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The book mentioned many times this mantra that helped whenever I felt bad about my previous decision, I would tell myself "no shame no blame" and no regret (my own addition).3. To start with, the nine steps mentioned in this book are: (1) Making Peace with the Past; (2) Being in the present - Tracking Your Life Energy; (3) Where Is It All Going. For me, the shift in thinking that I got from reading this book, made this book very very worth it. The attitude of "no shame no blame" when evaluating what one had done with one's finance. Sure the steps take times and discipline to implement, but once I started, I got a lot out of it. The hope of being financial independence. It is also realistic in saying that we may have set back because there is nothing guaranteed with investment, but if we are conditioned to have control over our spending and income, we would be more confident in handling the setback.This book is not an investment technique book, so if you are looking at a more technical way of managing your finance such as Asset Allocation by Gibson, you will not get it.
The book gave examples of people who successfully crossed over this point which are very motivating. This is also not like Needleman's book (Money and the Meaning of Life) that is philosophical. A way of thinking that "money is simply something you trade life energy for". Now I know why. (The Monthly Tabulation); (4) Three Questions That Will Transform Your Life; (5) Making Life Energy Visible; (6) Valuing Your Life Energy - Minimizing Spending; (7) Valuing Your Life Energy - Maximixing Income; (8) Capital and the Crossover Point; (9) Managing Your Finances.You really gotta do the steps. Because I really want to know how much I trade my life energy for doing my job, I become very discipline in tracking my spending and created many new categories in my Quicken to be able to answer the the 3 Questions in step 4.2.
The step of charting and making life energy visible were very helpful. This book I would classify it as a hybrid between the psychology of money and the pragmatic ways of managing money so that you can reach financial independence. I got this book after reading in several blogs how good this book is. Some of the shifts that I experienced:1. I am looking forward to the time when my monthly investment income crosses over with my monthly spending.
There are better books. The problem I had with the book that I seriously doubt people will become wealthy with this advice. You can accumulate wealth by being cheap but the problem is you're still cheap. The book gives good basic information about money.
I'd recommend Robert Kiyosaki's classic "Rich Dad Poor Dad" for newbies more than this one. It does give you the basics - but that's all it gives you. However, it gives outdated and completely inadequate investment advice. I've read some 500 books on this topic and I don't consider myself exactly a lightweight in this category. I would recommend other books for getting the beasic knowledge and some others for ivnestment strategies.
Only if you don't know anything about money is this book worth a read.
While this may seem to work for some, the message delivered this way did not particularly register well with me. Practically all the suggestions I use already.It did make me feel good to know at least I'm in the right frame of mind towards a fulfilling relationship with money. This CD seems more like a "casual" conversation that would take place between you and a friend driving to the mall. I drifted, had to listen again because I really didn't pay attention the first time.Nice for maybe someone who wants additional reinforcement while driving or on their ipod but it really didn't tell me anything I don't already know.
Robin's clear, conversational tone makes it very easy to tune in to her message of financial independence and more-sensible consumption. (The late Dominguez is a rags-to-riches story in the truest sense of that cliché).
But for a crash course on financial independence, this audio book is worth a listen or two. An easy-to-follow nine-step plan gives listeners a structured program to follow as they seek a better way to turn their finances into a life-enriching force.
Robin's focus is not so much getting what you want, but wanting what you have and getting more out of it. As with many audio books, this is a highly abridged version of the hard copy, and a reader probably can glean something from the pages that just isn't in the two-CD version.
This updated take on the classic 1992 book is a fabulous, enriching way to pass the time during the monotonous morning/afternoon commute. She shares numerous anecdotes, featuring personal experiences and insights as well as those of original co-author Joe Dominguez.
It probably is a good idea to read the original or revised version of the book, if time permits.
What the book points out is that your REAL hourly wage is often much less than you think it is. That's pretty much the gist of the book. It really puts things into perspective. All assets minus all debts. Finally, I strongly disagree with the investment chapter at the end of the book, and I think it will lead a lot of people astray. So when you calculate your REAL hourly wages, you have to take all of this extra time into account. It probably all together takes up maybe 75 pages of the book, and it really only needs to be stated once.
But there are many hidden costs associated with having a job. You earn an hourly wage, let's say for argument's sake it is $16 / hour. The book does not tell you not to spend, but rather to be conscious of what you are actually spending, which is literally your life energy. The writing attempts to make the message seem very profound, when in fact it may not be so deep a truth as all that. So for example, if you buy a $200 iPod, and you REAL hourly wage is $11/ hour, you've just spent about 18.2 hours of your life working away for that iPod. They recommend tracking EVERY single cent that you spend on goods. Such as spending money on nice work clothing.
You may also spend maybe another 30 min. The book then goes on to argue that when you start looking at stuff to buy - you should think about the cost of a new iPod for example in terms of hours spent working for it, not money. A slightly "riskier" strategy is to invest in lifecycle funds.Let me state plainly that to invest in only US treasury bonds would be akin to shooting yourself in the foot. "The Intelligent Investor" is the best book hands down for teaching you about stock selection and bonds, and I'd look there first if you are interested in learning about investing. Pretty extreme, but I understand why.
or so talking about your work situation to your significant other. 2) Become aware of your real hourly wage, and your spending patterns, and you will find that you naturally stop buying frivolous things. commuting to and from work. In the example above, $16/hour could easily fall to $10 or $11/ hour. I think some brevity could have made this book really amazing, but it is still ok. Lifecycle funds are ok, but it is also perfectly ok to invest in stocks if you are willing to invest the time to do a little bit of research. It's this part that I really don't like. People in this program supposedly paid off seemingly large loads of debt in stunningly short time periods.
After you get back from work, you may spend an additional hour "decompressing" - as in mindlessly watching TV in order to relax. For many people its negative, because they have accumulated so much debt during their lifetime. Many things (like your job), are not 100% certain over long periods of time, and by using some common sense and effort you can do MUCH better than treasury bonds by making wise choices with index funds, stocks, bonds, and real estate. The idea is as follows: You devote a given amount of time a day into work (say 10 hours). It recommends that you should only invest in long-term US treasury bonds that pay very marginal rates, because they are the only thing 100% guaranteed over time. For example, you may spend 30 min. After all, you wouldn't be doing all of this stuff if you didn't work at this particular job.Also, there are monetary costs to working.
They have a "9 step program" but really it amounts to this: 1) Calculate your REAL net worth. There is also a *LOT* of negative generalization about how everyone lives an over-stressed, under-paid lifestyle and it keeps coming up, over and over again in the book. If there are things that you might do yourself but don't because of your job (taking care of your lawn, car, house, etc), you have to subtract the monetary costs of outsourcing all of this work. The fundamental premise of this book is pretty good. Buying lunch in the afternoon, because it would be too time consuming to prepare lunch every night. The reason why I've given it 3.5 stars is because the manner in which this is all presented is not that great.
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