Checked Out at Work

This post is adapted from YNAB's twice-monthly newsletter, Loose Change. 

One of the challenges of being a parent is trying to operate with split attention: you want to be present for your kids but also dinner’s behind schedule… and is the homework done? You’ve literally got multiple burners going at the same time. Split your attention and you’ll probably perform worse at whatever you’re doing.

For instance, last night as I was putting my seven-year-old daughter to bed, I was stressing about the kitchen cleanup I still had left. But she wanted to pull me into her current obsession. Sitting up with a flashlight, reading the liner notes for the double-CD, original cast recording of Les Miserables (as one does), she grilled me hard. What happened to Cosette’s mother? Why did Inspector Javart chase Jean Valjean for 20 years because of a loaf of bread? 

These are difficult but important musical theater questions. But mentally, I was already out of the room. 

Being a parent means wrestling with split attention, but it turns out that being an American worker often means wrestling with much heavier distractions. In 2022, 57% of U.S. employees reported feeling financial stress at work. What’s more, over half of the employees distracted by their finances at work spent three hours or more each week dealing with personal money issues during office hours.

One patently obvious solution is for people to be paid a living wage. But there is a very large swath of workers for whom the problem isn’t just income. Consider that 40% of Americans earning more than $100,000 are currently living paycheck-to-paycheck. This kind of stress makes it so hard to be mentally 'in the room' at work and home. 

Sure, being financially “responsible” is important, but that’s just the minimum. Let's set the bar higher. How can your hard-earned dollars contribute to a sense of alignment in your life?

You don't want to just be chasing that bread for 20 years without a raison d'être. 

What if you could start to develop more awareness and intention so that how you spend your money was a practice? Imagine if the people at your workplace didn’t have to struggle with so much split attention. And wouldn’t it be cool if your employer paid for it, and because you told them about YNAB everyone in the office would be high-fiving you, carrying you on their shoulders, picking you first for softball… [dream sequence ends]

Well some of this could happen! Financial Wellness by YNAB is a workplace benefit that’s designed to boost employee’s financial well-being. Because there’s two things that people should never have to experience at work: the smell of microwaved fish and trying to pretend they’re not stressed about money.

Empower your coworkers to thrive with less money stress—and get YNAB for free! Send a message to your HR team requesting YNAB as a benefit.

YNAB IRL: Putting My Dollars to Work for Me

Alexis, a Physician from Rhode Island, used the YNAB Method to take back control over her paychecks and invest in her ideal future.

I make a good income. I thought, “I shouldn’t have money problems!” But I was still living paycheck to paycheck and playing the (very stressful) 'how much money can I pay towards this debt but still leave enough in the checking account for the bills that will come through before I get paid again?' game—and losing. I signed up [for YNAB] in February 2020 and have never looked back. Got my credit cards paid off, paid off both cars, started putting more towards retirement, and even managed to save for our first vacation in 10 years! 
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Being more intentional with our money has made all the difference in the world. I just checked our net worth report and it’s tripled since we started YNAB!

But more than that (so much more) is that I’m no longer stressed about money. Bills are on auto-pay and true expenses are in the budget. When life happens, we’re able to roll with the punches. I’m not exaggerating to say YNAB has been life-changing.

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