For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.
I recently asked whether or not giving makes you wealthier. Turns out it does (makes you happier too -- and boasts lots of other benefits as well.)
This piece details a series of studies from a professor at BYU. It's a long article and you can get into the details if you like, but I'm simply going to cover the highlights. We'll start with what he initially found when crunching some government data:
I worked for months on my computer in my darkened office. My conclusion was, sure enough, that when people get richer, they tend to give more money away. But I also came up with the following counterintuitive finding—that when people give more money away, they tend to prosper.
Specifically, here's what I found: Say you have two identical families—same religion, same race, same number of kids, same town, same level of education—everything's the same, except that one family gives $100 more to charity than the second family. Then the giving family will earn on average $375 more in income than the non-giving family—and that's statistically attributable to the gift.
What follows is funny (in a way.) He said he didn't believe the results so "I did what college professors always do in this case: I got rid of the data." Ha! Sounds like many of the studies I read were done by people like this. :-)
But our researcher kept on:
I ran the numbers again and looked at volunteering. I found the same thing: People who volunteer do better financially. I ran the numbers on blood donations. Think about that—giving blood. You're not going to get richer if you give blood, are you? Well, yes, you are.
Good for me. I just gave blood the other day. ;-) He goes on -- now from a Christian POV:
The more I ran the numbers, the more I kept getting this crazy result. But still I refused to believe it. In desperation I finally went to a colleague who specialized in the psychology of charitable giving. "I'm getting this result I can't understand," I told him. "It doesn't make sense. It's like the hand of God or something on the economy, and I can't believe it's true."
"Why don't you believe it's true?" he asked me. "You're a Christian, aren't you?"
This shook me a bit, but just for a second. "Yeah, but I'm also a social scientist," I shot back. "We're not supposed to believe those things. I need a more earthbound explanation."
"Well, I'll give you one," he said. "We've known this for 30 years in the psychology profession. You economists— you worry about money all the time, and money is boring. We worry about something that people really care about—the currency by which we really spend our days—and that's happiness. We've known for 30 years that people who give get happier as a result."
Giving makes you happier too? Yep. We've already covered this.
Going on -- more benefits from giving:
People who give to charity are 43 percent more likely than people who don't give to say they're very happy people. People who give blood are twice as likely to say they're very happy people as people who don't. People who volunteer are happier. You simply can't find any kind of service that won't make you happier.
Studies show that when people give, it lowers their levels of stress. People who do their jobs with less stress tend to be more productive and successful. Throughout our lives, if we can find ways to relax, we will profit from it.
The study concludes that when people see strangers giving charitably, they recognize a leadership quality in those strangers. If people witness you as a giver, they will see a leader. Servant leadership is a secret to success, whether you're looking for success or not. When people see you giving and cooperating and serving others, they will see in you a leader, or a future leader, and they cannot help but help you.
Many other studies show that givers have better health, that givers are better citizens—it goes on and on. The bottom line is this: Givers are healthier, happier, and richer in this country—and probably around the world. Giving creates stronger communities and a more prosperous nation.
And some info that fits well with the subject I write about every Sunday:
Who gives the most? And who's getting this wonderful benefit for themselves and their communities?
The number one characteristic of those who give in this country is that they practice a faith. Of people who attend worship services every week, 91 percent give to charity each year. Of people who don't attend every week, 66 percent give. This translates into millions of people who are healthier, happier, and more prosperous than their neighbors, and it charts back to their religious experiences.
What do the data tell me as a Christian man? They tell me that people who take their faith seriously are the beneficiaries of giving because we tend to give a lot. We've been taught to do what is right, and we are reaping the reward.
He then asks how we can help other people give more today and suggests starting by working to dispel some myths about charitable giving. These are:
- Myth number one: Giving makes us poorer.
- Myth number two: People are naturally selfish.
- Myth number three: Giving is a luxury.
- Myth number four: You will hear in the coming days and weeks and months that if our country were doing what it should be doing for people in need, then we wouldn't need private giving, that the government would be taking care of people who need it, and that we would not need you to step in to provide for others. I am here to tell you, having looked at the data, that the day the government takes over for you in your private charity is the day we get poorer, unhappier, and unhealthier.
And he ends with this:
I promise you that this really works. Either because of God in heaven—or because of our neurochemistry. But it really works.
From my personal experience, I can say that when my wife and I started giving we saw the biggest increases in our income. And as we gave more, we made more. Kinda interesting, huh?
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar