Today Ben and Ernie try something different: they are looking at a messy budget -- a VERY messy budget -- sight unseen and attempting to clean it up. This one is a doozy, with dozens of uncleared transactions, multiple accounts including credit cards, transfers between accounts, and even a cash account. As Ben points out early on, whenever you're dealing with a neglected budget like this, you have to start by reconciling first before you start assigning dollars and moving money between categories. So Ben and Ernie wade through each account, clearing transactions and reconciling, making sure that YNAB and the bank account balances agree. Once that is done, they can get to the fun part -- building a spending plan!

Of course, this is just a fun exercise for Ben and Ernie, and an opportunity for them to share their problem solving process in YNAB, but if your budget looks like this and you are overwhelmed, there is a MUCH easier solution! You can always make a fresh start, and work with a clean slate starting today. So don't think you have to untangle the Gordian knot to get your spending plans back in shape!

This episode leans heavily on screen sharing, so if you want to see Ernie navigate through the budget as he talks through the problems with Ben, be sure to watch the YouTube video at the link below:

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Ben and Ernie hosted a Live Q&A on the YNAB YouTube channel on Oct. 30th, 2024. If you missed it, here's the full replay! They fielded questions from YNAB'ers and discussed some brand new YNAB features.

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Ben and Ernie are going LIVE on YouTube at 1:00pm Eastern on October 30th, 2024. Come and join us! If you're tuning in after the Live show, the full replay will be posted to the podcast feed soon.

Budget Nerds on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuIUGmbCDklkDCDm-cQqv2g

In today's episode, Ben and Ernie chat with Veronica Brashler, who is in charge of the Corporate Wellness program at YNAB. Veronica's YNAB story starts with working freelance as a wedding photographer with a highly variable, and seasonal income. Both she and her husband were self-employed at the same time, while raising a young family, and the stress of variable income was high. In her words, they felt like they always had to take the next job, because they weren't sure where the next paycheck would come from if they said no. This made it difficult to plan vacations or just take time off to relieve stress (during peak wedding season she would typically work multiple weddings every weekend!).

When she discovered YNAB, the stress relief was immediate. All of a sudden they had clarity around their true expenses, and how much was "enough." Today, Veronica helps others find this sense of relief with her work at YNAB. Her current job is to work with companies to provide YNAB to their employees as part of their benefits package. And she's brought lot of YNAB goodies for the Budget Nerds community!

Share YNAB with your workplace and get some swag!

Tell your employer about us and we'll reward you with some exclusive YNAB things. Here's how to make it happen:

1. Write a message to your HR team requesting that they consider YNAB as an addition to your benefits package. You can use the templates at ynab.com/wellness/share for inspiration.
2. Forward or bcc: your message to [email protected]
3. We'll thank you (profusely) and collect your mailing address.
4. You'll receive YNAB swag in the mail! 😎

Today's episode is officially the 100th episode of Budget Nerds (if you count the YouTube episodes that were published before the audio podcast feed)! Ben and Ernie reflect on the past few years, the most and least viewed episodes, their favorite episodes, and the many YNAB wins they've had a chance to share and celebrate along the way.

Thank you for listening and supporting the show with your emails and comments. Here's to the next hundred!

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If you're standing up, you might want to take a seat, because something big has happened... Ben actually changed his budget! Over the last year Ben has had some major life changes that have resulted in more monthly cashflow and also bigger expenses, so it was time, at last, to overhaul his budget. In today's episode Ben discusses the circumstances that prompted the change, how he learned to actually work Rule 2 and embrace his true expenses, and how he is assigning the new monthly cashflow.

YNAB Debt Bootcamp

https://www.ynab.com/debt-bootcamp

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One of the interesting parts of working at YNAB is you get to observe human behavior related to personal finance. As Ben and Ernie have noticed over the years, YNAB'ers tend not only to reach their financial goals -- such as paying off debt or saving for a big purchase -- but also complete a number of other goals at the same time. There's something about the YNAB process that leads to knocking down goals like dominoes.

Ben brings up an old YNAB saying: "think long, act now." Following YNAB's Four Rules, in particular Rule Two, gets you in the habit of considering your future expenses and setting aside money now so that they are covered when the expense hits your bank account. And as Ernie points out, the unofficial "Fifth Rule" -- find the money first -- puts you in the habit of identifying the tradeoffs you are willing to make to spend money on a given thing. These habits aim to help you manage your money in a sustainable way, so that you can not only meet your financial goals but continue to maintain them without incurring new debt every time an unexpected expense comes up.

For those new to YNAB, don't be surprised if your initial money goals lead to more and greater things!

YNAB Debt Bootcamp

https://www.ynab.com/debt-bootcamp

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On today's episide Ben and Ernie welcome another Ben to the show -- Ben Markley, host of YNAB's Sketchy Advice series on YouTube. Ben has a reputation for striking metaphors and thought provoking ideas about money and putting YNAB's principles into daily practice, and today he shares some of his favorite ideas, including:

• Why you should go ahead and buy that latte
• YNAB is really just an elaborate gift card system
• Can YNAB help you keep your house clean?
• What if YNAB paid you to use it?

Be sure to follow Ben M. and his wacky ideas on YouTube!

• Sketchy Advice YT Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLq0_N-XTl2yCCaRGfgWVerrE8s2A8b0oq
• Buy That Latte: https://youtu.be/U7Z9ens0NtE?si=-lxqxojGDdcgTwPD
• Unlock Money Joy....with Gift Cards? https://youtu.be/GU6VeOFnPuU?si=O_mQBl5VIuYPG_ZB
• Can YNAB Keep Your House Clean? https://youtu.be/s1KrMm_ByOg?si=ufpcvZ6UKS-Jj-cL

Share your YNAB wins with Ben and Ernie!

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Ben and Ernie get a handful of recurring questions that aren't quite big enough topics to make into their own episode, but nevertheless deserve to be answered! In today's show, they tackle some of those questions, including:

• What does Ben mean when he talks about the "matchy matchy game?"
• Helping kids learn to budget
• Should you have separate categories for kids' expenses?
• Tracking investments in the budget
• The pros and cons of simplifying your category structure.

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The Budget Nerds have covered the spending habits of a lot of married folks with families, but what about the single people out there? In today's episode, Ben and Ernie speak with Jasmin Green, a PhD student in the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis. Jasmin is an avid YNAB'er, who credits the methodology with keeping her bank account in order during the financially challenging years of graduate school. As a PhD student, Jasmin's income is highly variable, with several streams of income from stipends, grants, and emplyoment as a TA -- each with their own tax implications. Despite the lumpy income, Jasmin has successfully used YNAB to navigate the costs of living in graduate school while remaining relatively stress-free, at least when it comes to money!

Jasmin breaks down the categories in her spending plan in full detail, and how they each fit into the big picture of her financial life.

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Getting a month ahead with your money is a milestone for many YNAB'ers. Being a "month ahead" means that when the first of the month hits, all your bills and expenses for that new month are already paid for -- the money for them is sitting in your bank account, and assigned to the respective categories in YNAB, waiting to cover those costs. And boy does it feel good!

In today's episode, Ben and Ernie share stories from YNAB'ers who have achieved that milestone of being a month ahead, and how it has relieved them of stress and anxiety, taken away the fear of job loss, and reduced the overall mental overhead required to keep track of when paychecks hit and when rent and utility bills go out. When you are a month ahead, you break the paycheck to paycheck cycle and life gets a lot less stressful -- at least your financial does. 

Share your YNAB wins with Ben and Ernie!

[email protected]

Follow Budget Nerds on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuIUGmbCDklkDCDm-cQqv2g