Everything to Know About Your Money (Improved): Part 5 - Give
The only cure to the disease of more
This post is 755 words, a 4-minute read. Enjoy!
Caution: everything talked about in this series can become a drug.
The Prequel: Your Money Psychology
Part 1: Knowing Your Numbers
Part 2: Paying Off Debt
Part 3: Protecting the Downside
Part 4: Investing
With Part 4 being the most addictive of them all.
WE see multiple examples of this addiction in the world. Extremely wealthy people who cannot stop themselves. They have an insane drive for more and end up leaving a world of destruction in their path.
I call this the Disease of More.
It is when we can no longer tell what enough is. We are like zombies with an insatiable hunger for more money and wealth. We use money to replace every other need we have as humans. Giving money a role that it was never supposed to have.
The only cure for this disease is to do the one thing that appears oppositional to our financial security. It is the one thing that we have a natural apprehension to do, and that is to actively find ways to give away our money. Put another way
Active Generosity is how we become financially secure.
I love what Johnathan Clements says about what money truly provides.
Money allows us to avoid all the unhappiness brought by not having money. AKA Stop worrying about money
Money allows us to pursue to things that fulfill us.
Money allows us to spend time with those we love.
When we have the Disease of More, we focus solely on #1. By seeking and pursing only #1, we drive away #2 and #3. And because we drive them away, we go deeper into #1, hoping it fills the gaps that #2 and #3 leave. Creating an endless loop of emptiness.
As Jim O'Shaughnessy puts it, "Money is like Manure. It stinks to the High Heavens when piled up in one place. But acts like fertilizer when spread around."
Money can almost be a wall that prevents us from getting the things we all truly desire, which is Deep Relationships.
Ironically, money is also the thing that can enable us to speed-run having deeper relationships. I love how Jesus puts it in Luke 16:9
"And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings."
Simply put to avoid or cure the Disease of More,
Remember Generosity>greed!
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Recommendation Section
Ben Carlson in "Some Things I'm Thinking About", discusses the stuff that actually matters after losing his brother to cancer. Two of my favorite snippets are:
My lists are changing. The list of things I don’t care about is growing exponentially. There is a lot of bullshit in the world I’m more or less done caring about. The list of things I do care about is shrinking, but my feelings for the important things are growing stronger by the day.
Life is for living. Money is for spending.
Josh Brown in "Give it a minute", discusses the best way to approach most situations that seemingly make no sense.
Heather Boneparth in "Six Financial Red Flags You Can't Afford to Ignore" explains some of the biggest issues that affect the finances in relationships. Some of my favorites snippets:
Two forms of Never Enough: overspending and ever moving goal post of success. Great quote from the post "The issue this brings into relationships is that when nothing ever feels like enough, then eventually, no one ever feels like enough. Your partner starts to feel like they’re becoming one of your moving targets, and nothing they ever say or do will be, well, enough."
DON'T LIE: "Even the little white lies I hear about in my day-to-day life, they compound. Lying is a slippery slope. We convince ourselves certain conduct is acceptable, then we get more comfortable, and we go deeper and deeper. Our standards dive lower and lower."
Having no patience: "People find it hard to respect the timeline. And when they can’t respect the timeline, they end up taking on risks they really shouldn’t, or they shut down and miss out on opportunities altogether."
There are hidden costs in almost everything we choose to purchase. Doug and Heather Boneparth have a series covering many of them. The latest topic is on Holidays