The Jesse Mecham Show
Money shouldn’t be this hard - and it isn’t! Join YNAB founder Jesse Mecham each week as he dives into spendfulness, a mindset that will help you stop second-guessing, spend more confidently, and live the life you want.
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Delay... Not Debt
11/13/2025
Delay... Not Debt
Jesse shares a story about helping his daughter use YNAB to plan her spending and save for an electric bicycle. The bike was $600, quite a big ticket item for a 9 year old, but together they came up with a plan and created a target in YNAB to assign money toward that goal each month. And when the day came a few months later to make the purchase... she didn't want it. The burning desire for the bike had passed, and the clarity of the tradeoffs she would have to make to buy it set in. At the end of the day, the bike wasn't worth it to her. That is the power of YNAB and delayed gratification. By saving for the bike first, she was able to learn whether it was in alignment with her priorities. Often when the initial desire for something hits, it overwhelms our sense of priorities. And when we use debt to shortcut the time delay it takes to save up for a thing, it not only obscures our priorities but it also robs us of the choice to not buy it when the smoke clears and our sense of priorities returns. Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube: Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at Follow YNAB on social media: Facebook: Instagram: Twitter/X: Tik Tok:
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Jesse Is Taking a Short Break: Stay Tuned!
10/23/2025
Jesse Is Taking a Short Break: Stay Tuned!
Jesse is taking a short break while he's on the road. He'll be back in a couple weeks! Follow Budget Nerds on YouTube: Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube: Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at Follow YNAB on social media: Facebook: Instagram: Twitter/X: Tik Tok:
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Changing The Rules of Money | Dave Crombleholme Live from Fan Fest Minneapolis 2025
10/16/2025
Changing The Rules of Money | Dave Crombleholme Live from Fan Fest Minneapolis 2025
In today's episode, Jesse hands over the mic to YNAB team member Dave Crombleholme, who presented at the Minneapolis Fan Fest in June 2025. Dave is perhaps most famous for his at YNAB, but he's also spent a long time wrestling with the word budget. In Dave's presentation, he outlines various iterations of the YNAB rules over the years, explains why the concept of rules never sat right in the first place, and how trying redefining the word budget proved to be a frustrating endeavor. In the end, it was always about spending, about giving every dollar a job, and spending to build the live you want to live. Sign up for YNAB Fan Fest updates: Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube: Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at Follow YNAB on social media: Facebook: Instagram: Twitter/X: Tik Tok:
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Money Is the Medium, Money Is You | Jesse Live from Fan Fest Minneapolis 2025
10/09/2025
Money Is the Medium, Money Is You | Jesse Live from Fan Fest Minneapolis 2025
In June 2025 at YNAB Fan Fest Minneapolis, Jesse gave a talk about how money is a medium -- not just of exchange, but, ultimately, of you. When you really examine what it is that money does in the world, it is a thing which translates your energy and effort (required to earn the money) into tangible goods and services. When you draw a throughline between your work and your spending, money just falls away. It's simply a medium for you to express yourself in the world. Sign up for YNAB Fan Fest updates: Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube: Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at Follow YNAB on social media: Facebook: Instagram: Twitter/X: Tik Tok:
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How to Stop Worrying About Money (If You're Not a Billionaire)
10/02/2025
How to Stop Worrying About Money (If You're Not a Billionaire)
When worry creeps in to your money, the knee jerk response is to think: "I just need to make more money, that will solve my problems." But as Jesse shares in a humorous conversation with his daughter, it's interesting how quickly you can spend more and more money in your mind. Unless you're a billionaire, money has a way of becoming stressful when you're only solution is to need more and more of it. Jesse's approach when worry creeps in? Double down on YNAB. Go back to giving every dollar a job -- which is the core principle of the YNAB method -- and taking active control of your money. Doing this not only helps you create a plan for your money, it puts you in the driver seat of your money, and helps you regain confidence in your plan, one transaction at a time. Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube: Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at Follow YNAB on social media: Facebook: Instagram: Twitter/X: Tik Tok:
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Stop Worrying about Your Kid Getting Into Yale
09/25/2025
Stop Worrying about Your Kid Getting Into Yale
It's no secret, college is expensive. But if you haven't looked in a few years, college has gotten really expensive, especially certain schools with a lot of name recognition and clout. Jesse has a senior in high school, so as he's been helping with the college application process, he's been pondering: is college worth it? And more importantly, is every college worth it? As Jesse balks at the eye watering price of Yale (over $100k a year now), he urges listeners to really check in with their "why" for college, get clear about their priorities, and not get caught up in the hype of prestige. Resources mentioned in this episode: Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube: Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at Follow YNAB on social media: Facebook: Instagram: Twitter/X: Tik Tok:
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Money Doesn't Have to Control You
09/18/2025
Money Doesn't Have to Control You
When you don't have a plan for your money, it can feel like money is in control of your life. That can be a terrifying feeling! YNAB can not only help you set a plan for your money, but reclaim control of your money, and control over your life. Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube: Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at Follow YNAB on social media: Facebook: Instagram: Twitter/X: Tik Tok:
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Ever Thought About Money at 3AM?
09/11/2025
Ever Thought About Money at 3AM?
Money shouldn't keep you up at night, and it doesn't have to! Giving every dollar a job and asking yourself about what your money needs to do not only grows your bank account, it gives you peace of mind (and better sleep) Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube: Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at Follow YNAB on social media: Facebook: Instagram: Twitter/X: Tik Tok:
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How's That "No Buy Year" Going?
09/04/2025
How's That "No Buy Year" Going?
Did you make a resolution to have a "no buy year" this year? How's that going? While Jesse loves the idea of a no-buy year, mainly because he loves to experiment with money and behavior, he admits the concept of it is flawed. A "no buy year" typically means you refrain from making any non-essential purchases so that you can save more money. As Jesse explains, though, saving money really means being good at spending money, and the way you get good at that... is to spend money! Spend money according to a plan, after asking yourself about what that money needs to do for you. Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube: Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at Follow YNAB on social media: Facebook: Instagram: Twitter/X: Tik Tok:
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Run Your Money Like a Football Team
08/28/2025
Run Your Money Like a Football Team
Football season is nearly upon us, and Jesse is thinking about the pigskin again. And money, of course. When you look at the great sports movies, they usually revolve around a struggling team -- often a team of stragglers and dubious athletes -- and a great coach who motivates them, helps them find their desire to compete, and puts them in positions to maximize the abilities they do have. You can do the same thing with your money. Give your dollars jobs, identify the best places to use your dollars so that they can work together to achieve your goals. Coach your money from a disorganized mess (like a 6-year old soccer game) into an intentional, well-oiled, strategic athletic team. It all starts with one rule, and five questions. Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube: Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at Follow YNAB on social media: Facebook: Instagram: Twitter/X: Tik Tok:
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Why Is It So Freaking Hard to Save Money? (And How to Make It Easier)
08/21/2025
Why Is It So Freaking Hard to Save Money? (And How to Make It Easier)
Saving vs spending... there's no question which one is more fun, right? Obviously, spending! By comparison, saving feels like a chore, something you ought to do, the responsible thing to do, but is definitely less fun. After all, you get something when you spend -- an item, an experience, a service. With saving you get, well, just more money in a pile somewhere. As Jesse points out, no one says "I have a saving problem" but you hear "I have a spending problem" all the time. It's because spending is concrete. It has weight to it. Spending has a clear line to the value of the money being spent and what you value in the spending of it. Saving money is actually a misnomer. All money exists to be spent, whether it's now or in the future. Savings is really just spending that will take place in the future. When you follow the YNAB method and give every dollar a job, including your "savings" dollars, you are planning for how you will spend that money in the future. You're making your savings concrete, putting a vision behind those dollars. When you reframe the idea of saving like that, all of a sudden it becomes much easier to do! Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube: Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at Follow YNAB on social media: Facebook: Instagram: Twitter/X: Tik Tok:
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It's OK to Move Your Goalposts
08/14/2025
It's OK to Move Your Goalposts
You've probably heard the term "moving the goalposts," that is, a deceptive argument strategy in which you change the question, the criteria, or the standard by which you are evaluating something. The metaphor comes from sports, and it's a good metaphor for personal finance. Early in our adult lives we make a lot choices because money is scarce -- you choose to live with roommates instead of your own apartment, you skip buying something you want to prioritize schooling or training, for instance -- but as we get older and accumulate more financial resources our standards change and our choices change along with that. The goalposts move, so to speak. Some call that lifestyle inflation or lifestyle creep, but Jesse doesn't like the term. It connotes something bad, something you shouldn't indulge in, but as Jesse points out, it's perfectly reasonable to want more things and different living conditions when you're older. That moldy apartment might have been fine as a college student, but with a family of five you probably want cleaner, more spacious accomodations. So instead think of living a more expansive life as the goalposts shifting over time, and that's ok. Just take some time to reflect back on where those goalposts started, and appreciate how well your spending aligns with your priorities. Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube: Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at Follow YNAB on social media: Facebook: Instagram: Twitter/X: Tik Tok:
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Change Your Plan, Today!
08/07/2025
Change Your Plan, Today!
Personal finance is personal, as the saying goes, and the only constant in life is change, to employ another saying. On that note, Jesse issues a challenge in today's episode: change your plan! Add a category, put some money in it, delete a category, shuffle some dollars around... just make a change. This is a reminder to yourself that the beauty of a plan is it's flexibility. As life changes, your plan can change along with it. Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube: Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at Follow YNAB on social media: Facebook: Instagram: Twitter/X: Tik Tok:
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Can You Afford to Make Mistakes?
07/31/2025
Can You Afford to Make Mistakes?
Flying airplanes is serious business. Mistakes are costly, not just because of the cost of the aircraft; if you're flying people, their lives are on the line. Jesse knows this better than most, having two brothers who are pilots. One day he overheard them talking shop and narrowed in on a common occurence they had teaching student pilots to fly -- these pilots were afriad of "hooking," that is, making a mistake on a flight and having to redo the assignment. Jesse realized that everyone, including people who work high stress, high stakes jobs, learns through making mistakes. He quotes his favorite definition of intelligence, which "error correction." We learn by making mistakes then fixing them. And this must happen even for the most critical jobs like flying airplanes. The same applies to money. Can you afford to make mistakes? Of course! You will mistakes, it's all about how you error correct after the fact. That's what the Five Questions help you do. They help you clarify what you want your money to do for you, and when you make a mistake with money, they help you correct your path and get you back on track. So, ultimately, you can live spendfully, loving the way you spend. Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube: Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at Follow YNAB on social media: Facebook: Instagram: Twitter/X: Tik Tok:
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Why Buy Now, Pay Later is the WORST Way to Spend
07/24/2025
Why Buy Now, Pay Later is the WORST Way to Spend
Jesse has ranted about credit cards and their pernicious way of separating you from your money, both literally and metaphorically -- obfuscating the way you spend and distancing your priorities from the point of sale. Today he warns against the newest form of this pernicious spending: buy now, pay later programs. It's like a credit card you don't have to sign up -- just purchase an item, and via an app like Klarna or Affirm, you can split up the cost of that item over several smaller installments. Of course, buy now pay later programs encourage spending you don't have, rather than in YNAB. But even if you have the money, splitting a purchase into multiple installments is just putting off the decision to purchase into the future. YNAB's goal is to help you be spendful, to spend with joy and clarity about what it is you want your money to do for you. Buying something the YNAB way means you've given your dollars a job and you have money set aside in a category meant to cover that purchase. Or, you don't have money in a category for that purchase, but you pull money from other categories to find the money -- making a clear decision to forego something else to buy this thing now. Putting off the payment for an item is ultimately just robbing you of clarity, because the money doesn't flow out of the category when you purchase. It sits there, unused while you have the item but earmarked for a future date when the installment comes due. A buy now pay later purchase adds a layer of complexity to your spending plan, while lacking the conviction to say "do I really want this right now?" Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube: Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at Follow YNAB on social media: Facebook: Instagram: Twitter/X: Tik Tok:
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These 5 Simple Questions Beat Your Spreadsheet
07/17/2025
These 5 Simple Questions Beat Your Spreadsheet
For some reason when the topic of money comes up, many people immediately want to jump into Excel and start exercising the so-called rational part of their brain. Money seems to demand sober, quantitative analysis, devoid of emotion which obfuscates the mathematical truth of the situation. Yet we rarely make decisions in a purely rational manner; emotion plays a large, if not bigger role, than rational thinking in how we choose to act. And if there's anything you've learned hanging around YNAB, it's that money is really just you -- it's a medium for translating your energy and effort in the world into things and experiences. That's why YNAB came up with , to help you make better decisions with your money while considering your whole self -- both your emotional needs and a rational analysis of your financial situation. In today's episode Jesse shares the example of a conversation with a self-described highly rational friend, talking about whom he was going to marry. The conversation highlights how the biggest decisions often don't come down to rational analysis alone. Working the five questions, however, you end up at a reasonable place, considering your whole self, both rational and emotional. In a word, we call it spendfulness. Resources mentioned in this show: Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube: Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at Follow YNAB on social media: Facebook: Instagram: Twitter/X: Tik Tok:
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You Can Stop Second Guessing with Money
07/10/2025
You Can Stop Second Guessing with Money
We talk about how YNAB is the ultimate weapon against money stressors -- as you gain control over your spending, learn to give every dollar a job, and bring your spending in line with your priorities, the stresses decrease and are replaced by a growing confidence. There are other psychological "costs" of money, such as the anxiety and mental overhead created by second guessing your choices. Should I buy this? Can I even afford it? Should I have bought that? Is this what we should be doing right now? YNAB gives you the freedom to act, to spend your money confidently without second guessing every decision. Like Jesse and his GE upright freezer, it doesn't mean you'll never regret your purchases, but you won't second guess the fact that you spent the money! Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube: Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at Follow YNAB on social media: Facebook: Instagram: Twitter/X: Tik Tok:
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Fan Fest Reflections: Spendfulness Is About More Than Just Stuff
07/03/2025
Fan Fest Reflections: Spendfulness Is About More Than Just Stuff
Jesse reflects on his interactions with YNAB'ers at the recent Fan Fest in Minneapolis, and how spendfulness manifested in many different ways. One important takeaway for Jesse was that while practicing spendfulness could mean taking a cool international vacation, or buying something fun and interesting (and those are totally valid things to spend money on!), it could also mean having the freedom and peace of mind to take risks and embark on new ventures. Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube: Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at Follow YNAB on social media: Facebook: Instagram: Twitter/X: Tik Tok:
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We Stopped Eating Out for Three Months. The Result Was Interesting...
06/26/2025
We Stopped Eating Out for Three Months. The Result Was Interesting...
In 2017 the Mecham family decided to live in Manhattan for three months to experience the city, soak up the food and culture, and just have fun doing something different. While they were there they chose to maximize their opportunity to eat out -- Jesse went back and counted over 140 different establishments during that 90 day stay! After that experiment, Jesse and the family decided to try the complete opposite. No eating out for 90 days. The result? They didn't really care about it much, and now the family rarely eats out. What the experience in Manhattan taught them was that, for them, eating out is about the experience. They like big, "journal worthy" meals. Day to day eating out at average restaurants just doesn't hold much appeal. They only know this because they have examined their priorities and tested things out. Jesse encourages you to do the same -- question why you do what you do, and try to live differently for a little while. You may find, like many, many YNAB'ers before you, that eating out is not as much of a priority as you were making it! Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube: Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at Follow YNAB on social media: Facebook: Instagram: Twitter/X: Tik Tok:
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There Is No Such Thing as Savings
06/19/2025
There Is No Such Thing as Savings
It seems obvious that you should save money. It's the right thing to do, after all! But even the words that we use talk about saving money have problems -- should, ought -- loaded with moral baggage. Jesse reminds us that even money earmarked for savings is still spending, just spending that has been deferred to a later date, retirement for example. That money still needs to have a job, however. Saving for what in retirement? Utility bills? Travel? Presents for the grandkids? Money for the future has a job just like money for the present, and when you view money through the lens of giving every dollar a job, you begin to see that money is only meant to be spent. There is no savings, only spending! Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube: Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at Follow YNAB on social media: Facebook: Instagram: Twitter/X: Tik Tok:
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What I Do When I Really Want to Buy It
06/12/2025
What I Do When I Really Want to Buy It
When you really want to buy something, what do you do? Do you wait for 48 hours to cool off a bit and think it over? Or perhaps do you create a category for it in YNAB and fund it with a few dollars, just to see how it feels? Having the urge to buy something is not a bad or shameful thing, but there should be a process for weighing that purchase against your other priorities. That's what YNAB does -- it makes money more real by giving you a framework to evaluate your spending against your priorities. That way when you buy something, you can feel really good about it -- no shame, no guilt, just joy! Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube: Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at Follow YNAB on social media: Facebook: Instagram: Twitter/X: Tik Tok: Tickets to YNAB Fan Fest 2025 are on sale now! Coming to Minneapolis and NYC:
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Money Stress Wrecking Your Health? Here’s How To Fix It! (Rebroadcast from The Art of Being Well with Dr. Will Cole)
06/05/2025
Money Stress Wrecking Your Health? Here’s How To Fix It! (Rebroadcast from The Art of Being Well with Dr. Will Cole)
This week Jesse and the rest of the YNAB team are working hard prepping for the upcoming Fan Fest in Minneapolis, so today we are rebroadcasting an interview that originally appeared on Dr. Will Cole's Art of Being Well podcast. In this interview, Jesse talks about how money stress not only leads to poorer mental health, it has real physical impacts on the body as well. We hope you enjoy this interview. If you'd like to follow Dr. Cole's podcast, check out the links below: Web: Apple: Spotify: Need last minute tickets to YNAB Fan Fest in Minneapolis? Get them here! Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on Youtube: Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at Follow YNAB on social media: Facebook: Instagram: Twitter/X: Tik Tok:
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4 Ways to Start a Fight About Money
05/29/2025
4 Ways to Start a Fight About Money
It's no secret that money is a major factor in relationship conflicts. Whether it's misaligned values, a feeling that one partner is sabotaging the other's goals through their spending, or a desire to keep up with the Jones'... money has the potential to start or fuel a lot of conflict. But it doesn't have to! Often money arguments belie fundamental communcation problems, and YNAB can help by clarifying for both partners what the goal is for your dollars and whether that is aligned with your shared values. Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on Youtube: Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at Follow YNAB on social media: Facebook: Instagram: Twitter/X: Tik Tok: Tickets to YNAB Fan Fest 2025 are on sale now! Coming to Minneapolis and NYC:
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You've Got Budgeting Backwards
05/22/2025
You've Got Budgeting Backwards
To many, the word "budget" brings to mine restrictions, guilt, punishment, and a general feeling of dread that they don't have control over their money, much less hit their budget goals. But this idea that a budget means setting hard limits on spending in various categories, then looking back every month to see if you were "good" or "bad" in adhering to those limits... it's all backwards! Jesse has another way to look at "budgeting," or planning as he calls it. You give every dollar you have a job -- you look at what future expenses you know you have coming and put those dollars into categories to cover those expenses. Once you have your future expenses covered, then you start thinking about what else you'd like to do with your money: take a trip, buy some new clothes, maybe go out to a nice restaurant. Then, as life happens and your needs change, you can move the money around. It's not a failure that your spending doesn't perfectly adhere to some arbitrary category number, it just means you got new information, circumstances changed, and therefore your spending plan needs to change with it. Once you wrap your head around this way of thinking about money, of planning for the future rather than looking backwards and punishing yourself, then you can start loving the way you spend. Guilt free. Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on Youtube: Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at Follow YNAB on social media: Facebook: Instagram: Twitter/X: Tik Tok: Tickets to YNAB Fan Fest 2025 are on sale now! Coming to Minneapolis and NYC:
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How and When We Teach Our Kids About Money
05/15/2025
How and When We Teach Our Kids About Money
Judging from the difficulties many adults have managing their money, we don't do a great job collectively of teaching our kids about money. Jesse doesn't consider himself an expert on this, but he does have seven kids, and thus seven chances to instill good money habits in his own children. In today's episode he shares how he teaches his kids about money using the YNAB method, scaled down in language and concepts that younger children can understand. At the end of the day, the goal for kids is the same as the goal for adults... Jesse wants them to love the way they spend, and imagine what money can do for them. Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on Youtube: Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at Follow YNAB on social media: Facebook: Instagram: Twitter/X: Tik Tok: Tickets to YNAB Fan Fest 2025 are on sale now! Coming to Minneapolis and NYC:
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Spendfulness: An Origin Story
05/08/2025
Spendfulness: An Origin Story
Spendfulness is the new word around YNAB, but the concept goes back to the beginning of the company... and even before the company itself. In today's episode, Jesse recounts the very early days of YNAB, when the budgeting method was just a spreadsheet. Jesse realized that the spreadsheet was enforcing a set of behaviors, or "rules," around money and that those rules were the foundation of what is now referred to as the YNAB method. YNAB is more than a spreadsheet, and more than a software tool, it is a set of principles for managing money and, more importantly, learning about yourself. Knowing thyself is at the heart of spendfulness, and as it turns out, living spendfulness is what YNAB was about the whole time! Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on Youtube: Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at Follow YNAB on social media: Facebook: Instagram: Twitter/X: Tik Tok: Tickets to YNAB Fan Fest 2025 are on sale now! Coming to Minneapolis and NYC:
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What I've Learned from Years of Experimenting with Money
05/01/2025
What I've Learned from Years of Experimenting with Money
Jesse has a long history experimenting with money. From rating every meal he and the family ate out, to "hyperbudgeting," to not budgeting at all... he's run an experiment almost every year for the last several years to see how his habits affect his financial planning. In today's episode Jesse recaps the experiments he's done, how they went (good and bad), and reminds us that personal finance is, well, personal. Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on Youtube: Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at Follow YNAB on social media: Facebook: Instagram: Twitter/X: Tik Tok: Tickets to YNAB Fan Fest 2025 are on sale now! Coming to Minneapolis and NYC:
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How to Be Spendful When the World Is on Fire
04/24/2025
How to Be Spendful When the World Is on Fire
If the world seems like it's on fire right now... it may be true. But then again, the world always seems like it's on fire, at least depending on who you ask. If you ask the news, it certainly is! Fortunately, the YNAB method -- giving every dollar a job and working through the 5 Questions -- can bring peace and calm to your finances. Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on Youtube: Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at Follow YNAB on social media: Facebook: Instagram: Twitter/X: Tik Tok: Tickets to YNAB Fan Fest 2025 are on sale now! Coming to San Diego, Minneapolis, and NYC:
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Delete Your Emergency Fund
04/17/2025
Delete Your Emergency Fund
On the surface, emergency funds sound like a very prudent idea. You set aside cash for unknowable, unforseeable events so that you aren't strapped when you really need it. We're not disagreeing with the idea, but an emergency fund is somewhat counter to the core principle of YNAB: giving every dollar a job. In an emergency fund, dollars are given a job, but it's a vague one. Jesse likens it to a football coach yelling at his defense to "just stop the other team from scoring!" The coach is identifying the basic goal of the game, but there's nothing specific to help the players actually accomplish that task. A good coach instead instructs players what to do at an individual level, adjusting their positioning, technique, key reads etc. so that they can more effectively play their role on the team. The net result is the same -- stopping the other team from scoring -- but the results are far more effective. The same is true with your dollars. While yes, we do want to set aside money for larger, less frequent expenses, the truth is many of these expenses are knowable, we just don't plan for them. New roof, new tires, plumbing repair, etc. Including these items into your plan and saving for them accomplishes what the emergency fund accomplishes, but with more clarity. So, consider just deleting your emergency fund. Or at least make it smaller, and give those dollars more specific, effective jobs. Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on Youtube: Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at Follow YNAB on social media: Facebook: Instagram: Twitter/X: Tik Tok: Tickets to YNAB Fan Fest 2025 are on sale now! Coming to San Diego, Minneapolis, and NYC:
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Are Your Savings Making You Stingy?
04/10/2025
Are Your Savings Making You Stingy?
All money is meant to be spent, it's just a matter of when. Some people get caught in a cycle of amassing savings with no clear goal of how it is to be spent. Jesse shares an example from his wedding of how the desire to save money can backfire, and demonstrates how having a plan for your money, whether it's in the near future or distant future, is the most important thing. As we say at YNAB, give every dollar job. Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on Youtube: Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at Follow YNAB on social media: Facebook: Instagram: Twitter/X: Tik Tok: Tickets to YNAB Fan Fest 2025 are on sale now! Coming to San Diego, Minneapolis, and NYC:
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