#131 - Ben and Ernie YouTube LIVE Q&A
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How do Ben and Ernie introduce the live New Year’s Budget Nerds Q&A?
I'm Ben. And I'm Ernie. And you're listening to Budget Nerds. All right, we are live. Welcome, welcome to a live episode of Budget Nerds. We're doing a little Q&A today.
Ben, it honestly feels like it's been forever since we've done a Budget Nerds.
Well, it has because we had a break for Christmas. You got sick last week. And yeah, but we're back. We're here. We're ready to go. And let us know where you're listening from. I always love to see it. i see uh michael bash here your your username looks familiar to me and your and your profile michelle michelle bash oh michelle michelle that's right that's right that's right she's a regular yeah i see that profile picture i'm like i know you yeah all right coming in now we got somebody from michigan dixon tennessee welcome welcome i'm here in virginia I'm here in Wisconsin. Ooh, somebody from Slovakia. Very cool. Welcome. Portland, New Hampshire. Awesome. All right, folks. Thanks for joining us. We're just going to be answering questions today.
All right. Here they all come. Los Angeles, Florida. Got two folks from Los Angeles here. Birmingham, UK. Melbourne. Hey, look at that. All over the world. Love to see it. Love to see it. Is it tomorrow in Melbourne yet? Maybe close. All right. Well, thanks, guys. It's the new year and we're talking about money. So we don't have anything in particular we're going to talk about today. Today, we're going to talk about whatever you want to talk about. So if you have questions, put them in the chat and we will answer as many as we can. And we have some prepared already. So we're going to jump right into that. But anything you want to say before we jump in or any?
No, let's do this. These are fun episodes. We always run out of time, so we're not going to waste, you know, we're not going to do stuff that takes away from the questions. Let's jump right in.
Yeah, okay. All right. Well, so we sent a message on the YouTubes. and said, Hey, can somebody give us some questions for this? So we got a bunch. And I also went into the fans group on Facebook, shout out to them. And they always deliver. So yeah, we got lots of stuff. Why don't we start with Edith's question here? I'm going to put it in the chat. Okay, Edith said, YNAB encourages being one month ahead before aggressively paying down debt. Way to go, Edith. You got it. If bad luck strikes, does that mean borrowing money just to keep your month ahead status? Or should you use all your sinking funds and then rebuild them? It's a bit of a chicken and egg situation. Yeah, it is, Edith. So if you get in a really bad situation, maybe you lost your job, that's probably when you say, if bad luck strikes, that's probably the first thing I think about.
And you need to draw down on those funds. Do you borrow money to stay a month ahead? If it were me... I would use my month ahead money before I, before I borrowed anything, um, because, uh, well, for a lot of reasons, but I think for me, um, I think of that month ahead money as, well, it's really, it really is like a logistical, it just makes things easier, right? Cause you have this, you don't have to worry about this cashflow problems anymore, but it also kind of acts as a part of my emergency fund as well. So that's the way I think of it. What about you, Ernie, though? I think we talked about this before. Do you disagree?
Yeah, well, the first thing I would do is look at the sinking funds. Look at those true expenses, those non-monthlies. And I'm not pulling all of that money out. Heavens no. But are there any categories that have more than what I need moving forward to give me a little bit of buffer? So I'm starting there with those non-monthlies. But I am seriously considering borrowing money. Wow. Because here's the thing. To stay a month ahead. To stay a month ahead. Because you said it, being a month ahead is all about ease, making money easy. So if I'm not a month ahead any longer, well, now I've got two headaches. I'm worrying about the paycheck to paycheck stuff. And I'm worrying about this big medical or whatever emergency that just hit my life.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
How do Ben and Ernie introduce the live New Year’s Budget Nerds Q&A?
0:06–7:11
2
What should I do if I lose income — use sinking funds, month‑ahead money, or borrow?
7:11–21:52
3
How do I track pre‑tax deductions like HSA and childcare in YNAB?
21:52–29:25
4
When should I use a fresh start versus a soft reset to preserve YNAB history?
29:25–44:11
5
What does a very large Age of Money mean and when should I be concerned?
44:11–1:08:20
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Budget Nerds
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#141 - Ask Ben & Ernie: Travel, Debt, and Life After Month Ahead
#140 - YNAB With Us Live! (YouTube Live May 13, 2026)
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#139 - Sixteen YNAB Features Hidden in Plain Sight