BiggerPockets Money Podcast · Friday, September 25, 2026
Kate prefers the term 'money ecosystem' over 'budget' to describe her financial system, emphasizing flexibility and adaptability. She explains that unlike a rigid spreadsheet budget that can feel like a failure if one category is exceeded, an ecosystem allows for natural fluctuations and seasons of change without collapsing.
“I call it my money ecosystem because when you're looking at a monthly budget, it's a spreadsheet, it's a PNL, right? If one thing goes higher than normal or one thing blows your budget, essentially the entire spreadsheet fails.”
“So I like to think of it as my money ecosystem where things live in harmony with one another. They go through seasons of change, things die, things are reborn. If one plant dies in your ecosystem, the whole thing isn't going to come crashing down. It gives you some flexibility and your spending because we know that not every month is the same.”
“And that's why most people who use some kind of a budgeting app or spreadsheet, they get tired of it or they feel like a failure pretty quickly.”