Your Money or Your Life

I am 86% done but I suffered enough I have decided to count this as “read.”

Someone recommended this to me recently, probably because I have a move coming up and keep yelling “I NEED MONEY” everywhere I go. And well, I just continue to be right about hating self help books.

This edition is ostensibly updated for younger generations. But I'm not sold on Robin's understanding of the economic straits faced by younger generations. Her hypothetical scenarios are buckwild. Talking about owning a home on wooded acres with your basement full of expensive exercise equipment, but still not being fulfilled. Am I supposed to relate to or sympathize with this person? Someone who spends $80 on magazines monthly. Who on this planet in 2023 would do that? Mentioning “Native American artifacts” as an example of your assets. Sure, right, like we all have. Give them back.

I think the underlying issue is that when systemic or generational issues are (rarely) addressed, they're cast as obstacles that anyone can choose to navigate over and around with a change in mindset and a sheet of graph paper.

I am not advocating for us to all exist in some helpless victim purgatory until life becomes fair. In some sense, what choice do we have but to exist? I just think it's strange to act like something is both immovable and no excuse. Which is it — a massive, inevitable force of nature, or something to wave at in passing but not let get you down? (The correct answer is “neither.”) The combination of resignation and dismissal is bizarre.

It's part of Robin's general pattern of putting onus on individuals, like her weird tangents about climate change being mitigated by consumers telling corporations what we value. She dropped several hot takes about physical health and weight loss, comparing these topics to getting control of your finances. It's a yikes from me.

The steps themselves are the least objectionable part of the text. They're just buried in a lot of unnecessary anecdotes and fluff. Why do self help books try to convince me to read them as I am already reading them? Because there's not enough actual substance to stretch this much beyond a four page PDF.