You Need A Budget (ynab)

Experienced YNAB'ers understand that budgeting is an active, ongoing process that requires frequently engagement with your budget. Ideally, both partners in a relationship are fully engaged in the budget, but the budgeting process can take many forms. In today's Behind the Scenes episode, Jesse chats with YNAB employees about budgeting with a partner, and the many ways couples learn to navigate the routine.   Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

Award winning author and personal finance journalist Cameron Huddleston joins the show to discuss the uncomfortable realities of managing parents' finances through end of life care and after their death. From wills, power of attorney documents, to simply knowing where your parents have all their bank accounts, Cameron offers some practical advice on what things you need to look out for when helping your older family members manage their finances.   Of course, personal finance is a, well, personal thing for many people, and parents may be reluctant to share the details of their money. Cameron offers some tips for breaking the ice on money conversations, and how to approach parents and loved ones respectfully.   You can find more about Cameron Huddleston and her book, Mom and Dad, We Need to Talk, at her website: https://cameronhuddleston.com   Carefull app: https://www.getcarefull.com/  

Jesse interviewed every employee at YNAB, asking them about a wide range of topics -- how they heard about YNAB, what they are working on in their roles, and their money struggles and successes. In today's Behind the Scenes episode, YNAB insiders answer the question: what's the budget doing for you lately?   Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

Travis Hornsby is passionate about student debt, especially helping people with lots of it find smart, effective pathways to pay it off. After a career as a bond trader, he turned his attention to building a service to help college graduates with large student debt loads navigate their way through the maze of repayment options, forgiveness programs, and tax complications that come with student loans. Travis and his company, Student Loan Planner, have consulted with thousands of students on over $1.4 billion of student debt, helping them create a repayment plan that takes full advantage of all the programs out there.   You can learn more about Travis and his work at The Student Loan Planner website. He also hosts a podcast by the same name: https://www.studentloanplanner.com https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/student-loan-planner/id1446453497?mt=2&ls=1  

Jesse interviewed every employee at YNAB, asking them about a wide range of topics -- how they heard about YNAB, what they are working on in their roles, and their money struggles and successes. Today, you'll hear from a selection of YNAB employees discussing their debt struggles, how they came into debt, and how they have used the Four Rules to pay it off.   Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

Jesse invites the author behind one of his favorite books, Atomic Habits, to join the podcast and talk about what he learned about setting good habits, breaking bad ones, and developing environments and systems conducive to productive habits. As James says, the things you do and accomplish in life are essentially lagged indicators of your habits. So building good habits slowly, methodically, and thoughtfully can result in big rewards down the road.   James Clear https://jamesclear.com   Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results https://jamesclear.com/atomic-habits     Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

Are you a college student, or about to go to college? It's an exciting time of your life, but it can also be a very expensive time of your life too. It's possible to keep your spending under control, and have a lot of fun, but you're going to need a budget.   College students -- you can get a whole FREE YEAR of YNAB here. Sign up, take some of the free classes, and give yourself the gift of learning how to budget and take control of your financial life. https://www.youneedabudget.com/college/

Artist and tax professional Hannah Cole has a burning passion -- seeing art get made. And one thing she hates to see is artists being held back by money problems. After establishing herself as an artist in exhibitions in New York City, Hannah landed a job working for a design agency. There she learned she had a talent for communicating with both the creatives and management, helping each side understand deadlines, budgets, and resources needed to complete projects. Hannah went on to become a tax professional and open a tax service specializing in helping artists, creatives, and freelancers.   In addition to a full suite of tax services, Hannah's company offers money workshops to explain business, finance, and tax terms in clear language and help freelancers develop strategies for managing their money. She has also created a free, colorful guide for understanding how tax deductions work. You can find out more about Hannah, her company, and resources on their website: https://www.sunlighttax.com   Free tax dedu

Veteran YNAB'ers have a saying for what happens when you follow the four rules, budget, and have no money left over. They call it being "YNAB broke," and it's a badge of honor!   Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

EDITOR'S NOTE: At 28:15 David states that generally you cannot take out money from a ROTH to pay for college without paying a penalty. David later pointed out, however, that you may take out up to $10k without penalty to pay for qualifying higher education expenses.   David Stackpole, wealth manager and Certified Financial Analyst (among other titles), joins the podcast to discuss his strategy for paying for the ever-growing cost of college. David points out that college tuition has increased nearly 1,400% since the 1970's, which amounts to a 6.4% annual inflation rate. With costs rising so dramatically and so steadily, many parents find it difficult to save enough for their children's college education. David has a unique strategy for dealing with this problem, however.   David recently published a paper outlining his approach in the University of Louisville's Journal of Student Financial Aid, which you can find here:  https://ir.library.louisville.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1701&context=jsfa

In today's money story, Carol Kissinger tells her story of discovering YNAB after moving from America to Berlin. She had never been good with money, was indebted to her parents for years, and frequently argued with her husband about money. Moving to Berlin put new stress on her bank account, until she discovered YNAB. The Four Rules helped her put a simple framework around money and clarify what it was she was spending on.   As it turns out, impulse purchasing was a recurring theme in Carol's budget. She and her husband would see money in the bank account after pay day and start buying things... without first reserving money for rent, utilities, and the various unplanned expenses that inevitably come up during the year. With an ADHD diagnosis, Carol found it particularly difficult to stop impulse purchasing without having a solid plan of what to do with her money after pay day. YNAB provided a framework for her to budget her dollars and give them jobs before they got spent. She found initially she had to "rol

Personal finance journalist, news anchor, Certified Financial Planner, and now author, Bobbi Rebell explains what it means to be a "financial grownup." The essential part of being grown-up with your finances is realizing that it's no one else's responsibility to make a budget, put money in your retirement account, or educate yourself about financial terms and concepts. It's all up to you! Luckily, there is a wealth of easily accessible information that you can learn from, including Bobbi's own podcast.   You can find out more about Bobbi, her new book "How to Be a Financial Grownup, her podcast, and her "Grownup Gear" on her website: https://www.bobbirebell.com

After receiving shocking financial news that credit card spending in 2021 is up over 20% compared to 2019, Jesse asks the question: are you still budgeting out there?   Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

Jesse chats with two people that are passionate about personal finance and share a common trait: they are high income earners. YNAB doesn't often talk about people earning high incomes, but contrary to popular belief, earning a lot of money does NOT mean you don't need to budget!   As Ivan Smirnov and Daniel Chen attest, high incomes often come with high cost of living areas, where housing costs can run well into the 7 figures for homes or multiple thousands for rent. High income can also come with lifestyle inflation, as well as debt from post-graduate student loans and professional programs. Both of these things (and much more) can be managed with an effective budget, and Ivan and Daniel share their tips in keeping their costs under control and managing their investments using YNAB.   Ivan Smirnov is a software engineer at Google, and he loves to share his personal finance journey and YNAB power tips with friends and co-workers. He writes occasionally for a couple blogs: https://ivansmirnov.name https://iva

After years of experimenting with his budget and budgeting process, Jesse decided to do the unthinkable in 2020. He went an entire year *without* a budget!   Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

Jean Chatzky, long-time personal finance writer and correspondent for The Today Show, CNN, MSNBC and other high-profile shows, joins the podcast to discuss the unique issues women face in their financial lives. She has recently written a book about her research and experience working with women on improving their financial security, and she runs a website dedicated to educating and coaching women in financial matters called Her Money.   Jean's book -- Women with Money https://womenwithmoneybook.com   Her Money Podcast https://hermoney.com  

Jesse offers six tips for newlyweds learning to manage their money as a couple for the first time.   Check out the YNAB blog for more! https://www.youneedabudget.com/money-lessons-i-wish-i-had-learned-when-i-was-25/

Jesse celebrates -- can you believe it?! -- the 500th episode of the You Need a Budget podcast. Nearly 10 years ago, Jesse started this podcast as an experiment. Over the years the mics have been upgraded, the acoustics have gotten better, but the message has remained the same: follow the Four Rules, and make your dollars work for you and your priorities.   Jesse reminds us that, much like doing the podcast, budgeting is mostly just doing the work, day in and day out. Budget is a verb, an activity that you do every day, and simply showing up and continuing to do it over time yields big results.   YNAB the company is still growing, and so is the podcast. Jesse and his longtime friend and corporate finance expert Mark Butler have launched a new show for small businesses called Beginning Balance. Download and subscribe here! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/beginning-balance/id1569423517

Jesse interviews Steve Colon, CEO of Bottom Line, an organization that helps students of color navigate the complex, time-consuming, and high stakes college admissions process. Bottom Line doesn't stop with admissions, either. Through their unique DEAL rubric, they help each student set a plan to graduate within six years, with no more than $31k debt, and find high quality jobs. Along the way they meet regularly with students, to provide a network of support and ensure students can meet their goals and graduate on time.   Bottom Line has recently partnered with YNAB to provide students with financial education to manage both their tuition and student life costs as well as their personal finances during and after school.   You can find out more about Steve and the Bottom Line organization here: https://www.bottomline.org

Today Jesse gives a sneak peak at a new show launching on the YNAB podcast network -- Beginning Balance. Together with his friend and business mentor Mark Butler, a virtual CFO and business expert, they explore the financial issues of small businesses and how to solve them. This is the first episode of Beginning Balance, which will begin airing weekly on Fridays.   Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com