You Need a Budget: The Proven System for Breaking the Paycheck-to-Paycheck Cycle, Getting Out of Debt, and Living the Life You Want

Jesse Mecham

Dec 2017 · HarperAudio · Narrated by Jesse Mecham

About this audiobook

Wall Street Journal Bestseller

“Jesse Mecham has achieved the impossible: a book on budgeting that is fascinating, entertaining, and practical. Read this book, follow his advice, then watch your bank account grow and your financial worries fade.” —Josh Kaufman, bestselling author of The Personal MBA and The First 20 Hours

Experience a life free of financial stress and transform your relationship to money with this indispensable guide—the first book based on You Need A Budget’s proven method that has helped hundreds of thousands of people break the paycheck to paycheck cycle, get out of debt, and live the life they want to live.

No one should tell you what to do with your money—only you know what’s most important to you. Always guiding you back to your true priorities, Jesse Mecham will fundamentally change the way you think about your money and what it can do for you. His proven method—four, simple rules—will transform money management from a paralyzing burden to a powerful tool, putting you in total control of your life:

• Give Every Dollar A Job. Be intentional about what you want your money to do before you spend it.
• Embrace Your True Expenses. Break up larger, less frequent expenses into smaller, more manageable amounts. By saving monthly for insurance premiums, holidays, or car repairs, when the time comes, your money is ready and waiting to do its job.
• Roll With The Punches. When life changes, so must your budget. Make adjustments and move along. Flexible budgets succeed because they’re guilt-free, realistic, and sustainable.
• Age Your Money. As you repeat the first three rules, you’ll increase the time between the moment you earn a dollar and the moment you need to spend it. When your money is at least a month old, you’ll have finally broken the paycheck to paycheck cycle for good.

This tried-and-true system has changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people by teaching them how to take charge, adjust money habits, eliminate stress, and build the life they want to live. Don’t waste another month counting down the minutes until payday.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

Ratings and reviews

Very helpful book! A lot of this info is basic finance that I already understood, but I wasn't implementing the methods correctly. I realized I was trying to forecast our finances rather than budget. Once I realized this, my husband and I overhauled our budgets immediately. We've only been using the method for a few days, but we are very excited to see how our situation will change as we continue budgeting. It's also nice having your goals right there in front of you! Keeps me on track!

Helpful and entertaining! This book was really helpful to start conversations between my partner and I and also with our teenaged kids about budgeting and money. We had great conversations. We're starting the YNAB plan today! Yay!

I love what they are doing at YNAB. This book is a great resource, even if you do not use the software.

About the author

Jesse Mecham founded YNAB in 2004 to help him and his new wife, Julie, watch their money. Studying for his master of accountancy at Brigham Young University at the time, he put his numbers wizardry to work to develop a system to track their expenses, and that became YNAB. He lives in Utah with his family.