You make a living by what you get;
You make a life by what you give.
– Winston Churchill*
I spent the past two lessons on saving money, but now let’s talk about sharing money. In my opinion, of the 3 S’s – Share, Save, Spend – sharing comes first. Why? Because your saving and spending habits depend on how you view sharing.
You’re probably thinking, sharing has nothing in common with the other two. Saving and spending are self-serving, whereas sharing is about others. But let’s examine that for a moment. The money you save eventually gets spent, and who do you give that money to when you spend it? To others. In fact, you could argue that the end goal of all money is to be shared with others.
Can you think of all the ways that your money gets shared? Let’s look at a few.
Charity
Charity donations and/or church tithes are a great way to develop a habit of sharing. Not only do you make a difference for others by giving, but you also feel good about it. Practice sharing first by automatically setting aside a portion to give away each time you receive money.
Taxes
Even though it’s called “paying” taxes, you are actually “sharing” taxes with everyone, including yourself. Tax dollars fuel essential parts of our society. Police, firefighters, roads, and schools name a few. Taxes get a negative reputation because they lower our earnings, money that we feel belonged to us already, when in fact, we should take the same approach with taxes as we do with charity. Set aside what you are “sharing” in taxes first, and then treat the remainder as your own earnings.
Parents can teach young children about taxes by taking back 25-cents of every $1 dollar of allowance or gift money for “household tax.”
Tips
Tips probably belong in the Spend, rather than Share, category, but the act of tipping is sharing money. I have witnessed millionaires who did not tip when the situation warranted it, which led me to wonder: If you have $50 million, what is an extra $5 dollars? Was sparing $5 dollars worth letting down the worker who depended on that tip for income? Avoid becoming a scrooge by factoring in the cost of tip before receiving services.
The Ripple Effect
The beauty of sharing money is that it creates a ripple effect. When you donate to a cause, your friends and family will likely follow your lead. When you tip someone, he or she will likely be more generous when tipping others. Sharing not only enhances your own perspective of money, it impacts everyone else’s mindset too. All the more reason to share!
Tune in next week to learn how to have a conversation about spending. Or subscribe below to automatically receive weekly lessons in your inbox!
Homework: Whenever you receive money, automatically devote a portion for sharing before counting your money. If you don’t already have one, find a cause that you are passionate about and donate!
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*The origin of this quote may be different, according to the International Churchill Society.
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