I’m no FI (Financial Independence) historian. In fact, I just found out about FI/FIRE a year ago and it changed my whole outlook on life. Vicki Robin wrote her book, Your Money or Your Life, in 1992. Many people claim it’s the spark that started the entire movement. Whatever the case, this book still has something for everyone. Whether you are just getting started or you have already reached FI, I encourage you to give this book a read…
I’m pretty sure when I picked up this book, I was doing so more from an archaeological perspective. My thinking was probably laced with a touch of condescension as well.
“Let’s see what primitive humans thought about money matters,” or some such nonsense.
Time and again I manage to remind myself that I’m an idiot.
I came away from this book reminded, yet again, that the core tenets of life are a tale as old as time.
Not surprisingly, based on my surge in interest for Financial Independence, I was immediately pulled in. Vicki Robin has a beautiful writing style. She brings an almost spiritual element to the concept of money. Read that last sentence again and tell me that that’s not impressive.
There is also a refreshing fearlessness to her writing. She is telling the reader exactly what they need to hear to turn their lives around.
No sugar coating.
By page 4 you are reading thoughts like, “We aren’t making a living. We’re making a dying.” She’s up front and always honest.
In her honest but non-judgmental way she delivers important messages. Here’s what you’re doing wrong. This is how you fix it. Here’s why you need to fix it. This is going to be difficult, but it’s worth it. You’re worth it too. Let’s get started. You can do it.
And yet, she also has the mastery to bring you full circle on this spiritual journey. A wonderful read and incredibly refreshing.
What’s more, Vicki Robin, capitalizing on the new tidal wave of FI enthusiasm, revamped and updated her book to 21st century living.
There is plenty of wisdom to be gleaned from, Your Money or Your Life. I’ll highlight some of what I appreciated, but as always, you’ll get more if you read it yourself.
Here’s a glimpse at some of what resonated with me and may do the same for you.
Honesty – Best Policy
As I referenced before, there’s no sugar-coating in this book. Vicki Robin tells you exactly what you need to hear.
In the opening pages she paints a pretty bleak picture of finances in our country. “We have a national disease based on how we earn money,” she writes.
She explains that, despite being the wealthiest nation in the world, our debt is growing. We have collectively doubled our debt since 2000 (to 2017) by reaching an astounding 3.7 trillion dollars in debt.
“Our savings rate has actually gone down,” she tells us. This is a big one for me. We (myself included) are virtually throwing away money that we already have in hand. I’m currently working on completely revamping my savings rate and I’ve found it to be quite a liberating process.
Have a look at my findings and see how you can improve your savings rate as well…
In the book, Vicki Robin likens our debt to manacles that keep us beholden to our jobs, as we desperately hang on just to keep the vicious cycle of consumption going.
She reminds us that “The dreams we had of finding meaning and fulfillment through our jobs have faded into the reality of professional politics, burnout, boredom and intense competition.”
Having experienced burnout myself, you can imagine how this resonated with me. However, if we’re being honest, you can probably see how that quote has something for most people…
But don’t worry, it’s not all doom and gloom! It’s just, by my eyes, an accurate portrayal of the harsh reality most people find themselves in. She needed to do this, in order to open the reader’s eyes to change.
Shortly after, she describes her “co-author”, Joe Dominguez, whom unfortunately passed away decades ago but was every bit her partner (even if she did the physical writing), making impassioned speeches to their audiences.
At the very end, a very simple, yet incredibly clarifying, idea was presented.
We are trading our life energy for money.
That line right there boils it down better than anything I could hope to pen.
We are trading our life energy for money.
What a brilliantly simple idea. We collectively spend a huge percentage of our waking hours at work trading time for money. Later, with this idea in place, the question that begs asking arises. Why then, do we consistently throw our life energy (transitive property for money) away (in the form of frivolous purchases/practices etc.)? It simply doesn’t make sense.
After this moment of awakening, the spiritual journey begins…
Your Money or Your Life: A Spiritual Journey
If I were on a pitch team, coming up for titles for this book, the above heading, “Your Money or Your Life: A Spiritual Journey”, would be a title I would have put forth.
A spiritual journey is essentially what this book can be for so many of us…
This book starts you at the awakening that we’re “making a dying” and “trading our life energy for money,” and takes you all the way to achieving financial independence (not wealth) and being able to trade your life energy for pursuits of the highest order.
One concept that I connected with was a different form of FI, that Vicki Robin calls Financial Interdependence.
“Along the way,” she writes, ” you realize that the independence we crave is a separation from dead-end routines, jobs, relationships and ways of thinking – not from one another.”
She goes on to illuminate how we are all interdependent on one another. Financial Independence, therefore, is not the end. In a lot of ways it’s a beginning of the more meaningful “work” that gives us a sense of purpose.
“In fact, after achieving Financial Independence, most people…” she explains, “actually want to spend their time helping to make the world a better place.”
Yet again, I had an immediate connection. Here I am, a teacher. By most metrics this is an incredibly noble profession (compliment to you readers that are teachers, not me) and I find myself wanting out? What does that say about me? It doesn’t feel too good…
Well, I do still want to give back. But perhaps my path will be different than I originally intended. And perhaps, by subtracting the incredibly stressful circumstances that led to my burnout, I will have the necessary energy it takes to actually accomplish the impactful work I know I am born to do. Whatever that work ends up being…
In the meantime, I also feel fulfilled in the impact I have already made in my 12 years of teaching to this point…
To me, this spiritual journey is already enough to make this a worthwhile read. There are also other benefits as well…
For Those Just Beginning their Journey to FI
Your Money or Your Life is a book that I wish someone had given me long ago. But regrets do us little good in this game, and I just assume move forward, thankful for what I do already have in place.
If you are reading this and you consider yourself relatively new to the world of financial independence then this might be a great book for you.
The reason I say this is because it gives a concrete outline, with practical steps that you can follow, as you grow your understanding.
And yes, there are a ton of resources at your disposal that have come along since. But, with this book at least, all of the information is in one place and written in a logical sequence.
To me, this is invaluable and incredibly convenient.
If you find yourself reading this a little farther along in your journey, there is still value to be had. The book is easily navigable and you can pick and choose parts to meet you where you’re at.
Finally, the reason it’s valuable to all of us, even those who have reached FI, is because it taps into a current of personal growth that we could all learn from…
Enough!
This was one of my favorite concepts from the book. It’s the concept of “enough”.
The book shows a curve with money spent on the X-axis and fulfillment on the Y-axis. The graph is an upside down parabola and at the very peak is the word “enough” (see below).
One take-away is that “more money spent does NOT equal more fulfillment.” We all know this to be true, but how many of us live it? I don’t think I have. Still, it’s something I aspire to do.
Another take-away is that money is a tool to 1. Fill basic needs. 2. Help you attain comforts and 3. Help you attain certain luxuries (all depicted in the graph).
But how much is too much? How much is enough?
Once you reach this perfect balance of enough, if you continue to spend your fulfillment curve starts dropping (to a very dramatic ending I might add).
When will I be satisfied with what I have? Where is that tipping point of enough? To me, this is a worthwhile mental exercise to contemplate. It may be true for you as well. Personally, I want to live at enough!
The concept of enough also ties in nicely to the next theme that is woven into the book…
Environmental Considerations
Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez were very clearly NOT trying to make it big with a New York Times Bestseller and ride off into the sunset.
The fact that it became a bestseller is, I would guess, merely icing on the cake.
Their main motivator, as I see it, was to help people as much as they could. As you read, it becomes abundantly clear from the intermittent case studies and testimonials, that they accomplished their goal.
Another talking point woven throughout the book is the environmental consequences of our consumerism.
With sections of the book labeled “Don’t Go Shopping”, “Take Care of What You Have”, “Wear it Out”, “Do it Yourself”, etc. the author is showing us how we save our life energy (money) AND contribute far less to the mountains of trash we contribute to the landfills daily.
There are explicit environmental lessons she shares as well that are equal parts thought -provoking and refreshing to read.
Thoughts on Teachers
If, like me, you are (or have been) a teacher, then Your Money or Your Life has you in mind as well.
In the following excerpt, Vicki Robin alludes to “jobism” and the pervasive hierarchical system we assign to given jobs.
“[Why else] would we consider teachers lower class citizens than doctors even though their desk-side manner with struggling students has equal merit to doctors’ bedside manner with the ill or dying?“
She goes on to explain that “Whether we realize it or not, our daily interactions involve the unconscious sizing up of how each of us ‘makes a living.'”
It reminded me of a documentary I watched (title forgotten) about how some cultures do put teachers on the same pedestal as doctors. Not surprisingly, those cultures value education greatly and their societies thrive because of it…
Either way, Vicki Robin respects you as teachers and it comes out in her writing. Yet another reason to read this book as I see it…
Vicki Robin Today
Throughout my own personal journey in this world of Financial Independence, I have heard Vicki Robin’s name and this book has come up quite a bit.
I have listened to hundreds of podcasts and none more than the ChooseFI podcast that I highly recommend (you can just start at the beginning and enjoy the ride).
It was in episode 70 where I first had the opportunity to hear her speak. It is a great interview and worth the time if you are interested. She brings her own slant to Financial Independence and it’s well-worth hearing about if you get a chance.
She also has her own blog that she still contributes to at vickirobin.com. Recently, it was down for a few days and I was worried she had called it quits (especially after a recent post where she addressed some readers that were giving her a bit of a hard time). But it’s still there and she’s still doing what she was born to do: Writing and making her important voice heard.
Head on over and enjoy.
Book Recommendation and Summary
Not surprisingly, I definitely recommend Your Money or Your Life for all people, independent of where they are in their quest for financial independence.
This book has something for everyone, and it is nicely modernized to reach today’s reader.
To acquire a copy, I used my local library and fully encourage you to do the same.
However, if you want to own this valuable resource so that you can reference it without late fines, then I appreciate you using this affiliate link below to purchase the book.
Here’s the affiliate link: Your Money or Your Life
If you have multiple books to buy use this link for Better World Books. I use them to make my classroom/personal book purchases (You can also search the book after clicking in). They prevent used books from ending up in landfills and sell them to you at a good price.
Proceeds from their sales are used to promote their mission of “bringing literacy and opportunity to people around the world.” Sounds about right for a teacher don’t you think?
By using either of that link, there is no extra charge to you, but it supports me in my mission to support teachers and make a small positive dent on our educational system as well.
However you get it, this book has something for everyone and I’m pleased to have had the opportunity to read it. I hope you get as much out of it as I did.
Thanks for reading and feel free to let me know your thoughts on this book if you’ve read it. If you haven’t yet read it, is it on your list? Why or why not? Comment below or contact me any time.
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