Photo Credit: Nancy Medwell
In the 1970’s, a woman named Vicki Robin teamed up with a man named Joe Dominguez.
They came from different backgrounds: she was an Ivy League graduate with a comfortable upbringing; he was raised in Spanish Harlem on “welfare cheese.”
But they shared one common thread: a commitment to financial independence, not just as a money management strategy, but as a philosophy on life.
Vicki and Joe became partners in both work and life. They united over a definition of “FI” that expanded beyond paying your bills through your savings and investments. They saw FI as a lifestyle that exists in three dimensions:
1: Financial Intelligence — Your ability to think about money in an objective, unbiased and non-emotional manner.
2: Financial Integrity — Your ability to earn and spend in a manner that’s consistent with your values, and to stay aware of the impact of your earning/spending choices on yourself, your family and your planet.
3: Financial Independence — Your ability to break the shackles of paycheck dependence, and ALSO your ability to declare independence from limiting beliefs, fears, and the perception that money will solve your problems.
In 1992, Vicki and Joe co-authored a book called Your Money or Your Life, outlining the FI philosophy. Their book became a mega-bestseller, selling more than one million copies. It landed on the New York Times bestseller list and spent more than 5 years on the BusinessWeek bestseller list.
Oprah Winfrey said: “This is a wonderful book. It can really change your life.”
Vicki and Joe devoted the next five years to spreading the message of FI. They appeared on hundreds of TV and radio shows, including Oprah, Good Morning America, and NPR. They were written about in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, People Magazine, and Newsweek.
Joe passed away in 1997, and Vicki continued spreading the FI message for another five years, before her cancer diagnosis caused her to take a step back.
Today, Vicki is 72, healthy, and still spreading the FI message. And she’d like to discuss a fourth dimension to FI:
4: Financial Interdepedence — Your ability to live within a flow of giving and receiving. Interdependence comes from our relationship with our communities, our nation, and the natural world.
In today’s podcast episode, Vicki discusses how we can move from financial independence to financial interdependence.
Enjoy!
Resources Mentioned:
- Your Money or Your Life, by Vicki Robin & Joe Dominguez
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