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Reading Your Money or Your Life............
Old 01-08-2007, 01:09 PM   #1
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Reading Your Money or Your Life............

Interesting book.............

However, what if I've done some of the steps (albeit in a different way) than the book suggests? Would I be "missing the point"

Just curious............
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Re: Reading Your Money or Your Life............
Old 01-08-2007, 02:36 PM   #2
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Re: Reading Your Money or Your Life............

Nope, read the book for inspiration rather than a formula to follow. Very bad use of bonds & investments but very good ideas about what your time is worth and the ability to live differently within our society.
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Re: Reading Your Money or Your Life............
Old 01-08-2007, 03:40 PM   #3
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Re: Reading Your Money or Your Life............

Quote:
Originally Posted by yakers
Nope, read the book for inspiration rather than a formula to follow. Very bad use of bonds & investments but very good ideas about what your time is worth and the ability to live differently within our society.
I'd agree with this. I haven't done all of their steps, and DH and I are still on path to FIRE in about 5-7 years (his current company closing its doors and the upcoming transitional time account for the ambiguity here).

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Re: Reading Your Money or Your Life............
Old 01-08-2007, 05:32 PM   #4
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Re: Reading Your Money or Your Life............

I agree that the book is just a starting point/inspiration. It made me look at my life/career differently - the trading your "life energy' for money thought made me focus more on saving and planning for an escape.

I read the book in 92 - I think I would still be working today w/o that focus/push.

Went skiing again today 8) - 2007 is off to a great start!
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Re: Reading Your Money or Your Life............
Old 01-08-2007, 05:57 PM   #5
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Re: Reading Your Money or Your Life............

Ditto with the others - helps you understand the time is money concept and helps you learn to track your spending and align it to that which is important to you - no on the Bonds only portfolio as well - also skimmed/skipped the 'moral' message they had which doesn't align with my ideology - however, all the rest was very good and helped me get where I am today.
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Re: Reading Your Money or Your Life............
Old 01-08-2007, 07:15 PM   #6
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Re: Reading Your Money or Your Life............

That was the book that first got me even thinking that there could be a way out.
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Re: Reading Your Money or Your Life............
Old 01-08-2007, 08:23 PM   #7
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Re: Reading Your Money or Your Life............

I discovered this book early in 2006. It was inspiring to me too for its life philosophy.
The advice about ignoring inflation is very poor and the SWR concept is not fully understood. However the part about tracking ones retirement goal is great IMO.

There are several threads talking about it in the forum. Dominguez died young in 1997 of lymphoma at an age when few are retired. Lucky for him he retired very early and was able to enjoy some retirement!

If you are interested you can check the web site
YourMoneyOrYourLife.org and the associated forum community:
http://www.simpleliving.net/forums/
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Re: Reading Your Money or Your Life............
Old 01-09-2007, 01:24 AM   #8
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Re: Reading Your Money or Your Life............

Discovered it in the mid 90s. Encouraged us that ER is not a dream but can be accomplished.
Calculating your lifetime income so far versus the actual net worth of your possessions is enlightening!
Confirmed our habit of daily tracking of expenses (what we already did since 82).
We do not follow the investment advise though.
We hope to be ready to ER in 09.

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Re: Reading Your Money or Your Life............
Old 01-09-2007, 09:21 AM   #9
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Re: Reading Your Money or Your Life............

YMOYL was an early book for me as well in my decision to pursue FIRE. I agree that the book has some good tools but I didn't follow the 9-step program completely. I just took a few tools and discarded the rest (expecially bonds).

I liked the idea of tracking every penny and reviewing it at the end of the month. I found this to work better than budgeting or trying to find ways to restrict my access to cash. By reviewing results once a month, we eventually became very aware of where our money was going and where our weaknesses were. This helped us do a better job of fighting impulse buys while in the store. To me that's the key. Good intentions only go so far but if you can't find a way to stop yourself from impulse buying when you find a "great deal" or "limited time offer", you'll never get control over your spending.

I also found the wall chart to be beneficial. It's just another visual that you can look at regularly for inspiration on staying the course with your financial goals.
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Re: Reading Your Money or Your Life............
Old 01-09-2007, 09:55 PM   #10
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Re: Reading Your Money or Your Life............

What I liked about YMOYL was how it asked you to calculate whether the money you spent gave you the value that you desired. It helped my husband and I to improve our spending habits. For example, we had let one small expense 'ride' for some time when in fact we were getting no value whatsoever for it. That membership finally got canceled. In contrast, we felt guilty that we spend one morning per week getting coffee and pastries at Starbucks. When we realized how much enjoyment we get from that activity as a couple, we consciouly identified it as an expense from which we get full value for our money and we have enjoyed that weekly time together guilt-free ever since.

Even 5 years after reading the book, we still occasionally ask ourselves out loud whether we think we will get X dollars of value out of something that we are considering purchasing. If the answer is yes then we proceed with the purchase, and if the answer is maybe when we generally wait a few days and ask the question again.

That particular tool from the book works well from us. Like others here, we ignored the investment advice.

YMOYL is a good book from which you can cherry-pick the activities and tools that appeal to you.
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