Remind Me Why I Have a Job...

This post is adapted from YNAB's twice-monthly newsletter, Loose Change. 

Why do we work?

To utilize our talents? For health insurance? Because we’d be lousy hunter-gatherers?

Surely some of the reason we work is that we get paid for it. We work to put food on the table, to pay for OpenTable. So we can live indoors. But you, reader, why do you make money?

What lights you up?

Me, I rediscovered tennis this past year and have been feverishly putting money aside for weekly court rentals with Antoine, my somewhat-fatherly hitting partner. I also set money aside each month for non-splashy things like my 401k and paying for my kids’ future college tuition (in case I can’t Photoshop them onto the water polo team).

Someday I will probably get weary of having to divert tennis money far into the future, but for now, it makes me feel euphoric. I spent well over a decade dealing with serious health challenges and struggling to earn money. Retirement, college for my kids, a home with a washer, dryer, and dishwasher seemed an ocean away. (Definitely being melodramatic about the dishwasher.)

Sometimes it can feel like all your money is spoken for, reserved for “non-negotiables” like mortgage, rent, and food. Still, it’s good to ask the question anyway: why do I make money?

This simple question helps us remember that even in the regularity of our lives, there is wonder. Maybe we earn money for ourselves—enough to cover the rent for a tiny Brooklyn apartment with a skylight that lets snow into the kitchen during a blizzard. Maybe our money goes to others—a new water bottle for a six-year-old to sip on the rug at school (and which looks enormous in her hands). 

Or maybe it’s for joys you’ve yet to discover. If you don't exactly love how you spend right now, that's ok. Bringing money and life goals together is a journey that this newsletter will keep plugging away at, one spending decision at a time.
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Good With Money: Thriving Within Our Means

Liz and her husband are approaching their one-year anniversary with YNAB 🥂 and they wanted to share a few wins:
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• In the first six months, they “have not only lived within our means, but also paid off about $8K in debt AND paid for a family vacation for next year.”
• Liz had always managed spending with a spreadsheet previously, but she and her husband “would always end up overspending because we didn’t have real-time monitoring.” Now, they are “on the same page. It is a game changer.”
• Having clobbered their debt, they are working to build their emergency savings and pay for their next car in cash.
• #1 guilt-free expense? “Weekend coffee dates!”