Your Money or Your Life book review

You can love money. You can love working. But you need to realize that you are either making, making, making and growing your money, or you are making, making, making and growing your life.

Today we are talking about Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez. The genre of the book is nonfiction, and the theme is money management and financial independence.

A couple of years ago, I did a book review where I talked about why I think FIRE, Financial Independence, Retire Early, is complete crap. So many people retire early only to turn around and sell you an online course about how to retire early.

This book cuts through all of that.

It explains that being financially independent doesn't mean you stop working. It means you're not dependent on one specific source of income.

Oh.

It also points out that you probably won't build wealth if you think wealthy or financially independent people are terrible.

Oh.

It also tells you that you probably own way too much stuff.

Oh.

I discovered that this is actually a revised edition. Joe Dominguez has passed away, so Vicki Robin updated the book and its principles for today because life looks very different than it did when the original was published.

One piece of advice: read the entire book before you start doing the exercises.

I was reading along, and it tells you to write down all the money you've ever earned.

Not just this year.

Every dollar.

Go find your income statements, tally it all up, and see your lifetime earnings.

Immediately I started wondering, "Will it be a million dollars? More than that?"

Heart palpitations.

Then the book tells you to inventory everything you own.

Your couch.

The lamp in the basement.

Your camera.

Your bookshelf.

Your plant stand.

Someone paid for every single one of those things.

You start looking at everything around you and realizing that every purchase came from your life's energy.

"You are either making, making, making, growing, growing, growing money or you are making, making, making, growing, growing your life."

That's really the premise of the book.

Money isn't bad.

Money is a tool.

There isn't a day that goes by where we don't use something that money purchased. We eat food that cost money. We live in homes that cost money. We drive cars that cost money.

Money is woven into everyday life.

The authors ask a really interesting question:

Are you making a living, or are you making a dying?

Because we're all getting older. I've had 41 years. I've earned money. I've spent money. I've accumulated things. I've given things away.

But how much of my life has simply been spent working so I could keep buying more things?

The book isn't judgmental about it.

You can absolutely love working.

You can absolutely love making money.

The question is whether you're intentionally building your life or simply building your income.

The point of the book is simple.

You need enough.

I think "enough" is such a beautiful word. Everything beyond enough is excess.

Do you need clothes? Absolutely.

Do you need 85 shirts? Probably not.

We don't think about our possessions that way because it's uncomfortable.

That's exactly why the book asks you to inventory everything you own.

If you saw all of it listed out in one place, you might start asking yourself whether you bought those things because you needed them or because that's what you were taught to do.

Were you raised to shop whenever you felt sad?

Were you raised to celebrate every payday by spending money?

Or are those simply habits you've inherited?

This is not a casual read. It's on the same level as Marie Kondo. You don't pick this book up unless you're actually willing to make changes.

The writing has a way of sneaking into your thoughts and you finish reading it and think you're done.

Then you realize you're supposed to go back and actually do the work.

When you total up every dollar you've ever earned, it's staggering. That's your life's wages.

Then you estimate what everything you own is worth.

Then you look at your net worth.

You start asking questions about debt, credit cards, and whether you've been living in excess.

For me, it became less about guilt and more about forgiveness.

Okay, Kyla. Forgive yourself for where you are today. Now let's move forward.

One thing this book has already changed for me?

I'm going to borrow more books from the library.

This copy is from the library, and if nothing else, I don't need to keep buying more books.

"The point of the book is you need enough."

The book keeps bringing you back to one question.

Are you working simply to earn money so you can keep spending money? Or are you comfortable with having enough?

Enough, however you define it.

Not your parents.

Not society.

Not social media.

You.

The book is sobering, but it's also incredibly enjoyable because it tells the truth. Most people work so they can pay their bills. If that's not enough, they take on another job, another side hustle, another gig. We've been raised as consumers and most of us don't even recognize how much of what we own is excess and sometimes having "enough" feels almost radical.

Would I reread Your Money or Your Life?

Absolutely.

Get your copy of Your Money or Your Life. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

https://youtu.be/Me-fbmzG54I?si=inOgNpL5TolappgU

Until the next book review, 

Kyla