"Tyler Durden's money tips" first appeared on iafrica.com on 22 March 2010. It is the 8th most read "Financial fitness" article of the past year. Liked it? Get your finances in shape in 2011 - bookmark http://personalfinance.iafrica.com/.

Do you need help getting out of debt or becoming financially independent? May I suggest renting the movie Fight Club?

On the surface Fight Club seems like just another movie glorifying violence or commenting on male angst. It is, however, way more than that. Through Tyler Durden the movie offers the most entertaining guide to personal finance you're ever likely to come across.

Here are seven of my favourite Tyler Durden pearls of wisdom that I believe are words to live by:

1. The things you own end up owning you.

How hard do you slave away to own your shiny, new car? How many hours, days or weeks for that new watch that tells the time, just like your old one? And your new phone? How much crap do you take each day at that job you hate to keep ownership of that nifty phone that can land a man on the moon, but rarely does anything but call and send SMSes?

You think you own your stuff but, really, your stuff owns you.

Do you live in a place you hate just because you 'need' your huge salary? Will you be staying at home next Christmas, because you don't have money (even though you live in a large house and own two cars)? Are you still working because the things you own require you to when you could be retired and living the good life?

Stuff needs fixing, moving, cleaning, packing? the list is endless; the things you own end up owning you.

2. You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your fucking khakis.

You can lose your job in a second. The economy can go into a depression. You can lose every cent of the fortune you amassed. In fact, everything you own will someday be taken away from you.

Don't draw your identity from transient, material things for this can only lead to misery and an existential crisis when (not if) you lose it.

3. We're consumers. We are by-products of a lifestyle obsession. Murder, crime, poverty, these things don't concern me. What concerns me are celebrity magazines, television with 500 channels, some guy's name on my underwear.

Rampant consumerism is the very reason why the middle classes lack empathy and struggle financially. If you want to be a wealthier and happier you must reject consumerism.

Buying stuff can never compensate for an unsatisfying life. Having less is having more.

4. First you have to give up, first you have to know - not fear - know that someday you're gonna die.

You can't take it with you when you go and nothing you buy really means anything. If you and I are toast, is it rational to spend your precious time slaving away to buy material things that simply don't matter?

The clock is ticking; make every second count.

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