It's common parlance to say someone is "good with money," but it's often said in a way that suggests some people are innately gifted with money management skills. Jesse punches back at this supposition. He argues that becoming good with money is a skill, and skills are acquired through habit -- stringing together a lot of days with good money decisions until the good decisions become second nature.

You don't have to be perfect either! Jesse cites his favorite definition of intelligence, which is error correction, i.e. someone who makes an error, realizes the error, and then fixes it, demonstrates intelligence. It turns out, error correction is built into YNAB's four habits: rolling with the punches is the process of reacting to new circumstances by reallocating money as needed. Then, in the future you can plan for those new circumstances by embracing them as part of your true expenses (habit #2).

Next time you catch yourself thinking "I'm not good with money," focus on making one good decision, then another the next day, then correcting your errors... until it becomes another skill you have acquired!

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