Jerry Kai-Lewis
13 November 2009
opinion
Have you ever experienced how money makes you feel? Due to either bad spending habits or some unforeseen situation, upon receiving money most of us lose our cool and spend a major part of it, even during the first few days of receiving our checks. Then for the majority of the month we find ourselves either eking our way through or borrowing just to stay afloat till the next check.
Not long ago, I had a visit from Personal Finance Trainer, former Church Evangelist and Guardian Money columnist, Nelson Letswhene. During our conversation about all things metaphysical, he mentioned 'the spirit of money.' "There is a spirit of money?" I asked.
"Sometimes we don't think of money as a living thing. We think that it's just a thing but there is nothing that's not living," he said. It took me a few more weeks of reading up on the 'spirit of money' to come to fully appreciate the power of a legal tender.
Much later I found myself in Letswhene's office at Carbo Centre at Riverwalk Mall to further discuss the topic for the purpose of writing this article. To drive his point home, Letswhene put forward the following scenario: "How'd you feel if I give you P20, 000 right now?" he asked. "I'd feel light on my feet," I responded. "Say, after walking out of here, you see a group of guys hanging about? How would you feel knowing you're carrying all that cash on you?" inquired Letswhene. "I'd feel like they wanna rob me!" I declared.
"So, the spirit of money creates a physiological response. It creates an energy within you such that you walked in free and walked out feeling like everybody wants to rob you!"pointed out Letswhene. According to this new author (in print), it is the spirit of money that forces us to act suspicious after withdrawing a large sum of money from the bank, and the reason why some of us fall prey to those who feel our energy.
In 2003, a few of my acquaintances became instant millionaires through the generous CEDA funds. Forgetting the reasons why they received the loan, i.e. to run businesses, two of them bought luxury vehicles, one a BMW X5, the other a Range Rover, with a portion of the loan. Two years down the line, one lost the business and vehicle, while the other was able to get his old job back and now drives one of his parents'old trucks. "The mentality is not that people are wrong in trying to get X5s; I think what they do is that they don't get in there and realise that they have to make money first and that the money needs to keep coming back. They also fail to differentiate between 'my money' and 'business money'," said Letswhene.
Author of the soon-to-be-released, Functional Mastery over My Finances, and with four e-books to his credit, Letswhene said that most of the people who face such issues are ones who have never ran a business before. Coming fresh out of employment, where they used to earn a few thousand a month, into being 'given' P2, 000, 000 is enough to make anyone forget their sense of bearing. "Businesses are run by people who come with their own 'Un-dealt-with' issues. I can give you all the business principles you want but they wouldn't work because they're being applied by you. The psychology of money is a thing we don't always address, the emotion of money, the thing money creates in us makes us crazy," said Letswhene.
The root of our spending habits, he said, is a "spiritual level at the personal level." Until we correct the root of the issue at the personal level, said Nelson, we will always find ourselves in a position of need. "It's like a budget. A budget wouldn't work because the person applying it doesn't work. You gotta deal with the person first. The regimen is not that complicated if you're committed to it," he added.
Although we are all big spenders in a way, there is still hope to unlearn our bad spending habits in order to save for a rainy day. It's a common thing to blame a lack of savings on the size of your paycheck. A proper knowledge of your discretionary income and a commitment to saving could change all of that. The spirit of money is one that finds everyone, but only stays with those that value its company. To sink this point in Letswhene suggested the following exercise:
Keep a certain amount of money in your wallet for a month. The amount may vary for different people. Let's say that amount is P200. As you go along during the month, look at things that you want that fall within that price range. Don't buy them. You can even try them; just keep reminding yourself that you can afford it. The aim of the exercise is not to stop spending but rather for you to have control over your spending habit, especially for the compulsory spender. "Our mentality when the cheques come in is 'I can afford it' but for the rest of the month we keep saying 'I can't afford it.' This exercise changes that. The subconscious hears that and change and in so doing the number of things you can afford increases because you keep saving more and more and know that 'I can afford it'," added Letswhene.
To help retain the spirit called money, here are a few pointers:
There are many more ways to retain the spirit money, but it takes a switch in mindset that all of us could certainly use. If you can't do it alone then there are people like Nelson Letswhene that can help you reach your goal.
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