ALL ABOUT MONEY

In case you have not noticed, I have taken some time without posting here. This is both by design and default. Money....is it the root of all evil?

I am working on my second (actually third) book. This book is a personal walk through the turmoils I have faced while seeking the dollar. It is loaded with anecdotes here and there that you can use to inject vision, passion and direction in your financial pursuits.

As such, today, we are taking some words of advice from one Personal Financial Guru, David Bach. He is an author of several books including one that I own called "Smart Couples Finish Rich". Here goes:

 

Hi Everyone,

The one incredible universal truth that has stood test of time is that the more you give the more you receive.

This notion--that the more we give back to others, the more comes back to us--is not simply a religious doctrine; it is virtually a law of nature. If you are looking to attract more wealth and happiness into your life, the fastest way I know how is to give more.

HAVING IT ALL...THROUGH TITHING
What exactly is tithing? Tithing is the proactive practice of giving back. It is a spiritual principle common to many traditions that says you should give back a portion of what you receive, that those blessed with abundance have a duty to help others through gifts of kindness, time, ideas, and money. What is amazing about tithing is that when you tithe you get a feeling we often associate with acquiring material things. You simply feel great.

HOW TO TITHE
Should you tithe? Ultimately, it's a personal decision. Still, I'd like to suggest that if you are not doing it now, you should give it a try. Take a percentage of your income and start donating it to some worthy cause. You could donate the 10% traditionally associated with tithing, you could donate more, or you could donate less. As I said, tithing is personal; it's not about percentages but about the love of giving. What's important is simply that you get started.

You might want to start small--say, by giving only 1% if your income--and let your contributions grow over time, just the way I suggested you start with Pay Yourself First. Not only will the process of starting create a momentum in your life that will change your destiny, you will also be helping others in the process.

If this sounds at all attractive to you, take a look at the simple Five-Step Plan for Tithing on my blog by CLICKING HERE. If you are in a relationship, discuss it with your partner. See if it feels right. If it does, give it a try. You will be amazed how much doing things for others can do for you.

CLICK HERE FOR MY 5 STEP PLAN FOR TITHING.

Do you tithe? If so, how has giving back impacted YOUR life, wealth and happiness? If you haven't started yet, what charity or cause would you chose to donate your time/money to? Be sure to leave your comments and stories on my blog or Facebook page.

Live Rich,

David Bach
Founder, FinishRich Media, LLC.
www.finishrich.com
9 Time New York Times Bestselling Author
Author, #1 New York Times Best-Seller, The Automatic Millionaire
Author, #1 New York Times Best-Seller, Start Late, Finish Rich
Join our community of smart empowered consumers at www.facebook.com/davidbach.

THINK BIG? I SAY JUST ACT!

In our day, there are very many pieces of advice and inspiration that have sadly become cliché. One thing about cliché is that the heart is never there, but the mouth is all over it! 

The subject of thinking big is the first thing that I will examine today, amongst several clichés we have. Question is: How big is big? Is there a 'big-ometer' somewhere that can easily quantify the bigness of our thinking? Of course there is none.

One thing is for sure though, thinking is relative, just like beauty is in the eye of the beholder. In other words, what I consider commonplace in my sphere is what someone else would call a miracle if they had it! I kid you not. In your sphere right now, you could be complaining of life not sizzling, yet if per chance someone else was put in your shoes and they actually took a mile in them, you would find them in church testifying of the goodness of God in the land of the living! 

Before I digress so far away from the subject, let me say this: Very many dreams have been dashed to the ground because they have failed the ultimate test of 'think big' and his closest cousin 'look good'. You find people seated on their laurels doing nothing because 'the dream is not big enough'. You even find motivational speakers pouring cold water in an idea, just because they feel that it is not big enough!

Definitely, One is smaller than seven Billion any day. However, without that one, there can never be the billion! This is what I mean: The world right now has a population of seven Billion. Yet God started it with ONE. Question: Was He thinking big? Of course He was! Another question: Was he looking good? That is where opinions are divided.

My point is that in between one and seven billion, there are several determinant factors, one of them being time. In the same token, I have no business looking down on my 'one'. I have no business sitting down and doing nothing just because my 'one' is not big enough like seven Billion! I hope you get the message.

It is in my doing, it is in my taking action in the minutest iotas of ideas that will eventually grow big. Action, in my opinion will trump down big thinking any day. 

Here is the foolproof test of how big your idea is: According to Life Signatures, as long as it matters and resonates deep within your heart, do it! As long as you are passionate about it, do it! Only make sure that it is fair to all that are concerned!

Not that thinking big is bad, just that it is becoming so cliché these days that nothing small gets done that will actually lead to the big thing anyway! So people delay on getting started with their dreams, visions and aspirations, just because it will not look good. They get stuck just because it is not big enough. Let me say this too: Small is such a critical part of big that even when you have big in sight, you reach it one way or another through small! 

My encouragement of the week is this: let's do something small today. Then, let's do it again tomorrow...and the day after and the whole week. It is in this consistent small doing that the big vision will be born. Great visions are normally caught while in motion, not while sitting under a tree and wait for the apple to fall so we can derive a theory out of it! Isaac Newton was not idle!

Have action-filled days, wont you?

THEY SAY ITS A MARATHON, I SAY ITS A RELAY!

So, here we are again, talking about life. Many people agree that we are in a race. A great visionary once said that everyone who runs in a race, they run so that they can win. But hold on just one minute...Have you ever stopped to ask yourself for a moment...what race Am I running?

Some people say that the race of life is like a marathon-long, drawn out, tedious, sweaty, yet totally rewarding in the end. Would you agree? Well, in the context of discipline and hard work, I would definitely agree. Yet, you have to notice one thing about a marathon: It is run on this mantra, "Everyone for himself, God for us all...and the devil take the hindmost!"

 Let me explain: The focus on marathons are never directly rooted in teamwork. Save from few professionals in Kenya and Ethiopia who use such methods as pace-setters. For the most part, individuals run as individuals, and medals are rewarded to individuals, not teams.

In stark contrast, the relay race is molded strongly around a team. Every member of the team has a part to play. You have strong starters, then you have strong finishers. At the end of the day, it is the whole team that is feted, not the individual who crossed the finish line first. I love this kind of a race. 

A very curious thing here though...the team that wins the race must show the baton at the finish line. In other words, if you cross the finish line first and you do not have the baton, you will not win. In real life, we get this baton for the race from our predecessors...our parents, or the generation before us.

In the adventurous race of life, we all ought to run the relay race. In other words, someone already started the race...at one point in time we are warming up at our positions eagerly awaiting for the baton to be passed to us...so we can run ours.

 

The most unfortunate thing in life however is that many people are running individual marathons instead of a relay race. Can we blame them? I don't know. Yet I will say this: that for the next generation to make it in life, someone must oversee that intricate process of passing on the baton to them. In a real race, it takes split seconds for that changeover to take place. In real life, it takes half a life-time.

My question today is this: Are you running a marathon or are you running a relay? Would you please join a relay race? Another important question is this: For your next generation, will they be running a marathon or a relay race? That my friend, is totally dependent upon your choice! SELAH

THE FOLLY OF OUR FATHERS

Let me ask these questios: Is it true that the more things change, the more they remain the same? Is it true that there is nothing new under the sun? 

Picture this: Our fathers and grandfathers never had the internet, cell phones, iPads, iPods, tarmarcked roads, Mobile Money, sliced bread, chips and chicken, major infrastructure and all the technological advances we boast of today.

Yet come to think of it...are we any better than them? No, am not talking about technology and develpment and dispensations and revolutions. I am talking at human and individual levels...are we better than our fathers? Are we more 'impactful' in life than they were in theirs? 

In terms of significance, are we better than our fathers were? How about wealth? How about greatness? I am talking at an individual level. Take a look at your past generations: Your grand dad, and your dad for instance. If we were to draw the graph of progression from them to you...how would it look like? SELAH

These are life signatures questions that are seldom asked at many levels of development. It seems to me like we have been 'hoodwinkded' by technological and infrastructual advances. It seems to me like the more things change, the more they either remain the same or even become worse! Take a look at your Grand Dad, Dad, and yourself. Are my questions making sense?

If it is actually true (like I suspect it is with millions of families across the globe) that the graph has not been progressive, we ought to ask ourselves another question. Where is the problem? You would think that our levels of development would give us an upper hand as compared to the previous generations right? Do we really have that upper hand?

Why is it that my grand dad in his day owned a large piece of land, several herds of cattle, and some greatness and respect throughout several communities, yet that is not even half the case with nearlly all his sons and daughters? What happened to this: 'from glory to glory?' How come non of my grand dad's sons and daughters have exceeded him in terms of greatness and significance?

Where are our generations going? Are we really advancing as it were? No honestly. Take a look at yourself as an individual...not as a nation or as a generation...For real for real, are we advancing? If not, where do you think the problem is?

I will tell you where. The problem has been with our focus! What is the focus of our current generation? To answer that question, you have to go back and ask at the place where we are indoctrinated for at least sixteen years, school. What's the focus of our school systems? To answer that, you have to go to any person who is through with school. Ask them..."What now?" Their answer is almost always: "I am looking for a job". That, ladies and gentlemen, is the main focus  of multiplied millions across the globe. If there is anyone who never had that kind of a focus, would you please raise your hand up...we'll give you a standing ovation.

Granny never had a focus to look for a job! It started with Dad. My granny's focus was always about heritage and inheritence, significance and relevance in life. It is my call that the folly of my grand pa not mentoring dad and dad not mentoring me as far as the real focus in life is concerned will not be repeated again to the next generation.

Why? Because that focus of jobs is the biggest killer of potentials in many souls. That is why as things evolve, they continue remaining the same, at least for us. We got inheritance from our forefathers, yet we have little focus on leaving some for our next generation. That, my friend, is the biggest folly of our fathers, and that must of neccesity be nipped in the bud!