I am a nerd and read a lot of financial books even though I make my living in finance and know a fair amount of the content of financial books anyway. Some books I keep to loan to clients, and some I just like to read to keep myself sharp or get a different viewpoint on things. While I enjoyed some of the ways the authors approached money- I do think that many people spend money without thinking, there is a lot of rediculous advice in here too.
Inflation is NOT an urban myth- bought milk lately? The book puts forth a crazy line like you can just buy things more cheaply because technology makes things cheaper. What about food? You can stop eating steak and start eating beans and rice, but that still has no bearing on the fact that steak is more expensive than it was last year. Since that inflation chart hasn't been updated, here is an update for you- it says in in 1970 that a dozen eggs cost $.59, and they were $.58 in 1991 (Thus proving that there is no such thing as inflation, right?). I bought some this morning for $2.00. What does the author propose in this scenario?
Where in the world did they get figures that showed that adjusted for inflation (wait- didn't they just say inflation was imaginary?) the Dow Jones had gone DOWN between 1929 and 1991? Invest only in Treasury bonds? You have got to be kidding. Diversification anyone?
The "life energy calculation" was just pure new-age silliness. Do you need a calculation for this? Isn't it sufficient to realize that buying stuff you don't need costs you time in retirement? And I got tired of hearing about people who reformed their finances, quit spending money and spent the rest of their lives doing charity work. I help people retire for a living and most of the ones I know mostly want to travel or visit their grandchildren.
I really expected to like this book because while I make a pretty good living, I am extremely careful about how I spend and invest money and expect to retire about 15-20 years earlier than most. While I liked the fulfillment curve, and the book has some interesting ways to look at money, I think I'm going to toss this book in the trash.
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Your Money Or Your Life: 9 Steps to Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence: Revised and Updated for the 21st Century
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book junkie
This would have been bad when it WASN'T out of date!
8 November 2013 -
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Steve Burns
How to be financially independant
21 September 2008 -
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