Nerdy budget enthusiast
Emily Blain (she/her)
- I’ve been our family CFO since Day 1 of marriage (or before…). Our teamwork enabled him (primary breadwinner) to quit his toxic job before he had an official offer on the table from the company he was interviewing with.
- Founding member of the Financial Coaches Network
- Passionate about individualized teaching. I’ve been teaching private, one-on-one viola lessons for over 10 years and doing one-on-one financial coaching since 2019. I love being able to meet my students and clients where they are rather than trying to cover “most” situations and knowing that some are falling through the cracks.
Expertise
Founding Member of the
Financial Coaches Network
YNAB Certified Coach
My Story
When my husband and I got married in 2012, we were fresh, naïve kids straight out of college. Through a combination of nurture (both pairs of parents did an abnormally good job at teaching us about money), nature, and definitely some luck, we muddled along for a few years, keeping on top of our bills and slowly, almost lackadaisically paying down student loans.
In 2017, when our daughter Rebekah was born, we (I) got behind on tracking our expenses in Quicken. I finally decided to switch to YNAB–a program I’d tried twice before, but never really figured out. But I kept hearing about it and how amazing it was (and the pretty UI compared to Quicken made my millennial heart go pitter-patter!)…so I dove in!
Fast forward to 2024, and we finished paying off student loans, paid off both car loans (and just bought a almost-new Chevy Bolt in cash–hello EV life!), and are currently saving for a trip to Iceland in 2025! I enrolled in the YNAB Certified Coach program in early 2024 and am excited to dive into really helping people with the tool that has helped us so much.
When I’m not coaching, I teach viola lessons and proofread board games/rpgs. When I’m not doing THOSE, I hang out with our crazy daughter, guiltily watch reality TV, and play tons of board games and video games with my husband. We are major nerds and proud of it! In fact, our joint YNAB “fun money” categories are split into “Campaigns” (things like board and video games) and “One-Shots” (things that are one-time experiences like eating out or tickets to events).