If I had to recommend 1 personal finance book that shifts your mindset on money, it would be Your Money or Your Life.
Your Money or Your Life wasn’t something that I expected to have a mindset shift when I started reading it. I thought it was just another money book that talked about budgeting better, saving more, and investing wisely. Boy was I wrong.
Your Money or Your Life made me question something fundamental about money.
Does money even matter?
Your Money or Your Life will stop you in your tracks and force you to think about what you value most in life.
Your Money or Your Life is not your typical personal finance book. It’s a life philosophy disguised as actionable steps. If you’ve been into FIRE or financial independence this book is practically mandatory.
In this review, I’ll summarize the main concepts taught in the book. I’ll also dive into what stood out to me the most and how it changed the way I look at earning, spending and ultimately designing my life.
Let’s jump in.
- What’s Your Money or Your Life Really About?
- What Stuck With Me The Most…Again.
- Ready To Track Every Dollar?
- How does this book relate to FIRE?
- How to Define “Enough.”
- Psych Yourself Into Saving More
- My Thoughts After Finishing The Book.
- Does Your Money or Your Life Have Downsides?
- Is Your Money or Your Life For Everyone?
- Final Thoughts…
Your Money or Your Life
What’s Your Money or Your Life Really About?
The premise of this book can be summarized in one sentence.
Money is life energy.
That’s it.
When you work and earn dollars it came at the cost of your time. Once you realize that your hard earned money = hours you can never get back your whole perspective on spending shifts.
Suddenly you don’t look at what you can afford to buy. You ask yourself if it’s worth spending your life energy.
There is a very structured 9 step process that you can follow, but that isn’t what the book is really about. The book is about becoming aware of your relationship with money. Something that most people don’t really think about.
Money = Life Energy
What Stuck With Me The Most…Again.
This concept is simple but confrontational.
Imagine you make $30/hour. Okay now take into account time spent commuting, taxes, stress and other costs associated with working. Realistically your hourly wage is probably closer to $20.
Now imagine purchasing something that costs $200.
That purchase equals 10 hours of your life.
Ouch.
Not dollars. Life. Ten hours you will never get back.
Once I started thinking about my purchases this way I realized I was spending a lot of money on things I didn’t need. I wasn’t happy with how my income was spent. Because I wasn’t tracking my spending I was subconsciously spending money.
This one change alone helped increase my savings rate exponentially. You don’t even need to use a budgeting system to truly appreciate this concept.
Just track your every dollar earned and spent.
Awareness step 1 complete.
Ready To Track Every Dollar?
Every time you make or spend money track it. You can use an app or write it down.
I liked how the book broke down tracking your dollars.
Instead of obsessing over every purchase you categorize expenses and evaluate them at the end of the month by asking yourself this question.
Did I receive fulfillment, satisfaction, and value out of proportion to life energy spent?
This was a game changer for me.
Tracking every expense made me realize I was spending money on things I didn’t need or value. It’s hard to understand how you spend money if you don’t know where it goes.
I started cutting out unnecessary expenses and pouring money into the things that brought me joy.
Sure I was still buying coffee every morning. But the scale tipped in the right direction because I stopped spending on things that didn’t add value. Like stupid taxes…
I loved this concept because it forced me to evaluate my relationship with money.
How does this book relate to FIRE?
Your Money or Your Life (short form: YOMYOL) was written before the booming FIRE movement. But if you had to ask me…YOMYOL practically created FIRE.
Financial independence retire early breakdown:
- Save up as much money as you can
- Invest that money
- Watch your investments generate enough money to pay for your expenses
Your Money Your Life teaches you how to accelerate each of those steps.
Instead of looking at Financial Independence as a way to escape your current life, it forces you to align your spending with your values.
By simplifying your life and removing the unnecessary your monthly expenses shrink. When you remove the junk your spending naturally decreases.
Simultaneously you focus on saving a higher percentage of your income.
- Increase savings
- Decrease spending
What do you get when you increase your savings rate and decrease your expenses? A HUGE gap.
That gap is your ticket to financial independence.
It doesn’t mean you have to live like a hermit. It just means you learn to live with less junk.
How to Define “Enough.”
We never sit down and say what is enough for me.
We’re always trying to upgrade our lives. Bigger house. Better car. More perks.
But what is enough?
That is the question your forced to answer when reading the book.
When you take the time to sit down and define what enough looks like for you. You realize something almost instantly.
It doesn’t cost as much as you think.
Once you know what you want out of life you can achieve financial independence much quicker.
You reach a point where your investments generate enough income to pay for your expenses. We call this the crossover point.
You never have to work a day in your life again. If you want to that is.
The beauty of financial independence is the freedom you’re able to provide yourself.
Work a job that you find enjoyable
Say NO to the sh*t you don’t want to do.
Design your life the way you want.
That’s essentially what FIRE is all about.
Psych Yourself Into Saving More
There’s one particular chapter in the book that I loved called Psychic income.
If you remember correctly we defined money equals life energy.
And remember how I said your hourly wage is really less than you think?
The author of this book calls this phenomenon psychic income.
How much would you make if you got paid for every hour you wasted at your job? Thoughts of going home, vacations, compulsive internet browsing…
You get the point.
Psychic income is everywhere. And it’s why we spend the way we do.
We mentally tell ourselves that because we get paid to daydream at work we can spend more money.
I really enjoyed this chapter because it goes back to the idea of spending less.
If you truly appreciated how much life you were spending working your job. You’d rethink your priorities when it comes to spending money.
Once again this book is different than your typical personal finance book.
It’s not about budgeting 50% of your income.
It’s about changing your mindset when it comes to money.
My Thoughts After Finishing The Book.
I have never been much of a spender. But after reading this book I started to become more intentional about the way I spend money.
Do I truly need this? Is this purchase worth spending my hard earned life energy?
Asking yourself these questions every time you spend will drastically reduce your unnecessary expenses.
I also tried focusing less on making more money and pushing my savings rate even higher.
Sure we all should be working to make more money, but you can only control so much. What you do spend should be focused on spending less.
Then I started thinking about how I wanted to design my life.
If you’ve been into the FIRE movement you’ve probably heard of something called Barista FIRE or Coast FIRE.
Essentially you work a job you enjoy and spend your free time working on the things you love. You don’t have to quit your job to live the life you want.
YOMYOL forced me to think about what I wanted my life to look like.
But YOMYOL made me realize I could spend less time at work and focus more on things I enjoyed outside of work.
Does Your Money or Your Life Have Downsides?
Like anything else this book isn’t perfect.
Some of the material is pretty outdated. Mainly the investing chapter.
Index funds weren’t really a thing when this book was written. Fortunately, you can now buy low cost index funds that track the S&P 500 for cheap. Everyone has access to fintech apps these days.
Also, the whole dollar tracking system is great but seemed tedious to me.
Personally, I liked using an app that tracked my expenses. It was easy to categorize and check off items as I bought them.
Is Your Money or Your Life For Everyone?
This book isn’t for everyone.
Don’t buy this book if you’re looking for hot stock tips to become a millionaire.
This book is for people who want to take control of their lives.
Here are a few people that should read your money or your life:
- People interested in financial independence or early retirement
- Someone who feels stuck in the endless cycle of working and spending
- Individuals who want to align their spending habits with their values
- High income earners who constantly feel stressed about money
Your Money or Your Life
Final Thoughts…
Your Money or Your Life is a life changing book if you want to gain financial independence.
Sure there are plenty of books out there that will teach you how to budget or save money.
But at the end of the day changing your behavior starts with a shift in mindset.
And that is exactly what YOMYOL teaches you.
Did you enjoy this post? Make sure to check out our post on the Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel. Similar vibe. Money doesn’t have to be stressful.
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