Budget Nerds

On today's episide Ben and Ernie welcome another Ben to the show -- Ben Markley, host of YNAB's Sketchy Advice series on YouTube. Ben has a reputation for striking metaphors and thought provoking ideas about money and putting YNAB's principles into daily practice, and today he shares some of his favorite ideas, including: Why you should go ahead and buy that latte YNAB is really just an elaborate...

Ben and Ernie get a handful of recurring questions that aren't quite big enough topics to make into their own episode, but nevertheless deserve to be answered! In today's show, they tackle some of those questions, including: What does Ben mean when he talks about the "matchy matchy game?" Helping kids learn to budget Should you have separate categories for kids' expenses? Tracking investments in t...

The Budget Nerds have covered the spending habits of a lot of married folks with families, but what about the single people out there? In today's episode, Ben and Ernie speak with Jasmin Green, a PhD student in the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis. Jasmin is an avid YNAB'er, who credits the methodology with keeping her bank account in order during the financially challenging years of gradu...

Getting a month ahead with your money is a milestone for many YNAB'ers. Being a "month ahead" means that when the first of the month hits, all your bills and expenses for that new month are already paid for -- the money for them is sitting in your bank account, and assigned to the respective categories in YNAB, waiting to cover those costs. And boy does it feel good!   In today's episode, Ben and...

Today Ben and Ernie are joined by returning guest and YNAB Lead Educator, Erin Lowell, who posed the idea of thinking bigger with your money. Many people come to YNAB seeking a way to escape the paycheck to paycheck cycle, pay down debt, build an emergency fund, and reduce their stress and anxiety around money. These are wonderful goals! However Erin reminds us that there are things you can do wit...

It's a common story: a person finds YNAB and starts using the software, only realize months (sometimes years) down the road that they weren't actually following the YNAB method . They were just tracking expenses using YNAB's software. Tracking expenses is not a bad thing -- tracking brings awareness of your spending habits and where your money and energy is going -- but the magic of YNAB is in the...

Ben and Ernie chat with Jeremy Schneider, an entrepreneur turned personal finance teacher who aims to demystify the confusing world of investing with simple, unbiased information. In his early 20's, Jeremy founded an internet startup and ran it for 12 years, never taking home more than $36k/year -- while living in San Diego, CA! This experience required him to get surgical with his spending, and d...

Ben and Ernie open their inboxes for another mega round of YNAB wins -- stories from YNAB users about positive outcomes, reduced stress, and newfound confidence with their money. In today's mega episode, they have broken up the wins into several themes: Partner wins Gaining control Getting a month ahead Paying down debt Clarity Stress reduction Building confidence Simplifying Priorities Saving   S...

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 ru...

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,...

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...

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 sys...

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 Ass...

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 w...

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 l...

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! budgetnerds@ynab.com  ...

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 me...

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 cha...

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! budgetnerds@ynab.co...

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! budg...

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 shou...

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,...

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...

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 c...

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 spendi...