You Need A Budget (ynab)

Mark's blog post from a while back spurred this commentary.  My thoughts on financial priorities regarding the big picture, longer-term stuff.

With your budget, especially for those just starting, just show up. Keep it simple, do what you're told, and…just show up.

Sometimes creation trumps consumption purely for its own sake; where you're satisfied on a personal level, even though the math doesn't work.

Sometimes the best way to start thinking about making extra income is to think small.  Really small.  Don't let visions of grandeur slow you down.

There are a few ways to apply Rule Two (Save for a Rainy Day) to your wildly fluctuating income situation. This also applies if you happen to receive windfalls, but are otherwise on a fairly steady income.

Your budget will never be perfect, because you're dealing with imperfect variables (people, external events, and bad data).

The key is to give them a taste of how good it feels to save up and pay for something. Positive, achievable, and life-changing.

(Holiday spending target - current category balance) / six months remaining = your monthly contributions for the rest of 2013.

There are three secrets to budgeting successfully on even the wildest of variable incomes.  Here they are.

If you just decide things are great, maybe a monthly budget is a bit too frequent…how long would you last before the lack of frequency/familiarity left you sinking back into your old ways?

YNAB's (very successful) headline on the homepage sends the message of "control," but most people say they don't like budgets because they feel controlled.  Which is it?

How old is the last dollar you spent?

This is a quick riff on how you could (quite easily) handle accounts receivable in YNAB.

This should probably just be a replay of my interview with Leo from ZenHabits.net.  The key to money (and probably everything else in life) is to be happy in the moment.

The pathway to wealth is paved with patience.

Your "Miscellaneous" category is a black box of spending. Is that spending a reflection of your values? Or are you being lazy? And should you care anyway? We discuss :)

This is the end of that debate.

Having the choice to create a taxable event (or avoid one) is extremely powerful when it comes to minimizing your life's single biggest expense.

It involved a company that made karaoke machines. I got lucky.

I take a few minutes to explain how we use YNAB with the kids.  We have five kids, so there's proof that it scales.