I just finished a book called "Your Money or Your Life" by Joe Dominguez (Author), Vicki Robin (Author). This book was published in 1993 so its a little out dated. The main concept is not, though. Instead of making budgets that you hate to do and don't follow. It tells you to track your expenses and see where the money is going. Then look at those expenses compared to your goals and needs. By looking at this each month, you start to adjust how you spend your money so that your spending starts lining up with your goals and desires. It gets you off that cycle of spending money on stupid stuff. It has you create tables and graphs to see where your money is going and how you are doing in spending less than you make. This tracking the results in crucial since things that are measured always improve. Then once you get your spending in order it then talks about setting up investments in US Treasury bonds to earn a guaranteed income. Through the marvel of compound interest you can eventually earn enough money through your bonds to quit working. I did a quick calculation based on the current Treasury rate, 4%, and I could maybe have enough money from my bonds to cover my expenses in 20 years. Pretty reasonable amount of time, but it seems like forever for a disciple of the immediate gratification generation. I recommend the book.
I think they are releasing a revised version in December of 2008. I would probably wait to get that version unless the library has a copy of the older version that you can read for free.
You can also see more about this book on my Squidoo page.
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