, founder of the EconoMe Conference which brings together speakers in the FIRE movement (Financial Independence, Retire Early). After finding herself working for a decent salary in NYC but falling deeper into debt, Diania decided to pull her head out of the financial sand and figure out where her finances stood. Around the same time, a friend introduced her to the Mr. Money Mustache blog and the concept of FIRE.
Armed with these tools, she started cutting her expenses and aggressively paying off debt. Eventually, Diania managed to stash away 60% of her income, and pay off $30k of debt. Ever the life of the party, Diania attributes part of her success to realizing that her happiness lies in connecting with friends and shared experiences, not necessarily in spending money in exclusive clubs. After paying off her debt, she was also able to pursue her dream of hiking the Camino de Santiago in Spain.
Today Diania has reached CoastFI, having already saved enough to retire in the future at the standard age of 65 but still working, albeit at a more relaxed pace. Financial independence has allowed her to pursue more fulfilling work (like the EconoMe Conference) and engage in new adventures. This, she explains, is the real American Dream.
Optimal Finance Daily Podcast: https://oldpodcast.com/optimal-finance-daily-podcast/
EconoMe Conference: https://economeconference.com
Jesse chats with Geoff Woods, President of ProduKtive, the training company behind the bestselling book The ONE Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan. After leaving a high-stress and ultimately unfulfilling job in medical device sales, Geoff set out to surround himself with successful mentors. Eventually Geoff found Gary Keller and Jay Papasan, and immersed himself in their philosophy of the "one thing," that is, the concept of relentlessly pursuing the single most impactful thing you can do in your day, and arranging your schedule to accomplish that thing first.
Geoff describes the one thing as a stack of dominoes. Accomplishing the one thing you can do first -- "can" is the operative word here, this task must be small and easily achievable today -- topples the first domino in the chain, which topples the next, and the next, and so forth. Most people never do the work to identify this one thing, however, and get stuck spending lots of time toppling individual dominoes without ever setting off this chain reaction.
The connection to budgeting is clear. Before you give every dollar a job, you need to know what it is your budget needs to do for you -- what you value, what you are trying to optimize for. Once you've identified this, you can assign your dollars jobs.
The ONE Thing Podcast: https://www.the1thing.com/podcasts/
The ONE Thing book: https://www.amazon.com/ONE-Thing-Surprisingly-Extraordinary-Results-ebook/dp/B00C1BHQXK/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3HGDLQ2QU6QJP&dchild=1&keywords=the+one+thing+keller&qid=1615904686&sprefix=the+one+thing+ke%2Caps%2C245&sr=8-1
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Jesse attempts to give some advice on purchasing a car... before admitting that he has no advice to give! Well, maybe a bit of advice. Jesse reminds us that optimizing your budget involves optimizing for YOUR needs and wants. Jesse chooses to lease a Tesla to drive around in, because he wanted to have as little headaches with car maintenance as possible. That's important to him today, but ten years ago his needs and wants were totally different, and thus the things he chose to optimize his budget for were too.
So this episode is not about how to buy the most cost-effective used car, or how to get a good deal on a new car, or anything like that. It's about examining your own needs and shaping your budget around them.
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Bestselling author Ian Morgan Cron introduces the Enneagram, a personality typing system which identifies nine different personality types, their motivations, strengths, and weaknesses. As Ian explains, understanding your enneagram can help you better understand your motivations for why you want to do the things you do, which has direct implications in budgeting. Understanding the motivations and perspectives of others, especially those with polar differences in personality, can help you mitigate conflict and reach compromise in your family relationships and in the workplace.
Ian Morgan Cron is a psychotherapist, Episcopal priest, and an accomplished author. His book The Road Back to You champions the Enneagram for people that seek to better "know thyself."
https://ianmorgancron.com
Jesse reminds us that the ideal budget... is the budget which helps you achieve your goals and values. And those goals and values can, and will, change over time!
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Robert Leonard has been a uniquely driven person since a young age. Eyeing the professional ranks of motocross at age 14 (the minimum age to turn pro was 16), he competed all over the country. When his father discouraged his going pro, Robert started working various jobs and reading about investing. By the time he graduated college, he had already purchased his first piece of real estate and began "house hacking" -- leasing spare rooms to roommates to generate cash flow to cover the mortgage.
Over the years Robert has continued to house hack, selling properties and rolling the profits into the next investment. He now owns a portfolio of rental properties. On the side, he also invests in individual stocks as a value investor, and enjoys the process of digging through company financials and earnings to find undervalued companies to buy and hold.
Robert is also passionate about teaching other people how to get started with investing in both real estate and the stock market, and he hosts two podcasts on the topic. Check the links below to follow Robert, learn more about his philosophy, and his podcasts!
Robert on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therobertleonard/
Real Estate 101 Podcast: https://www.theinvestorspodcast.com/real-estate-101/
Millenial Investing Podcast: https://www.theinvestorspodcast.com/millennial-investing/
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Sita Thomas is a woman of many talents, and many careers, having worked jobs ranging from massage therapy to data analytics. She has been using YNAB for over 8 years to help her reach her goals, including going back to school and making a career change, taking time off work to care for a terminally ill family member, and removing the day to day stresses of money from her life.
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Jesse chats with professional coach and business strategist Kelsey Murphy about how she left a high profile -- yet unsatisfying -- corporate job to travel the world with her husband. During their travels Kelsey realized she had a gift for coaching and helping others put their visions and dreams into practice. Today she runs a successful coaching business doing just that.
Kelsey puts a lot of emphasis on her client's values, examining them through a very practical lens. What would you like to see or do first thing when you wake up in the morning? What kind of space do you imagine yourself working in? These are a couple of the questions Kelsey might ask. Once you understand your values in clear, tangible terms, then you can focus your attention on the important tasks that will bring you closer to your vision.
Learn more about Kelsey:
https://www.kelseymurphy.com/careerandlifecoaching
Whisky & Work Podcast:
https://www.kelseymurphy.com/podcast
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Jesse answers your questions about small business in Q&A format. You can send Jesse your questions and comments at: podcast@youneedabudget.com
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Jesse chats with Amir Salihefendic, CEO of Doist, the company behind the popular productivity tool Todoist. Between running a company and being a father, Amir has a very busy life. He explains how he keeps everything moving smoothly, including the importance of managing your energy throughout the day, not just your schedule.
https://todoist.com
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Jesse chats with YNAB's manager of support hiring, Emma Rolls, about what it takes to get hired at YNAB, what type of person fits in with the company culture, and Emma's personal experience learning about YNAB and getting hired.
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Jesse identifies four common traits in people who don't stress about money.
- They have a cadence for checking their money. These people regularly check-in with their budget and watch their money. It's not a panicky, reactionary review but a planned part of their week or month.
- They have regular conversations with themselves and/or significant others about money. These conversations are not highly charged, hostile engagements, but calm, rational discussions about what is going on day-to-day. Often these conversations aren't about money per se, but rather the things that the money is going towards. In that sense, the conversations are more about whether or not spending is happening in accordance with their values and goals.
- They have clarity about their priorities, values, and goals. They give their money a job, and know why they are spending.
- They have plenty of cash on hand.
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Writer and entrepreneur Corbett Barr joins the podcast to discuss digital mindfulness, the pitfalls of social media and endless digital content, and his own quest to find peace as a digital creative.
https://corbettbarr.com
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Jesse interviews strength coach, former pro Strongman, and founder of Barbell Logic Online Coaching, Matt Reynolds, about the many analogs between strength training and budgeting.
Matt relates the Four Rules to the basic tenets of effective strength training -- consistency, small increases in weight each workout that add up to big results over time, and focusing on the things that will give you the greatest bang for your buck. Matt relates strength training to a "physical 401(k)," where the work that you do today to build you fitness and health can be drawn on later in life when the inevitabilities of aging and life events happen. Strong people are more resilient and more useful, especially in old age!
Matt's company, Barbell Logic Online Coaching, offers customized strength, conditioning, and nutrition coaching to individuals, pairing each trainee with their own highly trained Barbell Logic coach.
If you're interested in trying out Barbell Logic Online Coaching, you can get the first month totally free when you sign up. And, YNAB listeners can get an additional $10/mo off their future months. Sign up here:
https://store.barbell-logic.com/ynab/
Take the 34-day challenge:
https://www.youneedabudget.com/34dayreset/
If you've been doing the 34-Day Reset, you're in full sprint mode right now. And it might be tough! But the beauty of the reset is that it's just 34 days, and affords you some space to reflect on whether your money is working for you and helping you achieve your goals and values.
So stick with it, finish strong, and bask in the extra money you will have saved. You're almost there!
Take the challenge:
https://www.youneedabudget.com/34dayreset/
Jesse interviews Katie about her journey after college to Hawaii, where she went through a tough breakup and financially tenuous times. She persevered through those hard times, discovered YNAB (actually re-discovered, having first encountered YNAB in college) and began to get her budget back on track in a notoriously expensive state. The hard work paid off; Katie met her husband and was able to have a dream wedding in Hawaii, and the couple now enjoy a rich life... paid in cash!
Katie is quick to point out that she hasn't always made the financially optimal choice, but she is intentional about everything she does. She and her husband decided to hold off paying down their student loans in order to finance their wedding, for example. Katie has set aside money to buy her husband a new computer, and they leave room in their budget for their favorite hobbies and pursuits -- for Katie, her side business coaching women in personal finance and helping them avoid traps like MLM schemes; for her husband, collecting and competing in the Magic the Gathering card game.
While this approach may result in paying down debt slower, and not maximizing savings, it's a sustainable approach for them. As Katie reminds us, personal finance is personal!
Are you ready to take the challenge? https://www.youneedabudget.com/34dayreset/
Jesse offers three ways to stop spending money and kickstart your savings:
- Designate a "no spend" day. Pick a day of the week where you will deliberately spend NO money, and dutifully stick to that. Be realistic! If you usually have a date night on Friday, then pick another day. Maybe's it's a Tuesday, maybe it's a Sunday, but it should work with your schedule.
- Treat your savings as a purchase.In other words, change your mindset about what spending is. Instead of buying a good or service, treat your saving as "buying investments" or "buying back your debt." Some people turn buying small numbers of shares in an index fund into a game, where their investment brings them pleasure just like buying a coffee or a croissant at the local coffee shop.
- Identify your triggers. Pay attention when you have an impulse to buy something. Does it happen in certain places? Certain websites or forums? Perhaps on your way home from work? Find your spending "triggers," and work on ways to avoid them. Take a different route home, block or limit your access to certain websites... things you can do to help you avoid the impulse in the first place.
Are you ready for a financial reset?
https://www.youneedabudget.com/34dayreset/
Jesse talks with YNAB'er Liz about her recent conversion to the YNAB software, which she discovered through the social media network Tik Tok. In just six months with YNAB, Liz has already reversed her financial situation, paid off debt, and created financial security for her family.
Are you ready to take the challenge? https://www.youneedabudget.com/34dayreset/
Just like weight loss, there are some people who manage to pay off their debt through a burst of willpower and concerted effort... only to fall into debt again, usually slowly. Jesse points out that often this is a failure to follow Rule Two (Embracing Your True Expenses), and discusses how you can prevent slipping into old habits in the New Year.
Are you ready for a financial reset?
https://www.youneedabudget.com/34dayreset/
YNAB is bringing back the Debt Stories... but this time we're calling it "Money Stories." In this series, Jesse interviews YNAB users about their incredible stories using YNAB to pay off debt, plan for life, build their savings, and more.
In this episode, Jesse interviews 34-year old nurse Trish. Though very hard working and driven to succeed, Trish found herself in $50,000 of debt despite working multiple jobs. Her unusual work arrangement meant that she went long periods of time between paychecks -- sometimes receiving multiple paychecks at once, months apart -- during which time she began relying on credit cards to ensure she had enough money to cover emergencies and unexpected expenses.
The credit card balance continued to climb, however, and, when combined with her car note and student loans, the monthly payments began eating up a large portion of her cashflow. Fed up, Trish decided to make some changes.
Focusing her energy and work ethic on her money, Trish decided to make drastic moves to pay down her debt for good. She began by selling nearly everything she could in her flat on Facebook, netting nearly $3,000. In addition to her two or three regular jobs (besides nursing, she teaches at a university and works as a technician for a pottery studio), she took small jobs whenever she could: transcribing, dog walking, etc. It was an intense experience, and she knew she could not sustain it long term, but harnessing her energy in these bursts jumpstarted her savings.
Are you ready to take the challenge? https://www.youneedabudget.com/34dayreset/
Jesse issues a New Years' challenge for YNAB'ers. For the next 34 days, abide by just three rules:
- Write down every single thing you spend money on. You can do this in YNAB, or on a sheet of paper, but it must include every penny spent!
- Purchase ONLY essentials. Essential means you must have it to live.
- Do not eat out, or order take-in from restaurants. No restaurant spending, full stop. It's only 34 days, you can do it!
YNAB's data and experience has shown that people often find hundreds, even a thousand, extra dollars in their budget by doing these three things. In particular, eating out has proven to be the number one most common drain on the budget.
Remember, this is only for a short time! It's a small amount of hardship to endure, that can provide a major boost your savings and financial health to start the New Year.
Start the reset today: https://www.youneedabudget.com/34dayreset/
Jesse reflects on budgeting for the Christmas season. While YNAB is all for getting your savings in order so that you can cash flow your Christmas spending without going into debt, the holiday season is about much more than presents. Recalling his childhood, Jesse can't actually remember much about the gifts he received. What he does remember is the time he spent with family, and the memories he made with them.
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Jesse interviews his friend and realtor Terry Bickmore about Terry's introduction to YNAB and how it helped transform his business and personal life. Terry offers some advice for first-time homebuyers, based on YNAB's Four Rules.
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Jesse reflects on learning to relax about spending money, especially on the "black box" line items -- unspecified purchases from Amazon that don't fit neatly into any other category, or purchases that he simply doesn't want to look up and re-categorize. Part of learning to relax about these expenditures is realizing that as long as you are achieving your primary goals -- funding an emergency fund, saving for retirement, saving for a house perhaps -- then it doesn't really matter what happens to the rest of your money. It's another way of looking at the big picture.
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The end of the year is nigh, and 2020 has been one of the most stressful in recent memory. Jesse offers some advice for those dealing with fear and anxiety during these times.
During times of fear and uncertainty, Jesse draws on Stephen R. Covey's seminal book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. The first habit is to be proactive and take responsibility for your reactions to events. To that end, Covey asks readers to consider their circle of influence -- What do you control? Where do you not have control? Drawing a very clear picture of your circle of influence, and defining what you don't control, can help with realizing what things you ought to be fear and what things are outside your influence, and thus should be outside your concern (or at least unworthy of spending mental bandwidth on). When people start budgeting, they often can't control what they make, but they can control some of things they spend on. So focusing on spending, giving their money a job, and following the four steps brings their attention to concrete, actionable things within their circle of influence.
Secondly, Jesse recommends learning more about the things you are fearful of. What information could you gather about a topic that would help you better understand it? If you are fearful about money, how about understanding how much you have in your checking account right now? Then take another step. What does that money need to do between now and the next time you get paid? Gathering data points and information about the things causing you fear and anxiety can help make them seem more manageable.
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Jesse and Taylor Brown, YNAB's Chief Technology Officer, celebrate the company being named Fortune's #1 Best Place to Work in Small Business in 2020. Jesse and Taylor take a walk down memory lane, reminiscing about the very early days of YNAB and how they much they've grown since, both as a company and as leaders within the business. The moniker "best place to work" doesn't just happen, but rather is a consequence of Jesse and Taylor's work in defining their company and employee values and consistently acting on those principles over the years.
Of course winning this honor is due to the work of everyone at YNAB, especially the operations team (lead by COO Chance Gurr) whose responsibility is making sure YNAB is a rewarding place to work. So, Jesse and Taylor wish to thank everyone at YNAB for their hard work and for embodying the company's values every day.
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Jesse sits down with acclaimed finance writer and entrepreneur Ramit Sethi for a long chat about the mindset of financial success, how to think like an entrepreneur, and why the most important question about personal finance you need to be able to answer is... "Why?".
Ramit is the author of the 2009 New York Times Best Seller, I Will Teach You to Be Rich, and the founder of Earnable, a community of entrepreneurs in which he coaches people how to think like entrepreneurs, develop viable business ventures, and market effectively to grow their business.
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Jesse interviews wellness expert, educator, and entrepreneur Robyn Conley Downs about applying her strategies for wellness to making lasting change in budgeting.
You can find Robyn here:
Real Food Whole Life: https://realfoodwholelife.com/about/
IG: @realfoodwholelife
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In the world of cost accounting, there's a concept known as contribution margin. Basically, it's how much you make on a product or service after you consider how much it cost to make that thing. The formula is revenue less the variable costs that go into making the product. Contribution margin is an important metric for businesses because it tells you whether you are making a profit on the things you sell. After all, it would do no good to sell a bunch of t-shirts for $18 a piece, if each of them costs you $20 to make!
Now, Jesse asks, what if we apply this concept to our life? We have jobs that earn us revenue. What do they cost to do? Time, obviously, but perhaps also driving/commuting, stress? The point is, the things that earn us money have a non-zero cost associated with them, and it's wise to keep track of that cost and make sure, at the end of the day, that we are using our time in a profitable manner.
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It's not a dirty word, so let's say it together -- wealth! At YNAB, we often use the words "save money," and it's a more approachable concept, something that seems achievable in the short term. Wealth can seem like such a far-off concept sometimes. But at the end of the day, that's what we're all trying to do, is to build wealth that will allow us to do more of what we want to do in life.
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While canning tomatoes from a bumper crop, Jesse realized the process was going to take a looooooong time. His wife advised him, simply, to "just settle in." Anything that yields great results in the future takes both upfront effort and perseverance. Whether it's gardening, putting up vegetables for the winter, or budgeting, you have to settle in.
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Jesse lays out a strategy for managing unknown expenses without continually dipping into your emergency fund. Traditional budgeting advice tells you to create an emergency fund for dealing with unforeseen expenses, but often people end up using their emergency funds for irregular, but foreseeable expenses -- things like new tires, new cars, A/C repair, etc. They don't happen regularly, maybe only every several years, but if you look into the future you know they are coming.
For YNAB'ers that are following Rule #2, Embracing Your True Expenses, these aren't true emergencies, and they are already covered in the budget. In the rare event of a true emergency that catches you off guard, Jesse recommends that rather than spending money out of your global emergency fund, set up a new category for that expense. Maybe it's a house repair that you had never encountered before. Make a new category for that type of repair, and start a new sinking fund for it like you do for other Rule #2 expenses.
Over time, this strategy will give you useful data about your true expenses, so that you can be more prepared for next time.
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Jesse tackles the defeatist attitude some people develop that they are just no good with money. As they say, comparison is the thief of joy, and we should add, it's very misleading when it comes to money! Watching what other people do with their money isn't particularly helpful or relevant to your own situation.
Bottom line, being smart with your money simply means knowing what you want your money to do, and allowing it do that for you. This is something anyone can do!
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Recently someone asked Jesse about his thoughts on preventing lifestyle creep, a major supposed gremlin of budgeting. Jesse doesn't even like the question, and discusses why worrying about lifestyle creep is looking at budgeting in the wrong light.
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Recently Jesse received an email from a woman who claimed YNAB was really a program about mindfulness... just using money and budgeting as the entry point. So Jesse invited this woman onto the podcast to talk about the connection between mindfulness, meditation, and money. Welcome to Kathleen Slattery-Moschkau, a mindfulness expert, yoga instructor, and filmmaker currently residing in Madison, WI where she runs The Studio.
The Studio: https://www.thestudiomadison.com/about-us-2/
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Let's face it, it feels good to buy things. That's not necessarily a bad thing, either. Spending on hobbies or other things that bring you value -- maybe a date with your partner -- makes you feel good for a good reason.
However, from time to time we need to check the rationale behind our purchases. Maybe you intend to start a new exercise regime, so you buy new shoes and clothes and perhaps a new journal as well to document your progress. But have you actually started the program yet?
Often simply purchasing something related to your goals can make you feel like you've made progress.... when, unfortunately, that's not really the case! Jesse calls these "progress purchases," and warns you to watch out for them!
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We're all familiar with the situation. A person reads a book, learns a new skill, or discovers a method, and gets REALLY INTO IT. Brimming with enthusiasm, they share it with their partner and try to get them involved, only to be met by reluctance and intransigence. The reluctant partner is a common trope, even when it comes budgeting!
The idea that your partner is dragging their feet because they don't share your goals about budgeting and personal finance, however, is a false one. In Jesse's and the YNAB team's experience, the reluctant partner is often simply overwhelmed. They usually want to share the goals and aspirations of their partner, and share in the process of attaining them, but the speed and intensity of the habit changes may be too much.
So if you're just getting into YNAB, break it gently to your partner. Talk about your goals, get on the same page about your finances, then start talking about the process of getting there. Small steps are the key to change!
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By popular request, Jesse flips through his office bookshelves and discusses the books he's read recently... and, well, some that he hasn't but is getting around to!
This week he covers books in the “business” category, ranging from marketing, advertising, management theory, team building, and customer service. Many of these books have had an influence on the way YNAB operates and its success.
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By popular request, Jesse scans though his office bookshelf and discusses the books he's read recently... and, well, some that he hasn't but is getting around to!
This week he covers books in the "general" category, basically anything that isn't specifically about business. Next week he will cover the books on his business shelf.
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Jesse interviews a YNAB'er, nurse practitioner Naseema, about how she used YNAB and the four rules to pay off an extraordinary $200k of debt in just under two years, all while going through some tough life transitions.
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YNAB'er Elizabeth wrote into the podcast asking for clarification of Rule Three -- can you use it too often?
Simply put, If you aren't reaching your goals, Jesse says, you're misusing Rule Three. If you aren't saving the money you thing you should be saving, then Rule Three has become an escape hatch for your budget, instead of an empowering tool.
Scarcity is a powerful motivator for budgeting. Embracing the fact that you have limited dollars, and that you cannot rob from your future self to pay unexpected expenses today, means you will have to become comfortable saying "no."
If you'd like to write into the show, email Jesse your questions at podcast@youneedabudget.com.
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With everything that has transpired this year, we could all use some positive news. Today Jesse highlights a couple of positive stories from YNAB users who have managed to save money and stabilize their financial situation despite job loss and salary cuts due to COVID.
Follow the four rules, and things will get better. Budgeting isn't the end-all-be-all, it's not the solution for everything, but it will help you make your financial situation better. Budgeting simply works!
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In light of the terrible events that have transpired in 2020, YNAB is launching a new initiative to help those in need. YNAB is partnering with non-profit organizations that work with marginalized communities on personal financial and financial resource issues. YNAB is offering licenses for its software for free to these non-profits, so those in need can benefit from YNAB's powerful budgeting tools.
If you work for a non-profit or know of one who could benefit from this program, visit https://www.youneedabudget.com/good for more details and how to sign up for the program.
Jesse wraps up the Atomic Budgeting series, based on the ideas in James Clear’s book Atomic Habits, with a look into how our environment shapes our decision making.
The world is awash in advertisements — billboards, store displays, TV, YouTube, etc — which aim to subtly influence us to buy products and services. It’s hard to avoid them, especially when you spend time in areas or websites where targeted ads can pique your interests and potentially cause you to buy things you otherwise wouldn’t have sought out. Even our social groups can influence our purchasing decisions. Whether your friends and neighbors are conspicuous spenders or frugal, their collective habits will become the normal behavior in your social circle.
So the last step in “atomic budgeting” is to be aware of your environment, and choose your friends and social circles wisely.
“Join a community where the normal behavior is the behavior you want.”
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Jesse discusses James Clear's "laws" of how people make lasting changes to their behaviors and how they might apply to the YNAB'er looking to improve their budgeting habits.
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In the third installment of the atomic budgeting series, in which Jesse applies the principles in James Clear's book Atomic Habits to budgeting and personal finance, Jesse discusses the concept of becoming the person who has the traits you wish to have.
Typically when we think of making personal change, we set goals and then a process to achieve that goal. Yet, once we achieve the goal (if we do), does the change we made to achieve it continue on? Are the new habits long-lasting, or do we revert to our old ways? Too often, the latter proves true!
As Clear says, "every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become." If you want to become a person who is smart with money, who is rarely stressed with financial concerns, and budgets with ease... then you must start identifying yourself as that type of person. Then prove it with your actions.
If you're a weightlifter, you lift weights. If you're a writer, you write. You cannot be the person you claim to be without doing the things that type of person does. Budgeting is no different!
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Jesse continues with part two of the Atomic Budgeting series, applying the concepts in James Clear's Atomic Habits to budgeting and the pursuit of financial freedom.
One of the key concepts in Clear's book is focusing on building effective systems for achieving your goals, rather than on the goal itself. Goals are great things, but without a logical, replicable, and flexible system, you are unlikely to consistently achieve your goals.
YNAB's Four Rules comprise a simple, flexible, and replicable system for achieving the goal of freeing up financial resources to handle unexpected events and do more of the things you want to do in life. The Four Rules don't ask you to come up with a solid number of dollars to save each month, or a percentage; rather, they ask you to follow certain processes (like giving every dollar a job) that ultimately help you achieve the goal of saving money. By staying process-focused rather than goal or number focused, YNAB allows you "roll with the punches" and adjust as your life circumstances change and unexpected expenses arise.
So whether it's budgeting, improving your fitness, reading books, or something else, the next time you set a goal focus your attention on your system for achieving that goal, and learn to love the process!
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Jesse has become a fan of James Clear's Atomic Habits, in which Clear explains how small changes to your habits can build up to big changes in your life. Naturally, Jesse saw how atomic habits could work for budgeting too.
So for the next few weeks, Jesse will be covering several aspects of "atomic budgeting," starting with the power of compounding interest.
Atomic Habits by James Clear:
https://www.amazon.com/Atomic-Habits-James-Clear-audiobook/dp/B07RFSSYBH/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=atomic+habits&qid=1592096296&sr=8-2
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Jesse and the YNAB team are excited to announce a new service: financial wellness for businesses and their employees! For any company, big or small, YNAB will educate your employees on the most important yet often overlooked aspect of financial wellbeing… budgeting of course.
Financially stress-free employees are good employees. They are empowered, they have freedom to be creative in their life, and they are more productive as a result.
This is a FREE service for the business. You can find out more by going to:
https://www.youneedabudget.com/wellness/
The attentive gardener notices the small things. The way plants grow, flourish, and wither on a daily basis. He knows that weeds are easily dispatched when pulled daily. The gardener plays a long game, but sees each move in detail.
Budgeting is no different. The attentive budgeter notices small things, finds small efficiencies there, because she checks in often. She knows that it's easier to correct course when her budget is moving in the wrong direction, because she watches carefully and often. The daily reconciliation becomes a joy, not a chore.
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It's a common refrain in times of crisis. We must do something. But inaction is, in fact, always an option. Many times, especially when it comes to finances, it is a great option! Jesse reminds us that, in light of current economic conditions, it's perfectly OK to do nothing.
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There's something growing at the Mecham household... and it's in the backyard! Jesse confesses he spent a good portion of his paternity leave preparing a garden with a handful of chicks, fruit trees, and a garden full of asparagus, cantaloupes, and other goodies.
As always, while exercising his green thumb Jesse was thinking about budgeting. Immediate gratification is rare in the natural world. Nearly everything worth having takes time, effort, and care to grow and develop. Chicks need to be fed and kept safe and healthy before they can grow into egg-laying hens. Fruit trees take years before they bear their first fruits. Yet these things, once harvested, can be so much more satisfying than, say, a generic carton of eggs at the store.
Budgeting is no exception to the rules of Nature. Good things come to those who wait, and steward their money well. But the good things are worth it.
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After receiving several questions about what to do with windfall money during times of economic uncertainty (like these), Jesse tackles the topic in today’s episode. As always, but especially true nowadays, cash is king!
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Freshly returned from paternity leave, Jesse discusses how YNAB has handled the coronavirus pandemic as a company. As always, his focus and the company's focus has been on giving the best budgeting advice they can.
Additionally, the YNAB team has written articles exploring how people can weather the financial storm in the wake of COVID-19. You can read the blog entries here:
https://www.youneedabudget.com/blog/
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Jesse examines how the recent panic buying of food, home goods, and other staples highlights the intrinsic value of certain things that we take for granted. When demand for historically safe assets like bonds and gold falls, yet demand for household goods like flour and toilet paper soar, it shines some light on the practical value of things. In short, you can eat flour, but you can't eat a bar of gold!
In the future, Jesse encourages us to consider saving not only for future expenses and retirement, but also for some staples and basic goods for unexpected times.
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Jesse muses on the impact the coronavirus will ultimately have on people and their habits. When society reopens, will people return to their previous habits? Or will they grow, having spent their time in isolation examining themselves and their priorities, their Rule Zero?
Jesse hopes that people do use this time to reflect, to re-examine their life and rediscover their priorities, and, most importantly, write down the wisdom that comes from that process!
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Last week Jesse discussed the importance of Rule #1, giving every dollar a job. Rule one is always important, but in uncertain times like these it takes on renewed significance. Jesse has often talked about the rule before the rule, though, the so-called Rule Zero.
Rule Zero is understanding what's important to you, why you're bothering to give your dollars a job in the first place. At the end of the day, to what end are you budgeting? What's the purpose?
In the wake of the pandemic and economic woes gripping the country, consider whether the answer to Rule Zero has become clearer to you. Perhaps in these times you can find not only the resolve to budget like you've never budgeted before, but also to clarify why you're budgeting in the first place.
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With the world at a standstill due to the COVID-19 pandemic, one thing is certain. We’ve never budgeted at a time like this!
Jesse offers some comforting words in this time of crisis, and reminds us to follow Rule #1: Give Every Dollar A Job. Never stop budgeting. Even if it’s only a week ahead, a day ahead, staying engaged and continually planning will give you the best chance to survive financially in these times, and, eventually, thrive. Budgeting is one area of our lives that we can control, in the midst of so many things we cannot.
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At YNAB there is a document called the Vision Doc, which spells out the “commander’s intent” for the company, how to behave and act on the company’s behalf. Employees must make many decisions on a day to day basis, but with a clear commander’s intent they have the freedom to make those smaller decisions while adhering to the company’s greater goal.
It’s useful to develop the same commander’s intent for your budget. With a clear goal and aim for the budget, it becomes easier to make those small, day to day money decisions that, as we know, can add up to big dollars over the course of a year!
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Jesse reads an excerpt from the book The End of Average by Todd Rose. In the late 1940's the Air Force had a dangerous problem on its hands -- aircraft of all kinds were malfunctioning and crashing at alarming rates. The Air Force brought in scientist Lt Gilbert S Daniels to diagnose the problem. Daniels discovered that the Air Force had designed cockpits based on thousands of physical measurements taken from its ranks of pilots, then averaged. Daniels ascertained that despite the rigor and breadth of the measurements, not a single active pilot in the Air Force actually matched up with all the averages. In short, the Air Force had designed their planes around an average pilot that didn't actually exist, causing pilots to have trouble controlling their planes.
We can take a lesson from Lt. Daniels discovery when it comes to our budgets. It's tempting to come up with an average for each line item, and compare your budget to someone else's or perhaps even a regional or national "average." Designing your budget around averages may not actually fit your life, and, going back to Episode 420, may leave your budget rigid and inflexible.
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We often talk about the budget as if it’s a noun. Is it “in the budget”? Did you check the budget? When you treat the budget as a noun it takes on a rigid, inflexible quality, like the budget is set on stone tablets.
But what if we thought about “budget” as a verb? As an action, an activity, budgeting becomes a process, a thing which can change and evolve with each iteration.
Jesse discusses the importance of budgeting and not just setting a “budget.” Thanks to Hannah who shared this revelation in her video My 5 YNAB Beginner Mistakes on the YNAB YouTube Channel.
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Money is made to spend. We all want something, and that something usually costs money. Some of the “wants” are fleeting desires, spurred by mood or peer pressure or perhaps just a whim. Other “wants” are genuine desires and items or experiences that actually add value to your life.
Whichever it is, Jesse argues that you should wait. Wait before you buy anything, even the genuine wants. For one thing, waiting helps you parse out the genuine from the ephemeral.
Jesse keeps a running list of wants on his phone. If he wants something, he adds it to the list rather than buying it right away. If he still wants it when he checks the list again later, he buys it. Many times, however, he will find things on the list that he hasn’t thought about in a while, and that he really doesn’t want. So the list can act as a simple filter and a sanity check for purchases.
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There's a cliche in TV and film whenever something bad happens in a crowd of people, inevitably someone in the crowd shouts "why doesn't someone do something!" This is usually the cue for the superhero to enter stage right. We hear this sentiment all the time, not just in bad cinema, but in real life. Anytime a problem reaches a level of widespread concern -- whether it's a local neighborhood issue or a national one -- something must be done about it.
Some problems have no easy answers, and we often forget that inaction is a valid response. The same goes for our budgets! Not every budget problem can be solved right now. Sometimes you don't have the right information, or enough of it, to fix every issue in your budget. That's OK. Sometimes your budget is working just fine, and there's no reason to tinker with it. That's OK too. Don't fix it if it ain't broke!
Whatever your situation, remember doing nothing is still doing something.
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They are prepared for emergencies, for setbacks, for unexpected life changes. In fact emergencies don’t seem to happen as often to them. YNAB’ers are a lucky set, it seems, but maybe there’s more to the truth than a roll of the dice.
Survivorship bias is a logical fallacy in which you focus on a group of people or things that made it past a selection process, without considering those that failed. This bias can lead to a number of erroneous conclusions. In finance, survivorship bias occurs when evaluating the returns of, say, companies in a certain sector of the economy. If you only look at current technology firms, you might look at the technology sector and determine that it radically outperforms the market… but those same returns may look very different if you consider all the technology firms within the same time period that went bankrupt.
Survivorship bias appears everywhere in life, and YNAB’ers are no exception. At first glance it may seem like those in good financial health just didn’t have the same number of setbacks that those in poor financial health did. But maybe it’s not just luck. Maybe those with good financial health stay that way because they budget responsibly.
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In episode 411, Jesse decried the ubiquity of credit cards and the fact that they enjoy a number of benefits that plain old debit cards do not... at the risk of getting yourself in debt. Since then, he's learned of a few strategies for managing fraud risk with debit cards.
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Jesse admits he's got an itch to scratch. He likes to invest gamble in the stock market from time to time, using an app that allows him to trade at the swipe of a finger.
At least he's honest -- it's gambling with fun money, not investing. And that's the key. It's money he can afford to lose, and it's not much.
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Wealth is not a dirty word. After all, wealth can allow us to do many interesting and fulfilling things with our lives. At the very least, it provides options, opening up the range of possibilities before us. Simply put, wealth can allow us to live the life we want to live.
The only problem is that the accumulation of wealth is often followed by increasing expenses. Some of these are obvious -- a bigger, newer house usually costs more than a smaller, older one -- while others are insidious. A larger house requires more energy to heat and cool, more time and effort to clean and landscape, and more things to fill it up. That's just one example. We could say the same about cars!
Left unchecked, these growing expenses can once again eat into our wealth, robbing us of the optionality of wealth. As Thoreau once wrote, "he who owns little is little owned."
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Save money for known future expenses, or pay down debt? It's a challenge many people face while trying to eliminate their debt. It's a conundrum too -- you could take your savings and pay down debt now, or hold onto to those savings for the new tires you know your car needs next month, or the Christmas gifts you want to buy for the family. If you do that, though, the debt balance stays the same while you continue to pay interest...
Jesse argues that optionality is the key here. Obeying rule #2 -- embracing your true expenses -- means setting aside money for those known expenses and eventualities in your life. It's tempting to pay down as much debt as you can now, but setting aside cash for your true expenses gives you options.
What if your true expenses are bigger than you anticipated? What if you get hit with unexpected expenses on top of that? If you've set aside the cash, you are in a position to handle those expenses when they come. If you've already used the cash to pay down debt, then you won't have any to cover unexpected expenses. This makes you much more likely to put those on the credit card and then... now you are in debt again.
Jesse often meets people whose finances look like their diets -- they yoyo in and out of debt constantly. It's a mentally and emotionally draining prospect. But by giving yourself options, you can have it both ways. You can prepare to pay your true expenses in the future AND pay down debt. And you'll be more likely to stay out of debt, which is the ultimate goal!
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Also, go to https://www.youneedabudget.com/bootcamp/ to sign up for the YNAB Debt Bootcamp!
Jesse reflects on a Senate bill -- now signed into law as the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act -- which will require a greater amount of employers to offer 401(k) plans to employees. The new law also makes it easier for annuities to be included in 401(k) offerings by easing the fiduciary rules around fees and expense ratios.
401k) plans are excellent vehicles for saving for retirement because they allow employees to put away a lot of money every year -- up to $19,500 in 2020. Some employers offer matching on 401(k) contributions, further boosting savings rates.
However, the inclusion of more annuities in 401(k) plans has a darker motivation. Annuities typically charge higher fees than mutual funds and index funds -- sometimes a percentage point or more -- making them an inefficient and expensive way to save for retirement for most people. On the other hand, they are very profitable for insurance companies! Not surprisingly, insurance companies lobbied hard for the relaxation of fiduciary rules in the SECURE Act.
Just like Jesse discussed in last week's episode #411, wherever there are incentives, there are people making money. The wise investor follows the money!
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Also, go to https://www.youneedabudget.com/bootcamp/ to sign up for the YNAB Debt Bootcamp!
For better or worse (probably worse), credit cards are a major part of our financial world now. Cash is becoming less and less convenient to use every year, and debit cards continue to lack the same level of fraud protection that credit cards enjoy.
This isn't coincidence either. Jesse attended a "payments trends" conference in 2019, where the main topic was how to make payments easier, to remove as much friction as possible from the process of buying things. Why? Simply put, when you spend more money, more often, payment vendors make more money.
The problem is, you can't win the credit card game. Not only do payment vendors make money when you spend, the banks that underwrite credit card debt know (because they have studied human behavior) that when you swipe a credit card, you tend to spend more money. Credit card points and rewards are carefully designed to entice you to spend more money, because banks know that you will likely carry higher debt levels with a credit card.
So if you can't win the game, maybe the solution is just to opt out.
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Also, go to https://www.youneedabudget.com/bootcamp/ to sign up for the YNAB Debt Bootcamp!
It's time to blow it all up! Every January, Jesse takes time with his family to "blow up" his budget and all the assumptions that drive it. He takes a fresh look at the dollars in the budget, and starts to question everything.
Need to set aside $400 for a new set of tires in March? That's a responsible Rule #2 line of thinking. But the burndown is your chance to think deeper... do we even need a car? Could we sell it and ride our bikes to work instead?
This is your time to think big, re-evaluate your priorities and life goals, and then question everything about your money. Nothing should be off the table at this point, because you're just talking. In the process, you may discover that your priorities have shifted, and it's time to take some new steps with your budget.
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Also, go to https://www.youneedabudget.com/bootcamp/ to sign up for the YNAB Debt Bootcamp!
If you made it through the last few weeks, you know why Jesse hates debt and why you should too!
Start the New Year by putting those feelings into action. Jesse has created a "debt bootcamp" for YNAB users to help you get serious about getting rid of your debt for good. Best of all, it's FREE for all YNAB software subscribers.
The Debt Bootcamp will be an intense, 8-week challenge to get rid of as much debt as possible. The camp will be run through a private Facebook group where you can stay accountable with other YNAB'ers and share your successes and challenges.
Go to https://www.youneedabudget.com/bootcamp/ to sign up now!
The corporations are playing a game, and you can't win. So opt out and stop playing the game! In the part 4 of the "Why I Hate Debt" miniseries, Jesse explains how behind every credit card is a clever system of points, travel miles, and other "free" rewards designed to keep you spending and in debt.
Credit cards are a very profitable industry. Would banks and finance companies be giving away rewards if they weren't making a profit from it? Of course not! They've got the data, they've studied the statistics, and they know people will drive themselves into debt, where they can rack up fees and interest.
So join Jesse, stop playing the game, and start hating debt!
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Jesse hates debt, and you should too! In Part 3 of anti-debt miniseries, Jesse argues that debt is not just a drain on our cash flow and creativity, it also restricts our future opportunities!
The burden of debt keeps us from realizing our full potential in many ways -- starting a business, taking a lower paying job for more fulfilling work, moving to a new state or country -- often in the early phases of life when we are most energetic and open to growth.
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In Part 2 of the Why I Hate Debt miniseries, Jesse explains why debt is a non-negotiable for him, and why is should be for you too.
At 22 years old, trying to finish his Masters degree and expecting his first child, Jesse found himself caught between two non-negotiables: 1.) Living without debt, and 2.) Allowing his wife to quit work to focus on raising their child. The problem? They didn’t have enough money to last until Jesse started working his new job after graduation, even living a very frugal existence.
At this point, it would have been so easy to simply sign for a student loan to cover the shortfall. It was only about $7,000. Other students around him were borrowing far more. The interest rates were low, the payback period would be short… debt was the easy way out.
But choosing to borrow would have blinded Jesse to the possibility of another solution, another way to make up the shortfall. The constraints of his non-negotiables led him to start selling his budgeting spreadsheet, which eventually turned into You Need A Budget.
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Jesse hates debt, and you should too. Debt service constricts our cash flow, limits out ability to do other things like savings and investing, and generally introduces more stress into our lives. In this first part of a mini-series on debt, Jesse makes a case for living completely debt-free.
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Some of you may be thinking, YNAB sounds great, but what if I don't get a regular paycheck? How am I supposed to budget with that?
Well, first off, you definitely need a budget! Planning to fund your expenses in future months becomes more critical the more variable your income is.
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Jesse is thinking about launching a separate podcast to discuss small business, internet marketing, and how you can use YNAB to manage your business cash flow, and he wants to know what you think!
Would you be interested in a business-focused podcast? What kind of topics would you like to hear about?
Email Jesse at podcast@youneedabudget.com and share your thoughts!
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Jesse asks the most important question about your reasons for getting out of debt, saving money, and achieving your financial goals. Why?
Why do you do it? What's the reason behind the goals? If you could write a mission statement for your life, what would it say? Answering the simple question "Why?" might be the most important thing you do after you complete the blocking and tackling of paying off debt and building an emergency fund.
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"FI" is an acronym that has steadily grown in popularity over the last decade, though the concept is much older than that. It stands for financial independence -- some people call it early retirement (the longer acronym FIRE stands for financial independence, retire early) -- but the idea is simple. Live below your means, drastically increase your savings rate and accumulate enough wealth to "retire" or perhaps better said, until you can do what you want to do.
Time and savings rate are the key components of financial independence. What if you could save half of everything you make? What if you started doing that from the beginning? Jesse shares some lessons he's trying to instill in his kids as they take their first steps toward financial independence.
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It's common to set milestones for paying down debt. They're usually big, round numbers like $500, $1k, $5k, $10k. At the end of the day though, the goals are arbitrary. It's just a number, a stepping stone, toward the greater goal.
So if the day to day grind of fiscal responsibility is getting to you, change your milestones! Maybe it's $749, or $362.54. It's all arbitrary, right? Have fun with the game, and make it work for you. Set a new milestone -- whatever you like -- and celebrate when you reach that new number.
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How do you order your categories? What's on top? What's on bottom? And how did you decide that?
Categories are easy to order once you understand your priorities. Rent, utilities, food -- these are non-negotiable. You can and should, however, drill down into the details of each category and ask yourself whether you could live without some of the expenses in that category. You need utilities to live, clearly, but if pushed, what would you keep and what would you cut? Could you live without internet if you had to?
Once you understand which categories sit above the line (necessities) and which sit below the line, then you can total up how much you spend on "below the line" items. Then ask yourself: do you want any of this money to go to above the line items?
Try this exercise to clarify your budget and see whether your budget is in line with your priorities.
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Why do we become desensitized to the upticks in price of just about everything?
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"We could spend less if we wanted to."
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New feature alert: two factor authentication
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Everyone is getting into the lending money game.
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Jesse discusses payroll advance apps.
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Jesse discusses payroll advances in relation to age of money.
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Jesse goes back to basics and breaks down YNAB's Rule Four: Age Your Money
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Jesse goes back to basics and breaks down YNAB's Rule Three: Roll With The Punches
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Jesse goes back to basics and breaks down YNAB's Rule Two: Embrace Your True Expenses
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Jesse goes back to basics and breaks down YNAB's Rule One: Give Every Dollar A Job.
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How do we curb the immediacy bias with DIY?
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How many dollars are you sending to your retirement fund?
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Jesse reviews the automated investing app, Acorns.
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The rock solid measure of whether or not you're succeeding
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Jesse takes issue with a phrase we use when it comes to spending money on children.
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Jesse interview's authors and married couple Kristy Shen, Bryce Leung about their book—available today—Quit Like a Millionaire: No Gimmicks, Luck, or Trust Fund Required.
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One simple question—should you start your budget over?
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A follow up to episode 331, Sacreligious Budgeting.
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Data and the ideal budget.
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A follow up to episode to 365 on manually entering transactions.
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How is a budget like strength training?
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There are two sides to every slice of cheese.
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Simple benchmarks for budgeting progress
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A road trip, a Tesla and a story about Mr. Money Mustache
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Jesse interview's author Ramit Sethi about the update of his 10 year old book, I Will Teach You To Be Rich.
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Ladies and gentlemen, as we start this episode, please make sure your seat backs and tray tables are in their full upright position
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Stand up for your nonnegotiables.
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Tips for getting over the hurdle of learning to budget.
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A simple look at the approach to investing vs budgeting
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The upside to renting.
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How is a budget like swearing?
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We're introducing a new service!
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A message for the budgeting nerds
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Check out our book! - www.ynab.com/book
Jonathan and Miranda were college sweethearts with $52k in student loans. This is the story of how they paid it all off in just 21 months … and started their family.
A message for the free spirit budgeter
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A little behind the scenes at YNAB and Jesse asks listeners a favor
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When Tanya and her husband became parents for the first time, suddenly their financial priorities clicked into place—and, within just 12 months, they’d paid off $31,000 of debt so that they could truly enjoy life with their new son.
Taking another stab at entering transactions one at a time the old fashioned way.
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Siobhan came to YNAB looking for a solution to her debt—$60k+ in student loans and $16k+ in credit card debt. Flash forward, and she’s on track to pay the last $30k off by next year. What a difference a couple of years can make!
This is a tinfoil PSA ... perhaps
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Day-old money is stressful!
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Erin thought that she’d never be able to retire, much less do it comfortably on half of the amount than she previously thought ... but then she found YNAB.
How is a budget like a college football game?
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How is a budget like a visit from the in-laws?
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How is a budget like a clock?
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Jesse gets back to basic budgeting talk with a discussion on priorities.
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Chelsea and her husband had the wedding of their dreams in Hawaii ... then reality hit. They were $215,000 in debt! Find out how they teamed up to fix their finances.
Some advice on annual goals.
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This is a story of $9 salads and a $12,000 C-Section—and it’s proof that you can fix five-figure debt by paying attention to the little things. It all adds up
A technique to get those resolutions and goals to stick.
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Is there an opportunity this season for you to try something briefly unsustainable to reach a goal?
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December is a very busy month.
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Jesse interviews Dr. Ryan Law, professor of financial counseling at Utah Valley University. They discuss student loan debt.
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Breaking news: take a news break.
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Buy, buy, buy and find out why.
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Jesse encourages you to try a writing exercise this holiday.
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Pay yourself first ... and forever
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A simpler approach to big goals
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The problem with forecasting money you don't have yet.
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Subscriptions, subscriptions, subscriptions.
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There can be more to a purchase than the price tag
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What if you never had to buy another toaster again?
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Buy it once, never replace it and why.
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It's time for a, "Manual Intervention."
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Sometimes the slog is real, the motivation is waning and you are grinding. What do you do in those situations to keep your head above water?
Do you fear you've missed out on budgeting?
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Jesse talks with Mike Michalowicz, author of Clockwork: Design Your Business to Run Itself—a book about how to stop sacrificing family, friendships and freedom for the sake of your business.
Available Today
Budgeting is spending; nothing more, nothing less.
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How about a vacation from budgeting?
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It's ok if you and your partner don't think about money the same way
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She used to buy every gadget that crossed her path. Now, her cousin calls her “the Queen of Cheap.”—learn how Jennifer paid off all of her student loans and most of her credit card debt, and purchased her very first home in Chicago proper.
Find more information at http://ynab.com/debt-podcast
This family of four lives in Downsville, Utah. When her husband lost his accounting job, they turned to the credit card. When they hit a $15,000 balance, she discovered YNAB ...
Find more information at http://ynab.com/debt-podcast
This family of four in Marietta, Georgia, had racked up $263,000 of debt—a number that used to keep Brittany awake at night (and that was before the job losses). Still, they made it work.
Find more information at http://ynab.com/debt-podcast
He and his wife paid off $30,000 of debt in three years. It was all about choices—find out whether they picked air conditioning or Amazon Prime.
Find more information at http://ynab.com/debt-podcast
Jesse discusses a conversation he has with a friend about whether or not they should pay off their house.
He’s a pastor, and she’s a stay-at-home mom. With five kids and $30,000 in debt, stress levels were high. Find out how a spice jar solved their money problems.
Find more information at http://ynab.com/debt-podcast
Eating out can have a big impact on your budget. Are we spending too much on restaurants and takeout?
Find out how an IT business analyst from Kenton, Michigan, realized that it was cheaper to quit his job!
Find more information at http://ynab.com/debt-podcast
Angela’s family slowly sipped their way through to-go coffees until they’d reached a staggering $85,000 in debt. Just kidding, they bought a house and a pink Toyota, too. Find out how they paid it all off.
Why do we have people only budget what they have? Even in the surest of sure employment situations?
A mini-report one one of my New Year's resolutions, and what I've learned being blindly obedient.
What's the purpose of that fridge? Knife? Car? Bike? Boat? House? A stroll and ramble through this question of joy and material things.
Amazing what a little perspective shift gives you. Where do you get your perspective shifted?
That's right. If you're average (and you are), then you have a spending problem--not an income problem.
A Series of conversations with the real-life success stories featured in Jesse's new book, You Need A Budget—The Book, now available for pre-order!
A Series of conversations with the real-life success stories featured in Jesse's new book, You Need A Budget—The Book, now available for pre-order!
A Series of conversations with the real-life success stories featured in Jesse's new book, You Need A Budget—The Book, now available for pre-order!
A Series of conversations with the real-life success stories featured in Jesse's new book, You Need A Budget—The Book, now available for pre-order!
A Series of conversations with the real-life success stories featured in Jesse's new book, You Need A Budget—The Book, now available for pre-order!
A Series of conversations with the real-life success stories featured in Jesse's new book, You Need A Budget—The Book, now available for pre-order!
Set Some Rules. Have Fun. (And take advantage of our Black Friday deal --this year only!)
Is there such a good thing as good debt? Yes. Though it also can become bad if you aren't careful.
Maybe if we just didn't treat student loan as a viable option for paying for college...
Different partners may have different levels of budget materiality. What it is, and how to navigate it.
Our epic failure to be less granular, and how I'm getting back to it with our own personal budget.
Sometimes starting something as a beginner again is just what you need for reinvigorating the budget.
What are we doing when we water the sidewalk, but when we're really talking about budgeting?
A discussion of the book "What Doesn't Kill Us" and why I'm now taking ice cold showers.
An Interview with an author of a book that changed my life and is required reading for the entire YNAB team. Every year.
It turns out when you peel back the priorities onion, the core of it a lot of times is an experience, not an item.
Is it possible to just settle in with your stuff and avoid some of the churn involved in repeat purchasing?
Maybe you've only been budgeting a month. How's it going? What are some of the victories you've experienced?
In getting a reluctant partner on board with budgeting, you've got to play the long game.
Merry Christmas! I hope it was financially boring, but in every other way an exciting, restful, introspective time.
A shout-out to our support team that's teaching people to budget all through the holiday season!
A look back at 2016 (our craziest year ever). A look forward to 2017. At least the first quarter.
How the age of your money becomes even more important when your income has a wild side.
If the balance in your account has morphed into its own priority, do a bit of a sanity check.
How do you accomplish anything? Be thoughtful about what you want, and intentional about how to get it.
YNAB CCO, Todd Curtis, and I talk about couples and money, and why we recommend joining forces.
YNAB CCO, Todd Curtis, and I discuss an argument for (and solid research backing) the idea of simplifying.
YNAB Chief Customer Officer, Todd Curtis, and I discuss focusing on long term goals by looking at the here and now.
A report on our "Cash is King" budget where I talk about the ups and downs experienced so far.
What kind of identity do you have wrapped up in your car? Just something to think about.
The budget should force a "revisiting" of priorities without necessarily having your hand forced externally.
I talk with evidence-based investing advisor Matt Hall about, you guessed it, investing.
What if I dramatically reduce our categories so we hit our goals, classify all online purchases as "online" and use cash for everything else?
An interview with NYT bestselling author Ron Lieber about how to not raise spoiled kids...
There's a new feature in our latest version of the YNAB software, and we think you'll love it!
It's healthy and interesting to question all of your finances at least once a year. Here's why.
It's not about automating or not, it's about eliminating tedium, and increasing awareness.
College student with a big pile of loan disbursement: You're still broke. Please act like it!
Where Julie and I broadcast our budget meeting (unedited) to the world. Take from it what you can, if anything.
The past is in the past, but it still affects the future. Dealing with financial scar tissue.
We'll be following Carrie, a brand new YNABer, for an entire year! Learn as she learns.
The budget lets you let go of so much cognitive overhead. Free yourself from decision fatigue.
Spend money. And then spend money for your Bucket List items. A bit about YNAB's bucket list policy.
The point of having money is to spend it. Also, an attorney joke that takes most of the time.
You can choose to think the budget is a prison, or a vista of endless possibilities. It's your call.
High-ticket items deaden your sensitivity to spending amounts you would otherwise weigh carefully. Proceed with caution!
Don't be a slave to your data. Learn from it, and then focus on your priorities and goals moving forward.
Unless your hobby is credit card shenanigans, pick just one (maybe two) credit cards and call it good.
There's no value in the actual mechanics of paying your bill. Make it as easy as possible.
Question your financial scar tissue. Are all of those accounts still (really) necessary?
When budgeting with a partner... Rule 3 can be tricky. How do you deal with overspending together?
It's a therapy session folks! Gettingn down to the WHY behind money will bring you absolute clarity. It's Rule One.
When budgeting with a partner... keep it simple. You merged your lives—merge your finances.
When budgeting with a partner.... be clear about what you bring to the table. All of it. Debts, habits, passions, etc.
Budgeting with a partner (1st of a 7-part series): Be Clear About Priorities. Yours. Theirs. Y'alls.
The Android app looks great! It's available by the end of the day today for a free update.
Viewing money for what it represents seems to lend itself to a pretty healthy outlook on life.
Living within your means frees up cash for saving or getting out of debt, but it is so much more than just that.
Sometimes you've cut all you can cut, and it's time to increase the size of your shovel.
The one thing we don't talk about regarding debt, is that it kills scarcity. Scarcity helps you.
After a little YNABer feedback, I've decided to revise and extend my remarks on debt…focusing on good debt versus bad debt.
We talk a lot about priorities. here's my view on getting out of debt, as your single priority.
It's that age-old habit of humanity where we judge others quickly, but rarely examine our own insane behaviors.
There's no shame in it. If you've quit YNAB, get started again. We've made the restart easy.
A financial lesson learned in the Arizona summer heat, while picking blackberries for my dad, when I was ten.
When you're in emergency mode, suddenly every purchase is justifiable. How do you avoid this flawed thinking?
The title says it all. If you don't want to change it, maybe you don't need to track it.
When something financially unexpected happens, we all ask ourselves this same question. It's often seen as a negative, but let's turn that on its head.
We spent a week at Disneyland, and I learned a few things about questioning our assumptions.
| How to you change the status quo? Adopt an extreme behavior for a while, and let it teach you (in surprising ways) some new money lessons. |
| Sometimes in your excitement to start budgeting, you take the whole "categorization" thing a bit too far. No? |
Are you guilty of binging before you crack down? With dieting or budgeting, it's just not healthy
We discuss the opportunity cost of having a fat checking account because you're following the YNAB Way.
If you're running a business with YNAB, should you have it as a separate budget, or part of the same file?
Luckily, budgeting has nothing to do with the olympics. Take another run as often as you want.
YNAB has a great dollar-for-dollar value proposition, but the intangibles of budgeting are even better.
I think I save for its own sake, assuming there's something inherently good about saving "more," regardless of the fact that more remains undefined. Maybe I should relax.
YNAB had a banner year (thank you for telling your friends and family!). 2014 shall be the year of the status quo.
Since Julie took over the budget, things are green. Christmas is no different. We've been saving all year for it. It's exactly how you too, can have yourself a merry little Christmas.
This "loophole" isn't a loophole at all. It's actually a plain Jane tax planning strategy that can be employed by almost anyone, with even the most boring of tax returns. You can contact Casey directly at casey@wealthguardadvisors.com.
I've brought back my tax adviser, Casey Murdock, for another podcast. He should be your adviser too. We discuss the fringe world of tax credit and deduction phaseouts. You can contact Casey directly at casey@wealthguardadvisors.com.
Inspired by Mark's blog post over on the blog, we discuss the very true (albeit depressing) principle that once you finance something, everything else you purchase is also "financed."
I've handed the Budgetingi Reins over to my wife, Julie. She'll do a better job, and our relationship will be even better for it. Here what lead up to this, and why it's going to be awesome.
An interview with my favorite personal finance blogger, Mr. Money Mustache. He retired at 30 years old, and he and his wife and son live a luxurious life on just under $30,000 per year. THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PODCAST YOU WILL LISTEN TO THIS YEAR. :)
An interview with Jeff Rose, CFP and author of Soldier of Finance. You can snag a chance for a free copy by going to http://goodfinancialcents.com/ynabbook
My thoughts on cellphones, not just smartphones, and how we're being sold a bill of goods that's costing us money, and decreasing quality of life. And yes, I'm going for "dramatic" here.
Mark's blog post from a while back spurred this commentary. My thoughts on financial priorities regarding the big picture, longer-term stuff.
With your budget, especially for those just starting, just show up. Keep it simple, do what you're told, and…just show up.
Sometimes creation trumps consumption purely for its own sake; where you're satisfied on a personal level, even though the math doesn't work.
Sometimes the best way to start thinking about making extra income is to think small. Really small. Don't let visions of grandeur slow you down.
There are a few ways to apply Rule Two (Save for a Rainy Day) to your wildly fluctuating income situation. This also applies if you happen to receive windfalls, but are otherwise on a fairly steady income.
Your budget will never be perfect, because you're dealing with imperfect variables (people, external events, and bad data).
The key is to give them a taste of how good it feels to save up and pay for something. Positive, achievable, and life-changing.
(Holiday spending target - current category balance) / six months remaining = your monthly contributions for the rest of 2013.
There are three secrets to budgeting successfully on even the wildest of variable incomes. Here they are.
If you just decide things are great, maybe a monthly budget is a bit too frequent…how long would you last before the lack of frequency/familiarity left you sinking back into your old ways?
YNAB's (very successful) headline on the homepage sends the message of "control," but most people say they don't like budgets because they feel controlled. Which is it?
This is a quick riff on how you could (quite easily) handle accounts receivable in YNAB.
This should probably just be a replay of my interview with Leo from ZenHabits.net. The key to money (and probably everything else in life) is to be happy in the moment.
Your "Miscellaneous" category is a black box of spending. Is that spending a reflection of your values? Or are you being lazy? And should you care anyway? We discuss :)
Having the choice to create a taxable event (or avoid one) is extremely powerful when it comes to minimizing your life's single biggest expense.
I take a few minutes to explain how we use YNAB with the kids. We have five kids, so there's proof that it scales.
Anyone can keep pace when the treadmill is level, you're not carrying any extra weight, and the speed is slow. But what happens when Big Events change that? What drove you to the point where you thought, "We need a budget!?"
What causes discontent with money? What influences how you spend your money, what you value, and whether you're truly happy?
I interview my favorite Behavior Designer of all time, BJ Fogg of the Standford Persuasive Technology Lab. BJ and I discuss key principles for creating lasting, positive behavior change in your life. You'll love this.
Savings without purpose is savings frittered away. Make sure you're saving with purpose!
An interview with my tax advisor, and the author of Tax Insight, Casey Murdock. He's a tax genius, and he saved me 20k in taxes a few years ago. Case closed!
I get to interview a fellow man-cave enthusiast and personal finance blogger who writes one of my favorite money blogs: BudgetsAreSexy.com. Of course I'd like it.
More about our car purchase from December. Now that the dust has settled, here's what's really freaking me out.
I'm pleased to announce the launch of "YNAB Works!" A Home Study Guide+DVD Video package for schools, clients, kids of awesome parents, employees…basically anyone you care about :)
Instead of takling about how we budget, which is just how I teach, and nothing special. I wanted to discuss everything else financial, how and why I do the things I do, and let you then draw your own conclusion. I'm no expert on this, butit may give you some ideas.
Are you finances managed with the future in mind? Where YOU could sleep through anything?
I have two rules when it comes to buying a car. Don't buy new, and don't finance it. Broke both of those.
When you're in a job you don't like, there's friction, because you're not spending your time doing something you love. When your money's misbehaving, there's friction. Because your money isn't doing things you love.
My interview with Joe Mihalic, who paid off $90,000 of debt in 7 months, because he got intense, got focused, and made it happen. You can catch Joe's book on Amazon (for $2.99) called Destroy Student Debt - a Combat Guide to Freedom.
What will your holiday season look like 13 months from now? And why am I making you think about it?!
I'm throwing down here. Not really. Did a major, MAJOR closet cleaning, and it feels GREAT!
In this interview, I speak with Linda I (psuedonym), a Debtor's Anonymous participant. The program deserves a serious look if you, or someone you know, has a serious debt addiction.
It turns out that protecting yourself from Identity Theft doesn't mean you have to give up Facebook (whew), or stop shopping online (whew, love me some Amazon Prime). I interview Robert Siciliano, an ID Theft Expert, and he basically put me at ease on the whole situation.
My little brother got his wings from the Air Force this weekend, and on the tour, I got to see an air traffic control room. Guess what it reminded me of?
If you're like most (and you probably are), you're driving too much car. Consider how it just might be keeping you from the financial goals you REALLY care about.
This is epicly long. My first goal with YNAB was to make our $350 rent. And now in 2011 we were Utah's 9th fastest growing company. Who…woulda…thought.
I love what Jon Stein's doing over at Betterment. If you're afraid of investing, you should listen to this. If you want to be lazy about your investing, you should listen to this.
If I ever start another company, it will be to make a toaster so well-built, you'll pass it on to your grandkids. Has the "cheaper is better" skewed our instincts that used to follow the law of the harvest?
What's your retirement savings rate? Have you started saving for retirement? What aspects of your retirement nest egg are actually in your control?
Todd was a panelist at FinCon12, where the topic was the new retirement. I was impressed by Todd's analytical approach, and approachableness (is that a word?) on the topic. He also managed to find financial freedom by age 35. And by "find", I mean work his tail off to get there.
I LOVED doing this interview! Leo really helped me think through priorities, gaining clarity, and determining what matters. I'm more zen-like because of it :)
The study says $70,000 and it's gotten me thinking about downsizing. Not the house really, just in general. Though nothing's off the chopping block just yet.
I interivew Jill Pollack, an organization expert, and host of "Consumed", a one-hour de-cluttering/life-changing TV show for HGTV Canada. She shares some great tips on finding some breathing room with your stuff!
As part of the #LifeAware Life Insurance Movement, I bring on special guest, Jeff Rose, Cerftified Financial Planner, founder of Alliance Wealth Management, and blogger at GoodFinancialCents.com.
You may make "good money", but you don't feel like you're getting ahead. You just don't think you're gaining any traction. You may not have a good grasp on your True Expenses.
I set out to have Dan talk about pursuing your passion, and it ended up turning a bit into my own personal coaching session! Dan Miller is a best-selling author, speaker, and career coach. We discuss careers, goals, passions, and more.
If you carry a credit card balance from month to month, your credit cards should be destroyed. If you're operating by YNAB's 4 Rules, Credit Cards offer some advantages.
I interview Joe, a motivational speaker that was motivated to change his finances for the better. He's also started using YNAB in a very unique way -- and it has nothing to do with money!
I'm no marriage counselor, but I do sell for a living, and I think you have to sell your Spouse on budgeting.
There's always lots of talk about your "nest egg" in retirement…and lots of sexy-sounding words when it comes to investing (ETF! Diversification!) but the most important number is the one that's never talked about.
New software is great (and YNAB 4 really is great), but the software isn't the reason YNAB works.
I returned from a 50-mile backpacking trip in a fairly remote area of Utah. Of course every single thing I experienced can be tied back to budgeting. Because budgeting is awesome.
Bill has been using YNAB for three years, along with Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover method. They're debt free, and are working to pay down their mortgage as fast as possible.
Prepping for a 50-mile hike is a lot like the monthly budget meeting. This topic is oozing metaphors.
Kind of hesitant to share this, because up until now I haven't made it public. But what the heck. The key for me paying my home off before I turned 30 was incessant focus, and long hair.
Will has been using YNAB for about five months and, since he only had nice things to say about it, I thought he made a great success story ;)
More things change, the more they stay the same. Banks want you to borrow money--badly. And there are some interesting developments in the Personal Finance Management (PFM) space to help you do just that. Here's a heads up.
What's the harm in starting over? What are some good reasons to hit the 'reset' button, and when should you keep on truckin'?
A rambling discussion of accounts, categories, cash, and just trying to do everything you can to simplify your budget process, while still deriving all of the benefit it provides.
When backpacking, you don't eat all of your food the first day. When you receive a paycheck, you don't spend all of your money the first day either. Also, handling a wildly variable income.
This church out of Idaho has been using YNAB as part of their bible study groups -- for SIX YEARS. I have a long conversation with them about how it's helped them, what they'd like to see improved, and tacos.
When it rains, it pours, right? Sometimes that's our own doing (and demise). Financially speaking, of course.
If you're not operating in reality, you don't know what you want. If you don't knowo what you want, you won't get it.
Your budget has a boiling point. Dial it back a few notches so you can stick to your budget for the long haul.
I talk with Mason (who created our podcast bump music) about how his finances are now rockin' with YNAB.
Five minutes trying to convince you that adjusting your budget is not only correct, it's a best practice.
The debt snowball is tried and true, but what's the debt snowflake? It's more effective than it sounds :)
Automation is a two-edged sword. Used wisely, it will revolutionize your finances. Used poorly, it will do nothing for you (it may even hurt you, in a financial way).
Taxes are your life's single biggest expense. Cozy up with the tax code and minimize as if your financial life depended on it!
A YNAB success story interview with Brian from Portland. We wax philosophical about present you, and future you (Rules One & Two), and Brian talks about his transition from Quicken.
Baker and his wife had an epiphany the night their daughter was born. With the answer to one simple question, they found freedom. This will get you thinking!
"Simple ways to stop doing dumb things with money" is the tagline of Carl's book, "The Behavior Gap". Stop doing dumb things when it comes to investing? I'll take one of those please!
Erin Lowell, YNAB's head of Education, jumps onto the program to introduce our new New Year's Crash Course. One more way to help you get this money thing done RIGHT.
I interview Sheridan from Orange County, California. She's now been using YNAB for 2.5 years, and won't be going back to Quicken any time soon!
I relate my experience with BJ Fogg's 3 Tiny Habits program, and how that ties in so beautifully to budgeting--specifically staying on top of recording your transactions.
A few words on Christmas, why January's so important to your Christmas spending, and weak reports. Also, a hat tip to the best report of all.
One of the more embarrassing moments of my teenage years taught me a great lesson about budgeting, breathing, and the crushing effects of five pounds.
An interview with Brian from Massachusetts, a freelance video editor, that now feels content--even with a large drop in income.
Lavish spending. Your budgeting indulgence. No judgement here, as long as it's purposeful and done with total awareness.
The basics of Rule Two (Save for a Rainy Day), and then how you combine Rules One and Two to begin making VERY good financial decisions. This episode will answer the question you may have asked yourself, "I make enough. Why aren't I getting ahead?"
Wait, I thought we were budgeting. What's all this talk about goals, mini-goals, and habits? Yeah, you're not budgeting. You're becoming an unbelievably effective goal setter/reacher.
70% of people live paycheck to paycheck, but did you know the interesting part of that statistic that isn't often quoted? It will surprise you, and perhaps spur you on to decide that $1000 is the new $0. Rule Four, "Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck" is discussed as it relates to doing hard things :)