Meaningful Life & Business Coach

This is wisdom
👇🏿
"Your life is your story. Write well. Edit often."
— Susan Statham

As a Life Coach, one of my goals is to help people live a satisfied life.

And this not in terms of physical success , but rather a life on the inside that meets the satisfaction.

Here is one book to has helped me live in a calm way, avoiding the money chase.

Here’s a summary of the nine principles (or steps) with explanations and examples:

OVERVIEW

This book, "YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE" by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez is a groundbreaking personal finance book that redefines the relationship between money and life.

It focuses on achieving financial independence by aligning your spending with your values, rather than pursuing wealth at the expense of personal fulfillment.

It introduces a 9-step program that helps readers rethink their approach to money, allowing them to transform their financial life and achieve financial independence.

1. Make Peace with Your Past
This step is about understanding your relationship with money by calculating all the money you have earned in your lifetime and evaluating what you have to show for it.

Explanation:

You track your total lifetime earnings and compare it to your current net worth. This helps you realize whether your past spending reflects the life you wanted or wasted on unnecessary things.

Example:

If someone has earned $300,000 over the years but only has $20,000 in savings, they can see a gap between their income and their financial outcomes, prompting a deeper look at how they’ve been managing their money.

2. Be in the Present—Tracking Your Life Energy
Track your income and expenses with great detail to see where your money is going.

Explanation: Money is life energy; you trade time for money, so the idea is to track every dollar you spend and earn. This helps you understand where your money is going and whether it aligns with your values.

Example: A person earning $20 an hour spends $100 on a night out. This means they’ve traded five hours of their life for that night. If they find this trade-off valuable, they keep doing it, otherwise, they might reconsider future spending.

3. Where Is It All Going?
Categorize your spending and ask yourself if you're getting satisfaction in proportion to what you're spending.

Explanation: This step encourages you to categorize your expenses (e.g., housing, entertainment, food) and evaluate each category in terms of the fulfillment it brings. It helps you determine whether your spending matches your values.

Example: After reviewing their budget, a student may find they’re spending excessively on fast food but feel more fulfilled when they invest in books or courses. This realization allows them to adjust their spending to reflect their true interests.

4. Three Questions That Will Transform Your Life
For every expense, ask:

Did I receive fulfillment, satisfaction, and value in proportion to life energy spent?
Is this expense in alignment with my values and goals?
How would my spending change if I didn’t have to work for a living?

Explanation: This forces a deeper reflection on whether each expense is truly worth the life energy you’ve exchanged for it and if it fits your long-term vision for your life.

Example: A person might realize that buying a new phone every year doesn’t bring lasting satisfaction. They may then choose to invest their life energy elsewhere, like traveling or saving for retirement.

5. Making Life Energy Visible—Your Money and Your Life
Create a wall chart of your monthly income and expenses to visualize your progress toward financial independence.

Explanation: The wall chart provides a clear, visual representation of your financial situation over time. Tracking your income and expenses monthly helps you stay accountable and make better financial decisions.

Example: A student can chart their progress toward paying off student loans. Each month they track their savings and payments, allowing them to see how small changes in their spending accelerate debt repayment.

6. Valuing Your Life Energy—Minimizing Spending
Learn to reduce spending without compromising quality of life by being more deliberate in your choices.

Explanation: This step is about cutting unnecessary expenses by distinguishing between needs and wants. It encourages frugality as a path to financial independence, not as a restriction but as an intentional way to use money for what really matters.

Example: A student decides to cook meals at home instead of eating out, or they choose to buy second-hand books instead of new ones, cutting costs without sacrificing their goals.

7. Valuing Your Life Energy—Maximizing Income
Increase your earnings by seeking out opportunities that align with your values and provide more financial freedom.

Explanation: This step involves finding ways to earn more money through career growth, side hustles, or other income streams, but only in a way that doesn't sacrifice your happiness or values.

Example: A college graduate takes on freelance work that they enjoy, like graphic design or writing, to supplement their income. They prioritize work that aligns with their passion rather than taking any job just for the money.

8. Capital and the Crossover Point
Track your income from investments and savings until it covers your monthly expenses, at which point you achieve financial independence.

Explanation: The "Crossover Point" is when your income from investments is enough to cover your living expenses, meaning you no longer need to work for money. This is the goal of financial independence.

Example: A person saves and invests diligently. Over time, the interest and dividends from their investments grow to cover their monthly living expenses, allowing them to leave their job and focus on passions or volunteer work.

9. Managing Your Money—Becoming Financially Independent
After reaching the Crossover Point, continue managing your investments to maintain financial independence and live a fulfilling life.

Explanation: Financial independence doesn’t mean you stop managing money; it means shifting focus from earning to maintaining and growing your wealth in a sustainable way while enjoying life.

Example: After reaching financial independence, a person might take up volunteer work, pursue a passion project, or travel, while continuing to monitor and adjust their investments to ensure long-term security.

The Key Messages of this Book for Students of Money

1.Money is Life Energy: The book reframes money as the life energy you trade for it, encouraging you to spend and earn with purpose.
Frugality as Freedom: This book promotes frugality, not as deprivation but as a means to financial freedom, allowing you to focus on what really matters in life.

2.Aligning Money with Values: It emphasizes that money should be used as a tool to support your values and the life you want to live, rather than becoming a slave to consumerism or societal expectations.

3. Financial Independence as a Realistic Goal: Through saving, investing, and minimizing unnecessary expenses, anyone can reach financial independence, freeing themselves from the necessity of work.

Students of money can create a structured and practical approach to managing finances, with the ultimate goal of achieving financial independence and living a life true to their values.

I am Dan Wumani
Dean of Mindset : Life Coach
https://danwumani.com

Dayo and Rukayat Studied Engineering at a University in kwara State. They were both Classmates and after Five years of Studying hard, they both graduated. After graduation, Fate took them through different paths of life.

5 Years later, Rukayat after much frustration of securing a job, ended up as a Secretary in a Building firm earning 50,000 Naira monthly.

Meanwhile, Dayo on the other hand, couldn't Secure a Job and ended up a Taxi Driver, He makes At least 5,000 daily and if he works for only 20 days in a month, He makes 100,000 Naira that month.

One Evening, Rukayat closed from work and was at the bus stop waiting for taxi when Dayo stopped. She hopped in when she discovered the taxi was going her way but little did she know it was Dayo. All through the journey, she was lost in her Phone.

She reached her bus Stop and after alighting, just when she was about paying, she took a look at the driver and their eyes met, wow! They were both happy.

"Is this you?" they both asked themselves simultaneously as if they planned it. Rukayat gave him money but Dayo insisted she keep it. He was happy to see her and for old time sake, he left the money for her even when she insisted that she wanted to pay. They both exchanged contact and left.

Well, Rukayat went home that night and was lost in thought. Not as if Dayo was looking bad but Dayo driving Taxi? She couldn't wrap her head around it. She Pitied him. Felt Sorry for him. If Dayo had allowed her she would have paid him and beg him to keep the change.

Little did she know that, Dayo actually has another Taxi running for him, He is a Land owner and he is planning on developing it soon. But because he was driving a Taxi, She felt Pity for him.

On the other hand, Dayo felt sorry for himself too. Before he slept that night, he remembered Rukayat, how neatly she dressed and nice she smells, "She must be earning over 300,000 Naira per month" he said to himself. He felt ashamed, He felt like a failure and he felt she was way ahead of him financially and otherwise.

Little did he know that, If Rukayat removes the transportation fare and feeding money from her monthly salary, it will take her at least 3 Months to earn what he earns monthly.

Sadly, this could be some of our reality, you measure your progress and success with that of your friends, Classmates and Relatives even with very limited information you have about them.

You think yours is worse because you look dirtier, you think yours is worse because you are not on Corporate wears, you think yours is worse because the other person acts and looks Nicer.

Stay Focused and Face your life. It's not a competition. Stop Comparing things, you don't have the full picture. Every one is running on his own lane.

Do a mindset change, .in general it's better to be on your own. Have a business!

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While Some just stumble on what satisfies them,others take real inner re-re-re-search within, above all, it is to find it. Your life joyfulness lies within you.

Just be willing and our coaching will make you an evolved person. You will be a happy,joyful, and self reliant person