Your Money or Your Life

[PRICEPLUS]

Has anyone here read the book? Does it have anything to offer?

[dealsaver]

The title sounds familiar. I think I read it a number of years ago. Nothing that gripping I suppose.

[cercis]

I thought it was a great book for chaging your philosophy. It's a nice way to look at your life and money's role in it.

[robex]

I loved this book so much that I bought it after I had read the borrowed copy from the library. It really made me think about what I want in life, especially when they describe your time vs. money. I had lots of lightbulb moments when i read this book, and I would definately recommend it to anyone trying to get their finances in order.

[lrjohnson]

It's a classic in the frugal book world. I didn't learn so much in the way of tips or particular action items as much as I absolutely adored the unapologetic promotion of a new way of thinking about money and independance. It's one I own; I, too, bought it after reading the library copy. Incredible.

[jmjj215]

I've been meaning to read this book for months now - I really do need to go pick it up at the library.

[dealsaver]

I read the book years ago, but nothing seems to stick out in my memory except the title. I think of the title as a question to myself, the answer to which is, "I'm thinking, I'm thinking!" .

[jeffcovey]

yes, it's a classic. i post my experiences with it on my homesite.

[Gailete]

Fascinating book because whether you follow the advice or not, it should make you THINK in different ways about money, how you earn and how you spend it.

Hard to look at an expensive dinner out that lasts what an hour or two and realize that to earn that dinner, you had to work an entire day (before taxes). Was it worth it?

Those are the types of things you will get introduced to thinking about.

Gail

[jodi]

I just finished reading this book and am glad I did. For the first half of the book, I didn't think I would get much out of it, but the last few steps of the program really intrigued me. Is anyone actually following the plan, and how is it working out?
We are currently a one income (part-time) family with DH in school, but managing to not use our emergency savings right now as our monthly expenses are very low. However, anything we save is going toward student loans, so it will be a while before we can actually start buying some bonds. Just curious as to whether his plan for investing is really as good as it sounds. Currently our Roth IRA is invested in carefully-chosen stocks (we are both quite young still, so willing to take on some risk), but if we can really earn 8-9% interest in treasury bonds with no risk, I'm wondering if our approach is wrong. Just curious what others think...

[meaghanchan]

The 30-year treasury bonds aren't being offered anymore, although I hear that it will be in January. The interest rate is I think expected to be around 6%, though, not 8-9%.

Overall, I think the message is good and the plan is something to work towards, although my personal asset allocation is mostly stocks. I am doing the wall chart (it is great!) earning interest off my savings accounts, and I think if I ever hit the crossover point, I might exchange a big chunk of that for 30-year treasury bonds and just live off the interest. I don't know, though.

The last chapters, though, are just one small part of a whole process. The value to me off the book has been in becoming more conscious of what I'm spending my money on, more than in a plan for financial independence.

[marjorie]

I feel really good about this book. So good I've bought copies for 3 other people who felt their money wasn't doing what they wanted it to. My current copy was from Freecycle!

[retire@50]

A follow up book was written describing the stories of people who did use the Your Money or Your Life program and made it to Financial Independence. The book is called Getting A Life by Jacqueline Blix and David Heitmiller. Excellent book.

There's also a website where you can listed to download reading of Getting a Life.

http://www.simpleliving.net/simpleradio/program_gal.asp

[Ima saver]

I forgot I have the book. I will go and read it again because it has been years since I read it.