#132 - Ernie's 2026 Categories

#132 - Ernie's 2026 Categories

From Budget Nerds by You Need a Budget

January 14, 2026 · 1h 17m · Episode 132

About this episode

Ernie discusses his updated spending plan for 2026, rolling over from 2025 with new categories and stories behind them.

Ernie is kicking off the new year with a fresh plan... but not a fresh start! For years, Ernie has made a fresh start at the beginning of every year, but the allure of data history and being able to search for transaction across multiple years was too strong this year. So Ernie is rolling forward his spending plan from 2025 into the New Year, but with some changes. Ernie has also updated his 2026 plan with fresh emojis (some cute, some inscrutable). In today's episode he breaks down his categories and category groups, with some stories about how they came to be and how they have evolved through the years. Follow Budget Nerds on YouTube Budget Nerds Livestreams: https://www.youtube.com/@YNABofficial/streams Budget Nerds Episodes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuIUGmbCDklkDCDm-cQqv2g Share your YNAB wins with Ben and Ernie! budgetnerds@ynab.com

People in this episode

Host: Ernie

Topics covered

  • budgeting
  • financial planning
  • category management
  • personal finance
  • data history

Keywords

  • budgeting
  • spending plan
  • categories
  • financial goals
  • YNAB

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: You Need a Budget

Books & works: Budget Nerds

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