Why Do You Find Talking About Money Uncomfortable?

"And I realized that the conventional world system was designed to offer me comfort in form of security but hidden behind it was a mandatory cost; my time and my freedom". (Acha Etiendem)

2022 is taking its last breath before it vanishes into the history books.  I hope and wish that you achieved some or all of your goals and if not, don't feel down but challenge yourself and go again for you are lucky enough to still be breathing. Remember! as long as you breathe, there's hope. I understand you may be reading this feeling down as the year draws to a close but I tell you to cheer up for you just paid life tuition with your failure(s)  and as long as you keep trying and being persistent, life will eventually offer you what you're striving for, it is inevitable. How do I know this? you might be asking but I learned from two of the greatest books ever written (The Bible and Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill).  Ok! I was thinking to myself and self-reflecting on my shortfalls and accomplishments this year. Its been ups and down but I can say, I have grown as a person and educated myself a bit more than in previous years.

However, one thing that got me philosophizing was MONEY. What is money? I asked myself

Money is a commodity accepted by general consent as a medium of economic exchange. (https://www.britannica.com/topic/money)

Like me, I'm sure you must have wanted or dreamt of doing a lot of certain economic exchanges but this thing called money hindered you. I can definitely think of things like; paying tuition for your dream university, buying some good stuff, taking a vacation, to more important things like lack of money to cater for your health and those of your loved ones. So you see, this topic should never be an uncomfortable topic. At the end of the day, when we begin to bear responsibilities, the money topic becomes inescapable. Religion is one of the biggest control tools that has ever existed. Not that any belief system is inherently bad because I find a tremendous force for good in most of them but rather that some individuals use this to prey on the ignorance of others. My point is, from the bible, the apostle Paul wrote to Timothy (6:10) that “the love of money” is the root of all evil. This was thousands of years ago and till today, we see how lack of money or an addictive behavior towards it is wrecking relationships and households. However, money remains a tool for immense good. That is it! just a tool. See it as a tool and you can certainly learn how to use it.  And we all buzz up and down every day just to secure this bag. You may think otherwise but I leave it to you. 

I particularly find the above definition of money to not be simple enough,  so I will present it like this; if I render you a service, or want something that you have, we agree to make an exchange. Whatever we are exchanging becomes money. Right? that's how money began in ancient times (trade by batter). How about this? let's say I take something from you and we agree (receipt/note) that I have to give it back. Well, with the receipt, we just created money. Let's craft a situation where a third, fourth, or more persons are involved. Say I take something from you and you issue me a receipt, and afterward travel out of the country not to come back. This is how using valuable things came into the frame and with valuable things, I'm referring to Gold and Silver. These metals since the beginning of time have been valuable and wars have been fought and continue to be fought over them. What I'm saying is, I could go and deposit my gold somewhere/safe/public registry/bank reserve and get a checkbook. All I need to do is write you a receipt with my signature while leaving the country for you to present at the bank and receive an equivalent amount of gold worth whatever I took from you. Now you see where we are at? now gold becomes a currency because a third party or multiple parties are involved. 

Enough of the money background. Why do these matter to you and me? The answer lies in productivity. In essence, I presented to you that for someone to get a gold or money settlement, there has to be an exchange be it goods or services rendered. This is basically how the majority of us get our money (in form of rendering a service or selling a product that another person wants and buys); income. And this is the beautiful thing about being of service to society in that you get compensation for doing that (salary). However, it has become a problem and I'm guessing you know why. Read on as I uncover it for you.

Again, remember how the system I described of ancient times worked. You make an exchange and money is the medium. I'm trying hard to not go into taxes (a topic for another episode) but I have to in order for this story to be complete and why my thought process suggests we struggle and are uncomfortable about the topic of money. As humans identify in a group, certain people tend to lead the groups, and the collective catering for that group is done by some members of the group. This usually requires sacrifice and in order to incentivize such sacrifices, the other members have to give something to compensate those leading and sacrificing for the group. This is simply how collective leaders/governments were formed. So, to maintain their functioning for the greater good of the group/community they needed powers and with powers (bestowed on them by each individual) the birth of our struggle and discomfort with money was sealed. Taxes came into play, with a standing military and a code of not questioning authority, greedy human nature in form of politicians brought corruption into the fair monetary system that existed and the two (finance/money and politics) have fostered the evolution and adaptation of economic systems that continue to wreck the common man (me and perhaps you too). 

Damm! I hate long articles and this one is getting long. I will try to wrap it up in this paragraph. The dynamics have certainly changed now as money has a lot to do with managing and making it grow commonly known as the psychology of money. I talked in my last post about several income streams as this is the only way to position yourself back in the times when taxes, inflation, and your expenses did not have to leave you broken. A man (Ronald Reed) who worked as a janitor most of his life earning about $22 000/year managed to die a millionaire philanthropist leaving worth $ 8 million behind even after suffering the financial crisis of 2008. He showed us what the psychology of money meant. You can read about him. It is tough for us as the system is already operating against us and I must admit that it is our attitude towards money that is giving this system leverage on us. How could a Janitor die a millionaire philanthropist and yet some of the best minds in finance died and are dying broke? 

In my thoughts, I'm thinking, if we can't at least hold ourselves accountable then we cannot genuinely seek solutions. I rest my case! And until next time, I wish you a happy Christmas and a prosperous new year.