Learn to give generously
WE’RE all connected to each other on this spinning ball of life, pain, joy and wonder we call Earth. So, let’s help make things better.
There are truly good people of modest and even meagre means who proactively live rich lives of effective generosity. And there are low quality individuals who may possess great wealth yet choose to give away little or none of it to help their fellow human beings.
The three best things we can do with our money, particularly if we have thrown off the shackles of debt this world’s system perennially conspires to clamp onto us, are to:
1. Save and invest it;
2. Give it away; and
3. Spend it.
The key to living a fiscally responsible, meaningful life is striking an optimal balance between all three cash flow allocation channels.
Today I will focus on number 2: Giving away some of our money as a joyful core life discipline.
In the context of effective, targeted charitable giving, ancient rabbinical writings called the Midrash contain this profound teaching about honourable philanthropy:
“Better is he who gives little to charity from money honestly earned than he who gives much from dishonestly gained wealth.”
The best way for us to inculcate a healthy charitable spirit is to craft an importance, not urgency, based, written monthly budget that lists our cash outflow priorities lineby-line to guide and govern how much we choose to save and invest for tomorrow, to give away to others to help them today, and to spend on ourselves to relish life today and tomorrow.
We should work out the relative allocation ratios for our saving and investing, our giving, and our spending.
They might be, respectively, 10:2:88 or 30:5:65 or 40:10:50 or any other internally consistent allocation.
But those ratios between saving and investing, giving, and spending should be decided on even if you earn less than RM2,000 or more than RM200,000 a month.
CAUSES THAT RESONATE
If in the past you’ve only given to charity on an ad hoc basis, I urge you to conduct deep research into causes that resonate with you.
When my father was alive, he told me numerous times his favourite charity was St Nicholas’ Home, Penang, which cares for the BVI (Blind and Visually Impaired).
Throughout his life he — lawyer D.A. Devadason of Melaka — donated to a wide spectrum of charities, yet focused most on the plight of the blind. (For information on his favourite charity, please visit https://snh. org.my).
Some of the charities I choose to support monthly are orphan sponsorship organisations like Watoto’s rescue work in Uganda and World Vision’s initiatives in Indonesia, and the physical rehabilitative agenda of NASAM (the National Stroke Association of Malaysia), which you may learn about at www.nasam.org/whatis-stroke (and of which I hope you’ll tell others).
Note: Not all philanthropy involves money. When we share our knowledge with others (for free), that too is compelling, effective charity. (To access some such resources of mine, visit https://learn. rajendevadason.com)
Regardless of what you choose to do today (or tomorrow) to flex your “generosity muscle” through gifts of money, time and guidance, stay focused on what I consider the North Star of Philanthropy:
Help people grow stronger through — not weaker and endlessly dependent upon — charity.
NORTH STAR OF PHILANTHROPY
Scottish-born industrial magnate Andrew Carnegie was once ranked the wealthiest person on the planet after selling his vast steel-making businesses.
He then ended up giving away more than 90 per cent of that immense wealth to help others during his lifetime.
Carnegie emigrated with his family to the US from Scotland as a young boy.
Later in life, Carnegie warned of a dangerous, debilitating facet of illconsidered “generosity”.
In a June 1889 article commonly referred to as The Gospel of Wealth, Carnegie wrote:
“Those who would administer [their surplus wealth] wisely must, indeed, be wise, for one of the serious obstacles to the improvement of our race is indiscriminate charity. It were better for mankind that the millions of the rich were thrown into the sea than so spent as to encourage the slothful, the drunken, the unworthy.”
Carnegie triggered a tsunami of productive philanthropy much like the 21st century initiatives by Bill Gates and his buddy Warren Buffett in our generation through their GIVING PLEDGE, which has inspired their fellow billionaires to give away major chunks of their wealth to help humanity fight challenges like widespread poverty, refugee woes, female disempowerment and uneven access to education.
Read about The Pledge at https:// givingpledge.org/About.aspx, but understand you don’t need to be among the super- or ultra-wealthy to decide to use a small or sizeable slice of what you possess to alleviate poverty, help refugees, aid persecuted migrants, empower disenfranchised women and children, fund disaster relief and vital medical research, and to make a positive difference in a million other ways — big or small — to our precious, hurting world.
Individuals of true character, regardless of the number of zeroes in our net worth, can harness the financial planning process to craft expenditure plans while we live, and estate distribution initiatives after we die, to help others live better lives.
The darker the night, the more effective a single lit candle is in illuminating our surroundings; better yet would be many candles.
Please join us.