9 Steps to Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence

I would make it required reading for everyone if I could. The ideas can be found on many blogs, but this is as straight forward and distilled as you can get. Fairly simple advice but it seems to not be common sense.

YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE holds very good reminders about how to relate to your money. Other reviewers have mentioned many of the principles espoused in this book.

I'm especially inspired by its teaching something that is often not taught in personal finance books - that frugality can be fun.

That's a huge barrier for people. Frugality means to many people, drudgery, deprivation and being weird. Just having that perspective changed is enough to keep one going on the path to building wealth.

As it is with weight loss, knowing when you've had enough helps reduce excessive consumption, which leads to saving more money.

Having read the original version of this book several years ago (before the financial problems of the past decade), I was interested to see what updates had been made to this book. The authors did not disappoint. Investment ideas should change with the times and the authors made adjustments to the new reality of lower interest rates and higher risk, but this book is about far more than where to invest, it offers a way to look at money (and the acquisition of it) that differs from the mainstream. This would be a great read for every graduating high school senior and anyone else who is wondering if the path they are choosing or have chosen is the right one. Highly recommended!

While the books premise is correct and saving enough for your investment income to match your expenses would free up your life energy, when you actually figure out how much you need to earn enough investment income to pay your expenses at 4% (as the book says) you quickly become very depressed unless you have been saving your entire life up to this point and are already close to your goal.

The book isn't for those who have become smart with their money in later stages of their life but were stupid with it prior to that, because you are so far behind every exercise you follow in the book just reminds you how far behind you are and how you still have 30-40 years worth of life energy to waste before you reach that goal. Some of us may not have that long left in order to achieve that goal.

Overall the premise of the book is solid. It makes you think about your relationship with money differently, although the end result for me was going from positive attitude to depressed knowing I could not accomplish what it said in less than 40 years.

All through the book it talks about how much of your life energy you are wasting at a job and makes you think about what you could do with that time if you didn't have to work. Then it has you create a graph which shows you that you will be wasting the majority of your life energy that you have left. Oh joy!

This is my second reading, including the first edition. I learned to practice the concepts, continue to do so and now I am mostly retired from paid employment. I do only paid work for which I have interest and I volunteer in my community. A great book and life skill.

This book lies out some great steps that not only give you Financial Independence, but more importantly the inner peace that we are all are searching for. This book does not tell you what to believe in, but rather shows you how to believe in yourself again. It is empowering and well worth the read.

Vicki Robin is a genius. Reading this book and acting on each step has turned around my relationship with money. Being financially savvy has never been this easy. In three words - don't waste money! I've kept a budget for 12 years, but until reading this (and Vicki recommends NOT necessarily keeping a budget) I didn't keep an exact log of incidentals and what she calls "gazingus pins". Now I do. And within the first pages of her brilliant book I'd already lost all interest in spending money on non-essentials. Now I'm making a living, not making a dying, and have already implemented plans to change my life to align with my life purposes. I cannot recommend this book more highly - it literally empowers you to change your life. Thank you, Vicki

There are tons of books that outline the requirements to manage your finances better. Budgeting, saving, investing, etc. Despite knowing what we *should* do, the majority of the nation is living off debt. This book reaches to the very core of your money issues - the relationship you have with money.

It helps you dig beneath the surface transform your understanding of money. Money is your life energy. It transforms how it functions in your life and helps you understand freedom and independence in a whole new concept. Next, it unhooks you from the buy, buy , buy, work , work , work, buy more, work more so you can buy more stuff mindset and helps you to dig down deep to discover what is "enough" for you personally to live a fulfilling quality of life. All of this includes living efficiently, so that we can help preserve the planet and the environmental resources/earth.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in raising the quality of your life in all areas.

I would highly recommend anyone to make this purchase if you want to enhance or change your relationship towards money. These simple principles will change your life and have you on the road towards prosperity.

I first read this book years ago and followed each of the steps. It changed my financial life. It spells out the steps that one needs to take to educate oneself about one's own finances and to improve those finances. This improvement comes about simply by making better choices. It is not all about guilt-tripping yourself into following a strict budget. It is instead about wisely spending time to get money and wisely spending money to get value. This book is also about self-discovery and simplicity--the idea that you can choose how fancy your life will be and can live life at that level while increasing your wealth and investments. That is, every improvement in income need not lead to a more expensive lifestyle. This is a choice and good choices are based on good information. The steps in this book are all about getting and using that information.

Ten years later I am still following the steps, still evaluating my spending in terms of both value received and my personal values, and am well on my way to a comfortable retirement. This book is not the best investment guide in the world, but it does have good basic information. What it is is a great program for spending and saving wisely. The challenge is that one needs to do the work to get the benefit. Anyone who wants quick, simple answers and easy solutions should avoid this book. If, however, you are willing to make a long-term commitment to financial intelligence and financial independence, you should seriously consider this book.

I bought this book again, for the 4th or 5th time, because I gave away my copy if it. I also wanted to read the updated chapters, which I liked.

This book is an excellent book to help you reframe your thinking when you spend money. You save because you have defined what you value and spend money on those things and not on impulse buys. I am going to have my teenager read it, now that he has his first job.

Vicki provides a simple-to-follow plan to transform your financial life whilst taking you on a journey where you are challenged about topics such as What are your priorities in life?, What are your key values?, How do you care for the environment? and your outlook and attitude regarding work and recreation. A valuable thought provoking read and a compass to direct you towards a better way of living.

Remarkable insights and strategies for handling personal finances. You don't have to go with the book's whole program to have results. There were several ideas presented that I had actually adopted on my own decades ago, and they have absolutely worked for me.

The theories espoused by the authors are quite good but putting them into practice would be next to impossible. Following their advice wouldn't give you extra time; as a matter of fact, it would have the opposite effect. You'd spend each and every waking moment charting your expenses and income, tracking every penny you spend, analyzing every purchase until the object of your desire became obsolete, and would become a classic obsessive-compulsive. So, while their ideas are fiscally sound, the only way to achieve their brand of financial independence is to become completely dependent on finances. Yes, clip coupons; yes, spend wisely; yes, put your savings into something with a decent yield. But lighten up. You can't enjoy yourself if you go through life watching the dashboard for warning lights to go off. And one more thing: if the authors have achieved the brand of financial independence they preach, why aren't they selling their book at cost?

I was already an avid budgeter before reading this book but following the tips really made me see where I could improve a whole lot more on my finances. I now track every dollar I spend and I can definitely see where I spend more one certain items than I budget for per month. This book makes you see where your money is going and gives you some perspective on your life values.

I finally bought this book (a couple years ago - 8 years after it was recommended to me !) I liked it so much that I bought 2 more copies - to loan to people. It is easy reading, and straightforward. They give you ideas to consider optimizing your own life and finances to improve your happiness.

I needed this book for a discussion group on finances. I am thankful that the store carried the book in CD audio form (a lot of audio books are now only available in download form - and I don't like that format).
The book was recommended by the group leader to discuss our relationships with money. It was very informative and Ms. Robin's 9 steps are enlightening. I liked it because it contains easy to follow exercises to make you aware of your spending habits, and offers suggestions to improve them.

If you have the discipline to apply the principles. The book makes total sense, but it's a total commitment and change in mindset. I imagine there are very few people who get through the whole program but I would applaud those who do...I'm going to do it!

Started doing the Marie Kondo Method and decluttering a few months ago. This book was a great accompaniment to the magic art of tidying in its ideals and philosophy of increasing mindful purchases and growing a quality life. I came across this title as I was reading The Relationship Cure, by John Gottman (also a great read). It has been helpful as I continue to align my life energy, financial choices and how I spend my time with purpose and joy. This book will definitely be a go to as I continue to hack away at my student loan debt and work toward Financial Independence and enjoying my life energy.

This book is life changing and deserves many stars.
I've already read many financial books but from now on this is the best.
It's give another perspective not just only about money, but about life !

This book confirms our decision to downsize and de clutter our lives. No need for over consumption to be truly happy. Good practical advice. Appreciate the definition of money and what is really important in our lives. Concepts in this book should be incorporated into everyone's planning decisions.

This book turned out to be a disappointment for me personally. This book is catered to those who are in serious debt because they lack financial responsibility. I am in complete control of my finances. Everything they say you should do, I have already done or am currently doing. The first chapter was engaging and made you look at things a different way. But when they go into detail in each following chapter, it was nothing new to those of us who are financially responsible because we already do what they say to do. This book is for many people needing help but it's not for everyone. It's teaching's don't apply to me or my personality. The further I got into the book I found it was becoming a chore to read.