Your Money or Your Life: A Practical Guide to Managing and Improving Your Financial Life

by Alvin Hall

Bestselling author and UK television star Alvin Hall demystifies the principles of personal money management, helping readers control their finances so they can move from confusion—about credit, debt, investments, and retirement—to clarity.

Americans are finding themselves in tough situations in the midst of today’s volatile financial climate and more than ever need good guidance and discipline. In Your Money or Your Life, financial guru Alvin Hall shows how taking charge of money reduces stress in all aspects of life— work, day-to-day living, and relationships—and it’s never too late to start monitoring this crucial area of life and working towards achieving long-term financial goals.

One of the keys to achieving financial success is to first learn how to distinguish between “wants” and “needs.” Hall instructs and empowers readers to create a budget that allots for life necessities and material desires. But he also warns readers to get to the emotional root of what causes them to “want” certain things and reconsider their desires carefully. Most importantly, Hall teaches readers how to recognize and manage their personal spending styles, how to find painless ways to save money, how to understand the real cost of credit card debt, how to pick the best mortgage package for them, how to plan for retirement, and how to evaluate insurance offers.

With Your Money or Your Life, Alvin Hall provides sound financial advice that enables readers to make confident decisions and attain financial security.

Genres: Finance, Nonfiction, Business, Personal Finance, Self Help, Money

279 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Jennie Floyd · Rating 3 out of 5]

The edition of this book that I have is 24 years old, and is fairly dated. The methodology the authors use for tracking daily expenditures and budgeting has been greatly simplified since then by tools such as Quicken. I found their methodology for tracking spending way too complicated and I know I would never do it on a daily basis, but their logic is sound: if what you are doing every day is taking more out of your total real energy (not just money), you shouldn't be doing it. I have read many other books about financial planning that state this far more elegantly using much simpler tools, but I expect the current edition is updated to use these tools, so I didn't spend much time with this one.

[Robert Newell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really good book for financial advice from managing debts, controlling spend, savings, investing, pensions and insurance. The advice is clear and easy to understand, you can imagine Alvin's voice as you are reading it. I have taken on a few of the points he has spoken about to improve my own short and long term financial situation. This book does need to be updated as it is now 12 years old and some things have changed

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Step 1: Buy Piggy Bank...

[Susan Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though I haven’t finished it thought mark it as read.

Use to watch Alvin Hall on television.

The book is full of useful advice though it is, of course, dated. Doesn’t mention anything online you can use (not a bad thing that though).

I’m up to shares still and stopped there with the intention of researching before continuing with the book

[Rae Stoltenkamp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only about 40% of this book applied to me but for someone who has difficulty dealing with anything financial, it was perfect. The language is simple and to the point and everything is set out very clearly. I would recommend it for anyone needing to get a handle on their finances.

[Megan Haggerty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome book! Read it and now doing the questions with my friend who is also my accountability buddy!

[Cecilia petrus]

Ouk

[Henry Barry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great starting point for someone looking to build a better financial future for themselves. Short enough that you won't get bored reading it, and full of examples, I enjoyed it. While some content was pretty basic, the holistic approach to financial management had a few nuggets that were new to me.

[Arno · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have read many personal finance books. Perhaps that is why I didn't find this book as appealing.
Nothing mentioned is new or interesting, except perhaps for the practical tips on finding ways to save extra cash and stick to your financial plan.

[Erica Hudson]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/12668724

[Josh Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent

[Iain Dewar · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book does a great job at covering the basics for anyone not clued up on finance. Simple but effective book without any gimmicks.