”Give Generously”
I find it rather fitting that the 4th and last of
my daily motivational mantras is being written about today. Today the check
cleared for what I believe is the largest check I have ever written, made out
to my church. Keep in mind that when I was working my debt snowball to pay off
my student loan it was all done with online transfers and payments. There was
something spiritual about writing out the amount and filling in that check at
the time I wrote it.
Dave Ramsey is absolutely right when he says that giving is
the most fun you can have with money. I didn’t know it at the time, but when I was
setting up my walls to build financial security I was also setting myself up to
have the opportunities to give in ways I could have never imagined. In my
pre-Ramsey days I gave nothing. No causes or organizations “motivated” me to
give and I was incredibly self-centered only feeding my own perceived wants and
desires that perpetually put me in debt and left me trying to keep up with the
joneses.
Those days are long gone. Slowly over time as a household we
have increased the amount of money we regularly give to charities. At the start
it was a hundred bucks or so and now we give a tithe of our net income, split
between our church and Compassion International. But I’ve also been more
inspired to lead with my time and talents. In my post-Ramsey days I have found
myself leading FPU classes, sitting on a church committee and participating in
service events. These were not things I did before I got my financial act
together. I had the time but I just didn’t prioritize it.
When it comes to the dollars and cents, going beyond our monthly
scheduled giving has truly brought joy into my life. When birthdays, weddings
and friends/family are in need we have the resources available to help without
any strings attached. And the random and spontaneous opportunities to give
always seem to present themselves just at the right time (or maybe I’m just
more aware of them). One instance that comes to mind was this past Christmas.
After having celebrated the holiday with my in-laws, we were on our way back to
Chicago when we stopped in for lunch at a restaurant. At the end of our meal I
had happily noticed that we were under our allotted budget for the trip by a
few hundred dollars. In walked an active service member of our armed forces in
uniform, and after approving with my wife, we anonymously comp’d his meal on
our way out!
Giving has been one of the best things I think I have ever
done with money. Yes we have superstar mutual funds, are consistently saving for
retirement and have the right insurance plans in place, but if I was not
actively giving I would not be living a complete life. The saving piece of
money management helps me secure today and tomorrow so that I can meet day to
day needs and buy the value of time later. Spending helps me enjoy (and have)
this thing called a life. But giving blows everything else out of the water.
Giving has really unleashed a passion in my life that can’t
really be measured because nothing else has come close to single-handedly
transforming my life like giving has. Its let loose creativity, (more
importantly) empathy and compassion from within me that I didn’t even know I had.
Giving is without question a central part of any financial game plan.
Slowly we have been building and growing the way we save,
the way we spend and the way we give. With giving we have grown from giving
nothing to giving a tithe of our net income. We plan in the future to give in
even bigger and better ways. For me I would love to live off our investment
income and teach a high school personal finance class part-time pro bono, as
well as work a short term mission and establish a college scholarship fund. With
goals like that in mind I’m happily continuing to baby step my way there. Doing
a little more saving, a little more spending and a little more giving as I move
along the way.
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