Rating: 
Summary: Great read!
Review: This is a great book, period! I have read it 2 times and plan to re-read it in the future on my financial journey. So many other books focus on just financial independence, but this one also gets you thinking about financial integrity as well as financial intelligence.
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Summary: Incredible Life Altering Financial Strategy
Review: When the subtitle says "Transforming your Relationship with Money" they are NOT KIDDING!! You gain an understanding of how money=life energy and become alot more careful how you spend it. I've NEVER known where I was at financially. Never balanced checkbooks, always in financial pain, and now I know and will never have the embarassment of bounced checks, overlimit fees, late fees, bankruptcy, etc...all the garbage that goes along with our consume it society!!
Rating: 
Summary: not really a financial book
Review: This book was a bit of a disappointment. It was more of a political statement about the evils of US materialism VS Gaia. However, it did point out that time is money and we all have limited amout of that. Otherwise it was more of downward mobility primer for dropping out of society much like one sees in survivalism literature.
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Summary: Could be titled "The Only Financial Book You'll Ever Need"
Review: "Your Money or Your Life" is a classic, the kind of book that produces immediate results, and reduces the need to read all the other financial books out there. Offering a specific plan for living low on the material chain, the book is chock full of helpful suggestions. I read the book quickly, and followed some of the outlined plans for financial mastery. For a month I kept track of every penny I spent and found in the months since that I'm much more concious of what I spend. I have grown to have an aversion to impuslse buying, in part because the book brings home the wastefulness of materialism. I have really cut corners, and gotten rid of a lot
of useless clutter, and feel much better as a result. Best of all, I have been able to live for almost a year on a third of what I spent when I was in a more fast track job. Will this book work for anyone? I'm not sure about that, because the simple fact is, some people value possessions over free time. Some people are more than happy to work two jobs if it means being able to buy what they want, and live the lifestyle to which they are accustomed. I can't see the US being overrun with frugality anytime soon. But, for those who wish to live on less-- writers, stay at home moms, artists, or those needing to get out of debt-- this book is flawless.
Rating:
Summary: Tough Advice, But Doable
Review: This book will indeed transform your life if you have the gumption to put ALL it says in practice. Actually, it would have saved me about $40K if I had followed its advice to avoid risky investments when I first read it two years ago! Too late smart... the bull market was still stomping and it seemed foolish at that time to invest my savings in treasuries! But the advice I DID follow was life-transforming, and I've been able to get rid of a lot of debt in the process--still working at it after two years!
Rating:
Summary: Very insightful and practical
Review: This is an excellent book...I have recommended it to many family and friends. To get the most out of this book do the exercises as the authors suggest. The most revealing exercise for me was the one where you estimate what you have earned in a *lifetime* versus what you have to show for it *today*...definitely an eye-opener! This book really has transformed how I think about my work, money and lifestyle.
Rating:
Summary: I choose my life; great book!
Review: This book attempts to demonstrate by means of a 9-step process, how you are now making a "dying" as opposed to making a living, and how you can get back on track, and start directing your actions toward a life of fulfillment and financial independence. The 9 steps look like this: * STEP 1: Look back on your life and add up all the money you have made, and how much do you have with you (in the form of assets of some type) to account for it.
* STEP 2: Since money is something we choose to trade our life energy for (central idea of the book), determine how much money you truly get for doing your job, including the fact that you have to spend money in commuting, clothing, meals at work, etc. and start to keep track of every penny that you earn and spend. Just to illustrate the power of this step, I found myself making 25% (hourly rate) less than I thought I was by doing this exercise, and that takes into account the fact that I live 20 minutes away from my work and I half the time I bring my food from home.
* STEP 3: Tabulate all your expenses into categories, add them up and convert them into hours of life energy.
* STEP 4: Determine to what extent all the expenses you found in your categorization provide you with fulfillment, how they are in alignment with your life's purpose, and how they would change should you not have to work for a living (I start to see some frowning faces now... hold on a bit more!) This chapter brought back memories of reading Stephen Covey and Viktor Frankl, in terms of coming up with your life's mission. A very nice quote by Buckminster Fuller mentioned in it says: "I learned very early and painfully that you have to decide at the outset whether you are trying to make money or make sense -I feel that they are mutually exclusive."
* STEP 5: Maintain a chart with your income and expenses month to month, and have it in a visible place: don't hide it!
* STEP 6: Frugality and tons of ways to save money -not trying to impress other people; not just going shopping; living within your means; taking care of what you have; wearing things out; doing more things yourself; anticipating your needs; researching value, quality, durability and multiple use of things ahead of time; getting things for less (find out how!); buying used (secondhand becoming chick); following the nine steps of the program; and 101 more ways... Most readers will probably enjoy this chapter, since it gives out lots of ideas you can start applying right away, but it definitely needs to be combined with the other steps for the entire program to have success for life.
* STEP 7: Searching for ways to increase your income by valuing the life energy you put into your job, and exchanging it for the highest pay consistent with your health and integrity.
* STEP 8: Having capital money start producing an income for you until you reach the magical crossover point, the point at which your expenses can be fulfilled through your investment income, technically without needing you to make any active income. Sounds neat? Well, this is the most interesting part of the book. Several pages are devoted to how you can better spend your time beyond this point, and volunteering becomes one of the biggest things (giving back) you can do to take fulfillment in your life to a point that can't be reached by making more money.
* STEP 9: this step is about making out of you a knowledgeable and sophisticated long-term investor, so that you can manage your finances for a safe, steady and sufficient income for the rest of your life. If you think this might be a little over the authors' heads, consider the credentials of Mr. Dominguez, who had a successful career as a financial analyst in Wall Street before retiring at the age of... (are you ready for this?) thirty-one! Overall, this book shed valuable additional light on the topic of Financial Independence in ways that previous books I'd read hadn't, simply because it works on the basic paradigms out of which your assumptions come from, such as the fact that you need A TON of money to live a life of fulfillment. If you ask me, my recommendation is to get this book, but don't buy it (sorry, Amazon!) -get it from your local library! ;)
Rating:
Summary: Survive! This is a MUST read!!
Review: I picked this book up at B/N after about a year of our family simplifying our lives, with a marginal result. This book really opened our eyes to our attitudes towards money and how that affected our quality of life. We are now working through the nine steps, though not in the order presented and are already seeing a major shift in the budget, and our attitudes. It is well written (I read it in a day, and carry it around with me for casual browsing), and very thorough. My one complaint is that the steps in Chapter Nine are a little out-dated since the US Goverment has suspended 30 year bonds, but the information is still valid and a little research will still yield good results. If you value your life, and your money, then this is a MUST have on the bookshelf.
Rating:
Summary: Potentially life changing
Review: I recently became interested in what is called by some the voluntary simplicity movement. The movement, at least looking at the publication dates on some of the books I've read, seems to have had a vogue in the early '90s. This is one of the best books I've read on the topic. The underlying theme of the book is the importance of developing a new morality toward money. The question raised by the authors is, "How much is enough?" A series of steps is presented to help the reader develop a conciousness of what money means to them, how important it should be in their lives and when to pack it all in and do something worthwhile with the rest of their life. It presents a fairly compelling argument of the inherent shallowness of the current American consumer culture. As with all revelations, the reader needs to be ready to hear the message. This is no pie-in-the-sky, back-to-nature or any other utopian visionary, never-will-be view of how to live your life. A practical plan for getting control of the money in your life is presented. Along with the plan, a line of reasoning is developed to help convince the reader that there should be more to life than making and spending money.
Rating:
Summary: Changed the way I look at my paycheck!
Review: Sick of paying your Christmas bills all year long? Tired of being exhaused on your vacation? Bored to death with your only-to-pay-my-bills-job? If I had to recommend one book for people struggling with their debt, work, and their personal time, "Your Money or Your Life" would be it. It's not just a personal finance book; it's a LIFE book. I read this when I had my own struggles with credit card debt and it was a real eye-opener. The authors offer loads of great advice on what causes your debt, how it burdens you and your family, the toll it takes on your emotional well-being and self-esteem, and how to defeat the debt cycle once and for all. The authors also delve into the VALUE of your time spent at work, at home, and at play and offer exercises in helping you realize what it is that truly makes you happy. Extremely valuable, helpful, and informative; after reading this book, I haven't looked at my paycheck the same way since!
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