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: https://drwillcole.com/podcast/money-anxiety-is-ruining-your-health-heres-how-to-fix-it-jesse-mecham
• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-art-of-being-well/id1539535133
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6z1lJ5dfKNHwGGQPOFTc7E?si=22d31749ba9142f7

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Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/@jessemechamshow

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askjesse@ynab.com

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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:

https://www.youtube.com/@jessemechamshow

Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:

askjesse@ynab.com

Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

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Tickets to YNAB Fan Fest 2025 are on sale now! Coming to Minneapolis and NYC:

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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:

https://www.youtube.com/@jessemechamshow

Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:

askjesse@ynab.com

Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

Follow YNAB on social media:

Facebook: @ynabofficial

Instagram: @ynab.official

Twitter/X: @ynab

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Tickets to YNAB Fan Fest 2025 are on sale now! Coming to Minneapolis and NYC:

YNAB.com/events

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:

https://www.youtube.com/@jessemechamshow

Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:

askjesse@ynab.com

Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

Follow YNAB on social media:

Facebook: @ynabofficial

Instagram: @ynab.official

Twitter/X: @ynab

Tik Tok: @ynabofficial

Tickets to YNAB Fan Fest 2025 are on sale now! Coming to Minneapolis and NYC:

YNAB.com/events

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:

https://www.youtube.com/@jessemechamshow

Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:

askjesse@ynab.com

Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

Follow YNAB on social media:

Facebook: @ynabofficial

Instagram: @ynab.official

Twitter/X: @ynab

Tik Tok: @ynabofficial

Tickets to YNAB Fan Fest 2025 are on sale now! Coming to Minneapolis and NYC:

YNAB.com/events

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:

https://www.youtube.com/@jessemechamshow

Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:

askjesse@ynab.com

Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

Follow YNAB on social media:

Facebook: @ynabofficial

Instagram: @ynab.official

Twitter/X: @ynab

Tik Tok: @ynabofficial

Tickets to YNAB Fan Fest 2025 are on sale now! Coming to Minneapolis and NYC:

YNAB.com/events

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:

https://www.youtube.com/@jessemechamshow

Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:

askjesse@ynab.com

Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

Follow YNAB on social media:

Facebook: @ynabofficial

Instagram: @ynab.official

Twitter/X: @ynab

Tik Tok: @ynabofficial

Tickets to YNAB Fan Fest 2025 are on sale now! Coming to San Diego, Minneapolis, and NYC:

YNAB.com/events

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:

https://www.youtube.com/@jessemechamshow

Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:

askjesse@ynab.com

Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

Follow YNAB on social media:

Facebook: @ynabofficial

Instagram: @ynab.official

Twitter/X: @ynab

Tik Tok: @ynabofficial

Tickets to YNAB Fan Fest 2025 are on sale now! Coming to San Diego, Minneapolis, and NYC:

YNAB.com/events