Your Money Bus in Kansas City!

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A Tip By YNAB: Budget for a Great Life

For those who don’t know, knowing your properly budgeted is a great feeling. For those who once lost control with their funds, knowing exactly what your money is doing at all times is financial bliss. As you are seeking out information regarding financial literacy with Your Money Bus, I can tell you from my own experiences and those shared by others that becoming a “budgeter” will change your life.

I can tell you exactly how much I spent on groceries during any stretch of time you ask. Why is this helpful? It provides a strong sense of how your life plays out financially and gives you the ability to very specifically predict how much you will spend in the future. This feeling of preparation, of confidence helps to reduce and the daily stress and fear that can hamper our daily lives.

That’s right, budgeting brings not just your finances but your life into balance. Instead of arguing with your spouse about money, you can discuss your financial goals such as retirement, aspirations, education for your children and more. My wife loves that she or I can spend money without feeling guilty about it. We sit down at the beginning of each month and plan where to spend our money. We’re a team.

Finding a budget can help you reach your financial goals, eliminate guilt about spending money, improve the communication with your spouse and help bring your life into focus. Now who wouldn’t want that? It’s quite amazing how much money can dominate and control our lives. Don’t let it. Educate yourself as much as possible when it comes to finance. The knowledge you acquire, along with the right tools, will help improve your life. Not just your bank account, your life.

Jesse Mecham

You Need A Budget (YNAB)

www.YouNeedABudget.com

Introducing Tour Sponsor "You Need A Budget" (YNAB)

By Jesse Mecham, You Need A Budget

Hi there! My name is Jesse Mecham and I am the founder of You Need A Budget (YNAB). Before I go forward, let me say how privileged we are to be involved with Your Money Bus Tour. The NAPFA Consumer Education Foundation, TD Ameritrade Institutional and Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Magazine have put together an incredible project to help educate consumers across the country on the importance of financial literacy. We couldn’t be happier to be a part of it.

So what is YNAB and were do we come in to help with Your Money Bus Tour? Well in short, we share a similar view with the tour that American consumers need to be well informed and prepared during these tough economic times. While working as an accountant, my wife and I faced some of the same struggles most of you face when it comes to managing your finances and your life. In response, I developed a philosophy to live by in terms of budgeting I call the YNAB Methodology. The YNAB Methodology focuses on four rules:

1) Stop Living Paycheck-to-Paycheck

2) Give Every Dollar a Job

3) Prepare for Rain

4) Roll with the Punches

What I and many other have learned is that following this philosophy, you not only bring your budget into focus – but your life as well. With the varying financial challenges faced by consumers today, it’s vital that American families are well informed on the many aspects of personal financial management and are equipped with the tools to help them. That’s why we’ve partnered with Your Money Bus Tour to supply trial versions of our software to visitors of the bus.

We are so excited to work with Your Money Bus Tour, and can’t wait to begin hearing the success stories of consumers across the country following their visits to the stops in their area. I’ll be posting some of my thoughts here at yourmoneybus.com, so please keep checking back in and thanks for stopping by!

- Jesse