You Need a Budget Audiobook By Jesse Mecham cover art

You Need a Budget

The Proven System for Breaking the Paycheck-to-Paycheck Cycle, Getting out of Debt, and Living the Life You Want

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You Need a Budget

By: Jesse Mecham
Narrated by: Jesse Mecham
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About this listen

For most people, budgeting conjures up the same feelings as, say, prison and dieting. But your initial instinct couldn't be further from the truth. You just haven't budgeted the right way.

You Need a Budget will teach you four simple rules to completely revolutionize the way you think about managing your money. With a budget, you'll break the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle, get out of debt, and save more money. A liberating, enabling, empowering budget will actually make you feel more free, not more restricted. The YNAB philosophy is centered around these four rules:

  • Give every dollar a job. Take your cash, checking, and saving accounts and assign jobs to that money. Begin now with what you have on hand. Then follow your plan. Pick your priorities, and make sure your dollars are helping you move closer to the things you care about most.
  • Embrace your true expenses. Look ahead and identify the larger, less frequent expenses that tend to sneak up on you. Break those expenses into manageable monthly amounts. Consider insurance premiums, birthdays, holidays, charitable giving, car repairs, etc. This practice evens out your cash outflows, decreases your stress, and helps you make better decisions.
  • Roll with the punches. Accept the fact that life always changes and you'll likely always go over budget somewhere. If an unexpected expense comes up and you need to change your budget, just change it. The YNAB philosophy not only tolerates changing your budget but encourages it.
  • Age your money. The goal of this rule is to increase the time between the moment you earn money and the moment you spend that money. In other words, if you're going to break the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle, you need to learn to live on money you earned a month or two months or even three months ago.

YNAB's four rules are the pillars of a tried-and-true system that gets you to engage with your money every day. It helps you change your behavior so that you're proactive and in control of your finances. It's not about stressing over last month's statement; instead, you're looking ahead and actively deciding how you want and need to build a life of meaning, not stress.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2017 YNAB Licensing LLC (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers
Money Management & Budgeting Personal Finance Inspiring Funny Suspenseful Personal Budget
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Featured Article: Minimalist Living—How to Start Living More Mindfully with Less


If you have an Instagram account or follow style trends of the past few years, you might have noticed that minimalism has caught on big time. Minimalism, put simply, is the philosophy of living with only what you need and focusing more on experiences than possessions. It might seem daunting to make the switch to minimalist living, but we have a few tips on minimalist living to help ease the transition.

Practical Budgeting Advice • Motivational Approach • Soothing Voice • Non-judgmental Philosophy • Actionable Strategies
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I have used every budget app followed all the Budget advice from those who seemed to know about money and never could get MY MONEY to do what I wanted it to do. Until I came across YNAB now I had it seen before and just shrugged it off as just another system. Fast forward some years and three kids later I found myself drowning in debt living paycheck to paycheck (barely) and just looking for a miracle from God. So I started doing my research watching different YouTube video reviews and again YNAB came up. So I said what can I lose I checked it out and haven’t looked back since. I’m no where near where I wanna be and to be honest was ready to quit but after reading this book it gave me such a better insight on the overall philosophy I am actually excited about budgeting now and don’t look at it as a chore. I’m such a competitive person so this allows me to see how far will go to hit my financial goals. This system has blessed me in a way far beyond budgeting just my overall thought on finances and quality of life will be forever changed. I plan on buying the actual book to keep as a reference.

Best budget system ever

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The book was inspirational. I look forward to putting this to action. The website is pretty critical to making this work, it seems.

Seems like a good plan.

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This is a great budgeting system, and a good intro to the YNAB software. If you use the software, you should read this book. If you don't use the software, but want to be a better at budgeting, you should read this book.

Great book for anyone instersted in budgeting philosophy.

#budget #money #advice #tagsgiving #sweepstakes

Great System

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This book was great to listen too. It provided great advice. Great advice that is easy to follow without getting overwhelmed about your debt.

Very Engaging!

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I cannot wait to put these principles into action in my real life. Easy listening, everyday common sense rules to get you on track. And I even got the book for a super great sale price. Bonus! Don’t miss this one, it’ll be worth every penny even if you miss the sale!

Common Sense Rules to Change Your Life

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this made budgeting feel much more manageable. it's a motivating read for saving on any budget.

motivating

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Very good knowledge in this book.
It's worth a re-listen.
Go ahead. Study it. Enjoy

Worth the listen.

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Easy to follow on audio. I’ve implemented some of the steps and already ( after weakly following for 2 months) am seeing improvement in my ability to stick to my new budget, and much less anxiety over it.

Good methodology

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Outstanding book--the best there is on budgeting. Read by the author and creator of YNAB himself. Well written, well read. Highly recommended.

Excellent and Essential

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This book should be in everyone's library! Jesse has developed a superb budget program that's not only easy to follow but fun to do. He also explains how to get your kids onboard which is amazing in itself. I highly recommend this book.

AWESOME LISTEN!

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