Writing a Letter to Your Past Self
The Jesse Mecham Show
YNAB
4.7 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 23 April 2026
⏱️ 5 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Jesse offers a thought experiment (or a real experiment if you choose to actually do it, which you should!): write a letter to your past self -- you get to decide how long ago -- teaching him or her about money. Tell them about the things you've learned, some of the mistakes you've made, and what kinds of things they have to look forward to as they learn to get good with money. Jesse actually did write a letter to his past self, and he shares it on the podcast.
Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@jessemechamshow
Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email:
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at: www.youneedabudget.com
Follow YNAB on social media:
Facebook: @ynabofficial
Instagram: @ynab.official
Twitter/X: @ynab
Tik Tok: @ynabofficial
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello, my name is Jesse Meekam with another episode of the Jesse Meekam show, |
| 0:16.7 | and I'm here each week to obsess out loud about you getting good at money. |
| 0:22.8 | And getting good at money means you are spending, which is the only thing money can do, |
| 0:26.8 | lining up with what you want it to do. |
| 0:30.3 | Some of the things are boring, like you want it to pay your electricity bill, but |
| 0:34.1 | pause there for a moment because the fact that you can just pay that bill and flip on a switch and have lights come on, let's not forget how amazing that is. |
| 0:45.3 | So yes, we want to pay our electricity bill. |
| 0:48.3 | We want also to buy the Millennium Falcon Lego set. |
| 0:53.7 | Those can both be things that we spend our money on happily and gratefully. |
| 0:58.8 | And both of those things, when you hold them up to each other, |
| 1:02.6 | they're wildly different, but they are also the same. |
| 1:05.1 | You want it. |
| 1:06.7 | And then you buy it. |
| 1:07.3 | I did not buy the Millennium Falcon. |
| 1:08.7 | I'm not even sure why I thought about that. |
| 1:09.9 | I have a friend who did. |
| 1:12.4 | Good on him for it. I did not buy the Millennium Falcon. I'm not even sure why I thought about that. I have a friend who did. Good on him for it. |
| 1:14.0 | It's not my thing. |
| 1:15.0 | Okay. |
| 1:15.9 | I want to encourage you to write a letter to your past self teaching your past self a little bit |
| 1:24.4 | about money. |
| 1:25.9 | And I want you to think about, or at least think about what you would |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from YNAB, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of YNAB and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.

