The Jesse Mecham Show

Jesse chats with Dustin Heiner, a real estate investor who quit his job five years ago after building a passive income stream sufficient enough to live on. Dustin received a wake up call several years ago when he was laid off from what he thought was a stable government job when his department lost funding. Although he was able to find a new position in a different department, he vowed to never be in that position again, so he put his energy into building a sustainable business out of real estate. Dustin argues that most people have real estate investing backwards -- they look for good properties, buy one, then try to figure out how to make a business out of it. He works the opposite way, building systems and an operating model for the business -- how he will find tenants, how he will contract with property managers, how he will finance the property purchase, etc -- before buying a single property. Once the business is worked out, he can buy as many properties as he likes and slot them into his inventory. At the end of the day, the property is not the business, he says, it's inventory for the business! Dustin has started a website and coaching service to help others learn to invest in real estate and build passive income streams. You can find him at: https://www.masterpassiveincome.com Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

School is in session! Jesse teamed up with Matthew Amster-Burton (who you have heard on the Behind the Scenes series), a YNAB team member and former financial advisor, to create a short series demystifying the world of investing. For the first day of class, they cover some of the basic investing terms you will encounter. YNAB is all about helping you save more money, but eventually some of that money has to go to work for you and earn a return. The return that your saved money can earn over time makes a huge difference in how much money you have in retirement. Armed with a little knowledge, you can start investing in your future you! Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

It's time to play a little game. Jesse and a couple YNAB team members gather to play "you might be a budget nerd if...." See if you can call yourself an official budget nerd! Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

Do you pay off debt first, or invest for retirement while paying it off slower? Or do you build an emergency fund first? How much? There are a number of tradeoffs when it comes to paying off debt, saving, and investing, and Jesse reminds us that there is no prescription! Everyone's budget is personal, and will depend on their goals, values, and emotional response to the budgeting process. Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

With the Baby Boomer generation rapidly aging into retirement, more and more Generation X and older Millennials face some tough financial questions: how do you financial support parents that need medical care, or long-term assistance, but cannot afford it? Should you support kids after college by allowing them to live at home while they get their financial feet under them? Should you save for your own retirement first, or help your parents/kids first? Jennifer Owens calls this conundrum the "sandwich generation," people facing financial pressure from supporting both parents and children at the same time. While she does not have any hard and fast answers to these questions -- it's a complex problem, with many factors to consider -- she does believe that talking about the problem and sharing the challenges helps people know they aren't alone. Jennifer has written extensively about the sandwich generation, and she is also working with a new app called Firstly which helps families manage supporting their children and parents as they navigate different stages of life. https://firstly.com/about-firstly/ https://firstly.com/articles/how-in-the-world-did-i-end-up-in-the-sandwich-generation/ Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

As you might have noticed by now, the team at YNAB is diverse, eclectic, and full of passionate people with a wide range of interests. It is no surprise, then, that in the course of conducting these Behind the Scenes interviews, Jesse discovered a ton of interesting and, well, random things about the employees of YNAB! Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

Talking about money isn't easy for adults, so it's no surprise that many adults struggle with how to talk about money with their kids. Stephanie Anne-Lyse Wealth, or just Anne-Lyse as she goes by in her publications, has some ideas for introducing children to the concept of money, saving, investments, and debt. Anne-Lyse is the author of Dream of Legacy, a book about building not just individual wealth but generational wealth. She also hosts The Dreamers Podcast where she interviews successful entrepreneurs about their journey building businesses and wealth. You can find these resources and more at: https://dreamoflegacy.com Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

In today's installment of Behind the Scenes, YNAB team members share their insights about personal finance, whether it's overcoming the fear and confusion of investing, learning to push yourself to achieve things you never thought you could, or better understanding our conditioning around money and success. Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

It's that time of the year again, when summer is winding down and children are starting the new school year. As seasons go, starting the new school year is a time of new schedules and new challenges. It's also a great time to rethink the budget, or simply get back in touch with the budget. Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

Today Jesse asks the team at YNAB to share their top pieces of advice for new YNAB users... besides, you know, that you need a budget. Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

Life hacker, optimizer, product director at Wealthfront... he wears many hats, but his passion is the same -- upgrading life without spending a fortune! In today's episode, Jesse chats with Chris Hutchins, who shares a handful of his seemingly endless number of life hacks. Whether it's saving money on travel, getting a few more dollars out of your car lease, or negotiating for coupons, Chris has a hack for just about everything. You can follow Chris and learn many more hacks on his podcast, All the Hacks: https://www.allthehacks.com Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

In today's installment of Behind the Scenes, Jesse asks employees why they applied for a position at YNAB, what the interview process is like, and whether the company has lived up to its reputation as the best small business place to work at (no, really, that's what Fortune said, for the second year running!). YNAB gets a lot of applications, and the hiring process is fiercely competitive, but those who have made it share their thoughts and experiences. Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

In today's Money Story, Jesse chats with a YNAB employee, the gifted artist and animator Tristan Henry-Wilson, whose work YNAB users may have seen on the YNAB website and the YNAB Youtube channel, among others. Tristan may be an exceptionally talented artist, but he didn't come into his art career easily. After receiving some unexpected financial aid, he attended Ringling College of Art and Design and earned a degree in illustration. Tristan had a difficult time landing paying gigs in the art world, and began working a long series of odd jobs to pay rent, eat food, and, most importantly, make payments on his $80k of student loads, which a family friend had co-signed for him. After years of grinding, building his portfolio, learning how to interview, and networking into better jobs, Tristan found salaried work in New York City, and was finally able to throw serious money at his debt. At this point, the balance had grown to about $150k, but he was undeterred. With each pay increase, Tristan put more money into the debt, eventually paying it off in full after about 15 years. Tristan's determination and perseverance was largely responsible for his success, but he also credits YNAB for helping him get smart about managing his money and finding security and peace in his financial situation. Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

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 deductions guide: https://www.sunlighttax.com/deductionsguide

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 "roll with the punches" frequently as she would forget about irregular expenses, but as she made it through the first several months of budgeting it became easier to predict those and her budget became more stable. Most importantly, Carol discovered in the process of budgeting with YNAB that some of her long-held preconceptions were really just not true. She believed for a long time she was simply bad at money, and nothing would change that -- it was just a part of who she was. After paying off every dollar of debt to her parents and building an emergency fund, she could no longer say that about herself, and her personal narrative changed. She wasn't just not bad at money anymore, she was good with money. This transformation has extended outside her budget too. Carol and her husband were always very messy housekeepers, she says, to the point where they didn't want to have company over. After going through the budgeting transformation with YNAB, they now have a much cleaner home! Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

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://ivans.io Daniel Chen is a former Big 4 accountant, personal finance entrepreneur, and currently the Head of Business Development at a personal finance educational startup Brightside. You can find Daniel on twitter: https://twitter.com/chenthusiast?lang=en YNAB for Good: https://www.youneedabudget.com/good/

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

Jesse chats with Chanel Reynolds, author of What Matters Most and founder of the Get Your Shit Together website, dedicated to helping people navigate the confusing, difficult, and emotional aspects of end-of-life planning. In 2009 Chanel's husband was killed in a road cycling accident, and she found herself, very suddenly, a widow, a single parent, and overwhelmed dealing with the many medical, legal, and family issues that death brings with it. Today Chanel helps others plan for the what-ifs and eventualities of life, and encourages people to start having conversations with their spouses, parents, and other loved ones about what they want when it comes to their end-of-life. Although these can be difficult conversations -- and people often avoid them for that reason -- she recommends to start by focusing on the love, and how you want your loved ones to feel, and what quality of life means to them. From there, you can visualize what end of life might look like and start the basic planning steps: having an emergency fund, documenting your digital accounts and passwords, preparing a will, and power of attorney for medical decisions. You can learn more about Chanel, her book, and her work here: https://getyourshittogether.org

Today Jesse is sharing an interview he did with Jaclyn Johnson of the Work Party podcast for her Budget Broadcast Series. Jesse talks about the early days of YNAB, how to get serious with your side hustles, and explains the Four Rules to a new audience. You can find more from WorkParty, including the original interview, here: https://dearmedia.com/shows/work-party/

Jesse chats with Sami Womack, who paid off nearly half a million dollars of debt after hitting financial rock bottom during the birth of her first child. Stuck in a different city on business travel, her husband almost missed a flight home to be at the birth... because they had maxed out all their credit cards, and the last minute ticket was $800. Sami and her husband had made most of the financial mistakes you could make. They were behind on all of their bills, including mortgage payments and property taxes. They had three properties -- their home, a rental home, and a piece of land Sami intended to build a business on but could not secure financing -- but were facing foreclosure on them. They were eating out frequently, and spending lots of money on food. The added stress of children brought them to a financial breaking point, at which point Sami started googling for help. She found YNAB, and began budgeting her current dollars, instead of her future dollars, for the first time. It took a major lifestyle adjustment, and the sale of their land and rental property, but the Womack's managed to pay off their debt. Sami now helps others pay off debt and reach their financial goals with personalized coaching and budgeting plans at: https://www.asunnysideuplife.com She also hosts A Sunny Side Up Life Podcast: https://www.asunnysideuplife.com/podcast

Former NFL athlete, husband, father, and coach -- a man of many identities you might say -- Anthony Trucks joins the podcast to talk about how what's holding you back from reaching your goals might just be an identity problem. Anthony runs a coaching program call Make Shift Happen where he helps people to make consistent action toward their goals in 90 days. Making an identity "shift" is a key part of the process, visualizing yourself as the kind of person that does the things needed to have success in business, family, or other areas in life not because those are things you ought to do, but because they are simply a part of you. The Rock doesn't fight himself to go to the gym and workout, he does it because he loves it. Physical fitness is part of his identity. Anthony challenges us to think about what identity we want, and to start viewing ourselves as that. Then action can follow. You can find Anthony, his coaching services, and his speaking engagements at: https://anthonytrucks.com

Jesse does NOT like payment plans, and neither should you! Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

In today's episode of Money Stories, Jesse chats with Abbie Shepherd, a clinical psychologist who recently earned her PhD and is working her first real job after her long journey in higher education. Most people understand that earning a PhD takes a lot of academic rigor, but few realize that it is very taxing on the budget as well. In addition to incurring student debt during the multi-year PhD process (usually preceded by a Masters degree and Bachelors degree, for which you may incur debt as well), it's difficult to work and earn money along the way. In Abbie's case she typically worked for minimum wage when she could during her demanding PhD program. Meanwhile, her husband worked as a pastor, which is a lower earning field. Needless to say, money was tight during those years, but Abbie and her husband kept a clear head and long term vision. Abbie knew that a PhD would give her the most flexibility in her work -- she could work as a clinician, or teach, or both -- so they kept their expenses as low as possible while she was in school. They knew they would incur student debt for her coursework, but they worked hard to keep it to a minimum and not use student debt to fund their living expenses, like rent and food. Likewise, they limited their consumer spending, avoiding the pitfall of running up large credit card bills. By focusing on the long-term benefits of her PhD and having a strategy to minimize unnecessary debt (while being mentally OK with incurring necessary student debt), Abbie was able to ease some of the stress of her financial position as well. Nevertheless, Abbie came out of school with six figured student loan debt that she is eager to tackle. As a self-described enneagram type 1, Abbie admits budgeting and planning around money comes naturally to her, but YNAB has made an impact as well. Abbie discovered YNAB just a couple months ago, but it was the concept of aging her money and rolling with the punches which drew her in. The flexibility of the software was a bonus. Abbie is a responsible credit card user, paying off her balance in full each month, and she enjoys the rewards and points she earns in the process. She likes that the YNAB software can easily help her track expenses on the credit alongside her bank account. Abbie has created an Instagram account to report on her debt paydown and budgeting tricks. You can follow her there @budget_crush. Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

Jesse chats with marketer and entrepreneur Noah Kagan, former Director of Marketing at Mint, former Facebook employee, and currently the owner of AppSumo, a daily deals website which offers entrepreneurs discounted software from top software companies. In a sprawling conversation, they touch on the critical importance of taking action on your ideas in business, determining why you want money in the first place, setting one-year gameplans, and more. AppSumo https://appsumo.com Noah Kagan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/user/crxnamja Be sure to subscribe and post a comment for a chance to win an iPad!

Assets? Liabilities? Balance sheet? FBI's? What does it all mean? Jesse helps you understand some of the basic financial terms that come up often in YNAB, as well as some YNAB-specific lingo related to the software and the budgeting process. Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

Jesse walks through some hidden features of the YNAB software you probably didn't even know existed! Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

While there's no way to prepare for being a parent without actually becoming a parent, you can prepare financially for the experience. Chelsea Brennan shares some tips on how to do this, and what kind of difficult conversations you need to have with your spouse and family as part of the process. After a successful career as an equity analyst and hedge fund portfolio manager on Wall Street, Chelsea became a mom and followed a new passion in life -- helping other moms be more financially stable and reduce their money stress. Today she runs a website and podcast dedicated to this mission called Smart Money Mamas, with resources for helping moms define their values, have important conversations, and take steps toward securing their financial future. Smart Money Mamas website: https://smartmoneymamas.com Smart Money Mamas Podcast: https://smartmoneymamas.com/podcast/

At YNAB your data is exactly that -- YOUR data. Financial data is personal and sensitive, and as Jesse explains, YNAB does not and will not touch that! Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

Jesse chats with productivity master Jeff Sanders, host of the 5AM Miracle podcast. As the title of his podcast suggests, Jeff loves to wake up early, but he doesn't necessarily think you should. Instead, Jeff focuses on setting clear boundaries around your work time, family time, and personal development time (especially physical fitness). Especially in the remote working arrangements that are increasingly common today, it's important to separate the home office from the kitchen, living room, and bedroom. Too often the proximity of the home office lures remote workers into working all day, with no clear lines between work time and personal time. This leads to lower productivity, more stress, more burnout, and more tension in relationships. In his podcast and his productivity coaching work, Jeff shows how you can set better boundaries around work and personal life and live life with more intention. You can find Jeff at his website: https://www.jeffsanders.com 5AM Miracle Podcast: https://www.jeffsanders.com/podcast/ Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

In today's money story, Jesse chats with Erika, a 32 year old married woman who found herself struggling in the deep end of credit card debt. Until YNAB, Erika always managed her money with her bank statements -- if there was enough for her current outflows, good! There wasn't much of a plan or cushion for surprises, however. Shortly after getting married Erika began to feel trapped in her debt payments, which had become burdensome due to the credit card debt she and her husband had racked up for their wedding. After some close calls where she questioned their ability to even pay the rent, Erika discovered YNAB and began to make changes. While she and her husband are still climbing out of the hole, they've made a big dent in their debt load and have created a solid plan for aging their money, acknowledging their true expenses, and rolling with the punches. Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

Jesse chats with author Mary Marantz about her book Dirt, the story of her life journey growing up in poor, rural West Virginia to eventually attending Yale Law. Mary grew up with a strong, hard working father who instilled in her a vigorous work ethic and a love for her hometown. However, her working class roots cast a shadow of doubt over how high she could climb in the world, and how qualified she could feel amongst those from different, more economically priveleged backgrounds. Dirt is the story of Mary reckoning with the good and bad of her upbringing, and how it shaped her into the woman she is today. How does this relate to money? Money is all about feelings, and often our upbringing instills deeply seated ideas about how to earn and spend money that are hard to shake as adults. Mary's story is a powerful reminder that doing the work to better understand yourself, your history, and your place in the world prepares you to make lasting changes to your decision making around money. Dirt by Mary Marantz https://marymarantz.com/dirt Mary Marantz on Instagram @marymarantz

Student loan payments have been frozen for several months due to COVID-19, but that doesn't mean your budget has to be frozen. Jesse strategizes ways for you to address student loans during the grace period. Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

Jesse chats with Laura Vanderkam and Sarah Hart-Unger, two time management experts and the hosts of the Best of Both Worlds Podcast, a show all about balancing busy lives and careers. Sarah is a pediatric endocrinologist while Laura is a writer (and author of I Know How She Does It), and both of them are also busy mothers. While they approach the challenges of time management with different strategies, they are both experts in making things fit in a busy life without getting burned out. Sarah and Laura point out that the things you spend your time on -- the things you say yes or no to -- are ultimately a reflection of your values. If something doesn't fit in your priorities, you simply won't do it. Sounds familiar, eh? Money, or rather the things you spend money on, is also a reflection of your values, as Jesse has argued on previous shows. So, the first step in wrangling your time management problem is to take a hard look at the things you value and see if the things you are spending your time on actually align with those values. Secondly, Laura reminds us that everyone has the same amount of time in a week to get things done, to relax, to pursue hobbies. 168 hours every week, in fact. Unlike money, this resource is equally distributed to all, and we cannot change the amount of time we have. So, being mindful of how you spend your weeks not in days, but in hours, can be a useful exercise. Do you have a hobby that you wished you spent more time on? A stack of books you wish you could finally read? Start tracking your time, and you might be surprised to find a spare hour or two that you were previously wasting on mindless tasks (or social media). Like spare change, these hours can slip between the cushions of the weekdays and weekends. Best of Both Worlds Podcast https://theshubox.com/best-of-both-worlds Laura Vanderkam https://lauravanderkam.com Best Laid Plans Podcast with Sarah Hart-Unger https://theshubox.com/best-laid-plans-podcast Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

Whether it's because of changing careers, preparing for a child, or some other life event, you and your partner may need to downsize from two incomes to one. This has a major impact to your budget! But, with some planning, you can make a smooth transition. The easiest way, Jesse says, is to live on a single income before actually losing the second income. With a little help from YNAB, you can practice this and ensure that when the second income goes away, you know how to make your dollars stretch without stress. Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com