Write… Right….Right?
- Details
- Created: Friday, 11 May 2007 17:28
- Written by Tom Lipp
Nothing bothers a rich man more than to see a poor man happy.
What? Can poor people even be happy? First we need to discover the reasons for poverty.
Imagine visiting a doctor and telling him I feel sick. He quickly replies without any questions or investigation, “Here take some medicine”. We’d call him a quack. Similarly a good financial planner must probe before helping with an appropriate strategy.
There are multiple reasons for poverty just as there are different causes for sickness.There are two Hebrew words commonly translated as financially “poor” in English – “roosh” and “dal”. Based on a careful study of their usage I found that “dal” has undertones of weakness not present in the word “roosh”. It appears that the poor – dal are poor out of inability and the poor-roosh have two possible reasons for poverty.
This subtle distinction unlocked a mystery about money for me. I discovered the real causes of poverty. There are multiple reasons for poverty just as there are different causes for sickness. Some are avoidable; others are not. Some people choose poverty over wealth as they choose more time with family over more income from business. Some people put principle ahead of principal and others, like a dumb dictionary, put principal ahead of principle. (If you want to do some heavy study on this topic go to the website: prosperitythroughproverbs.org).
Sometimes I come across poor folk that are much happier than the wealthy ones. Why? Some are able to master their money while others are mastered by it. It comes down to the ability to manage their wealth. I have concluded that the ability to manage wealth is much more desirable than wealth itself. One of my major goals as a financial planner is to help people master their money so that it doesn’t master them.
The most significant line of demarcation between winners and losers is not their amount of money. Winners exhibit generosity and self-control coming from the Spirit of God. Believe it or not, but Jesus spoke more about asset management than he did about heaven or hell. For Him money matters but people count. As the song goes, “Use things and love people, not the other way around.”
Believe it or not, but Jesus spoke more about asset management than he did about heaven or hell.
Practically speaking, how can we learn to master our money rather than being mastered by it?
Last month I introduced a method of tracking expenditures using a small card, thin pen and a spreadsheet. We are still testing and developing this tool. We welcome suggestions for improvements. (This offer expired June 2007).
I have found that it takes about nine seconds at the checkout counter for me to record the spending category and amount. This may aggravate those in line behind me but hey, I often wait for the people ahead of me to get their pin numbers right. With a little practice I now get the card half completed while the cashier is still busy.
My wife prefers just to take the receipt at the sales counter and then calmly record her purchases on the little white card in the car or at home. Her writing is neater.
I then transcribe from the little white cards, Mastercard and bank statements onto my laptop. This takes a little more time but it produces good results…full awareness of where my money is coming from and going to. This is a major step toward control and contentment.
If we fail to record our expenses for a week or two, that’s OK. We just start again. It might take six months before we streamline the habit.
I have concluded that the ability to manage wealth is more desirable than wealth itself.
Again my point is to write it down. Control comes with understanding consumption.
About a year ago, Ken Thompson, the richest man in Canada, with earthly assets of over 20 billion, passed away. Shortly after his death I read a comment about his life saying “he was not a happy man.” Amazing but not surprising.
This myth is still popular: More money means more happiness. There are many examples that indicate the exact opposite is true. Just look at lottery mania. Look, but don’t get infected. Yet even rich people can be happy if they learn the right (write) skills. Right?
So, whether you are rich, poor, or somewhere in between, remember that generosity and self-control are keys to feeling good about your money.
