Laura Vanderkam's new title - All the Money in the World (9781591844570) - caught my eye because of it's subtitle: What the Happiest People Know about Getting and Spending. While many books focus on cutting out luxuries in order to have more money, Vanderkam states that happy people enjoy their luxuries and yet make good choices. Starting with the (very good) question: “If you had all the money in the world - - not literally, but all you wanted - - what would you change about your life?” After mentioning the obvious, some move on to aspirational, and even philanthropical. This exercise can be eye-opening. If your biggest complaint is emptying the dishwasher, how much would it cost to pay someone else to do it? Say it is walking the dog . . . or cleaning the bathrooms . . . or even driving to work. From there you can decide what you would have to give up in order to pay that someone else to do it or change your life so that it is no longer necessary.
I once had a teacher who convinced us to figure out how much money we brought home from working one hour of our job. Then, every time we went shopping and went to buy something we wanted, not needed, to figure out how many hours we needed to work to pay for that something. I brought home far fewer impulse purchases after that. Similarly, Vanderkam takes the principle that money is only “a tool, a means to acquiring, doing, and taking care of things that bring us joy” and convinces the reader to come along and ponder with her.
In addition, Vanderkam takes a hard look at retirement and how it is a fairly new principle in terms of society. Do we really need to save for retirment if we can enjoy whatever we are doing enough that we are happy to continue doing this even during our "golden years?" Not only has she provided me with lots of food for thought, I'm now interested in reading her previous book: 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think.
Standard disclaimer: I get to see advance copies of books through my job, however this review was unsolicited and unpaid for . . . opinions are completely my own.
