When was the Last Time You Gave Something?

Posted: March 12th, 2009 | Author: Mo2 | Filed under: Finance, General, Philanthropy, Planning | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | No Comments »

Unbalance in The World

The world that we live is not a fair place. No matter where you look there is inequality. Unfortunately only little can be done sometimes. Canada and The United States are extremely rich countries. We have many of the richest people in the world and have great resources. There’s a reason why people want to live in these two countries, it’s obviously not just for the money but because there is so much potential, at least that’s what it seems like at first glance.


 

Unfortunately, not every country can be rich and powerful. Poverty seems to be a common theme yet only little seems to be done about it. Many do give support both humanitarian and monetarily, however it can only change so much. Poverty can often lead to greed, and the leaders of many of these countries are plagued with greed. They can consume the support that is given and only the bare bones of the funding can reach those in need.

 

Even when the funds do reach those in need, simple money cannot change things. You cannot teach your children to ride a bike by supporting them all the time, you must help them make mistakes and learn the hard way. The same goes for supporting those in need, everything cannot be done for them; they have to learn to self-sustain their lives.

 

Why Should We Give?

We all have a limited time in our lives. Compared to some things in this universe, a human life comparable to a mere firework. But if I am to use the analogy of a firework we have our chances in life to burst, spark, and possibly glitter. By living your life, getting married and having children you can probably consider that bursting. When you take care of your friends and family in a genuine way, you might be sparkling. But only can you glitter when you go out of your way to help those that have no relation to you; those that live half a planet away and are suffering even if you cannot see them. Wouldn’t you like to live a life that will be seen as one that shined a light on those that were in need?

 

Warren Buffet and The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Warren Buffet is probably the man I respect the most when it comes to investing. Although, I’m not a pure growth investor, I have had much to learn from his style of investing. A couple years back, Warren Buffet shocked everyone in the financial and the philanthropy world. He donated over $30 billion dollars of his portfolio to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The once richest man in the world gave a large part of his money to another once richest man in the world and his wife to help those that really need it.

 

Before We Start Worrying About Others…

Not everyone can shell out $30 billion dollars to give away. In fact, for most it’s hard to even give anything. Many of us live lives that require us to use every penny of our paycheck to sustain our living standards. Or do we? A recurring theme in my website is that you don’t need to spend every penny of your money to sustain your lifestyle. I don’t care if you make two thousand dollars or a million dollars a month, you can survive. If you are spending every penny of your monthly income, you have a problem and trust me, it isn’t only your boss.

 

In a day and age that consumers spend more than they save, you need to really look at what you want in life. Do you want to reward yourself now, or do you want to help yourself have a comfortable (and better) life later on? If you think about your future and plan this way, you will have more money to donate.

 

Give Now or Later?

Everyone will say give now! Why wait? If you have the money then you should give it! I might stir up a controversy with this but I say give later. Warren Buffet wasn’t known for his philanthropy until his shocking move. That’s why it was shocking; he’s never done anything this significant (well other than his billion dollar takeovers) to help others. I have a similar mindset. If you really are willing to give, then you probably won’t change your mind whether you give today or later on.

 

If you give $1,000 today, that’s great and I’m really happy that you did because not many people can take that step. But wait, what if you invested that $1,000 and waited 10 years with a 6% yield. Hmm..let’s see let me pull the calculator out…that’s put you to around $1,790 after 10 years. Even considering inflation that would still amount to more than the $1,000 you gave away 10 years ago. Ideally you should be giving now and later but not everyone can and in my mid-twenties, I know I’m not capable of giving out too much.

 

What’s more is if you bought securities you can give those securities without paying tax (probably depending on where you live) to the charity you intend. And you can keep the dividends if you want! Or give them to someone else. Just a thought, you obviously don’t have to do things this way.

 

Mo2 Thinks

Well, you probably have a good idea of what I think now. Philanthropy really is an immense talk about and I doubt this will be my last article about it. We really need to follow the footsteps of great people like Warren Buffet and the Gates family. I don’t care if they’re the richest people in the world, they don’t have to do what they are doing but yet they still are committing a large part of their lives to helping others. So the question at the end of the day is: “Will you glitter in your life?”