these monthly tabulations are the result of steps three and four of the your money or your life program. below is the authors' quick summary version of what these tables are about; see the book for complete details.

Step 3: Where is it all going? (The monthly tabulation)

Don't worry. Relax. This program is not about budgeting. Budgets, like diets, don't work. They don't work because they deal with the symptoms, and not the cause. The cause of fat is not really the calories in the food; it's the desires in our mind.

• Every month, create a table of all income and all expenses within categories generated by your own unique spending pattern.
• Balance your monthly income and outgo totals.
• Convert "dollars" spent in each category to "hours of life energy", using your real hourly wage as computed in step 2.

How:

• Simple arithmetic. A computer home accounting program may be useful.

(A computer is not essential, as both authors achieved Financial Independence without using computers.)

Why:

• This monthly tabulation will be an accurate portrait of how you are actually living, and will provide a foundation for the rest of the program.

The book offers examples of categories of spending and sample worksheets. For more information on these categories, you can get a copy of the book from a book shop or library, or visit the web site at www.newroadmap.org.

Step 4: Three Questions That Will Transform Your Life

On your monthly tabulation, ask three questions of each of your category totals expressed as hours of life energy and record your responses:

1. Did I receive fulfillment, satisfaction and value in proportion to life energy spent?
2. Is this expenditure of life energy in alignment with my values and life purpose?
3. How might this expenditure change if I didn't have to work for a living?

At the bottom of each category, make one of the following marks:

Mark a minus [-] or a down arrow if you did not receive fulfillment proportional to the hours of life energy you spent in acquiring the goods and services in that category, or if that expenditure wasn't in full alignment with your values and purpose, or if you could see expenses in that category diminishing after Financial Independence.

Mark a plus sign [+] or an up arrow if you believe that upping this expenditure would increase fulfillment, would demonstrate greater personal alignment, or would increase after Financial Independence.

Mark zero [0] if that category is just fine on all counts.

How:

• With total honesty.

Why:

• This is the core of the program.
• These questions will clarify and integrate your earning, your spending, your values, your purpose, your sense of fulfillment, and your integrity.
• This will help you discover what is enough for you.

Asking yourself, month in, month out, whether you actually got fulfillment in proportion to life energy spent in each subcategory awakens the natural sense of knowing when enough is enough.

Just say "yes" to being conscious.

This program is built on consciousness, fulfillment and choice, not on budgeting and deprivation. It's about identifying, for yourself, what you need as opposed to what you want, what purchases or types of purchases actually bring you fulfillment, what represents "enough" for you, and what you actually spend money on.

You learn to make your financial choices independently of what advertising and industry have decided would be good for their business. You are free of the humiliation of being manipulated into spending your life energy on things that don't bring you fulfillment. It is a form of Financial Independence to "just say no" to unconscious spending. And the Tao Te Ching, the ancient Chinese book of wisdom, puts it this way: "He who knows he has enough is rich."

Financial Intelligence is knowing that if you spend your life energy on stuff that brings only passing fulfillment and doesn't support your values, you end up with less life. This step is not about budgeting, not about self-condemnation, and not about depriving yourself. It is about honoring and valuing that limited resource called your life energy. It's about using this high self-esteem to bring about greater fulfillment, greater satisfaction, and a greater sense of wholeness, alignment and integrity. You do this by becoming more conscious of your unexamined and unrewarding spending patterns -- painlessly.

documents in this directory

• 11/2001
• 12/2001
• 01/2002
• 02/2002
• 03/2002
• 01/2003