The Jesse Mecham Show

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   Be sure to subscribe and post a comment for a chance to win an iPad!  

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