Made me rethink the impact of work and money in my life. ( )

Something made me pick up this book, maybe it was because a frugal friend asked how much was my monthly housing cost, I gave her what I thought was a pretty low number, esp for the expensive city I lived in. She tallied up the total over 20 years and it was a huge sum. I shrugged it off, said there was no way to get around spending that much, as long as we lived in the city, or was there? The book breaks down a lot of assumptions and lies we tell ourselves about how much we need to spend, and how much we need to make to have money to spend, and of course we needed a job to sustain all this, even if the job itself created little fulfillment for us and made us spend more money simply to "decompress" and "get away" from the stress. Amazon has some detailed and thorough reviews from other enlightened readers, check them out and get the book -- from the library. ( )

I will wait to rate this book until after I've taken the time to do some of the steps to see how well they work for me and my family. The book takes a very interesting approach to the subject of managing money and aligning it to your life goals and values. I am going to try to implement steps 1-8 in earnest (I agree with previous reviewers that the steps on investing are too conservative and more a matter of personal choice).

I found the "preachiness" of the book very irritating. I am all in favor of examining how to live a more value-driven life, but the authors spend too much time proselytizing THEIR values and THEIR definition of how to live a financially independent life. I found myself skimming whole sections that had nothing to do with the steps and everything to do with their personal views. I should note, too, that I am a committed environmentalist, so if I found it went overboard, I can only imagine how off-putting it would be to someone less focused on those issues.

In spite of the preachy tone, I am glad I read the book and will edit my review after I am able to assess the effectiveness of the steps.

An important book for people seeking/wanting life-balance. And, most especially, for people whose high-paying jobs are consuming their lives - leaving them exhausted and empty. ( )

Excellent book on comparing the value of your time (working) with the value of money (the results of work) with the value of your future time (retirement).

The -.5 stars is for the final chapters, which focuses on 100% bond investments (a very conservative method of investing). I've seen this book recommended all over the internet, and everyone (including myself) says "Read this book, ignore the ending when he starts talking about how to invest".

Anyway, great book for anyone interested (or trying to convince someone else) of simplifying their life. ( )