Your Money or Your Life, Chapters 5 & 6

Discuss chapters 5 and 6.

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Aw, come on MJ...

Nothing to say?

I will admit that the book has not engaged me and am struggling to finish it.

It should be the poster child for the slowlane, not to mention that the book attempts to associate being rich with sin and consumerism. I almost feel like the authors are saying this "Look folks, you will never be rich and besides, being rich is evil ... but here is how you can live rich with the little money you make"


This book makes no mention (yet) of how to exit the rat race aside from the graphic that $100 generates .50 cents in income at 6%. It seems geared toward people who have jobs and have no intent on leaving that job. So for those of you who work 50 hours a week for the man (and probably hating it) you are left to waste your life away in that position with no exit except frugality ... cutting out dining, Starbucks, etc.

Now with that venom out of the way, I think the book has some great nuggets of wisdom that I actually address in my own book, albeit a different way.

• Life Energy = Money. This is true and a great point. I call it the Gas Tank of your Life ... which is TIME.
  
• Every dollar you earn (SAVE) generates income.
  
• The slowlane (stuff taught in this book) can lead to a Fastlane.

I'm starting CH6 today and am looking forward to it. I think this chapter will have some great slowlane ideas that everyone can apply while working toward a fastlane. And remember, the slowlane is not evil but a road that most of us need to travel before getting to those faster lanes.

MJ-

I'm really glad you posted your thoughts.

And I'm even gladder (?) that you are addressing many of the core points in your book, as I see a real need to do this without the preachiness in YMOYL.

The big "how to" is about to come-- and-- . . . .

You're gonna hate it.

And love it.

Because on the one hand, it's all about living with less, and on pennies a day.

But the real take away should be: How to combine this technique using fastlane accelerated capital. THAT's what makes this book so valuable for me. This one technique that's coming up is the cornerstone of our entire PLAN.

As I just mentioned in another thread, we've kinda covered this before, so it's not going to be earth shattering for anyone who's been following the PLAN threads or came upon this idea already, someplace else.

BTW, I'm having a hard time w/the preachiness too (I don't remember this from the first read-- maybe my head was just in a different place, or maybe the book's been rewritten).

Onwards . . .

-Russ H.

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Ya, stuff in 5 and 6 sounds great.... (she says with sarcasm) if you have a personal assistant to do it.

(oh, and... is it preachy? really? I have been skimming many sections - rather than reading every word. Guess I'm missing the preachy parts)

OMG, Chapter 6 started with about 4 pages on Frugality and lectures on how great it is ... including Bible scripture. Oh boy here we go....

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I forgot about this until my book showed up today. By the looks of these comments I think I

might forget the book and stick to churning out sites. lol

You know what I like about frugality?

It is counter culture
and usually quite creative.
It gets my head in that blue sky state.
Nothing taken for granted.

But yeah, I wasn't a fan of the preachy bits either
and skipped over them.

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Chapter 6 of this book was one of the worst chapters in any book I have read lately.

First, some of the advice was TERRIBLE and so 'slowlane' that it hurt.

5. Do it yourself
No. Don't. Spending time learning how to fix your hot water heater is a poor use of your time. They spend the first chapters talking about your 'real wage' - well, reverse it. What does it really cost you to do all the research, take time off to do it, buy the tools, mess it up, fix it again.... I would rather make money doing what I do and pay someone to do what they do. The advice of 'staying with your repairman to see what he does so you can save money by doing the easy things yourself' will get you no where. At our shop we have a saying...

$91 an hour if we do it.
$125 if you watch and annoy.
$150 if you help.

101 sure ways to save money.

11. Learn basic automotive maintenance
13. Aquire needed parts yourself and have a mechanic install them.
Again, why spend time learning to do something complicated, when you can instead learn how to make yourself better at your passion and have a certified, trained, excellent person work on your vehicle.

Selecting hobbies

84. Develop hobbies that are truly cost effective in eliminating spending.

Read this one outloud and then read 5 again... they say that spending life hours to build a lamp is a poor use of your time becuase it costs you 10 hours and you could have just bought the lamp. Well, same thing with the hot water heater repair, dontcha think?


I dunno...my book seemed to smell like a musty old library while I read this chapter...just sooo slowlane it sounded like advice from someone in the great depression...

I agree that Chapters 5 and 6 are slow lane. I guess that's what bothers me though, I'm not sure how to respond. I know how to do and have done the majority of those. Still do several of them. I would probably do several of these if I had $10mil in the bank. I get a lot of mixed emotions about this.

LOL I'm skimming the preachy parts. Makes for a quick read though

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Exactly!

It is the .... Do It Yourself Disease!!!

Many times, when you attempt to do it yourself thinking you will "save money" it ends up costing you more in the end . . . and this is BEFORE you even consider all that time you wasted... time that could have been put to better use. (4 hour work week anyone?)

Doing your own taxes is a perfect example. 10 years ago, I did our taxes using turbo tax. But, as time went on, things got more complicated. I started a business, we started buying and selling real estate. And... I HATED doing the them. Yech.

One April, I was pulling my hair out - - - as usual for that time of year - - - and I said to my hubby.... "I'm hiring a CPA." We agreed that I would finish this year's return and that we would take it to a CPA. Then, we could compare results.

Well - - according to my return we owed the IRS about 6K.
According the the return prepared by the CPA we owed about 2K.

Not only did she save us some money, but ..... more importantly.... she saved me many aggravating hours!!!

Unless you enjoy the tinkering involved with the particular project.... it will likely cost you more in the mistakes you make and the hours you spend and the parts you buy, break, and have to buy again.

• Hire a professional when you can't (or won't or don't want to) do it yourself.
• Have your personal assistant do the other shopping around type stuff.
• Focus your energy on creating more wealth and on enjoying your life.

I'm with Kimber on the frugality bit... it is fun to be creative. The "fun" stuff in our house is figuring out how to "reuse" things. Old creamer containers turn into little vases for the kids to decorate. We use scraps from my Grandma's quilting club to hook rugs, table runners, etc.

Runum...

Why do you do them?
Does it bring you enjoyment? Fulfillment?
Then, by all means... do it - - - and enjoy it.

Or, do you do it out of guilt? Or a feeling of scarcity?

If so - - - think about your time and how you value it. Can you make more than the $3.00 an hour that you are "paying" yourself to do that task?

Agreed... I think this is a HUGE barrier to wealth.

One, my hubby still struggles with.
His immediate family are all do it yourself'ers.
Interestingly they have a fraction of the wealth
of his delegating extended family.
He can SEE that
but it is very challenging to move past childhood programming.

Time is our most precious resource.
Figure out how to be frugal with THAT
(my fave trick is to use synergies)
and you'll become successful.

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I'm not anywhere near the fastlane like everyone else is, but I try to be a do-it-yourselfer. For me its fulfillment. I really enjoy accomplishing things I have never done before. Some odd satisfaction. I'm mostly talking handyman items. Most other stuff out of my league, doesn't give me the same fulfillment and I differ it to more interested people.

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I have always done these things because I had to. Been doing them so long I just do them. There are a few I have hired out ie, taxes, simple oil changes. I do like the feeling of finishing a rehab and having all the relatives come over and see the results.

I do see that this is also a trust and control issue. Too many people out there that will not do what they say they will do. My time demands right now allow me to handle pretty much everything myself. Probably not so much in the future.

It's also a survivalist, scarcity mentality thing. I've not ever had the resources to hire everything out.

I can see where this would keep me from expanding.

Ah. Think not of the time you have.
But what you COULD DO with your time...
had you not these DIY projects to occupy your mind.

Another BIG exactly!
Opportunity cost of time.

Of course, do what gives you joy.
The hubby cuts our grass
because he likes being one of the guys
in the neighborhood
(hanging out, talking about their mowers).
Does it make financial sense to cut his own grass?
No.
But it makes him happy.

If it didn't,
we'd hire a kid to cut it for us
and spend the time building wealth.

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Reminds me of a scene in the movie "My Blue Heaven"
(a movie I watch at least once a year)
Steve Martin (ex mob guy) is out mowing his lawn
In a $1000 silk suit.

As the neighbors pass by, he smiles and says,
"Hey! Nice day for a mow!"

Cracks me up every time I see it.

And it's exactly why your hubby mows the lawn.

-Russ H.

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"Control everything. Own nothing." -John D. Rockefeller

"Don't confuse motion with action" -Ernest Hemingway