Vicki Robin

Vicki Robin is an American author, social innovator, and public speaker known for her work on money, sustainable living, and community resilience. She is best known for Your Money or Your Life (1992), a personal finance guide that has sold over a million copies and influenced the FIRE movement.

Vicki Robin was born in Oklahoma on 6 July 1945. She grew up on Long Island, New York, and attended Manhasset Secondary School. She graduated from Brown University in 1967. She began her career as an actress in television soap operas, but soon left the industry.

At 23, she inherited $20,000 from her grandmother and took a road trip across North America. Along the way, she met Joseph R. Dominguez, a retired financial analyst who had left Wall Street at 31 with $100,000 in savings.

Robin and Dominguez developed a lifestyle based on frugality and financial independence. They lived on investment income from government bonds and devoted their time to social and environmental causes. People began to ask how they were supporting themselves. In response, they outlined a nine-step method for achieving financial freedom. These ideas formed the basis of Your Money or Your Life (1992), a book co-authored with Dominguez.

The book introduced a structured approach to tracking income and expenses, calculating "life energy" costs, and aligning values with money habits. It offered a practical route to independence from paid work. Following an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, the book's popularity soared, and it became a bestseller. It has since been updated in 1998, 2008 and 2018.

Following the book's success, Robin became a figure in the voluntary simplicity movement. She moved to Whidbey Island in 1996. In 2010, she undertook a month-long experiment to eat only local food. She later published Blessing the Hands That Feed Us, based on this experience.

Robin continues to speak and write on money, resilience, and community. She hosts the podcast What Could Possibly Go Right? and remains a reference point for the FIRE movement.

Vicki Robin lives on Whidbey Island in Washington State.

Photo credit: vickirobin.com