Your Money or Your Life

by Joe Dominguez

Paperback, 1999

Status

Available

Call number

HG179 .D624

Publication

G P Putnam's Sons (1920), Edition: New Ed, 400 pages

Description

Business. Finance. Self-Improvement. Nonfiction. HTML:A fully revised edition of one of the most influential books ever written on personal finance with more than a million copies sold   �??The best book on money. Period.�?� �??Grant Sabatier, founder of �??Millennial Money,�?� on CNBC Make It"This is a wonderful book. It can really change your life." -Oprah   For more than twenty-five years, Your Money or Your Life has been considered the go-to book for taking back your life by changing your relationship with money. Hundreds of thousands of people have followed this nine-step program, learning to live more deliberately and meaningfully with Vicki Robin�??s guidance. This fully revised and updated edition with a foreword by "the Frugal Guru" (New Yorker) Mr. Money Mustache is the ultimate makeover of this bestselling classic, ensuring that its time-tested wisdom applies to people of all ages and covers modern topics like investing in index funds, managing revenue streams like side hustles and freelancing, tracking your finances online, and having difficult conversations about money.   Whether you�??re just beginning your financial life or heading towards retirement, this book will show you how to:    �?� Get out of debt and develop savings �?� Save money through mindfulness and good habits, rather than strict budgeting �?� Declutter your life and live well for less �?� Invest your savings and begin creating wealth �?� Save the planet while saving money �?� �?�and so much more! "The seminal guide to the new morality of personal mon… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member DanStratton
I bought this book several years ago and have read it off and on since then. Simplifying my life has always been one of those back burner desires for years. I have always wondered if there was an answer to the commercialized rat race we call Life in These United States. This book talks about this
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directly. It is a seven step process whereby you really dig into your life and determine just how much is enough. It attempts to change the way you look at money and working. Instead of living to work, it proposes working to live. They maintain that if you follow the steps, you will be able to determine just how much is enough and then be able to become financially independent to the point of not having to work. How long it takes depends on a couple factors (namely how much you earn, how deep in debt you are and just how much is enough), but several instances in the book talk about being financially independent in 5 - 10 years. They not only cover how to get out of debt, but how to set up your finances so it generates guaranteed income to support your life once you reach independence.

So why did it take me so long to finish the book? Quite honestly, I believe I had to digest it. A lot. I had to really examine my life and decide just what I want and that process has taken me years. I don't believe it was until I lost my job that it came more into focus. As I begin to attempt to figure out what I really want in a job, it has forced me to really evaluate what I liked and disliked in my previous jobs. It also has caused me to look at how I do spend money. Has it been a life changing moment, forever to be frugal? Probably not. I'm human after all and there isn't a tool made I wouldn't like to get to know. But it definitely is helping me make sure I don't make some of the same mistakes again.

The authors do espouse certain beliefs and occasionally get a little quasi-religious in their zeal, but for the most part the concepts are sound and important. I have to admit I had found it impossible to believe that someone could be financially independent in this age without the wealth of Bill Gates, but after getting to the last couple chapters, I am beginning to believe that it is not only possible, but probable for anyone who really wants to accomplish the feat. Denise is reading the book now and then we will discuss what we want to do and how it will effect our lives. Interesting book. Highly recommended only if you are fed up with the world and wonder if there is more.
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LibraryThing member Deesirings
Rather than offer a complete review, I will offer a few general thoughts and I will focus on criticizing one aspect of one of the first steps: the calculation of the real hourly wage.
First, I should mention that I opted to read this cover-to-cover with the intention of doing the exercises
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afterwards, rather than doing the exercises as I went.
Overall, I really liked this book and found it gave real hope for designing a life of one's choosing rather than having to fit into the mold of paid employment. I especially like the anecdotes about various individual sprinkled throughout the book. I also really liked some of the tips, like to track your expenses, you just adopt a 2-step process: 1. start doing it; 2. keep doing it (ha ha!).
As for my criticism of the "real hourly wage"process, it's not that I object to it on principle. I actually think it's rather a good idea. And while I also don't object to the instruction to be honest about it, what I do object to is the one-sided approach to honesty that is proposed. For example, while the authors suggest that if you spend extra time in line at coffee shops during breaks, you add that to the time you spend on work. That makes sense, as long as you actually are spending extra time on it, in addition to your scheduled time at work, as opposed to taking longer breaks that just get subsumed into your workday. So the authors assume if you work an 8-hr day, you start with 8-hrs and then add to that all the extra time and money you spend on your job, like commuting and even decompressing from work, whether it be with a cocktail after every work day or with a two-week vacation to a sun destination in the winter. But what about the amount of time you spend at work not working (i.e. taking breaks, surfing the internet, talking to your spouse, talking to your kid's child-care provider, socializing by the water cooler, etc.)? The authors don't postulate that you might actually need to subtract some time from the initial 8-hr work day you start from. And are those cocktails and vacations really expenses you would not incur (and would not want to incur) if you didn't have that job? Or do you enjoy the cocktails and want to get away from a cold climate, regardless of your job? As for calculating your wage, the authors do not remind readers of all the possible benefits readers might be able to throw in, in addition to actual wage (pension, employers' contributions to retirement plans, use of a company car, stock options, discount on public transportation, etc.). All to say, the way it's written is very one-sided and entices readers to under-estimate their "real hourly wage" by omitting economic benefits linked to jobs and exaggerating expenses linked to their jobs. If readers simply follow the instruction to be totally honest, this may have no impact but it's difficult not to be influenced by the suggestions made by the author with regard to all possible job costs, like "costuming" for work, decompressing, unwinding and vacationing.
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LibraryThing member tjwilliams
“Your Money or Your Life” was one of the first books in the new wave of personal finance books and is significantly more concerned with the “personal” than the “finance”. The point of personal finance, according to authors Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin, is not to accumulate wealth for
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the sake of accumulating wealth, but rather to accumulate wealth in order to exchange it for time. Dominguez (whose financial philosophy is at the core of the book) has a strongly anti-consumerist message, arguing that, in economic terms, there is a point at which collecting stuff gives decreasing marginal benefit. The purpose of money, according to Dominguez, is not to collect stuff, but to, at some point, exchange your money for freedom, freeing you from your job and your obligations in order to live your life however you please.

The financial principles of “Your Money or Your Life” are relatively simple. Dominguez is not a budgeter. Rather, he emphasizes tracking earnings and spending and calculating how much of your life is spent earning money and how much of your life is spent on everything you buy. This is the key to the book. Once you begin seeing your purchases in terms of the amount of life energy you’ve spent acquiring the money to make those purchases, your spending habits are bound to change.

There are a lot of subjects covered here and it would be impossible to do justice to them all, but there are two that seem particularly worthy of discussion. First, there is a list of 101 frugality tips which focus on saving both time and money. Some are obvious (don’t bounce checks), some not so obvious (eat a proper diet and get proper exercise), and none are as banal as the ultra-frugal tips you usually see today (make sure your tires are inflated and use less laundry detergent). It is a list worth perusing mostly because the tips are meant to save time as well as money.

The one aspect of real criticism comes simply from the datedness of the book, first published in 1992. Dominguez’s only means of investment is long-term US treasuries which, twenty years ago were averaging a better than seven percent return and were completely risk-free investments. In 2010, US treasuries are only yielding three to four percent and are not adequate investment vehicles as their yield is unlikely to greatly outpace inflation. This one criticism aside, “Your Money or Your Life” is a fantastic book and is worth reading if only for its unique take on the way earning and spending money affects our lives.
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LibraryThing member jhedlund
I will wait to rate this book until after I've taken the time to do some of the steps to see how well they work for me and my family. The book takes a very interesting approach to the subject of managing money and aligning it to your life goals and values. I am going to try to implement steps 1-8
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in earnest (I agree with previous reviewers that the steps on investing are too conservative and more a matter of personal choice).

I found the "preachiness" of the book very irritating. I am all in favor of examining how to live a more value-driven life, but the authors spend too much time proselytizing THEIR values and THEIR definition of how to live a financially independent life. I found myself skimming whole sections that had nothing to do with the steps and everything to do with their personal views. I should note, too, that I am a committed environmentalist, so if I found it went overboard, I can only imagine how off-putting it would be to someone less focused on those issues.

In spite of the preachy tone, I am glad I read the book and will edit my review after I am able to assess the effectiveness of the steps.
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LibraryThing member frykitty
I've read this book many times, and always get something new from it. It's the book I always recommend to anyone learning about or struggling with finances.
LibraryThing member adamallen
A classic guide to simplifying your financial life and spending your money as you should. The book is not about telling you specifically what to spend your money on but getting you to focus on buying only the things that truly bring you happiness. The primary gain that I took from the book was the
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habit of truly thinking before I buy.

It requires a bit of homework so be prepared. My approach has been to read it once for the general idea and then to re-read if I believe in the approach enough to invest the time in the exercises. I'm about to read it for the second time in a week or so (and doing the work). I've already asked my wife and a couple of friends to read it and I'll encourage others as well.

My only beef (no pun intended) is that the book gets a bit heavy on "green" living/treehugging at times. I suppose this is closely bound to simplification being the core of the book. While I don't consider myself numb to the world around me, I'm not drumming up donations for Greenpeace either. It's this component of the book that keeps this one at 4.5 stars instead of 5.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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LibraryThing member stevenschmitt
By definition it seems all books written on personal finance are as inspiring as reading the phone book only spiced up a bit with neat little graphs and pie charts. However, what this book does is take a step back from the usual sermon about compound interest, dollar cost averaging, putting ten
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percent away, (you are getting board already, aren’t you?) and address the cost of money as well as the value of money. More than a financial book this is more of a practical philosophy book that considers quality of life as much as net worth. I would recommend you buy this book, but as a practical consideration, if you are trying to control spending, a trip to the library may prove wiser.
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LibraryThing member gregfromgilbert
If you are having trouble with spending I highly recommend this book. While the writing is a little drawn out at times the ideas are fantastic. Both practical money saving ideas and some great philosophical ideas about what’s really important in life. Even though I was not in debt I wanted to
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save more for a career change. Following his advice over a two year period I was able to quite my job and go back to school. This is my top personal finance book.
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LibraryThing member bolger
Of all the "self help" financial books published, this one stands out. It takes you (at your speed) from wherever you are in life (financially), to the point of not having to work for money again.

At times a bit dry to read, but stick with it. If I had to suggest but one single book re.: personal
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finances, this is the one. It works 100 %, if you work it.
Aaron
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LibraryThing member katefear
I tried to follow this books recommendations for a while... having family members sure complicates things...
I'd like to try it again sometime, though.
LibraryThing member derekstaff
A great book on living a purposeful life rather than one ruled by money.
LibraryThing member sachachua
Good points in book, although focus on treasury bonds may be too conservative.
LibraryThing member vsvoice
An important book for people seeking/wanting life-balance. And, most especially, for people whose high-paying jobs are consuming their lives - leaving them exhausted and empty.
LibraryThing member emigre
Something made me pick up this book, maybe it was because a frugal friend asked how much was my monthly housing cost, I gave her what I thought was a pretty low number, esp for the expensive city I lived in. She tallied up the total over 20 years and it was a huge sum. I shrugged it off, said there
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was no way to get around spending that much, as long as we lived in the city, or was there? The book breaks down a lot of assumptions and lies we tell ourselves about how much we need to spend, and how much we need to make to have money to spend, and of course we needed a job to sustain all this, even if the job itself created little fulfillment for us and made us spend more money simply to "decompress" and "get away" from the stress. Amazon has some detailed and thorough reviews from other enlightened readers, check them out and get the book -- from the library.
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LibraryThing member andersonden
Made me rethink the impact of work and money in my life.
LibraryThing member kristenn
Some very solid personal finance advice, despite being 15 years old. I particularly liked the idea of calculating your actual hourly wage -- after determining how much of your time and money goes to work-related things. And the observation that although most people realize there is no Prince
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Charming out there to provide meaning and worth to their personal lives, they still think there is a Job Charming. The assorted charts and graphs would be helpful to most people, although I wasn't inspired to do the initial steps of calculating everything I've ever earned and all my current assets. The book does go completely off the rails when it gets into volunteerism. Show up whenever you feel like it and only do the parts of the work that you want to -- it doesn't (and can't) work that way at all. Also, I certainly agree with not pampering your kids, so it was bizarre after all the other frugal advice to see him list private tutors, summer camps, and a teen's first car under standard necessities.
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LibraryThing member bkinetic
Many books about money implicitly assume that money is everything, but this book downplays money, buying and consuming, thoughtfully placing these things in a larger life context. The practical advice for saving and spending is excellent. Their method of forcing you to confront the individual life
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choices you are making by means of day-to-day spending decisions will likely be an eye-opener.
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LibraryThing member Daniel.Estes
If you're looking for an approach to personal finance that's genuinely personal and not the usual banal instruction that treats money management like homework (i.e. necessary, boring and to be completed as quickly as possible in order to move on to better things), then Your Money or Your Life is a
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refreshing place to start.

Earning and spending are forever interwoven with our actions, and I appreciate this book's healthy attitude toward thinking conscientiously about the function of money in our everyday lives. There's lots of filler here too, mostly in the form of real-life examples and moralizing, but this isn't necessarily a bad thing if you're seeking a narrative context.

The most useful advice for me is the section on assigning values to spending (relevant self-assessment is good practice no matter what your situation), but this presumes a good handle on the basics of budgeting, which is fundamentally the most important. The section on investing seems dated and carelessly limiting even though I understand the author's intention to want to simplify the process. The goal should be to pursue the smartest option, and that doesn't always mean the simplest.

Overall, a helpful book that I found less helpful with each successive re-read.
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LibraryThing member Lake_Oswego_UCC
Philosophy about and practical steps you can make to change the way you relate to money in order to live more deliberately and meaningfully.
LibraryThing member poppycock77
I think a good alternate title for this book would be Money Mindfulness or Meditation for Money. It's primarily aimed at changing one's psychological relationship with money and encouraging everyone to become more aware of purpose and meaning in life, with the limited amount of time we have left.
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I'd give it 5 stars, if not for some of the writing being a little cliche, with repetition of the importance of "the program." Still, I appreciate the "try it and decide for yourself" attitude throughout most of the book, and I got a few great book recommendations, as well. I'm currently halfway through Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, and I'm riveted.
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LibraryThing member grumpydan
I found this book to be quite informative, especially for those who are beginning to handle their own finances. I have been tracking my finances for some time and recently watching those expenses so that I can reach financial independence sooner. Still, those book was helpful in rethinking some
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things and reinforcing others. Yes, it is not the perfect book on financial independence but it is a very good book in assisting one in rethinking how they handle money.

I am a frugal person by nature, but have changed my perspective and approaches to reach my goals sooner. Not everything may work for everyone. Each has to find their own path and figure what works for them, but this book is a good start and should be a recommended read.
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LibraryThing member krau0098
This was recommended as a good “money lifestyle” read on one of the YouTube channels I follow (The Financial Diet). It feels a bit dated at times but overall did offer up some interesting financial food for thought.

The main premise of the book is the idea of looking at money that you spend as
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life energy. Any time you work to make money is part of your life energy you are giving to that process. As you purchase things in your life you should be cognizant of this.

The book presents a ten step process for being FI (financially independent). This process involves doing a lot of things that I already do as part of my finances, but might be eye opening to those who like to turn a blind eye or ignore their finances. It involves things like calculating your net worth and figuring how much dollars->life energy you are actually spending on day to day items.

I really like this idea and it did make me reconsider the way I spend money. I was able to look at our personal finances more closely and target trouble areas (like the amount we spend on eating out). I also really enjoyed some of the stats and historical discussion about American life and economy and the innate problems American society has.

I did think their final step of being able to live off of interest from bonds to become completely FI was a bit unrealistic. The book is updated to mention that in more current times it may be more practical to diversify that strategy. It is also mentioned that any investing comes with risk and adopting this style of life can be risky.

In the end I think I pulled enough useful information from this book to impact my life and finances in a positive way. Will I adopt this type of lifestyle completely? Probably not, I will take a more moderate approach and modify trouble areas of my life.

Overall I would definitely recommend to those who are interested in becoming financially independent and really want to take a look at how money affects their lives. This is also a good book for those who want to get a head start on ridding themselves of debt and planning a solid retirement.
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LibraryThing member jeanbmac
This is a fantastic book. It illustrates what is important in life.
LibraryThing member reader1009
nonfiction/finance
skimmed through (lots of anecdotal stories from other retirees and info I already know). this has been updated to include all of the language from Mr. Money Mustache and all those other trendy millennial retirees.
I was hoping for a more fiscally conservative take on the FIRE
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movement since I think financial independence in your 70s-100s (senior years) may cost significantly more than it does in your 20s-6os, but Vicki Robin, who is now in her 70s, doesn't really go into the cost of elder care at all, aside from mentioning her plan to join a multigenerational community and 'age in place.' She does mention increasing her 'cache' of savings when possible, to allow for unforeseen future expenses.

If you need convincing that you can retire earlier if you decrease your spending and increase your saving, then this is for you. The line graphs were the best part in showing how mathematically feasible it can be.
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LibraryThing member spinsterrevival
I first bought this at a used bookstore and moved it around with me before eventually donating it without ever reading it. I finally for some reason picked it up on a Kindle deal, and I guess now was the time to read it during my current money obsession. I had no idea in all the years I had it on
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my shelves that it essentially is a book about early retirement, so again it’s still difficult for me to think of that as a possibility in my own life. But I did appreciate how she breaks things down, and I loved that she spent the time to update the original version into modern life; of course now I wonder what some of that version’s advice would be in the pre-internet world. I’m glad I have it digitally now though as I definitely plan to revisit it as I work on things.
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Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

1992

Physical description

400 p.; 7.46 inches

ISBN

0140286780 / 9780140286786
Page: 0.2369 seconds