I contacted Miriam at a financial and personal turning point financially; I needed to learn for once and for all how to manage household cash flow, and pay down debt. Miriam provided a safe, non-judgmental space in which to work through my priorities for this part of my life. I would highly recommend Miriam, if you are serious about managing cash flow and debt in a no judgement space.

– Former YNAB client

Since 2013, I’ve been using a tool called YNAB (short for You Need A Budget). Over a decade later I literally can’t imagine managing my life without it.

And for 15 of my 18 years working, I’ve been self-employed. This is because I’ve found that owning my time is one of the most important things to me. Owning my time has meant I can dedicate a lot of time to writing. Owning my time has meant having a very flexible schedule, working when I’m at my best rather than when my boss wants me to be on the clock. Owning my time has meant working remotely and traveling freely and taking time off when I want to, mostly to spend time with friends and family, but sometimes to go on weeklong silent meditations retreats or writing workshops. Owning my time has allowed me to prioritize what I want each day to look like and purse lots of independent creative projects.

While I can give myself a lot of credit for being a self-starter, for working well independently and for having relationships that have lead to writing and consulting gigs, the primary tool that has made this unconventional career possible for me is YNAB. To be clear, they are not paying me for any of these endorsements. In fact, they have never paid me at all, and won’t be paying me in the future (although I have over the years looked at their job postings). Instead, I’m just the kind of person who likes to share something if I love it and it’s working well for me.

So in the last decade I’ve probably sat down with at least ten friends to show them YNAB and help them get started using the tool. All of this I did just because I enjoyed it, never for any money. Despite having no formal background in finance or accounting, it turns out that I love helping people figure out how to make their resources work for them, and a well-organized spreadsheet can really do it for me (or a well-organized YNAB budget!).

So when YNAB rolled out their certified coaching course, I decided to join Spring 2023. During the course I worked with four practice clients over the summer on their personal YNAB budgets and really got to practice working with people more formally (thanks volunteers!). Now I’m ready to work with coaching clients.

My goal is to help everyone navigate the tricky world of budgeting, and to do it with the best tool on the market. While many of us have lots of financial limitations, the more we know about our financial situation, the more power we have to make choices and prioritize the things that are the most important to us. For me, budgeting is not about becoming rich, or retiring early, or hoarding a ton of money. It’s about living a life that I love and making my resources work for me, rather than working for my resources.

Whether you are totally new to YNAB, whether you’ve tried it before and gotten overwhelmed and quit, or you are using it but feel like some extra guidance would help you feel more confident with your financial planning, I’d love to work with you.

Schedule a free 20 minute consult to talk about your goals and see if working together is a good fit.

Still have more questions? Check out my FAQ.

I am a YNAB Certified Budgeting Coach, which means that I have been trained to coach people on using YNAB software and the YNAB budgeting method. I have met select requirements of You Need a Budget LLC in order to receive this certification, which means that I have the ability to competently coach YNAB to others. I am not an employee of YNAB, and all non-YNAB related opinions and recommendations are my own. My views do not reflect the views of YNAB and its employees or its affiliates.