Budget Nerds

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...

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! budgetnerds@ynab.com   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.    ...

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 categori...

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 m...

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 Be...

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 wi...

YNAB is not like other budgeting methods. Rule Four is "age your money" and it encourages folks to spend last month's earnings on this month's expenses, thereby breaking the paycheck to paycheck cycle in which so many find themselves stuck. Many YNAB'ers work diligently toward getting a month ahead of their expenses, budgeting the dollars they currently have in the bank account for expenses due in...

Budgeting is pretty fun already... if you're a budget nerd. But what's even more fun than reconciling your account, or assigning that fresh pay check that just hit your account? Making a game out of it! Ben and Ernie discuss the various ways they have "gamified" YNAB, to have some fun with the process, to hit stretch goals, and to improve their spending decisions and willpower when funds in a cert...

Ben and Ernie tackle the topic of paying off debt, with a different bent than the typical personal finance podcast or blog. Where many sources focus on paying debt off at all costs, using extreme measures or simply throwing every dollar at debt, Ben and Ernie prefer a paydown approach which focuses on your priorities. What is most important in your life? Find a way to continue doing those things,...

Ernie is hosting a live "Budget with Me" session on the Budget Nerds YouTube channel. Ernie will be sharing his actual budget and demonstrating his process for budgeting his April paychecks.   The livestream will air on May 1, 2023 at 7:00pm Eastern here: https://www.youtube.com/live/AAAgGHPlC3k?feature=share   If you missed it, you can still view the recording of the livestream on the Budget Nerd...

It's Ben's turn! Ben shares a whopping 84 categories from his budget on today's show, from "BMI" to "sundries" (Ben's favorite word).   Ernie will be budgeting LIVE on YouTube with his actual April paychecks, to show you his budget and his process. You can catch the livestream on May 1st at 7:00pm Eastern here: https://www.youtube.com/live/AAAgGHPlC3k?feature=share   Share your YNAB wins with Ben...

Ever wonder what Ben and Ernie's budget looks like, in detail? Today you'll find out! Ernie shares every category in his budget -- all 60 of them -- how he uses them, and how they developed over time.   Share your YNAB wins with Ben and Ernie! budgetnerds@ynab.com   Follow Budget Nerds on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuIUGmbCDklkDCDm-cQqv2g

Ben and Ernie discuss the rich and diverse YNAB community across the web, from subreddits to Facebook groups to YNAB-hosted seminars and workshops. There are YNAB groups for multiple languages, YNAB groups for people with disabilities, and YNAB groups for people following other financial help programs. Whoever you are and whatever your background, there's almost certainly someone else out there us...

Ben and Ernie tackle the age-old question: can I afford it? Many people who are stressed about money face this question regularly, and without a solid plan for their money, there's not a good answer to the question. The answer usually comes down to this: how much money is in my bank account right now, how much do I owe right now (do some mental math), and is the remainder enough to buy this thing?...

ANNOUNCEMENT: Ben and Ernie are going LIVE on YouTube on Feb. 22, 3:00pm EST to chat with you and answer your questions.   If you missed the Q&A, you can still watch the replay -- just head on over to the YouTube channel linked below.   YouTube Live Q&A: https://www.youtube.com/live/TQgblkdkFVI?feature=share   Follow Budget Nerds on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuIUGmbCDklkDCDm-cQqv2g

Ben and Ernie invite Hannah, from the popular YouTube budgeting show Heard It From Hannah, on to the show to talk about everyone's favorite topic -- pets! Dogs, of course, are man's best friend (sorry cat people), but they can also be expensive! If you own a pet, it's essential to include them in your budget plans.   Ben, Ernie, and Hannah discuss the ways they have included their pets into the Fo...

The good, the bad, the meh, and everything in between -- Ben and Ernie review their most memorable purchases in 2022. Ben discovers that tree management is actually a true expense (and not a small one at that), while Ernie battles rodents and fart spray at his house.   Ben and Ernie want to hear about your YNAB wins! Send them an email: budgetnerds@youneedabudget.com   Follow Budget Nerds on YouTu...

Simplification is kind of a running theme in Budget Nerds, but Ben and Ernie haven't done a whole show dedicated to simplifying -- simplifying the budget, your bank accounts, even your life! Today they discuss various ways they've tried to simplify their finances over the years, what has worked and what hasn't.   Do I Need a Savings Account? by Ben Barlowe https://www.youneedabudget.com/do-you-eve...

Ben and Ernie look back at 2022 and discuss the themes for the year, celebrate some budgeting wins, and identify areas for improvement next year.   Ben and Ernie want to hear about your YNAB wins! Send them an email: budgetnerds@youneedabudget.com   Follow Budget Nerds on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuIUGmbCDklkDCDm-cQqv2g  

Ben and Ernie introduce the brand new YNAB feature "YNAB Together," which allows partners and families to share a budget via group login, with varying levels of permissions. During the extensive beta testing process, the YNAB team hammered out the many challenges of shared logins and permissions, but the process also revealed something unexpected -- shared budgets made partners and families feel c...

Budgeting is all about tradeoffs. Tradeoffs are built right into the Four Rules (in particular Rule One and Rule Three)! Ben and Ernie revisit the idea of tradeoffs in budgeting, and discuss the kinds of tradeoffs they had to make when they first started budgeting and the kinds of tradeoffs they find themselves making now as seasoned budgeters.   Ben and Ernie want to hear about your YNAB wins! Se...

Last year, Ben and Ernie shared the 6 Habits of Successful YNABers, but there's a lot little things they do which have made them effective budgeters over the long run. Today they share those little habits, and Ben finally spends money out of a category he's been funding for a loooong time.   Ben and Ernie want to hear about your YNAB wins! Send them an email: budgetnerds@youneedabudget.com   Follo...

Ernie shares some big changes he's made to his budget recently, including revised categories, more hands-on input, LESS automation, and fresh goals.   Ben and Ernie want to hear about your YNAB wins! Send them an email: budgetnerds@youneedabudget.com   Follow Budget Nerds on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuIUGmbCDklkDCDm-cQqv2g  

Before there were four rules, there were... no rules at all! Ben and Ernie take a trip in the Wayback Machine to collect every iteration of the YNAB Rules they could find, going all the way back to 2004 when Jesse started the company. As Jesse developed the ideas behind his budget spreadsheet, the rules start forming, but it took a few years before the rules as we know them today came into focus....