You're Bad With Money. Here's How to Fix It

The average person is bad at money. Actually, most people are bad at money! Living paycheck to paycheck, with little to no savings and a lot of debt is the norm. But you don't have to be. Learning to spend well is the key to learning to be good with money, because all things finanical flow from spending. YNAB teaches you just how to do that.   Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jessemechamshow   Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: [email protected]   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  

Jesse shares a story about helping his daughter use YNAB to plan her spending and save for an electric bicycle. The bike was $600, quite a big ticket item for a 9 year old, but together they came up with a plan and created a target in YNAB to assign money toward that goal each month. And when the day came a few months later to make the purchase... she didn't want it.   The burning desire for the bike had passed, and the clarity of the tradeoffs she would have to make to buy it set in. At the end of the day, the bike wasn't worth it to her. That is the power of YNAB and delayed gratification. By saving for the bike first, she was able to learn whether it was in alignment with her priorities. Often when the initial desire for something hits, it overwhelms our sense of priorities. And when we use debt to shortcut the time delay it takes to save up for a thing, it not only obscures our priorities but it also robs us of the choice to not buy it when the smoke clears and our sense of priorities returns.   Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jessemechamshow   Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: [email protected]   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  

Jesse is taking a short break while he's on the road. He'll be back in a couple weeks!   Follow Budget Nerds on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuIUGmbCDklkDCDm-cQqv2g     Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jessemechamshow   Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: [email protected]   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  

In today's episode, Jesse hands over the mic to YNAB team member Dave Crombleholme, who presented at the Minneapolis Fan Fest in June 2025. Dave is perhaps most famous for his idea of the Wish Farm at YNAB, but he's also spent a long time wrestling with the word budget. In Dave's presentation, he outlines various iterations of the YNAB rules over the years, explains why the concept of rules never sat right in the first place, and how trying redefining the word budget proved to be a frustrating endeavor. In the end, it was always about spending, about giving every dollar a job, and spending to build the live you want to live.   Sign up for YNAB Fan Fest updates: https://www.ynab.com/events   Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jessemechamshow   Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: [email protected]   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  

In June 2025 at YNAB Fan Fest Minneapolis, Jesse gave a talk about how money is a medium -- not just of exchange, but, ultimately, of you. When you really examine what it is that money does in the world, it is a thing which translates your energy and effort (required to earn the money) into tangible goods and services. When you draw a throughline between your work and your spending, money just falls away. It's simply a medium for you to express yourself in the world.   Sign up for YNAB Fan Fest updates: https://www.ynab.com/events   Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jessemechamshow   Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: [email protected]   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  

When worry creeps in to your money, the knee jerk response is to think: "I just need to make more money, that will solve my problems." But as Jesse shares in a humorous conversation with his daughter, it's interesting how quickly you can spend more and more money in your mind. Unless you're a billionaire, money has a way of becoming stressful when you're only solution is to need more and more of it.   Jesse's approach when worry creeps in? Double down on YNAB. Go back to giving every dollar a job -- which is the core principle of the YNAB method -- and taking active control of your money. Doing this not only helps you create a plan for your money, it puts you in the driver seat of your money, and helps you regain confidence in your plan, one transaction at a time.   Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jessemechamshow   Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: [email protected]   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  

It's no secret, college is expensive. But if you haven't looked in a few years, college has gotten really expensive, especially certain schools with a lot of name recognition and clout. Jesse has a senior in high school, so as he's been helping with the college application process, he's been pondering: is college worth it? And more importantly, is every college worth it?   As Jesse balks at the eye watering price of Yale (over $100k a year now), he urges listeners to really check in with their "why" for college, get clear about their priorities, and not get caught up in the hype of prestige.   Resources mentioned in this episode: The Price You Pay for College by Ron Lieber   Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jessemechamshow   Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: [email protected]   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  

When you don't have a plan for your money, it can feel like money is in control of your life. That can be a terrifying feeling! YNAB can not only help you set a plan for your money, but reclaim control of your money, and control over your life.     Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jessemechamshow   Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: [email protected]   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  

Money shouldn't keep you up at night, and it doesn't have to! Giving every dollar a job and asking yourself five questions about what your money needs to do not only grows your bank account, it gives you peace of mind (and better sleep)     Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jessemechamshow   Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: [email protected]   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  

Did you make a resolution to have a "no buy year" this year? How's that going? While Jesse loves the idea of a no-buy year, mainly because he loves to experiment with money and behavior, he admits the concept of it is flawed. A "no buy year" typically means you refrain from making any non-essential purchases so that you can save more money. As Jesse explains, though, saving money really means being good at spending money, and the way you get good at that... is to spend money! Spend money according to a plan, after asking yourself 5 essential questions about what that money needs to do for you.     Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jessemechamshow   Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: [email protected]   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