Your Money or Your Life: Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence
by Joe Dominguez, Vicki Robin
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Read in June, 2008
This book holds so much good advice, it's really a shame that it's written in such a silly fashion. The authors try to be funny and make jokes, but they're just not funny and pull you out of the text. When they start talking about gazingus pins and stuff, I was wondering if there actually was such a thing whenever this book was written, before I realized they were just being funny. Maybe in the seminars this book is based on, they were, but on the page, it's really lame. Also, they try to co...more
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This one has been around a while. I can tell that its lessons are going to affect my life for the better.
The authors outline 9 steps to FI, or financial intelligence, integrity, and independence. They seek to reframe your relationship with money to see that time is your most valuable asset, but because you're a wage slave, you trade your time for money, and money for stuff. So, all your stuff represents some invaluable portion of your precious time/life.
They set you on a course to car...more
The authors outline 9 steps to FI, or financial intelligence, integrity, and independence. They seek to reframe your relationship with money to see that time is your most valuable asset, but because you're a wage slave, you trade your time for money, and money for stuff. So, all your stuff represents some invaluable portion of your precious time/life.
They set you on a course to car...more
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recommends it for:
anyone with debt or doubt
I could and will read and re-read this book, not for its literary value but for its simple explanations of concrete ways to observe your own connection with the material world. Whether or not you fully practice its program, it is the sanest and most convincing account of the importance of financial savvy for those of us who proclaimed, "Money and fancy material things don't matter to me - so why should I try to manage my finances?" Its message from ten years ago rings truer today tha...more
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I read this book in the early 90s.
Accounting for your past spending and fighting the consumer culture are important aspects of this book. We don't need to buy nearly as much stuff as the default mode of "consume, throw away, buy new" implies. I'm glad I read those parts, as it has obviously stuck with me.
But I remember they spend a lot of time talking about investing in bonds, particularly government bonds. They switched into very high yielding bonds issued in the 70s which pro...more
Accounting for your past spending and fighting the consumer culture are important aspects of this book. We don't need to buy nearly as much stuff as the default mode of "consume, throw away, buy new" implies. I'm glad I read those parts, as it has obviously stuck with me.
But I remember they spend a lot of time talking about investing in bonds, particularly government bonds. They switched into very high yielding bonds issued in the 70s which pro...more
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Read in August, 2008
This book is awesomely encouraging. I've already been tracking every cent spent since the beginning of this year, which has definitely helped me to be conscious and save money, but this book gave me a lot of other ideas and motivation. I can't wait to make my wall chart. The last chapter about investing was really good too but I need to read more than just that.
Basically the whole book is about how to work hard for "a finite amount of time," and by being frugal and investing you s...more
Basically the whole book is about how to work hard for "a finite amount of time," and by being frugal and investing you s...more
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Read in August, 2008
This book is phenomenal. It's one of those books where you *have* to do the prescribed exercises to get the maximum benefit out of it. I loved it b/c it addresses the emotional/spiritual aspect of money and work, helps you calculate your true hourly wage (which includes things like commuting time and clothing expenses), and figure out if how you spend your time is in line w/ your values. It has a spiritual focus but is also immensely practical at the same time, providing you w/ a step-by-step wa...more
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recommended to Inder by:
Linda
I'm going to be the first one against the wall when the "frugal living" revolution comes.
(This is your Depression-era grandparents' personal finance book. A really radical, anti-consumerist, deeply challenging book. I agree with everything in it, except that I'm also incredibly resistant to everything in it. Reading this was like an exercise in seeing how resistant Inder can become - at times, I felt so threatened, I wanted to physically put it aside. Still, it's good to know it's...more
(This is your Depression-era grandparents' personal finance book. A really radical, anti-consumerist, deeply challenging book. I agree with everything in it, except that I'm also incredibly resistant to everything in it. Reading this was like an exercise in seeing how resistant Inder can become - at times, I felt so threatened, I wanted to physically put it aside. Still, it's good to know it's...more
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Read in January, 2008
The difference between work and play - is you get paid for work. You can get challenger in both, meet people during both, etc. Of 19 things listed, 18 are shared and only one is not - if you get paid.
A person's worth is not measured by their job. I am not a programmer - I am someone currently working as a programmer.
Your hourly wage is actually less. If you take what you get paid, add in the unpaid hours related to your job (commuting hours, decompression hours after work, vacation hours y...more
A person's worth is not measured by their job. I am not a programmer - I am someone currently working as a programmer.
Your hourly wage is actually less. If you take what you get paid, add in the unpaid hours related to your job (commuting hours, decompression hours after work, vacation hours y...more
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Read in January, 2005
I'm kind of squeamish about the 5 stars I'm giving this, because I don't think this is a well-written book. The tone is nearly unbearable at times: think of the most stereotypical motivational speaker you've ever heard. However, the ideas in this book are impressive, and I find myself thinking about them, rather against my will, even 3 years after having read the book.
Part of my struggle with this book is that I actually love my work, so trying to hurry up and earn my money so that I can reti...more
Part of my struggle with this book is that I actually love my work, so trying to hurry up and earn my money so that I can reti...more
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Read in February, 2004
recommends it for:
Those struggling to find work that doesn't make them miserable
YMYL was recommended to me by a friend, who gave up her stable teaching position to run a used bookstore after reading this book. This was my first foray into the self-help genre. The prose is laughably hokey at the most inopportune times, but the message is worth slogging through the mantras and the affirmations. Plus, the "nine-step program" actually works, if you're willing to commit to it. I started out, skeptical, with a step I thought I could stick to—keeping track of my spendi...more
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Whether you love money or hate it your attitude toward it is unhealthy. This book was an eye opener. Somewhere in there the author says money is the last taboo--the last thing you stop lying even to your therapist about. I don't know why it's so hard for people to get their arms around it but it always was for me.
Once you start to understand what money really is you'll discover that the path to freedom lays in how you handle it. This book is the absolute best place to start to get rid of...more
Once you start to understand what money really is you'll discover that the path to freedom lays in how you handle it. This book is the absolute best place to start to get rid of...more
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Read in June, 2008
This is a brilliant book - inspiring, educational and a bit stressful to read. It's not just a book about saving money, it's for people who don't want making money to consume their entire lives. Many refer to this trend as "voluntary simplicity", a strange term because a lot of people's financial situations are not voluntary and there is nothing simple about following the program outlined in this book.
I found this book very practical for those who value time over money. There are ...more
I found this book very practical for those who value time over money. There are ...more
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Read in January, 1999
This is a very interesting book on living extremely frugally and doing what you love versus working so you can buy more things.
The author's have all sorts of interesting (and somewhat depressing/shocking) exercises they ask the reader to complete.
In one, you are supposed to estimate what you've earned in your entire lifetime (yes, even going back to the days when you were babysitting/mowing lawns/bagging groceries in your teens) and compare that to your net worth. Scary!!
In another,...more
The author's have all sorts of interesting (and somewhat depressing/shocking) exercises they ask the reader to complete.
In one, you are supposed to estimate what you've earned in your entire lifetime (yes, even going back to the days when you were babysitting/mowing lawns/bagging groceries in your teens) and compare that to your net worth. Scary!!
In another,...more
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Read in February, 2008
This was interesting, if a little new-agey at times. (It originally came out in the '70s, I believe, and was updated in the mid-90s.) Basically it's a nine-step plan to early retirement, based on determining your optimal comfort level in life, and what sort of income is required to sustain that. I don't currently have any plans to follow the entire program, but I did think that the sections where they talked about determining the real value of something you buy -- both in terms of how many hours...more
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I'm currently on a kick of reading books about money and frugality, and I would recommend this one with one caveat: I suspect their advice to invest your money in U.S. Treasury Bonds, while still excellent, will not give you the sort of interest-generated income to enable you to be financially independent. Not in these current economic times, anyway. Other than that, there is a lot of good, Big Picture thinking in here, especially the common-sense observation that money is what you trade your...more
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Read in February, 2008
by far the best book about money i've ever read, because it's not about the nuts and bolts of finance and investments, it's about finding meaning and value in your life. i have read it too recently to comment on if the program "works," but i do know already that this is having a major impact on my entire worldview. it's definitely not for everyone; i think i like it so much because it resonates with ideas and values and goals i already held concerning materialism and the rat race of ...more
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In today's society of instant gratification, instant credit and mass consumer debt this book will open your eyes to the value of your time, the value of your hard earned money and the endless debt you owe for the things you own. It will make your rethink needless purchases and hopefully help you to rein-in any out of control spending habits. It makes you question if you are a slave to your belongings or do you make your money work for you.
I think this is an essential ready for anyone jus...more
I think this is an essential ready for anyone jus...more
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recommends it for:
Everyone
This is, hands down, the best book on personal finance out there (and I've read nearly all of them!). It takes into account the larger issues surrounding a consumer culture--the environment, social justice and our own sense of well-being. It provides a program that is easy to follow (although challenging) and extremely thought provoking. Although I don't follow the investment advice (bonds are only part of my portfolio, not the totality), I have been using the principals in this book for years. ...more
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I've gotten so much out of this book. Have done the steps up to the point of creating the spreadsheet. Don't know if I'm going to invest my money per their directions, but YMoYL has definitely made me think about spending money and making money in different ways. Now when I'm about to buy books (my gazingus pins) I really think about the purchase. Lots of times I decide to just hit the library. Even if you don't decide to follow the steps all the way, you might learn something that would help y...more
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Read in October, 2006
This book really makes you re-examine what it means to have money. It will make you change the way you look at earning money and the way you look at spending money.
For those who are interested in not competing with their neighbors in the endless rat-race of social finance, this will teach you how to evaluate your spending habits and spend on those things that bring real value to you - independent of what your family, friends, or neighbors value.
For those who are interested in not competing with their neighbors in the endless rat-race of social finance, this will teach you how to evaluate your spending habits and spend on those things that bring real value to you - independent of what your family, friends, or neighbors value.
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