cover image for Your Money or Your Life

Your Money or Your Life

Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez

8/10
A very solid book, talking how really you trade life energy for money via work and about hidden costs of work (commuting, relaxing things you only need to do because of work, clothes you only need becasue of work, etc) and how many you're work is secretly costing you more than you think and their might be some ways to re-negotiate and get better things for you
  • You trade life energy for money via work
  • Their are probably things in your life you only want or need becasue of work like commuting, special relaxation and vactions, clothes for work alone etc so these should count against you hourly wage in terms of life energy/time and you can optimise some of these away with different career choices
  • Marketing theory states, people are motivated by fear, the promise of exclusivity, guilt, greed and the need for approval and psycologically all products use this
  • The money you spend / time you spend should reflect your values in porportion (more valued by you, you should be spending more money on it relative to things you value less in your budget)
  • Stop trying to impress others using money as status
  • Repair instead of replacing (gain skills in the process)
  • Don't get a new one if you have one that works fine, if excessive tinkering/inconveience or upgrading actually has a fundamental change on the quality of the action performed you can replace (not new dishes, yes to new mouse or chair)
  • Ask could I do this myself, how long would it take to learn, would it be useful to know in the future
  • Decide what features are important to you when buying something (durability, value, price, etc)
  • Meet your need differently, ex rest can look like food, shopping, walking, caffine, exercise, video games. Recognize that you have choices and recognize what you're really after
  • How much money do you need for fullfillment, are you getting it, are you working for more money than you need, is that money providing you value by fullfilling your values, if not would you work for less and do other stuff instead,
  • Voluntarily reducing income might actually lead to more free time, less stress and a better balance
  • Value relationships and build a community, thus airport rides, meals when sick, leveraging someone elses expertise like cars or tech, and this all applies from you to them and them to you. Good community building and savings $
  • Investing checklist, is it in line with my values, is it within risk tolerance, does it help me diversify, does this provide for my income needs (now and future), how easily can I liquidate, what sales penalities will I incur if I liquidate, what are the vairous tax implications (state, federal, local)
  • Summary of steps of program,
  • make peace with your past (find out total earnings over life and total current assets and liabilities)
  • track life energy what are you spending you money / time on
  • monthly tabulation what are you spending your money on
  • ask for all purchases, did I recieve fulfilllment in proportion to life energy spent, is the expenditure in alignment with my values, how would this change if I didn't work for money
  • Wall Chart
  • Minimize spending
  • Maximize income/energy ratio
  • Invest for FI
;