How Savers Become Spenders
The Jesse Mecham Show
YNAB
4.7 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 4 December 2025
⏱️ 7 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Everyone is familiar with the "savers and spenders" dichotomy: some people identify as savers and others spenders, the implication being that spenders are irresponsible with money and savers are wise and frugal. As Jesse has argued, it's a false dichotomy. In fact, YNAB's overarching goal is to help everyone become a "spender" -- a wise spender whose spending is in alignment with their priorities. A good spender knows exactly what he or she is spending for; she gives every dollar a job.
When you look at money through this lens, everything is spending, including savings. Savings is just future spending, by you or someone else that you leave your money to. Good savers are good spenders, ultimately.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, my name is Jesse Meekam with another episode of the Jesse Meekam show, and I'm here each week to obsess out loud about, well, today, it's going to be saving. No, no, it's going to be spending. |
| 0:23.2 | Let's obsess about both because they are, after all, the same thing. |
| 0:27.9 | When someone tells you, yeah, I never worry about money, you're talking to a unicorn. |
| 0:34.0 | But that person might also just be a natural saver. |
| 0:41.0 | And are they perhaps still a little bad with money we'll get there it is possible they have a big pile of cash and are bad at money or you talk |
| 0:47.9 | to someone and they're like yeah I worry about money and you find out that that person thinks of |
| 0:51.3 | themselves as a saver I'm sorry that person thinks of themselves as a saver. I'm sorry, that person thinks of |
| 0:54.9 | themselves as a spender. We talked about the saver already. I'll get there, people, follow along. |
| 0:59.7 | What happens is they're just kind of classified into two buckets. You got the spender, you got the |
| 1:04.8 | saver. Why do I disagree with that classification? Because money is meant to be spent. |
| 1:10.3 | And they're both going to spend that money |
| 1:12.1 | that saviour may not spend the money it may be the kids that spend the money or as you know |
| 1:16.3 | that savor may be saving up for the coffin all tricked out just all yeah just dripping as they say |
| 1:23.9 | but they're going to spend the money or the kids are going to spend the money |
| 1:29.1 | the spender sees the money and knows i know what i want and the saver says i know i like to save |
| 1:37.0 | and if you're trying to if you're a spender naturally that's fine but you also know that you |
| 1:47.5 | you do it a little too aggressively a a little too thoughtlessly, impulsively, I don't know what, you don't like it. You worry. That's our, |
| 1:53.8 | that's our measurement stick. You're a spender that worries about money or you're a saver that |
| 1:58.6 | worries about money. And we're going to get rid of the worry for both the |
| 2:02.6 | key is to ask yourself just a very simple question what do you want the money to do you give |
| 2:09.9 | every dollar a job and if you're a spender specifically for you today that wants to become a little |
| 2:14.4 | bit more of a saver i would have you. One, set a target number for just the biggest pile you can possibly build of money. |
... |
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