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Jesse Mecham

YNAB Founder

Jesse Mecham is a personal finance expert, speaker, business leader, and the Founder of You Need A Budget (or YNAB if you are very busy and important). Jesse hosts the YNAB podcast, and is the Wall Street Journal best-selling author of book You Need A Budget. (He’s nothing if not consistent!) A self-proclaimed “recovering CPA,” he is deeply passionate about teaching individuals, families, and business owners YNAB’s Four Rules so they can gain total control of their money. 

Jesse first developed the YNAB method as a broke, newly married college student who really needed a budget. In an attempt to make an additional $300/month to cover rent, he sold his budgeting spreadsheet online and YNAB was born. Since 2004, the software has grown into a leading personal finance platform and has helped hundreds of thousands of people break the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle, get out of debt, and save more money. Now, YNAB has a growing team living and working all around the world, and has built a thriving remote culture that earned recognition as Fortune’s #1 best small company to work for (YNAB was doing remote work before it was cool!). When not teaching people how to budget, Jesse loves gardening, woodworking, marksmanship, and travel. He also spends a good bit of time with his wife and the seven small people that live in their house.

All articles by

Jesse

A Tale of Two Savings Strategies

Money management can be as simple or as complicated as we want it to be.  Choose simple. You won’t regret it.

Welcome to Quantum Budgeting

Why, you ask? Because it's not every day we announce a new feature.... Outsourcing your budget. That's right, thanks to the power of the Interwebs, we can do your budgeting for you. We've called it Quantum Budgeting. And it's free.

Why is Money Important to You? No, But Really, WHY?

If you’re a personal finance junkie like me, you’ll get a lot of value out of the first half of the book, The One Page Financial Plan.

How To DIY Your Own Betterment Portfolio

Betterment is an investing option that helps you hit every investing rule listed above, while making the whole process simple.

The Best Budgeting App: What to Look For

Looking for the best personal finance software? It should do a few things for you: here's what to look for.

Just Start. (Just Do It Was Already Taken, But That Too.)

New Year’s Day. A day when we awake to fresh possibilities. And quite possibly, the realization that, yes, we really need a budget. It’s a great moment because it means you’re right there on the edge of taking control of your money and all the ways it impacts your life. (So. Many. Ways.

How I Paid Off My Mortgage Before Age Thirty

Many of you have asked to hear the story of my own journey to debt freedom, which includes a brief but peaceful run-in with the IRS.

Good Debt and Bad Debt

There are ways we can assess whether debt is good or bad. We all know that rules are meant for exceptions so please see these as guidelines.

Don’t Hide Behind My Rules. You Have One Priority.

Debt is not mandatory; you have options. Reevaluate your budget priorities and make choices that can change your financial future forever.

Beat the Crud Out of Your Mortgage - Round 2

Once you’re convinced you want to pay off your mortgage quickly, it’s a matter of strategy. Check out these tips and tricks to ring its bell.

Beat the Crud Out of Your Mortgage: Round 1

If you want to put the hurt on your mortgage, you gotta punch it in the principal. Tighten your laces and slim down expenses so you can fight.

Budgeting Is Sexy

Hello, fellow YNABians! Alex here. You read the title right. Just like J. Money tells us, budgeting is sexy! See, I signed up for online dating a couple weeks ago. After all, I spend my working days alone at home, writing things like annual reports, middle school resources, books and, of course, blog posts.