ARE YOU MAKING A LIVING - OR A DYING?

“Transforming Your Relationship with Money” is a set of audiotapes and workbook (the book version is titled "Your Money Or Your Life") put out by the non-profit New Road Map Foundation.  I came across them twenty years ago, and they helped me dramatically change my relationship with money.

“Joe Dominguez was a Wall Street analyst who walked away from a high-powered financial career in 1969, retiring at age 30.  He achieved financial independence not through a get-rich-quick scheme, but through a path of inquiry that led him to question the very nature of our relationship with money. On this live audio seminar, he illuminates the equation between money and our most precious resource -- our life energy -- so that a powerful new definition of money emerges. In nine simple steps he teaches you how to consciously track, evaluate, and direct the flow of money -- without compromising your principles or most cherished dreams."

"The foolish person wants more money and more of the things money can buy," Dominguez says.  "The wise person wants enough money, and more of the things money can't buy:  health, happiness, love, and peace of mind."

“Transforming Your Relationship With Money is Joe’s life's work -- a revolutionary guide that will help you find peace with the concept of money, stop consuming things you don't really need, and start contributing to the goals and ideals you believe in.”

I'd never stopped to seriously review my spending habits, and, when I did, I was astounded!  At least two-thirds of my out-go was on habits I'd been brainwashed into by our bizarre culture - and from which I derived very little pleasure.  Since a number of these involved recurring payments, I couldn't extract myself overnight, but within two years I dropped my cost-of-living by over 50%.  Today my wife and I live the life of our dreams between our American family in Vermont and her homeland of New Zealand, and I give Joe and The New Roadmap Foundation much of the credit for this.

If you're as much of a brainwashed American consumer as I used to be, Joe's philosophy will require some substantial work with your Cultural Unconscious before it will seem realistic.  For me, that work was definitely worth doing - and is not over yet...