Budget Nerds

Ben and Ernie talk to the man himself, Jesse Mecham, about his new book Never Worry About Money Again, which just hit the New York Times Bestseller list. In this book, Jesse distills the YNAB ethos into one simple question -- what does your money need to do? -- and demonstrates the variety of ways that question can be answered, and what that reveals about a person. This process of questioning aims to help someone understand more about themself, and, by aligning spending with their values, put more of themselves out into the world. That is the essence of YNAB, and the reason why Jesse wrote this book. Order Never Worry About Money Again: https://www.neverworryaboutmoneyagain.com/ Follow Budget Nerds on YouTube Budget Nerds Livestreams: https://www.youtube.com/@YNABofficial/streams Budget Nerds Episodes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuIUGmbCDklkDCDm-cQqv2g Share your YNAB win with Ben and Ernie! [email protected]

A conversation about what it really means to become skilled with money. They treat money as a learnable practice of prioritizing every dollar and repeating that decision each paycheck. Discussion covers how budgeting turns fights into planning, builds sinking funds to tame surprises, and shifts spending from guilt to joyful alignment with values.

They answer a YouTube YNAB tag with twelve quick questions about how they found the app and what convinced them to stay. They compare category counts and unusual tracking items like burial plots and batteries. They talk savings goals from braces to renovations and reveal their current "age of money" numbers. They name channels they tag to keep the YNAB conversation going.

Ben and Ernie are back with a Q&A episode, answering questions about YNAB from podcast listeners and YouTube viewers. In this episode, they discuss travel tips for funding vacations and keeping vacation expenses organized in the moment. They talk about how the new photo feature and bulk editing features can be used to preserve important memories as well as information about your travels. The Nerds also explore how YNAB can simplify tax preparation with a little planning (and sometimes a separate plan if you own a business). They answer questions about debt paydown while still working towards getting a month ahead on expenses, as well as the other side of the coin -- what do you do after everything is funded, you're a month ahead or more, and you're asking yourself: "what next?" Follow Budget Nerds on YouTube Budget Nerds Livestreams: https://www.youtube.com/@YNABofficial/streams Budget Nerds Episodes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuIUGmbCDklkDCDm-cQqv2g Share your YNAB win with Ben and Ernie! [email protected]

Live walkthrough of categorizing recent transactions and approving imports together. Tips on handling reimbursements, splits, and overspent categories. Strategies for splitting big store orders using order history and managing subscriptions and recurring groceries. Demonstrations of one-month-ahead assigning and daily reconciliation routines. Community check-ins and shared YNAB wins.

A live walkthrough of personal transactions and real-time budgeting with YNAB. They explain how they will categorize spending and move money to cover overspending. Listeners are invited to follow along on YouTube and bring their own YNAB app to ask questions.

A tour of sixteen useful but easy-to-miss YNAB tools. They demo mobile Income vs Spending, attaching photos to transactions, and hiding amounts for privacy. Learn about selecting transactions for totals, raw bank import details, and merging categories. Discover retailer order-history links, auto-distribute for splits, Siri/Spotlight category lookups, and auditing who moved money.

They share 22 real YNAB wins that brought clear-headed money decisions, calmer reactions to crises, and better preparedness for emergencies. Stories show people choosing cash flow over interest, funding vacations and repairs without debt, and using sinking funds to survive furloughs. Several accounts reveal stronger relationships and peaceful planning during major life events.

A lively take on whether to patch quick money fixes or rebuild lasting financial habits. They compare band-aid tactics like credit cards and buy-now-pay-later to deliberate systems such as one-month-ahead budgeting and saving for irregular expenses. Practical topics include reworking category groups, job-loss funds, calendar hacks, and why steady habits beat bursts of willpower.

They revisit favorite YNAB features and why those small rituals still matter. Reconciling accounts and manual bank checks get ritual praise. Using fill-up targets and overfunded views to reclaim money gets practical love. Exploring Cost to Be Me, assigning into future months, and available amounts shows how budgeting choices reveal lifestyle costs. YNAB as a searchable system of record gets highlighted.