Budget Nerds – Details, episodes & analysis

In today's episode resident social media gurus Amber and Sarah, of Instagram and TikTok fame respectively, join the show to talk about the personal finance trends that are going viral among the Gen Z population right now. The economy is difficult to thrive in, especially for young people, and the Zoomers have come up with creative ways to use their native digital environment to execute the common goals of all people trying to improve their finances: pay off debt and get out of the paycheck to paycheck cycle.

 

In this episode Sarah and Amber share six TikTok and Instagram videos as examples of popular trends, including:

• "No Spend" November
• "No Swipe" November
• Making micro debt payments to stay engaged with the goal of paying off debt
• Gamifying likes and social media engagement to pay off debt

 

Ernie shares his enthusiam for personal finance challenges and trends that bring a social element to finance, while Ben ponders whether using social media to help pay off debt is creative or dystopian. One thing is for sure -- young adults are finding creative ways to improve their relationship with money and bond with others working toward the same goal.

 

Follow Budget Nerds on YouTube

Budget Nerds Livestreams: https://www.youtube.com/@YNABofficial/streams

Budget Nerds Episodes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuIUGmbCDklkDCDm-cQqv2g

 

Share your YNAB wins with Ben and Ernie!

budgetnerds@ynab.com

 

In today's episode, Ben and Ernie interview Lauren, a single mid-30's physical therapist living in Arizona. Lauren is already a legend in the Budget Nerds community for YNAB'ing for years completely manually, without ever connecting a bank account. A true budget nerd, she logs in daily to enter transactions and reconcile. She's never even done a file import to enter transactions!

 

Lauren shares her YNAB story which began with graduating from school and working her first job. Her newfound income felt like a financial safety blanket, and she began spending, unbeknowst to her, well beyond her means. She found herself deep into debt from both credit cards and student loans, and had to ask her mother for help making ends meet. Eventually Lauren discovered YNAB, learned how to spend more thoughtfully with cash on hand rather than debt, and slowly began to take control of her situation. In just a few years she paid off well over $100k of debt!

 

Lauren also shares her challenges planning as a single person, including the hidden costs of being single. Housing, taxes, products and services... many aspects of personal finance today are geared toward couples and families, and may not offer good options for single adults. Single people also face unique emotional challenges. While they may only be accountable to themselves financially, they also solely bear the burden of saving for potential job loss and other unforeseen events that could impact their cash flow. Many couples and families  have the peace of mind of two incomes, as well as the emotional stablity of two people working toward a common goal of financial stability.

 

Finally, Lauren breaks down her YNAB categories as well as her daily habits, including using a checkbook and reconciling her balances by hand in the register!

 

Follow Budget Nerds on YouTube

Budget Nerds Livestreams: https://www.youtube.com/@YNABofficial/streams

Budget Nerds Episodes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuIUGmbCDklkDCDm-cQqv2g

 

Share your YNAB wins with Ben and Ernie!

budgetnerds@ynab.com

 

Have you felt overwhelmed trying to think of categories for your money when you start a fresh spending plan? Or just wished someone would come up with new categories for you when you need to plan for a major life event? You're in luck, someone has done all that work for you! They are called YNAB templates. In today's episode Ben and Ernie take a look at the new templates feature in YNAB, and share their experiments incorporating templates into their own spending plans.

 

There are a number of templates available, ranging from very general, such as the beginner and minimalist templates, to highly specific, such as getting a new puppy or renovating your kitchen. Templates have categories preloaded and organized for you, and some even have targets with ballpark figures. The idea is to help you think of the various things you need to plan for, big and small. For instance, when planning a vacation most people immediately think of airfare and hotels or Air B&B, but there are also small expenses like parking and souvenirs that can add up to big bucks over the course of a trip! With the travel template, all these things have already been considered for you, so you can just import the template directly into your plan and set targets that fit your trip.

 

Ben and Ernie each picked a template to import into their plan (it's easy to import templates -- just find the one you want to use, one click and it imports straigth into your plan). Ben chose travel and used it for a recent beach vacation. Ernie chose food since he and his family have recently changed their habits around eating out and shopping for groceries. Of course, templates aren't set in stone, so Ben and Ernie modified them to fit their own situation.

 

If you find yourself stuck on building categories in your plan, or just need some fresh inspiration, try out a template!

 

Find your YNAB template here:

https://www.ynab.com/templates

 

Follow Budget Nerds on YouTube

Budget Nerds Livestreams: https://www.youtube.com/@YNABofficial/streams

Budget Nerds Episodes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuIUGmbCDklkDCDm-cQqv2g

 

Share your YNAB wins with Ben and Ernie!

budgetnerds@ynab.com

Spend a little time with budgeters working hard to pay off debt and you'll hear the question: should you use the snowball method or the avalanche method to pay off debt? Though there are fierce proponents of both methods, Ben and Ernie say... why not both?

 

Ben shares his hot take on this controversial question, and they discuss a third method for paying off debt: the anger method!

 

YNAB Debt Bootcamp

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

 

Follow Budget Nerds on YouTube:

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

Ben and Ernie confess their deepest, darkest budgeting habits in this episode, and share some confessions from listeners.

 

Follow Budget Nerds on YouTube:

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

 

YNAB is a very powerful and flexible tool, allowing you many ways to build and organize your budget. Unfortunately, that means for some people it can be overwhelming when you first start! Ben and Ernie remind us that the budget should reflect how YOU see your life -- your values and your priorities -- and once you start viewing the budget in this way, your categories will follow.

 

Links:

• 'Share Your Categories' Reddit thread https://www.reddit.com/r/ynab/comments/skem1f/meta_share_your_categories_fortnightly_thread_for/
• Budgeting Together https://www.youneedabudget.com/budgeting-together/

 

Budget Nerds YouTube Channel:

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

 

Break out your checkbooks and flip to the transaction registry, it's time to reconcile your account! Wait, no, never mind -- who even uses a checkbook these days? Well, reconciliation is a word that starts glaze over many people's eyes, but it's actually a powerful tool for budgeting, and it doesn't have to be tedious or boring! Ernie even reconciles in the bathtub!

 

Linkies:

• https://docs.youneedabudget.com/article/1705-finding-your-cleared-bank-balance-reconciling
• https://docs.youneedabudget.com/article/166-reconciling-accounts
• https://docs.youneedabudget.com/article/1666-keeping-your-budget-accurate-on-mobile

And a meme for good measure: https://www.facebook.com/iYNAB/photos/a.10150124831278703/10159139651953703

 

Budget Nerds on YouTube:

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

 

In today's episode Ben and Ernie chat with Lauren, a long time YNAB user going back to YNAB4 and a Customer Support Specialist at YNAB. Though she was born in the US, Lauren is of Korean descent and since 2017 has been teaching English in South Korea. Her unique background has required some pro-level YNAB moves, since she is paid in US dollars but spends in both USD and Korean Yuan, which fluctuate in value relative to each other.

 

YNAB's recommended solution is to maintain two plans, one in each currency, so that currency fluctuations don't cause your plan to drift over time. This is a reliable method, but it requires you to maintain two plans and keep track of duplicate categories in each currency. Lauren prefers to manage her money in one plan, and simply makes the currency conversion when she enters her transactions in YNAB.

 

In today's episode Ben and Ernie dive into Lauren's categories, and discuss her unique way of managing multiple currencies in one plan.

 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• YNAB Templates: https://www.ynab.com/templates

 

Follow Budget Nerds on YouTube

Budget Nerds Livestreams: https://www.youtube.com/@YNABofficial/streams

Budget Nerds Episodes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuIUGmbCDklkDCDm-cQqv2g

 

Share your YNAB wins with Ben and Ernie!

budgetnerds@ynab.com

You don't have to be a power user for YNAB to help you gain control over your money, start loving the way you spend, and change your life. But there's a lot of power under the hood, and Ben and Ernie want to help you unlock it! In today's episode they walk through a handful of their favorite YNAB features and tools and show how you can use them to plan your spending like a true Budget Nerd.

 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• YNAB Templates: https://www.ynab.com/templates
• Heard It from Hannah -- 10 Features You Might Have Missed: https://youtu.be/-N94FQjaVyU?si=hIsKCZlQbZj42tw0

 

 

Follow Budget Nerds on YouTube

Budget Nerds Livestreams: https://www.youtube.com/@YNABofficial/streams

Budget Nerds Episodes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuIUGmbCDklkDCDm-cQqv2g

 

Share your YNAB wins with Ben and Ernie!

budgetnerds@ynab.com