The joy of budgeting? Really? Yes, really. Plus: Ticketmaster, tax cheats and ‘boy kibble.’

Welcome to MoneyNerd.

In this week’s edition:

What if those fancy, foamy coffees you love aren’t just allowed in your budget, but encouraged? Or taking a salsa class, or buying gardening supplies? 

Welcome to joy-based budgeting: Spending money on the things that feel meaningful while still meeting your savings goals. 

For some people, this shift can make saving feel more sustainable.

I spoke to financial pros who said that when clients purposely make room in their budgets for things they value, it’s easier for them to stick to long-term financial plans. 

“Budgeting that doesn’t include the fun parts of life — that fails almost every time,” says Kaylee McClellan, a certified financial planner in Minnetonka, Minnesota. “It restricts people way too much.”

In the same way that including some chocolate might help you stick to a diet, including some joyful spending can help you stick to your plan to (for instance) save 15% for retirement and pay off your student loans. 

CFP Ashley Bleckner calls it “spending on purpose.” Once you’re mindfully using your money for things that light you up, it also makes it easier to skip the things that don’t. 

Translation: Knowing that you’d rather spend money on concert tickets because you love live music can make late-night impulse shopping less tempting. 

Does spending money on happiness sound appealing in a world that’s a little stressful right now? Here are a few steps to get you started:

Identify what brings you joy. This may sound simple, but if you’re staring at the ceiling wondering where to begin, there are several online quizzes to help you narrow it down. (McClellan recommends this one from Think2perform, a performance development company.)

Track spending for 60 to 90 days. Choose a period that reflects your typical spending (read: not the holidays) and look closely at where your money went. Are you spending on things you truly enjoy or that enrich your life?

Adjust accordingly. If you find that your money is going to things that don’t bring you joy, think about how you can tweak your outflow so that it does. 

Revisit regularly. “Life evolves,” Bleckner says. “Goals evolve. Values evolve. So it’s a healthy exercise to check back in on an annual basis.”

Read my full joy-based breakdown here.

- Kate Ashford

If you’re a concertgoer, you know the drill by now. You pay steep fees on top of already-pricey tickets or you end up facing high markups in the resale Wild West. 

But that system may finally be on the verge of changing. 

For years, antitrust watchdogs and states have argued that Live Nation — formed through the 2010 merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster — holds a monopolistic grip on the industry, wielding its extensive leverage over artists, venues and independent promoters. And consumers have footed the bill.

A years-in-the-making trial ended on Wednesday with a federal court jury ruling that Live Nation Entertainment illegally monopolized the live events market. The decision is a serious blow to the company and could lead to major changes in how concerts are promoted, ticketed and sold. 

Live Nation argued during the trial that it is a “fierce competitor” in a competitive market, but the jury rejected that defense after weeks of testimony.

What happens next is not entirely clear, but you won’t see changes overnight. A federal judge will now determine remedies, which could include financial penalties or even structural changes such as a breakup or divestiture of parts of the company. Live Nation is widely expected to appeal.

While the verdict is a win for consumers, artists and venues, it raises a number of lingering questions such as: 

There are other possibilities that could shape how much you pay for live shows. Read more about what led to the jury’s decision, what happens next, and details on another lawsuit against Live Nation still working its way through the courts.

- Anna Helhoski

We're listening! If you have an idea for something you'd like the MoneyNerd team to cover, drop us a line at [email protected]. And thanks for subscribing!

Tax Day has come and gone. And while most of us pay our fair share on time, more than a few of us, alas, do not.

How much is the country being shortchanged — either through underpayment, underreporting or just plain nonpayment? It’s hard to say with certainty, but the IRS makes an educated guess every few years. 

The last time it did a “tax gap projection” — in 2024, looking back at tax year 2022 — the IRS projected an 85% “voluntary compliance rate,” with the no-shows accounting for an estimated gross tax gap of $696 billion.

While the IRS estimated they would eventually collect about $90 billion of that, it still represents more than $600 billion of missing federal revenue. That much money would have covered almost half the $1.375 trillion deficit that year, on an overall $6.27 trillion budget.

That 85% is pretty consistent, historically, the IRS says. But is the problem about to get worse?

The Wall Street Journal reported this week about signs that more taxpayers are willing to take chances and underreport or otherwise fudge their taxes — because of what they see as a more lax approach to tax enforcement under the current administration. 

Cuts to the IRS since early 2025 include nearly a quarter of its auditors, and the total IRS workforce has declined more than 30%. Congress has cut funding for tax enforcement by $400 million, part of an overall $1.1 billion cut to the agency’s budget, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a D.C.-based think tank.

That’s a green light to some corner-cutters, according to tax experts interviewed by the Journal. 

“They have defunded the police,” according to Matthew Rappaport, a tax lawyer at Falcon, Rappaport and Berkman in New York. “There’s no more succinct way to describe what’s happened.”

States, too, are collecting far less than they are owed. That much seems certain. But most states have little idea of how big their tax gap might be. And at a time when state budget reserves are dropping, and the federal government is pushing more program costs onto the states, that missing money could come in handy.

That’s the conclusion of Josh Goodman, a senior officer for the Pew Charitable Trusts who focuses on state fiscal policy. He wrote about state tax gaps in a paper released this month.

Only eight states have run a tax gap analysis since 1992, Goodman reports. The most recent one came from Connecticut in 2023, covering tax year 2022. It estimated a nearly $3 billion tax gap on $24.1 billion in total tax liability — proportionally about the same as the federal gap.

“I was surprised that there wasn't more analysis out there because it really is a big amount of money,” Goodman told me. “If a state's revenue suddenly dropped by the amount that Connecticut is showing they're not collecting, they would say, ‘we have this huge problem,’ but if it's something every year they simply don't collect, it's easy not to notice it.”

This kind of analysis can be difficult and expensive — but with more data, Goodman believes, states may wake up to the revenue they’re missing, and can take steps to address it.

“Certainly, I think the topic should be important to policymakers, in part because their budgets are in a challenging condition,” Goodman said. “We are seeing states reporting both short-term budget gaps in many cases and long-term structural deficits. And so, if you can collect a little bit more of what taxpayers already owe, you don't have to raise tax rates potentially, or you don't have to cut public services.”

- Rick VanderKnyff

The #boykibble viral moment may be over, but I’m just now getting into it, for nerdy reasons. The term — clearly conjured up by some Gen Z genius — is hilariously spot-on. And when the diesel dude in a tank top throwing ground beef, rice and cream of mushroom soup in a slow cooker shows up on your TikTok, it kind of makes ya want to eat at home for less. At least it does for me. 

Jokes aside, this trend is helping me save money, especially at lunchtime. 

The issue: My wife and I both work at home. Noontime hits, and I’ll watch her throw together a fresh salad with whatever we have in the fridge like it’s nothing. She saves money and feels good. Then, I go off and spend $15 on an “extra value meal” because I find salads daunting to make and unappealing to eat. I come back sad and lethargic.

My solution: Boy kibble, baby! These silly videos helped me realize THERE IS food I like that I CAN make at home. Now, I cook up a pound of lean ground beef and a couple cups of jasmine rice on a Sunday night. Come Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, I have lunches I can heat and eat. Throw some bell peppers and sliced avocado on top, and I call it nutritious. Get wild, and scoop some of it up with tortilla chips.

The math: At the cost of $8 for a pound of beef, $4 for a 2-pound bag of rice (that will last weeks) and roughly $2 for a couple Hass avocados, I’m eating better-quality food for less than $5 per meal.

Read: How to get good at grocery shopping

Unfortunately, my biceps aren’t big enough for me to include a protein count. 

Need ideas that leave out beef? I also put two fried eggs in a browned tortilla with some avocado and jalapeño sauce on top. It’s good enough to call kibble, too. 

- Tommy Tindall

In the latest Smart Money podcast, senior news writer Anna Helhoski speaks with NerdWallet investing writer Sam Taube about what rising crude oil means for your investments, which portfolio sectors are holding steady, and whether the current calm around a fragile ceasefire is masking deeper volatility ahead.

Then, hosts Sean Pyles, CFP®, and Elizabeth Ayoola answer a listener’s question about feeling financially stuck despite a $168,000 salary.

Watch below or get the audio version.

Your MoneyNerd team: Courtney Neidel, Anna Helhoski, Rick VanderKnyff.

Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Subscribe here.

See all of NerdWallet’s newsletters here.