Recently YNAB announced a major shake up in the way it talks about money. Jesse explains how the realization that each of YNAB's Four Rules was really just a variation of Rule One ("give every dollar a job") led to a deeper conversation about YNAB's core identity. Every year when the executive team met to reasses the company's purpose and direction, the team would change the stated purpose of the company. It became clear that YNAB wasn't a budgeting app, and it wasn't a set of rules for managing money -- there was some self-actualization happening in users that wasn't being captured by the way YNAB presented its method. Eventually the team landed on the word "spendfulness," to describe a state of spending money with purpose and intention.

 

Jesse discusses how the company has evolved to this point, and where it plans to go now that it has redefined its purpose and even changed it's methods (YNAB dropped the Four Rules for the Five Questions).

 

Mark wraps up the conversation musing on the pursuit of leisure, and why he has such a hard time indulging in leisure pursuits.

 

Mark Butler

The Money School: https://moneyschool.works

https://markbutler.com

https://letsdothebooks.com

 

Jesse Mecham

YNAB

https://www.youneedabudget.com