What to Do?
In my pursuit of blogging to help you build a better mindset for money I find that matters of the heart can cloud your judgement on occasion.
However, though some may hide their emotions, caring is not a weakness. In fact, it is a blessing because caring and giving of time and money can yield greater rewards inside than wealth can on the outside.
The challenge is to build reserves, such as savings and assets that give value and add to income, to position yourself to be a blessing to others.
In that process of wealth building, some may become too focused on wealth and allow greed to interfere with their concern for others. They become greedy.
So, what do you do when you find yourself too focused on earning an income or building your investments? My suggestion is to pause and reflect on why you are making the effort and who besides you are to benefit from your effort?
That reflection is easier to do if you have others living with you, your family. Asking yourself if they have adequate shelter and food, is a good starting point. Beyond that, do they get enough of your time to know you and allow you to be a positive influence on their life decisions down the road?
Money or other forms of wealth are not meant to be a source of happiness. Happiness comes with sharing time. Wealth can help you afford experiences aside from working. Relationships improve based on the time given to them.
Greed Effects
Greed is simply the obtaining of money or other forms of gain at the expense of other’s benefit. Your gain becomes a loss to someone else. That includes finding others in desperation and taking advantage of them. To be clear, that is different than paying only the value you perceive versus what the other person would like to get from the deal. Granted a lot of private deals are found with someone who desperately needs money.
We can see greedy transactions all around us. You may hear of companies with little competition raising their prices for greater profits at the expense of customers who need their products or services but cannot easily afford them. Of course, illegal traffic in drugs, etc., is a clear picture of greed, for which society pays a dear price.
Think about that when you consider taking advantage of someone. Do you want to be known as being greedy?
Steward Effects
Steward is an old term, meaning an overseer, a manager. They oversaw the care for an owner’s property, such as a field, an orchard, or cattle. The steward was to manage the health, the feeding, and the protection from outside pests and other threats.
Are you a good steward over your property, money, and other assets? Remember, your family is an asset to your welfare and well-being.
When you spend all your income, then you are not a good steward!
A good steward works to raise healthy crops and increase numbers of cattle. In other words, they work to show a gain. Spending is to be controlled. Saving is a gain in assets. Those assets can be invested for more gain.
Are you trying to be a good steward?
Affect Your Growth
None of us can say we know all we need to know. Growing your understanding and skills requires your effort to learn more. You can affect your growth!
Are you limited in your ability to earn an income? Your income is primarily based on what you know and what you are willing to try. When you try doing the unfamiliar, you will make mistakes. If you treat those mistakes as learning experiences, your growth of understanding will be much faster.
When we wallow in our mistakes, we get stuck in the past and fail to make progress. Just observe those around you who seem to have skills but let fear of failure limit their livelihood.
Learn all you can about income generation options. Always look for better skills to make you more valuable on the job.
Do you spend without regard to your income limits, thus building debt? Is that helping you grow?
Filter your spending decisions. It is easy to get impatient with getting what you want when credit is so easy to get. Just remember that getting something on credit is not paying for it. You just made it more expensive and limited future purchasing power with added interest expense.
Manage your spending to allow you to save on each paycheck. Set goals to save 10% then 20%, etc. of your take-home pay. This is a process you can improve over time with a focus to make saving—paying yourself first—a priority.
Then, you can learn about investing to allow your savings to grow on their own!
You and Others
You are not alone. Friends and family can make life more enjoyable. However, if lessons are not learned well, you may find yourself challenged by others not taking responsibility for their own actions. Just remember, they make their own choices, including the choice of choosing not to act.
You must first be a good steward over your own affairs. Then, you will position yourself to be a help to others.
Remember, the greatest help you can be to others is to help and encourage them to help themselves by understanding what they can do to be a better steward over their own financial situation.
Do it in love and with compassion. Should they reject your help just allow time for their reflection to be open to help.
Do what you can, when you can, should they need temporary help. But do not let them become a burden. Set boundaries. Build a fence around your garden so you will have fruit to share.
A Rich Soul
Several books have been published that show that building wealth comes from learning to save, building good spending habits related to your income, and making debt a priority to be paid off quickly.
Form good habits and learn to control bad habits that limit your progress.
With habits like this, where financial freedom is understood to be a growth process available to all of us, then relationships can become more meaningful.
Personal growth takes time. Building financial security takes time. So, enjoy the process and share the need for support of friends and family. Afterall, they affect your efforts and can help make the results come faster or slower. Just as you can help them.
Being able to help them will be a blessing to you. It can enrich your soul.
Do Some Good
Imagine what you would do if you became rich. Would you be greedy and show off your wealth with fancy cars and big houses?
Or would you be a good steward over what you have and put the increase to good use, using your increase to help the progress of others who are struggling to manage their situation?
If you play this out in your mind before you have your riches, you will make better decisions about what to do with those riches.
Build a Rich Mind
There is responsibility that comes with being rich. The Bible makes several references to this.
If you are honest with yourself, your reflection on how you made it through some tough times in your life will reveal several occasions of others being generous to help you with money, food, and other things you were struggling to afford.
Personally, I have received help with vehicles, food when I was unemployed, and temporary work to get me by. Can you recall the times when you were helped?
Consider those times. Then, when you do something simple like pay for a meal with children and grandchildren, who cannot afford to eat out very often, they will be grateful and willing to pass that feeling on to others. Plus, you will feel privileged to be able to pay for the meal!
Your life should include more than money. Greed may get you stuff. But stuff is hard to hug when you need a hug.
Remember to value relationships, especially your family. This is the best way to build a rich mind!