What is Money?

Almost everyone, even those who aren’t big on church or religion, have heard this verse:

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

1 Timothy 6:10

Although, many times it’s shortened, so it sounds more like this:

Money is the root of all evil.

Now, there is a significant difference between the verse and how it’s paraphrased. Though, with all of the greed, corruption, and cronyism in our society, I can understand how that difference can shrink and become less significant. Watch the news for a while, and money starts to transform into a symbol for evil.

But is it? Is money a symbol of evil?

Possibly, but there are different ways of looking at it. For example:

“Take out a dollar bill and look at it,” he said. “Now pat yourself on the back because you are looking at a certificate of performance. If you did not rob or steal from anyone to obtain that dollar, if you neither defrauded anyone nor persuaded your government to seize it from a fellow citizen and give it to you, then you could only have obtained that dollar in one other way – you must have pleased someone else.” How true those words. Whether you pleased a client, a customer, or your boss, that money is testament to your having pleased another human being. Having money is not shameful; it is a certificate of good performance granted to you by your grateful fellow citizens.

Rabbi Daniel Lapin, Thou Shall Prosper

So, money’s a certificate of good and not a symbol of evil?

Here’s the problem. Money doesn’t have intentions and it doesn’t take actions. It can’t be generous or greedy. It doesn’t have a mind of it’s own, and can’t be judged innocent or guilty.

Money is a tool. It’s like a hammer. It can be used to create or destroy, but it doesn’t do either until it’s put into the hands of a human being. That person lifts it with intention and swings it into action. They are the ones to be judged.

Some people treat money in such a way that it becomes a symbol of evil. Others treat it as a certificate of good performance. In the both cases, the bills and coins stay the same. It’s the approach that matters.

So, set your approach. What is the most valuable way that you can serve your fellow man? Don’t love wealth. Love people, and allow them to reward you.

Quick Hits: Correct your false thinking about money. And life. Also, a chimp chooses porn.

• I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how to help people succeed better with the money they earn and invest. One of the first steps is to correct the false thinking about money that a lot of us have. Our attitude about money will infect our ability to succeed with it, for better or for worse. Rabbi Daniel Lapin writes that, “Making money is much harder if, deep down, you suspect it to be a morally reprehensible activity.” If you believe, even a little, that it’s evil to be rich, and that being poor is noble and spiritual, then you’ll unconsciously set an upper limit on your ability to earn. This is a topic that I’m sure to cover more in the future, because there are so many messages about wealth that our culture and society tell us which we need to unwind before we can approach money correctly.

• And there are a lot of other things we’re taught that negatively affect the way we live. Here are eight things that we need to change our thinking on.

• Finally, I’m not exactly sure how to hit this. See, Gina the chimp has been given access to a television set. She’s mastered the remote control, and now enjoys watching human pornography every night. The article doesn’t indicate why, but I’m sure there’re are a whole host of theories. And it’s a funny story, which is why I’m putting it here. However, I’m concerned by the use of “addicted” in the article. There’s a tendency to refer to any hard-to-break habit or harmful practice as an addiction, and they’re really not the same thing. Unless the chimpanzee is suffering anxiety, nausea, cold sweats and tremors when denied her favorite smut, then it’s probably not an addiction. Otherwise, I hope Gina finds a nice 12-Step program.

Never Retire

(This covers the tenth chapter from Rabbi Daniel Lapin‘s book Thou Shall Prosper. Each chapter is one part of a set of core principles that approach business and money as spiritual practices, referred to as the ‘Ten Commandments for Making Money.’ I’m reviewing the final ‘Commandment’ here, which completes my commitment to go over all ten. You can find out more in this post discussing my overall thoughts on the book. All quotes, unless otherwise attributed, come from the book.)

If  retirement is your goal, your entire drive will be deeply flawed. You will never create all you could have. However, if you view your creative, professional life as an exciting, ongoing process with no defined expiration date, you avoid limiting your potential.

This discussion can cause a substantial amount of trouble if not handled with care. The concept of retirement has become ingrained into our culture. Thanks to the Social Security system, a firm age has been set for what many consider the end of productive work and the start of the “good life.” Individual plans may vary slightly, but if you’re not ready, willing, and able to quit your job by the time Uncle Sam starts sending you regular checks, then our society generally thinks that you’re doing it wrong.

So, apart from the everyday joy from embracing weirdness, what do we gain by rejecting the idea of retiring? Even if you plan to work until you die, you should still be investing and growing your wealth. You should still be making plans for the next 5, or 10, or even 25 years of your life.  You don’t get to slack off just because you’ll be working as long as you’re able. Why not go ahead and just enjoy those last years? I’ll give you two reasons.

1. Work has to be more than just a means to an end. I’ve written about this a couple of times before. Suffice to say, the career we choose shouldn’t just be about the profits we’ll earn. It should provide us with a chance to live out a purpose, and it should fill us with joy. Every step we take along our career path should be one step closer to each one of us doing the work that is uniquely ours to be doing. If we succeed at that, having to stop should be a nightmare, not a dream.

2. Age alone doesn’t determine productivity.  It would be a mistake to overemphasize the importance of our physical ability to our talent to create. Expertise, experience and wisdom have disappeared from our workplaces too quickly, and have not been easily replaced. In an information based economy, we need people who can provide  knowledge to remain in the workforce longer. We also need people who are well connected to the people that they serve and care for, and that level of connection takes time. Don’t plan to deny others the benefit of your presence simply because you’ve achieved some magic number.

For the last time, here are some quotes from the book that stood out to me:

The reason that the belief in retirement as a life goal is so destructive is that it seems to form a kind of spiritual virus that infects all your thinking. […] If you visualize some day in your future when you will no longer “have to work,” you are subconsciously slowing down already.

Short-timer’s disease is a real thing, and I’ve seen (and been guilty of) it’s results far too often. It’s frightening to think that, by even considering an eventual date of departure, you infect yourself with an attitude that will negatively affect the quality of your work for years to come.

Dr. Donald Hensrud is the director of the Mayo Clinic Executive Health Program. He says, “Life revolves around relationships, and it shows in aging. People who maintain close relationships live longer and healthily. It may sound corny, but caring for others helps us care for ourselves.” […] Working productively means that you are caring for others.

[W]ork is chiefly about how other people will benefit from your efforts. It may be today or it maybe in the future, but engaging in work is a moral, benevolent, and caring thing to do.

We’ve come full circle back to the premises of the first two Commandments. Work is moral. It connects us to others. We should never stop.

A person’s real economic value is spiritual, not physical. You may have a certain economic value, which is to say a value to your fellow humans, as a ditch digger, but it is only a fraction of your real value.

What are you truly worth? How do you determine an accurate measurement of your contributions to the world around you?

Sustaining the retirement myth contributes to people mistakenly subscribing to the notion that humans are chiefly consumers rather than creators and that as such, the best way to run business affairs is to minimize the number of these consumers.

Never forget that we are all more than just mouths that need to be fed, and bodies that need to be sheltered. Each of us creates and builds more value into this world simply by existing.

And that’s my take on Rabbi Lapin’s Tenth Commandment for Making Money. Finally. This has been an interesting exercise, but I think I’ll keep my book reviews more restrained in the future.

If you’re new to this, take the time to the start from the beginning with my thoughts on Chapter One, Believe in the Dignity and Morality of Business. Feel free to comment and share your thoughts and questions about this chapter, whether you’ve read the book or not. Thanks.

Act Rich: Give Away 10 Percent of Your After-Tax Income

(This covers the ninth chapter from Rabbi Daniel Lapin‘s book Thou Shall Prosper. Each chapter is one part of a set of core principles that approach business and money as spiritual practices, referred to as the ‘Ten Commandments for Making Money.’ I’m reviewing the ninth ‘Commandment’ here. My plan is to go through all ten. You can find out more in this post discussing my thoughts on the book. All quotes, unless otherwise attributed, come from the book.)

The very best way to come across to others as a fair-minded, big-spirited benefactor […] is to become a regular contributor to charities. To be sure, not only will this have you coming across as a larger person but, in fact, it will make you become a larger person.

I know that it’s been the better part of a year since I wrote my thoughts about the last chapter, and it’s been a year and a half since I started my review of this book. I’m not going to bother making excuses. Chastise me in the comments, if you must.

I don’t think the title of this chapter needed to be as specific as it was written. I do agree that generosity and charity are a fundamental part of any wealth-building plan. In fact, as you grow more wealthy, you should repeatedly reevaluate how much you are giving away and, hopefully, increase it. Ideally, 10% of your after-tax income would only be a start.

Now, I fully expect that some of you are looking at your monitors like a crazy person wrote that. Giving your money away doesn’t logically lead to wealth-building. Give away even more as you get more, that doesn’t make any sense either. How do you get rich by giving so much away?

Rationality is an excellent instrument for solving puzzles and paradoxes, but it is rather less effective when used to explain human behavior.

Questions of my sanity aside, it turns out that your level of generosity paints a clear picture of your attitude towards money. Dave Ramsey uses a great visual during some of his lessons where he compares holding your money in an open hand versus grasping it in a clenched fist. Money may escape the open hand more easily, but it can also find it’s way back with hardly any trouble. Being generous is actually a very common trait among wealthy people, and often they were givers before they were rich.

One gives freely, yet grows all the richer;
another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.
Whoever brings blessing will be enriched,
and one who waters will himself be watered.

– Proverbs 11:24-25

So, what is it about an attitude of generosity that makes it so key to building our own wealth? How does the open hand attract more money to it?

1. Generosity is an exercise in risk. Unlike just about any other financial transaction, with charitable giving you irrevocably give up control of your money. Once you give it, you’re unlikely to get anything directly in  return, and you give up all say as to how it is used. That’s helpful, because it reminds us that there are no guarantees with any financial transaction, and it encourages us to develop and use wisdom prior to a transaction. The more risks we take, the more wisdom we have for our next transaction.

2. Generosity points your heart in an outward direction. In the Bible, Jesus says, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Wherever you are placing your money, your heart is going to follow. Your thoughts, concern, and energy become invested along with your capital. When you donate some of your money towards serving and meeting the needs of others it connects your heart to them, and as you interact with those charities, it exposes you to new financial (and social, and career, and spiritual) opportunities.

Finally, here are a couple more quotes from the chapter that stood out to me:

Jews do not give away money because it is always rational to do so, but in spite of the fact that it is often irrational. Jews give money away not because it is rational but because it is right.

What makes it right? Even if you engage in the risk of giving and see absolutely no return, to yourself or others, was your generosity still right?

I don’t want to sound too metaphysical, but your object is to create a movement of money from the world around you to you.  There is a sad sense in which each person lives a lonely, isolated existence. […E]verything of value flows from how effectively you battle that loneliness and how effectively you bond with others.

Unconnected people generally find it difficult to build wealth. Generous people have more opportunities to build connections.

It is hard to invest effectively if you absolutely must win every single time. That is not how investing works, and it is not how business works. In fact, it is not how life works at all.

Life is full of failures. The question is, how do you handle them? Are they millstones weighing you down, or a stepping stones that help you grow?

Active, busy, creative people produce so much more value than the food they eat and the shelter they occupy. They are far from net consumers.

We tend to throw around the word consumer a lot, without thinking what that is saying about the people we’re referring to. What are we saying about our customers when we call them consumers?

That’s my take on Rabbi Lapin’s Ninth Commandment for Making Money. Keep looking here for my thoughts on the Tenth (and final) Commandment: Never Retire. Feel free to comment and share your thoughts and questions about this chapter, whether you’ve read the book or not. Thanks.