#114 - How to Handle a Windfall
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
I'm Ben and I'm Ernie and you're listening to Budget Nerds.
No, you are not. Friends, welcome back to another episode. Today, we're tackling a topic that has been suggested by Callahan4274 over on YouTube. They said this. I'd love a Budget Nerds episode about dealing with windfalls, everything from that extra paycheck month to larger windfalls. And right away, I'm like, this is going to be a great episode. So let's do it.
Okay. Yeah. So what is a windfall? I mean, I feel like that's a weird word. Yeah. I feel like it doesn't describe, like, why do we call it a windfall? Like, I've never, is there like, what's the etymology?
We should have looked this up ahead of time.
Why don't you do it right now? It just popped in my head. Like, why do we call it a windfall when you get extra money? Like, okay. Etymology, windfall. Let's see. Oh, thank you, Google AI, Gemini, or whatever you are. The word windfall originally referred to fruit or trees blown down by the wind. Oh, okay. Later evolving to mean any unexpected or unearned gain, particularly financial. Okay. I feel like AI might be making things up. So... It comes from the Middle English windfall, that which has been blown down by the wind. Okay, so I think the idea is like, it's like a cosmic thing. Like, it was just like, it's some fruit that you picked off the ground because you didn't have to work for it, right? And I think that's kind of the idea.
Unexpected. Unexpected.
Yeah. Yeah. But it's not just necessarily something that you didn't work for. I mean, it could be like a bonus at work or like an extra paycheck. Yeah. But I think we tend to think of it as like big things like, oh, you got like a big inheritance or you won the lottery or, you know, something like that. But I think I think we for the purpose of this episode, I think any any amount of money is fair game. It's not something that like is part of your regular paycheck. Right.
Yeah. It could be the 10 extra bucks you get from grandma on your birthday.
Yeah.
I feel like that's too small.
What counts as a windfall and where does the term come from?
Is that a windfall? Does that count as a windfall? That's a windfall to me.
Maybe it's because I have so little fun money dollars, but... All right, all right.
Okay, so it counts. What if I found, like, $2 in the pocket of my jeans and I'd forgotten about it? Okay, okay, that's too small.
That's too small. Where's the line? Okay, so...
So $2 is too small, $10 is a windfall.
It's subjective, though.
I don't know.
Yeah, depending on the day, I might tell you, hey, $2, that's a windfall. That's going to buy me guac at Chipotle.
You always get it in there, man. Yeah, okay, so the point is that it's money that you weren't expecting. And I think that can kind of throw you off for a loop because if you've been YNABing for a long time or if you kind of have a pretty strong ruts in how you spend your money, you know what you want to do. You set money aside for your regular bills and your regular spending, maybe something that you've been saving up for for a while. But when you get a windfall, it's like, It can kind of shock you a little bit because you're like, oh, I wasn't expecting this. And I think that's the that's the key is that you weren't expecting it.
Yep, weren't expecting it. And it's crazy. These things happen a lot more often than we think.
Yeah. I feel like any time we talk about this, people are like, oh, it would have been nice to get a windfall. That's the main knee-jerk response. Like, oh, man, I wish I could get one of those. And probably some of you guys have already commented that exact thing, and now you're feeling like, oh, no, Vince, call me out. But I think... I think it happens more often than you think. I mean, it could be like a tax refund, an extra paycheck. It could be, yeah, it could be a gift from a family member. I mean, we get unexpected money more often than we realize. So it's important to kind of get an idea of what you should do with it when it happens.
Yeah, absolutely. And it seems like, at least for me, there's always a lot of pressure. on the windfalls. You know, like there's this, I don't wanna screw it up, especially if the windfall is a lot larger than what you're used to dealing with.
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