It Pays Off To Let Money Work For You
Money, money, money. What does money have to do with simplifying your life? Like it or not, everything. It is money, the actual green bills, as well as our attitudes about money that can either bury or free us.
It is easy to snub our noses at money once we get involved with voluntary simplicity. We may say things like, “I don’t need to think about money because voluntary simplicity is about higher values.” Or, “Anyone knows that money is not the source of happiness, so why spend time worrying about it?”
Since voluntary simplicity is not about running away from money, I decided it was time I devoted a column to the subject of money. Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez’s book “Your Money or Your Life” first woke me up to the relationship between money and a simple life, and recently a classic little paperback flew in my door that woke me up again. It is titled “The Richest Man in Babylon” by George S. Clason, and was first published in 1926. It has been reprinted many times since, because the principles are solid and time-tested.
The basic premise of Clason’s book is about keeping your money for yourself, your family or causes or a lifestyle you believe in. Quit giving it all away to the tailor, the baker and the candlestick maker. In modern-day terms, this means quit buying stuff, junk, gadgets and merchandise because all that does is line the pockets of the merchants with your money, while leaving you broke with a house and garage-full of items you need to worry about. This is called being broke and in bondage to your stuff.
Once you decide to hang on to your money, you make it work for you, instead of against you. Once you get it working for you, it will begin to multiply like those furry, cotton-tailed critters in fields, and you will be on your way to financial independence. Once you attain financial independence, you can choose the kind of life you would like to lead. It will no longer be dictated by the amount of debt you must repay. Of course, this plan can only work once you reduce your wants and desires and are able to live on less money. Remember, all that money you save after you reduce your wants and desires is what goes into your savings. There is another way to use the same principles. You may not see yourself earning enough money to have much left over for investing. No problem, but you still need to apply the “keep your money for yourself” principle. You still need to reduce your wants and desires so you can live on less money. You may never live on investment income, but you can live a more satisfying life freed from junk, debt and overcommitted time.
While the 1926 goal may have been to amass as much money as possible with money itself the end, the 1995 goal is to realize that money is merely a means to achieve the end. The end is not to use the large sums of money you amassed to go out and buy an even bigger house or car, but to keep it working for you in the bank (or some type of investment) so you are freed up to do what you have always wanted to do.
Even if you don’t want to invest your money, spending less can also allow you the freedom to work fewer hours at a paid job. Either way you get out from your bondage of debt and have time for life. This might mean staying in your job if you like it but with the new financial security to know that if something happened to that job, you would not go under. It might mean quitting your job and joining the Peace Corps. It might mean working part time and volunteering or having more time for friends. It might mean going back to school. It could mean anything you want it to mean. It is not easy to turn from a life of consuming to one of saving, but it can be done. Once you reduce your desires, you buy, collect and worry about less clutter, and you have time and space for a more peaceful, joyful life.
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