The Jesse Mecham Show

Discover how to handle increased expenses in your budget and roll with the punches emotionally. Learn from Ben's experience renovating a bathroom and find out how he keeps his spirits up when plans have to be put on hold. Explore rising child care expenses, unexpected setbacks, and the importance of staying positive and disciplined in budgeting.

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!     Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: askjesse@ynab.com   Follow Ben and Ernie on the Budget Nerds Podcast Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/budget-nerds/id1606054345 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0H1u8pqYrvz6zj6noHbkB3?si=fc181a82b8d540a6   Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

Explore the evolution of YNAB's Four Rules over the years, from a simple spreadsheet to an essential budgeting method. Learn about the correlation between rule three and four, the concept of aging your money, zero-based budgeting, and the rule about mistakes and paying yourself back. Discover the personal anecdotes about the embrace of the rules and the importance of timing in spending. Dive into the current rules including giving every dollar a job, embracing true expenses, rolling with the punches, and aging your money.

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.   Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: askjesse@ynab.com   Follow Ben and Ernie on the Budget Nerds Podcast Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/budget-nerds/id1606054345 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0H1u8pqYrvz6zj6noHbkB3?si=fc181a82b8d540a6   Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

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.   Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: askjesse@ynab.com   Follow Ben and Ernie on the Budget Nerds Podcast Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/budget-nerds/id1606054345 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0H1u8pqYrvz6zj6noHbkB3?si=fc181a82b8d540a6   Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

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.   Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: askjesse@ynab.com   Follow Ben and Ernie on the Budget Nerds Podcast Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/budget-nerds/id1606054345 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0H1u8pqYrvz6zj6noHbkB3?si=fc181a82b8d540a6   Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

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.   Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: askjesse@ynab.com   Follow Ben and Ernie on the Budget Nerds Podcast Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/budget-nerds/id1606054345 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0H1u8pqYrvz6zj6noHbkB3?si=fc181a82b8d540a6   Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

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.     We want to hear your YNAB stories! Please take a moment to tell us about your biggest budgeting wins here: https://youneedabudget.typeform.com/ynaber-stories     Follow Ben and Ernie on the Budget Nerds Podcast Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/budget-nerds/id1606054345 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0H1u8pqYrvz6zj6noHbkB3?si=fc181a82b8d540a6   Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

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.   We want to hear your YNAB stories! Please take a moment to tell us about your biggest budgeting wins here: https://youneedabudget.typeform.com/ynaber-stories     Follow Ben and Ernie on the Budget Nerds Podcast Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/budget-nerds/id1606054345 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0H1u8pqYrvz6zj6noHbkB3?si=fc181a82b8d540a6   Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

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.   We want to hear your YNAB stories! Please take a moment to tell us about your biggest budgeting wins here: https://youneedabudget.typeform.com/ynaber-stories     Follow Ben and Ernie on the Budget Nerds Podcast Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/budget-nerds/id1606054345 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0H1u8pqYrvz6zj6noHbkB3?si=fc181a82b8d540a6   Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com