Big ups to my boy over at Your Money Relationship for landing this killer interview! He had a chance to hit up famed financial planner Deena Katz and pick her brain on a few things. If you don’t know who she is (don’t worry, I didn’t either) she’s pretty much considered one of the most influential planners out there. And she’s also written a ton of books, making her pretty bad a$$.

Anyways, YMR allowed me to ask her a question and I couldn’t help but give her the classic. Here’s how it went down….I wonder what four letter word she was thinking about? ;)

YMR Reader (me): Do you think budgets are a sexy thing right now?

Deena: I have always felt that budgets are a four-letter word…but “sexy” is not the word I think of. The nature of many human beings is not to feel the constraints of budget, because you fight against them, the same way you fight against your parents when you are 15. I believe in “trade-off” spending. The first thing you need to know is how much does it cost you to live – basics, like rent, utilities, etc. Then you look at the variables – eating out vs. eating in, for example. Then you can say, “I’d like to buy a new car, so if I eat in and shave off some other expenses, I can us that money to buy the car.” With budgets you are managing money, but with trade off spending you are managing goals.