Moderator: Jesse Mecham
Founder/CEO - You Need a Budget (YNAB)
Jesse Mecham is the owner and CEO of You Need a Budget (YNAB), a unique money tracking system he created while in the Accountancy graduate program at Brigham Young University. YNAB worked so well,...
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Jesse Mecham is the owner and CEO of You Need a Budget (YNAB), a unique money tracking system he created while in the Accountancy graduate program at Brigham Young University. YNAB worked so well, Jesse officially founded YouNeedaBudget.com in 2004, and began selling his program and earning extra income for his growing family. After graduation, Jesse worked as a certified public accountant, but continued to sell YNAB on the side. Eventually he left the day job in order to focus on his business full-time. Today, YNAB is used world-wide and can be found on Amazon.com, the Intel App-Up Store, and the Apple Store. In the 2009 June cover story, Kiplinger's Personal Finance said, "If you need extra motivation to achieve financial discipline, consider the budgeting software YNAB." The program was recently named winner for Best Windows Personal Finance Software in About.com's Reader's Choice Awards for 2011. Jesse wrote a companion book to the software, also titled You Need a Budget, and he gives occasional presentations on the subject. He enjoys working from home, golfing, taking his wife on weekly dates, and keeping up with their four kids. hide
visit: http://www.youneedabudget.com/
Mind Over Money Machine: Taking Back Financial Control In The Age of Automation
"Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver." - Ayn Rand
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Step 1: Zero-Based Budgeting
Having a budget is having a plan, and that plan needs definition. Zero-based budgeting is the most granular, detailed kind of planning you could do with your money. It was developed in the 1960s by Peter Phyrr, the Division Manager of Texas Instruments. Although originally meant for corporate or government use, this method does wonders for personal finance, as well. Starting with your sum total of money, you assign all of your monthly income to various expenses, down to the last dime, or zero. I call it "Give Every Dollar a Job." No money should be unspoken for or left without a duty. If you find there is not enough left to fill an important category, you adjust the balance of one category downwards in order to increase it in another.
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Creating a budget that we can stick to is difficult as it is when we're single -- let alone when we're married with children! Even when we make a genuine effort to stick to our financial limits and goals, unforeseen expenses arise all the time, like purchasing a new tire to replace the torn one, or paying for a root canal you weren't expecting to have. Implementing a realistic family budget is something fellow parent Jesse Mecham knows all about. From the time he married his wife while in graduate school, to now that he is the father of four children, Jesse had dedicated his career to helping others manage their finances. Jesse shares the secrets he has discovered over the years, here on The Knowledge Nests.
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