Give Generously
Giving of ourselves is an important part of having a balanced life. If I might use myself as an example here, and I’m sorry if this sounds a bit narcissistic, but I wouldn’t have kept this podcast up for so long if it wasn’t for the fact that I know it’s helping people and I love to do that.
Yes, latterly, MeaningfulMoney has become a business in its own right, and for that I’m grateful for everyone’s support. But even if it had never become so, I’d have kept doing the podcast because I love it.
Your emails and comments saying how much you’ve learned and been helped are a key driver for me, so keep them coming! Giving, without expectation of return, is often hard, and yet my perception is that the universe has a way of reciprocation which we often do not expect.
I’m nearly finished reading the excellent book Give and Take by Adam Grant which goes into much more detail on this subject and is very well researched. On balance, those who give generously, without expectation of return, tend to succeed more than those who make it their mission to take from others.
You know the types. Those who go to networking meetings and are decidedly one-sided in their support. Or those who only offer to help if they’re getting something in return. It’s dog eat dog out there, they say, and put number one first in everything they do.
Often these types seem to win on the surface. Maybe they drive the bigger car, or get the promotion or whatever, but the book has countless examples of greater, wider, deeper good coming to those who give consistently, and yes, greater material success too.
I think we all know this deep down. It’s good to give, to create value. This is the essence of business – create value and get paid for it. And it’s the essence of life – give value and be rewarded, even if that is ‘just’ in the form of greater peace and happiness and wellbeing.
Giving of our time, especially to our loved ones, is arguably the best gift of all. No amount of money or material gifts can compensate for our undivided time and attention given to our partners and our kids and extended family and friends.
Sorry to sound like a preacher here – actually, I’m not sorry at all! – but all the world’s major religions and belief systems say that it’s better to give than to receive. Countless mystics and thinkers over millennia – people much smarter and humbler and better than me – can’t be wrong, can they? Give generously – so important.
Radically Simplify
Long-time listeners will know how I like to simplify. Complexity is dangerous. It leads to a lack of engagement, inertia and head-in-the-sand lack of action. With finances, I’ve made it my mission to simplify, which is why I like to come up with things like the first three steps of this list: spend less than you earn, insure against disaster, invest wisely.
Simplicity has the opposite effect of complexity – it makes it easy to engage with your money, or any area of your life and creates all-important headspace around it all. I’ve had lots of conversations recently with investors obsessing over small details in their portfolios, to no useful purpose.
Having six old pensions from previous employments is unnecessary and unhelpful complexity. Look to consolidate them where it makes sense to do so. And this translates to every sphere of life, I reckon. From having a too-complicated a group of friends, to having too many choices of wallpaper, radical simplification leads to many benefits.
If you haven’t already, watch the two documentaries by The Minimalists on Netflix. Pursue simplification at every level; it’s rewarding beyond measure, and I speak from experience.
Be Intentional
Finally, my favourite all-encompassing exhortation – be intentional. Don’t drift. Grab life, your relationships, your health and your money by the scruff of the neck and bend it all to your will. Learn to manage your responses to external events.
The Stoic philosophy is great for that. Read anything by Ryan Holiday or Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations. Self-control will serve us very well when it comes to the unpredictable nature of markets and the corresponding performance of our investments.
Nothing good happens without effort, as I said earlier, and that’s definitely true with our finances, as well as in life. It takes effort to sit down and discuss finances with our partner, or to look at our wills and make sure they’re still reflective of our wishes. We’d all rather crash in front of the TV than rebalance our portfolios – at least I would – but it still needs doing.
In truth, being intentional requires less effort than we think it will, once we actually knuckle down and do what needs doing. The prospect of difficulty is rarely borne out in reality, I find. Resist the drift. Don’t be blown around by external events, but be intentional, forcing your will onto life’s twists and turns whenever you can.
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