The only guaranteed investment in the world
Question: What would be a better and guaranteed way for me to grow my money? Asked at “Ask a Friend,
Ask Efren” free service at www.personalfinance.ph, SMS, Viber, Twitter, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook
Answer: There is this story of a kindergarten teacher who brought uninflated balloons to school. She gave one balloon to each of her students and told them to blow up their balloons, and to write their name on them. She then asked the students to put the balloons in the center of the classroom. The teacher mixed up all of the balloons.
The teacher then instructed her students to find their own balloon. Now you could just imagine the mayhem that followed with each child frantically searching for the balloon with his name on it, kicking other balloons into the air in the process.
Five minutes had gone by and not one child found his balloon.
The teacher then asked her students to stop and stand where they were. She asked them to pick up the balloon nearest to each of them and to give to the student that balloon on which that student’s name was written. It only took two minutes for each child to end up holding on to his balloon.
The teacher then said, “These balloons are like happiness. We will not find it when we are only searching for our own. But if we care about someone else’s happiness … it will ultimately help us find our own.”
The spirit of giving is what makes wealth building so much better because as they say, wealth is like butter, it needs to be spread. If you were to spend your lifetime trying to amass wealth just for yourself, you will be no different from Ebenezer Scrooge before being visited by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come.
But we do not even have to rely on the 1843 work of Charles Dickens to know that giving is the best and guaranteed way to grow money. There is a 2,000-year-old guaranteed wealth formula found in the most widely read book of all time. The formula reads, “Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.” (Luke 6:38) No other investment is truly fully guaranteed. Even government securities bear (price and default) risk.
Money is no one’s business. Our larger than life goals are our business. That is why you will never see any company have as its vision or mission the pursuit of money. That is also why we create wealth for sending children to school, putting a roof over the heads of our family members, funding a long and healthy retirement so as not to be a burden to family and friends, and for passing on that wealth to others when we move to the next life where we will have no more use for material possessions. Wealth distribution is the ultimate goal, not creation.
In the most widely read book mentioned earlier, there is also a passage that reads, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” (John 3:16) Mankind was given the gift of opportunity to attain eternal wealth. Is that not why the Christmas spirit is that of giving? After all, the most widely read book also says, “…Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give” (Matthew 10:8).
So, this time around, why not spread that holiday cheer throughout the year to people far and near whether or not you hold them dear. In the end, you will see wealth in a good measure, packed together, shaken down and overflowing.
A blessed Christmas and a prosperous 2021.
Share the blessings. Be safe and healthy. INQ
Efren Ll. Cruz is a registered financial planner of RFP Philippines, seasoned investment adviser, bestselling author of personal finance books in the Philippines. Join our Yaman Coach Free Webinar series. For details, email [email protected]. To learn more about personal financial planning, attend the 87th RFP Program this January 2021. To inquire, email [email protected] or text at 0917-.6248110
