Savings, then, are a form of Financial Independence. Savings can give you new courage at your job and new energy to explore the neglected parts of your life. Savings pave over the lean times in freelance or seasonal work. Savings relax any unconscious fear of becoming a street person. Savings keep you from making bad choices out of desperation. Saving money is like building a dam on a river. The water that builds up behind the dam has an increasing amount of potential energy. Allow your life energy (money) to accumulate in a bank account, and you will be ready to power anything from painting your house to reorienting your life. — Joe Dominguez, Your Money or Your Life

If you have not read the 1992 book Your Money or Your Life, I would like to take a moment now to recommend it highly. The book is perhaps more about life management than money management, but that is fine. It covers both wonderfully. It is one of those rare books that, I suspect, would benefit most everyone who reads it — regardless of his or her current financial position.

For me personally, Your Money or Your Life is probably the second-most influential financial book I've read. First would be Jerrold Mundis' How to Get Out of Debt, Stay Out of Debt, and Live Prosperously. Both rank very highly on my "re-readability" scale, and were very effective in pushing me in the direction I needed to go.