YMOYL

[bibacula]

YMOYL changed my life.

I'd read Thoreau in high school, and the ancient Greeks and Romans in college, but YMOYL put everything together. Just enough theory (fulfillment curve, life energy) combined with a 9-step plan.

My "aha" moment was tracking every penny that I spent. I gained control over spending, increasing spending on activities that I valued while cutting other expenses to the bone.

I like the non-judgemental nature of the book. Spending money isn't "weakness" or "failure" like in ERE. It's just one of many tools in your toolbelt. If something gives you greater fulfillment than the cost, then spend more on it.

I re-read the book every year until I became FI.

[Ian]

Carry on if you like, but I will point out that this thread is several years old.

I was introduced to parts of YMOYL but it didn't have any impact on me because I've never spent in the way that book tries to correct. Like many others here, it was the idea of passive income that made a difference for me.

[5to9]

Carry on if you like, but I will point out that this thread is several years old.

I am still fairly new here, what is the preferred etiquette on this? I have been trained to always search for an existing thread on a topic before posting, as many other forums insist on that. I am more than happy to modify my strategy if this is annoying. I will probably spend the next year discovering things that have already been discussed, so it is worth clarifying

[jacob]

As far as I'm concerned all threads are timeless (much like my blog posts ).
It's not like this information is dated. People still read YMOYL 20 years later and they still read Epictetus 2000 years later. I think the "rule" of not reviving old threads is mostly found in places that deal with timely information like software questions, real estate, and investment boards. On this forum, feel free to revive anything you want.

[henrik]

Searching for existing threads instead of starting a new one makes a lot of sense:
- you may find that the question has already been asked / link posted etc
- optimising the number of threads:)
- brings up old threads that might be interesting to people who have joined later

[IlliniDave]

I was pretty well set in my path when I read this book, but it was a valuable read because it gave me some explicit ways to think about some things I knew and was following intuitively. It was also good for me at the time to know that what I wasn't the only soul out there with the desire to restructure my life in such a way. One quibble, somewhat like with Dave Ramsey, even in the revised version, some of the investment and money handling advice isn't suitable for my beliefs/attitudes on the subject. But for a life philosophy idea prompt, I have no hesitations recommending it to people I come across who seem interested in structuring their life in a less consumption-oriented manner.

[Fish]

Reviving this thread for the 2nd time... the 2018 edition of YMOYL is now out as an e-book: https://www.amazon.com/Your-Money-Life- ... 0052MD8VO/

There appears to be a paper version as well, but it also shares the ISBN of the 2008 version so it's hard to tell whether it's for sale yet. It seems like there may be some book launch events in the coming months.

What's New in This Edition
I've made literally thousands of adjustments to the prior edition of this book to reflect today's reality---and two chapters in particular have been significantly revised.

The advent of smartphones and the blogosphere and the myriad of Internet tools for shopping an investing required a deep update of chapter 6 ("The American Dream---on a Shoestring"). The heaviest lift, though, was to remake chapter 9 ("Where to Stash Your Cash for Long-Term Financial Freedom"). The investment strategy that served Joe and others very well for twenty-five years is no longer the only or best way to create a steady passive income stream. With input from wonderful colleagues across several investment philosophies, chapter 9 now presents a range of strategies people in the FIRE movement use, resting on the same foundation of "think for yourself."

From what I can tell looking at book previews, the investing advice is an overview of various strategies, including 100% long-term treasuries, index funds, and real estate. There is also some discussion of homesteading and socially-responsible investing, which is refreshing. But keep in mind, it's just one chapter and there's not going to be a lot of depth.

[simplex]

Thanks for the reminder! I'll wait for the new edition to be printed.

[Fish]

I read the original (1992) edition of YMOYL three times. Possibly due to being oversaturated, I couldn’t bring myself to finish the 2018 edition. What I found noteworthy:

1. It has the obligatory foreword by MMM (also a feature of JL Collins’ The Simple Path to Wealth).

2. Chapter 8 (the crossover point) now references the 4% rule. FIRE is also mentioned throughout the book.

3. Chapter 9 (investing) provides an overview of various investment vehicles instead of being dogmatic about long-term treasuries.

Overall, these are minor cosmetic adjustments which make the book slightly more modern, but do not add insight. It’s still a classic, but given how much the FIRE-space has developed over the last few years, lagging behind the state of the art. Not recommended for those who have already read an earlier version of YMOYL.

[Jason]

I started to read the new edition as I never read the previous one. There was nothing I felt I hadn't already obtained from this forum.

I will not diminish the contribution of the book. However, the "new" version seemed to me to be a mere marketing play to take advantage of the recent spike in the topic caused by a new generation who for various reasons are interested in the topic, possibly more so than the original generation for whom it was originally written.

[fiby41]

Why not both? My life energy calculation:

Total cost of BE degree is little under 8 lakhs and FI compliant job requirement is about 200 per hour. College costs 104/hour before classes and 154 to 194 /hour after classes, depending on subject.

I like to think of it this way: Would I/someone pay someone/myself between 192 to 200 an hour, to have had that hour?

Although I sometimes keep track of travel time and cost as possible, I'm against factoring it in the above as done in life energy calculations. If Human Actions are ranks of preferences according to Ludwig von Misses, what is the next alternative to travel time? Sit at home and do nothing, which is not fickonomical (action/karma which is economical for attaining FI)

2 years back, as mentioned is a previous post, I interviewed for and got a job that paid 51/hour. For the time after exams and before being admited to engineering, it was tempting to take it for the pocket money, for 1 to 2 month(s) . At that time firequirement was 104/hour for fiin24years. As it wasn't fickonomical, so I did not take it and didn't join. Besides it was for night shift.

College raises this 51/hour to 104/hour.
Classes raise this 104/hour to 154/hour.
Swadhyay self-study must raise it to atleast 192/hour

Which is the lower end of the firequirement,
for this whole 8 lakh engineering wager to be worth it,
and for me to break even.
If it is to be, it is upto me.