Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin & Joe Dominguez
Chapter 7: For Love or Money: Valuing Your Life Energy – Work and Income
Notes by Roshan A. Loungani, CFP® CRPC®
Retirement Specialist
To listen to the podcast follow this link: https://anchor.fm/roshan-a-loungani/episodes/FI007---Your-Money-or-Your-Life-Chapter-7-Review-e5bbc6
Are you getting full value for selling your most precious commodity, your time?
Our life energy is precious because it is limited and irretrievable
Work Through the Ages
Minimum Daily Requirement of Work – 3 Hours A Day
People would work for a day, take a day or two off
The Right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of a Paycheck
Additional leisure has been seen as a drain on the economy.
Leisure went from being desirable to something feared, a reminder of unemployment during the years of Depression.
Work Takes on New Meaning
We are losing the fabric of family, culture and community that give meaning to life outside the workplace. - Without this experience, leisure leads to loneliness and boredom.
Our jobs now serve the function that traditional belonged to religion - Answering the questions - Who am I? - Why am I here? - What is it all for? - Who are my people? - Where do I belong?
Did We Win the Industrial Revolution?
Majority of Americans are unhappy at work. In 2010, only 42.6% said they like their job.
What is the Purpose of Work?
Why do you do what you do to earn money?
What motivates you to get out of bed to go somewhere to make money?
Work has two functions - Material financial function (getting paid) and personal function (emotional, intellectual etc.) - All purposes of work aside from pay can be fulfilled by unpaid activities.
Breaking the Link Between Work and Wages
We have confused work with paid employment - Our fulfillment lies not just in our jobs, but our entire life. - When we are whole, we don’t have to consume our way to our birthright, happiness.
There is nothing in your life more valuable than your time. Separating work from wages means all moments of your life matter.
Our purpose in life does not have to be related to our work.
The Stunning Implications of Breaking the Link
Besides earning a living, there may not be anything in line with your purpose. - Redefining Work Increase Choices - When asked what you do, you can say “I am a teacher, but I am currently a computer programmer to make money” - Donna O. story - What would you do if you didn’t have to work for money? - Nearly half of Americans made a voluntary change in their lives that resulted in making less money.
Redefining Work Allows You to Work from the Inside Out - Do your job without giving up yourself.
Redefining Work Makes Us Life Designers, Not Just Wage Earners - The more we honor unpaid work, the more likely our debt will be lower.
Redefining Work Adds Life to Your Retirement - Financial Independence vs. Retirement – you do not need to work to earn money.
Redefining Work Honors Unpaid Activity - Status is bestowed on paid employment - Unpaid activities often seen as worth less
Redefining Work Reunites Work and Play - This will let your whole life glow with enjoyment
Redefining Work Allows You to Enjoy Your Leisure More - Leisure is not an identity crisis if you know you are not your job. - Work with focus while at work and focus on our chosen activities when time is our own.
Redefining Work Sheds a New Light on “Right Livelihood” - There is no guarantee that you will find someone to pay you for what you want to do. - Treat your paid employment as preparing you for your full-time vocation. - “Commercialism” destroyed the apes as artists and got them to scramble for peanuts.
Step 7: Valuing Your Life Energy – Maximizing Income
Are you getting a fair exchange for your investment of valuable life energy? - Enough is not the minimum amount for survival, it is enough for you.
New Options for Paid Employment - Does attitude limit your earning? - Wherever you work, you are working for yourself. - Job satisfaction lies with the worker, not the work. - Ted Y. good fortune vs. good self esteem
Financial Independence as a Part Time Job - Working part time on someone else’s agenda for money, so you can spend more time on your agenda.
But What If I Like My Job - Valuing your energy will only enhance your experience and earnings.
But What If I Don’t Have – Or Want – a “Job” - No matter how you make money, there is a tradeoff of time.
How to Get a High-Paying, High-Integrity Job - Get paid out of self-respect. Not out of greed or competition.
Money Talk Questions - How could you double your income without selling your soul or compromising your health? - What was your first job? Best job? Worst job?10 - What would be your dream job – whether or not you were paid for it? - What is your life’s work? - What do you like – and dislike – about the work you do for money?
Bibliography
Robin, Vicki. Dominguez, Joe. Your Money or Your Life. New York: Penguin Books, 2018, pp 209 - 244