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Summary: A radical yet thought provoking paradigm shift. Excellent!
Review: Joe Dominquez and Vicki Robin present a concept we all know but never articulate -- that our time is the true essence and value in life. They use this concept to determine the true "cost of living" if one is not living/working his or her life of choice. Designed to help the reader develop a plan for financial independence (which is generally quite distinct from being "wealthy" in the traditional sense), the book embraces thinking globally, acting locally, and shirking materialism. If you want to get rich quickly, don't read this book. If you'd like to make a change in your life to develop the time and resources to do what you love (if you don't already), then this book may prove helpful.
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Summary: A real eye-opener!
Review: The book had a huge impact on me. It really made me think about the daily choices I was making about money. By making big (moving to within walking distance to the office and getting rid of my car) and little (no longer getting Cafe Mochas from Starbucks every morning) changes I now have money for the things that are truly important to me instead of mindlessly spending my income on things that aren't. I still have extravagances (travel is a biggee!) but, by and large, this book really helps me focus on the big picture. I would also highly recommend "The Wealthy Barber" by David Chilton (there's a Canadian version and an American version; be careful which you get, since both countries are very different in terms of the best ways to save for retirement) and "Simplify your Life" by Elaine St. James.
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Summary: Half common-sense, half delusion
Review: The theories espoused by the authors are quite good but putting them into practice would be next to impossible. Following their advice wouldn't give you extra time; as a matter of fact, it would have the opposite effect. You'd spend each and every waking moment charting your expenses and income, tracking every penny you spend, analyzing every purchase until the object of your desire became obsolete, and would become a classic obsessive-compulsive. So, while their ideas are fiscally sound, the only way to achieve their brand of financial independence is to become completely dependent on finances. Yes, clip coupons; yes, spend wisely; yes, put your savings into something with a decent yield. But lighten up. You can't enjoy yourself if you go through life watching the dashboard for warning lights to go off. And one more thing: if the authors have achieved the brand of financial independence they preach, why aren't they selling their book at cost?
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Summary: Comment on Doug from Denver's revue
Review: Doug states that it would take 31 years saving $800 per month to accumulate $300,000. I believe Doug left out the effect of compound interest on his savings. At a 10% rate of return (the long term average return in the stock market) $800 per month savings would grow to $300,000 in less than 15 years. If he continued saving $800 month for the entire 31 years, his nest egg would be $1.76 million! That's why Einstein said compound interest was the most powerful force in the universe.
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Summary: If nothing else, it gives you hope
Review: The concept of retiring early never entered my mind. Probably because I knew my "soft" personality (I'm not the shrewd business type) and I figured I would have to work forever. This book makes you look at work differently. For instance: if I bit the bullet, and made a committment to work for x amount of years at a high stress very lucrative job, I could retire in three years! Being able to see an end, I could muster up the guts to work at a time consuming, fast paced job, if I knew there was: A) A reason B) And end in sight. You may find that the book motivates you to work a little more now, to work a LOT less later.
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Summary: Pity it works only for the already rich..
Review: There is a lot of good in this book. To weigh your purchases against what you really have to spend (not just money, but your life) is a refreshing concept. However, the promise of 'financial independence' is illusory, except for the already rich. A little elementary arithmetic can demonstrate this. 1. Assume that after cutting all expenses to the bone, you can live on $15 000 a year. To generate income of $15 000 a year, investments at 5% p.a. (a conservative estimate of Treasury bonds return) would require $300 000. 2. Assume an ordinary sort of middle-class income of $2 500 a month after taxes and deductions. With a mortgage of $90 000, giving monthly payments of about $900 (includes property taxes and insurance), this leaves $1 600 a month for living on. With a family to support, it's unlikely that other expenses can be brought below $800 a month. This leaves $800 a month at best, for savings. 3. To save $300 000 at $800 a month would take 31 years. ! So, financial independence can be had at about the same time you'd ordinarily retire. Try as I might, I can't find any loopholes in this. Reduce expenses by dropping the mortgage ? then you'd have to pay rent. The kind of place you can rent for under $500 a month would do nothing for quality of life, I'm too old to live in cockroach-infested apartments. Live on less than $15 000 a year ? once I lived out of a van for 6 months, paying for nothing but gas, food, car repair, and campsites. Expenses still came to nearly $900 a month. Live on less than $800 a month for a family ? only with the most miserable parsimony. I've always lived the frugal lifestyle. I'm perfectly happy that way: it accords with my beliefs. But the hard cold fact of the matter is that I don't have any other choice.
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Summary: A great eye opener in the beginning of the book.
Review: I really felt the first few chapters were great. Basically they ask you to step outside of yourself and look at what you are really spending your time and money on. In other words when you buy that $4000.00 dollar stereo what does that represent in terms of time spent to aquire that. Most people never think in these terms when they make a purchase. Their is an endless amount of material things we could spend our money on, but will these things make us any happier? The authors definitely have a new age slant to their thinking. They talk about how consumerism is destroying the earths resources and environment. They seem to be aligned with the extreme environmentalists on many issues. I pretty much ignored those parts of the book and focused on the areas I thought helpfull. Most people probably wont agree with all of the suggestions in the book, but it has enough good advise to be worthwhile. Some of the investment advise doesn't jive with the most current advise out there! ! . This book has a piece of the puzzle solved, and that is to evaluate the way you are spending your time and money. As for the investing side I would probably look for other sources for that info. A good start would be "The truth about money" by ric edelman.
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Summary: Brilliant!!
Review: I just can't express my deep gratitude to the author's of this book. It is truly a brilliant book. This book helped me to find the secret of life. I recommend this book to everyone. This is the best book I have ever read in my whole life! I'll give it 10 STARS!!!!!!!
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Summary: Great Book! Will Change Your Life for the Better!!
Review: This is a fantastic book! Read it through, get your spouse to read it, then DO IT! Just thinking about the steps while reading it through the first time is enough to make you wake up and smell the coffee!!! I am telling all my friends to buy this book!
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Summary: Move from 'working' to Living
Review: If you want to make an effective contribution to the world, "Your Money or Your Life" shows how you can make it happen. By paying attention to the relevant details, you will relearn how to live within your means, and to build a steady income stream to support you for the rest of your time on this planet. And you'll learn along the way how you best choose to live in full harmony, and what that requires in terms of time and money. Enlightening examples abound. I'm currently working through this process as a married man with heavy mortgage and no children yet. My engineering side appreciates the simplicity and elegance of the process; my business side appreciates the clear approach and proven results. Thanks to this book, my wife and I have paid off our 10% second mortgage in 14 months (yes, fourteen months). Each of the nine phases of this process build on and reinforce each other. Common pitfalls at each stage are noted, such as 'obsessive penny pinching'. The underlying mantra is 'no shame, no blame, just awareness'. This awareness is the driving force of this process, and (as my alma mater states in its motto, "The truth shall set you free"). This is explicitly a "diets don't work, awareness does" process, as the authors demonstrate repeatedly throughout the book. The authors recommend a specific place to park your capital, the money which throws off income for you to live on: US Treasuries. This surprises many (such as the reader from Santa Fe), but fits perfectly with the goals of this process. Once you know exactly how much your current lifestyle costs you (by tracking your expenses to the penny so as to miss nothing), you know how much steady investment income you must generate. And once you can see, from your chart on the wall, that in some number of years you will never have to accept a salary again, Life Opens Up. You can contribute in whatever way is most uniquely yours, what is most deeply satisfying, without any money issues -- starting wi! thin a definite and finite period of time from NOW. And that is the true meaning of Financial Independence. Money becomes a non-issue. And, along the way in this process, you will clear up many other issues which show up from your monthly money tracking. If you want to contribute effectively while on this planet, you deserve to read this book and work the process through to Financial Independence. You will be able to contribute more effectively with the tools of this book, from the depths of your heart. I know I'll be able to expand what I've done so far, thanks to "Your Money or Your Life".
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