Life Goes On... a journey to happiness: The Concept of Money and how I see it

Tonight is such a wonderful evening with nice weather & glittery star-filled sky. I just finished the audio book my friend Solomon Yee shared to me. (Thank you very much sensei) The audio book (Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki ) was quite long but it is very interesting, and It was able to enlighten me on how to teach my kids about the concept of money and hard work in a different perspective, quite opposite to how my parents trained me. The audio book inspired me to write this blog. I hope I’ll do well on this one.

To be born from a poor family with parents who barely had a proper education is indeed unfortunate. I grew up and witnessed how my parents struggled so hard to provide for us. Every cent from their hard-earned money counts. They taught us to be independent and hardworking. My family lives a very simple & contented life (as in super simple, plain life). We barely have anything … lol…I remember asking my father why we don’t have the things our neighbors have, and all he said was, “Anak, huwag ka maiinggit sa kapwa mo, masama yun.” (“My child, never be envious of your neighbors, it’s not good”).

At an early age I realized how important money is. I grew up with the belief that poor people like us who have less money enjoy life less, while on the other hand, rich people enjoy the good things and gets richer everyday…This is my Concept of Money, and I Hated it!

Having less money made me appreciate the value of things around me no matter how simple it may be. “Life is not always about having more financially; it is about being happy & contented with the people that are important to you”. This is how my parents trained me. Part of me agrees with my parents, the other half of me disagree. I hated the fact that we are poor because I wanted to experience what rich people enjoy. At the same time, what my parents taught me about being contented with what we have no matter how minimal it is makes a lot of sense. According to them, I am luckier than rich people because I can sleep better, no one would want to rob my wealth because I have none :P The people who befriends me want me for simply being myself and not for the wealth, fame or power brought about by having lots of money.

Money plays a signiﬁcant role in people’s lives. Studies have found that money is bad for the interpersonal self but can be good for the personal self. (This is with reference to a study done by Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia that conducted an experiment on how people reacted to situations involving money.) On the Interpersonal Self, research is clear that the love of money is often the start of trouble—relationship trouble, mostly. People who highly value money have poorer relationships than those who take a more moderate approach to money. People’s mental health is also harmed when they value both family relationships and the possession of material objects, because these two values conﬂict and cause mental stress. (Intriguingly, people who value material object but not family does not have mental health side effects or mental stress.) Hence, wanting money or what money can buy impairs relationship-related outcomes. However, life seems to be better when people have money than when people lack money. Having more money is associated with more frequent positive emotions and less frequent negative emotions which is good for personal health. Financial strain is accompanied by heightened depression, ill physical health, and lower feelings of control. It is somewhat puzzling that wanting money seems to make life worse, but having money makes life better.

We should remember that although money is our means to survive, it is still only a part of our true Net Worth. There is much more to accomplish than just a solid bank account. Never look at money as our main purpose in life. Look at money as just a tool to establish our goals. It should never be given the power to rule or ruin our lives. Below are simple rules on money matter, it seems very simple but is actually very hard to follow.

Rule-1: Money has to flow in order to stay alive and grow -spend it wisely.

( hmm…Im working on my spending habit, I noticed I’ve been cost cutting a lot..argh! )

Rule-2: Never spend more than you have ( yeah yeah…sure :P )

Rule-3: Always dare to spend it when there is a potential to receive more... Invest.

( Arghh!!! Nothing left for this one … I wanted so badly to save but nothing is left of my salary for me to invest! what the Heck! )

As the saying goes, “Money is the root of all evil.” It’s not money that is evil, but the greed that is inherent in a person and his desire for wealth, power and anything money can buy. It doesn’t take a genius or a scientific study to see clearly how money can make or break a person’s character, sadly thou, most people fall prey to the good things money has to offer, allowing greed crawl within, and the cycle of money madness goes on...and on.

As for myself, I still hate the concept of money and how it makes the world go round & crazy…but hey, don’t get me wrong, like everyone else; I want money…lots and lots of money! And when I get to be a billionaire ($) I’ll give some to anyone who will post a comment on this blog XP … hehe… Who knows? Dreams do come true…