YNAB is well known for the Four Rules, or what many YNAB'ers are now calling the Four Habits, which describe the process of gaining control of your money and learning to spend with joy rather than shame or regret. The Four Rules are: Give every dollar a job Embrace your true expenses Roll with the punches Age your money In today's episode, Ben and Ernie discuss a concept that is implicit in the rules, but perhaps should be it's own rule -- find the money first! Findng the money first means...

In today's episode, Ben shares a story about swimming at the YMCA. One of Ben's favorite forms of exercise is swimming laps at his local YMCA, and while it's a great solitary form of exercise, sometimes you can't help but notice how your pace compares to others in the pool. One day Ben started swimming laps only to notice an older lady absolutely hauling in another lane. Which was... discouraging, to say the least. However, as she was exiting the pool Ben noticed she was wearing swim fins,...

Ben and Ernie respond to a recent survey reported by Jill Schlesinger on CBS Morning about American's 2024 financial resolutions. The top responses: save more money (41%), pay down debt (38%), and spend less (30%). BORING! Ben rants about why "spending less money" is not a good financial plan, and Ernie highlights the importance of putting a why behind goals like paying down debt. There's nothing wrong with paying down debt, of course, but to be successful, and to to truly practice the YNAB...

In today's episode, Ben and Ernie discuss what to do with cold, hard cash money. For many YNAB'ers debit and credit card spending fits nicely into the YNAB paradigm, since YNAB can interface directly with financial institutions and pull online banking data. Cash transactions, on the other hand, can create a stumbling block since they exist outside the easily trackable, traceable online banking system. Some decide to just not track cash at all. Cash is money, however, and it probably should be...

The short answer is yes. But why? Ben and Ernie dig into the reasons why giving every dollar a job is essential to creating a stress-free life around money. As Ben explains, the point of YNAB is to ruthlessly root out self-delusion, and be honest about both what you want your money to do for you and what tradeoffs you will have to make to accomplish that.   When you leave money in the Ready to Assign category, you are putting off making decsions about tradeoffs, and thus obfuscating the...

Rule Two of YNAB's Four Rules is "embrace your true expenses." True expenses are expenses that may not be regular, but are a normal part of life: new tires, HVAC repairs, emergency doctor visits. Sometimes they are expected -- every car and house will need repairs eventually -- and sometimes they are unexpected, like a trip to the emergency room. All the same, we usually end up cursing them when we have to pay up!   In today's episode, Ben and Ernie invite you to change your thinking about...

Ben and Ernie invite Kath Younger, Registered Dietitian and popular nutrition and wellness blogger, onto the show to discuss how her health journey led her to seek financial health and wellness. Kath started her blog katheats.com in 2007 to record her experiences exploring healthy foods and healthier eating habits, and has now expanded to cover natural beauty products as well as lifestyle topics like fitness and motherhood. In 2016, Kath began using YNAB and started improving her financial...

Behind every rule, there's a habit. In today's episode, Ben and Ernie explore YNAB's Four Rules, but in the context of the habits they build. After all, budgeting well is not so much about following (or breaking) hard rules, but rather consistently following certain habits, to help you plan and make better tradeoffs with your money.   Share your YNAB wins with Ben and Ernie! [email protected]   Follow Budget Nerds on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuIUGmbCDklkDCDm-cQqv2g

Through 80 episodes (and counting!), passionate YNAB'ers have been sharing their personal finance wins, big and small, with Ben and Ernie. Whether it's paying off debt, handling an emergency expense, or simply feeling more relaxed and at peace about money, we cherish each win and love to put a spotlight on them all. In today's episode, Ben and Ernie catch up on their backlog of YNAB wins with a mega episode of stories from YNAB'ers across the globe and from all walks of life.   Ben and...

What if... saving money wasn't actually a thing? Crazy, right?! Well, if you subscribe to YNAB's philosophy -- the Four Rules -- then money is properly understand as a spending tool. The whole point of money, and your budget, is to plan how to spend your money. Savings is really just money that you plan to spend later, whether it's three days later at the grocery, three months later for an oil change you know you need to get, or thirty years later when you retire from the workforce!   Ben...

Ben and Ernie went live on YouTube on November 29, 2023 to answer questions, share their budgets, and nerd out about YNAB. This bonus episode is a rebroadcast of the YouTube live, which you can find by following the link to the YouTube channel below.   Link to Q&A on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/live/BR8-jcK-9xA?si=Ied1f-fgnHTjF9G8   Share your YNAB wins with Ben and Ernie! [email protected]   Follow Budget Nerds on YouTube: ...

Set your reminders, Ben are Ernie are going live on the YouTube channel today at 3:00pm EST. They'll be answering your questions and getting nerdy about finances, so join in! If you are tuning in after the Q&A, you can still watch the replay -- just go to the Budget Nerds YouTube channel in the link below.   If you want to send them a question to answer during the Q&A, send it via email here! [email protected]   Follow Budget Nerds on YouTube: ...

Everyone spends on impulse from time to time, even the most staunch adherents to frugality. According to a new study funded by YNAB, 94% of Americans admit to impulse spending. It's common nowadays to "treat yo'self" after a hard day, for instance. But is impulse spending a bad thing? Not necessarily! If your spending is aligned with your values and priorities, then spending should be fun. It should bring you joy. And with a good spending plan, it doesn't have to wreck your finances either! ...

The credit card float, as it has been termed, is the situation in which a person is reliant on the month-long grace period of the credit card to meet their obligations. In other words, they spend money now with a credit card, which they pay off later when their paycheck comes in. A person in this situation may pay off their card in full each month and never pay interest! But the fact remains that, if they are on the float, they are in debt -- they do not have the cash to handle their current...

As the principal budget nerds at YNAB, Ben and Ernie have seen their fair share of elegant budgets, but the one featured in today's episode might take the cake for the most refined of all time! Long time YNAB'er and bona fide budget nerd Lee Bond joins the podcast to discuss his history of using YNAB, his category structures, his unique use of "transfers," and his various adventures trying to push the boundaries and break YNAB.   Lee has thought through every category and transaction with...

Forecasting is kind of a dirty word at YNAB, because the Four Rule are all about budgeting the dollars you have now, and not counting on future dollars that haven't arrived yet. However, it's still useful to plan for future expenses, and understand how the timing of those expenses will affect how much money you need to set aside each month to cover them when they come due. Expense timing can be complex, too -- some things hit weekly, biweekly, monthly, others hit at odd intervals like every 3...

Ben and Ernie share insightful comments from a recent conversation in the YNAB Fans Group on Facebook in which one YNAB'er asked: what's one benefit to using YNAB that surprised you? YNAB is of course all about getting your money straight, but the reality is that when you get your money right, other aspects of life tend to follow suit. After all, getting your money right means alinging your spending with your values.   Whether it's improved friendships and marriages, reduced stress and...

YNAB is all about giving dollars a job, but what about your time? Ben and Ernie poke at the edges of common budgeting practices in YNAB to determine what is really necessary, and what can be thrown out in the name of efficiency and time management. It's a fun exercise -- and often insightful -- to take practices or "rules" that you take for granted and tear them down to see how essential they are to the task of budgeting.   Share your YNAB wins with Ben and Ernie! [email protected]   ...

Long time YNAB'er and Lead Educator at YNAB, Erin Lowell, shares her experience paying off her mortgage using YNAB principles.   Mortgage Professor loan calculator http://www.mtgprofessor.com/ext/home2.aspx     Share your YNAB wins with Ben and Ernie! [email protected]   Follow Budget Nerds on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuIUGmbCDklkDCDm-cQqv2g

Ben and Ernie interview fellow budget nerd and YNAB power user Gabi Bradley. Gabi is a busy mom balancing work, family, and changing financial obligations (including daycare!). She shares her unique category structure, which she assembled using various strategies outlined on Heard It from Hannah and Budget Nerds, and how her family uses the budget to handle their ever-changing financial needs.     Share your YNAB wins with Ben and Ernie! [email protected]   Follow Budget Nerds on...

Ben and Ernie discuss the exciting possibilities of a powerful new feature in YNAB called "Focused Views." Focused Views allow you to see a subset of your categories depending on what you want to learn, analyze, or review. Sometimes you just want to drill down on a particular  piece of your budget to understand what's going on with your money -- like consistently underfunded or overfunded categories. Or maybe you want to share the most important parts of the budget with your parnter without...

Ben and Ernie share their different strategies for applying Rule Four -- aging your money -- and specifically budgeting for the month ahead. Ben budgets for the next month in real time, allocating paychecks to categories in the next month on the calendar. Ernie, on the other hand, uses a holding category to park dollars that will be applied to the next month, and waits until the beginning of the month to actually allocate thoses dollars. They debate the pros and cons to each approach, and...

Ben and Ernie discuss YNAB's Four Rules, and whether they can be applied to other areas of life outside the budget. As it turns out, yes they can! Whether it's Ernie's favorite pasttime (lawncare) or Ben's devotion to good systems, the Four Rules tap into some universal principles of effective resource management that can be applied to a wide range of things in life.   Share your YNAB wins with Ben and Ernie! [email protected]   Follow Budget Nerds on YouTube: ...

Ben and Ernie return to their nerdy roots and talk memos today, all about that little field in the transactions next to the category and balance. Turns out, the memo field can be used in many clever and creative ways to add more utility and depth to your budget, whether it's tracking important purchase information such as serial numbers, or tracking how many times you bought gifts or spent time with friends and family. Using memos can help your budget tell a more complete story of how you...