This post is our Thank You to fathers everywhere who repeatedly open their wallets to serve the greater good, particularly those who have been behind the Gifting Sense project from the outset: Mark, Jeff, Niilo, Geoff, George, Robert, Howard, Peter, and Hugh.
Giving your time to a cause can be just as helpful as giving money.
One unexpected benefit of doing not-for-profit work is that people often give public good organizations their professional expertise. For example, fathers who work in digital development have given us programming, design, and editing hours beyond their contractual obligations. Most recently, we were given some required legal assistance and the book, which we are reviewing below.
The standard interpretation of the phrase “the blessing of an empty wallet” usually involves the unanticipated lessons one learns when choosing between alternatives because both cannot be paid for. But we have experienced the generosity of others who see our work and understand that it can be furthered from donations in kind. Lynne Twist, the author of The Soul of Money, has also seen the blessings that not only the recipients but also those doing the giving receive.
Not just a memoir but a call to action.
The Soul of Money is both a memoir and a call to action. It chronicles the work of global activist Lynne Twist, who has worked towards eradicating world hunger for over 40 years. At the risk of over-simplifying, it is 257 pages written to explain the importance of examining our attitudes towards money, how we earn it, and how we spend it to joyfully give some of it away to make the world a better place.
The Soul of Money offered Gifting Sense a number of insights on how best to proceed with our mission of immunizing children in the first world against developing poor spending habits. It also reminded us that the resources freed up from ceasing to spend money on items that are under-appreciated can be wonderfully employed elsewhere. We knew we had to bring Lynne’s work to the attention of our users when she asked, among others, the following questions:
- “Does…anyone…need more than a few thoughtfully chosen birthday presents to feel celebrated?”
- “How do we guide our children to…thrive…when the consumer culture drives them to want and to buy things they don’t need?”*
Please note that Lynne doesn’t suggest a world without presents, merely one with fewer gifts that have been more thoughtfully chosen.
If consumption is a habit, can’t thoughtful consumption become a habit?
Many of us will recognize her description of how consumption becomes a habit. Her unbridled commitment to ending world hunger and belief in our collective ability to do so were also very familiar—because we believe in the core of our souls that we can eliminate basic financial illiteracy.
To help parents and educators do that, we created the DIMS-DOES IT MAKE SENSE?® SCORE Calculator. This free, safe, and fun tool is specifically designed to facilitate quick but frequent conversations about how best to spend. It’s a small start but infinitely scalable, and we are already seeing what can be accomplished when kids research whether a gift makes sense for them and their families before they ask for it.
Ask someone in the third act of their life; few things are as satisfying as helping others.
Life eventually teaches us that few things are as satisfying as helping others. But if, as Lynne suggests, we can help our children resist the culture that sometimes drives them to want and buy things they don’t need before they leave home – we can give them decades of personal finance freedom and a much earlier ability to be part of the worldwide community of givers. In other words, we can give our kids a truly rich life. Lynne’s book will show you how. Adopting the household policy that “in this family, we think before we buy” is a solid place to start.
To see how easy that policy is to implement, click on the pink or blue buttons below.
*Pages 53 and 204, The Soul of Money, Lynne Twist with Teresa Barker, W.W. Norton & Company, 2006.
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