Fan Fest Reflections: Spendfulness Is About More Than Just Stuff
The Jesse Mecham Show
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...
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We Stopped Eating Out for Three Months. The Result Was Interesting...
The Jesse Mecham Show
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...
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There Is No Such Thing as Savings
The Jesse Mecham Show
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...
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What I Do When I Really Want to Buy It
The Jesse Mecham Show
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...
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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)
The Jesse Mecham Show
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! ...
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4 Ways to Start a Fight About Money
The Jesse Mecham Show
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...
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You've Got Budgeting Backwards
The Jesse Mecham Show
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...
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How and When We Teach Our Kids About Money
The Jesse Mecham Show
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...
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Spendfulness: An Origin Story
The Jesse Mecham Show
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...
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What I've Learned from Years of Experimenting with Money
The Jesse Mecham Show
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...
info_outlineJesse chats with Scott Trench, CEO of BiggerPockets and a real estate investor, about how people can get started with real estate investing and build more wealth. Scott started his working career like many business college graduates, working at a large company as a financial analyst. Early on he stumbled across the Mr. Money Mustache blog, which advocates frugality and saving a large percentage of your income to achieve financial independence. From there, Scott became interested in using real estate to build his personal wealth and reach financial independence earlier in life.
Then, an encounter with the founder of the BiggerPockets website led Scott to a job with the company, and eventually, a chance to steer it as the CEO. Along the way Scott has learned a lot about real estate investing, and purchased and managed several properties. He now uses that knowledge to run the BiggerPockets website, which offers teaching and tools for people new to the real estate market.
Scott also acknowledges the costs and tradeoffs associated with becoming a good real estate investor. He's not shy about the amount of time needed to learn the basics, suggesting around 500 hours of reading and research before considering your first real estate purchase. For some people, like busy specialized professionals (doctors and lawyers for instance) or entrepreneurs running businesses, this time might be too high a cost, and distract from their primary focus. For the right person with patience and diligence, however, real estate investing can be an excellent way to build wealth and achieve financial independence.
BiggerPockets
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