Why Buy Now, Pay Later is the WORST Way to Spend
The Jesse Mecham Show
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...
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These 5 Simple Questions Beat Your Spreadsheet
The Jesse Mecham Show
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...
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You Can Stop Second Guessing with Money
The Jesse Mecham Show
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...
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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...
info_outlineTo 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:
https://www.youtube.com/@jessemechamshow
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