Moneyfulness®

Learning to Live with Money

Michael Keet

• Publisher: Morgan James Publishing
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781642796179
• Topic: Desarrollo personal
• Subtopic: Finanzas personales

Moneyfulness® is a unique combination of financial and mindfulness insight to address the heart of money stress: how people think about money.

Money causes the most stress for people around the world. Seventy-two percent of all Americans experience stress about their finances and that money stress is not only caused by not having money but is caused by the way people think about money—their convictions and behavior. In the concept of mindfulness, there is no mention of stress reduction about money problems. People can find all kinds of stress relievers regarding depression, burn-out, anxiety, etc. For the first time, Michael Keet presents Moneyfulness® a unique concept that fills this gap in the overall concept of mindfulness. Michael presents the idea that people's mindset about money and the practical "how to" belong together, walking readers through the seven aiding factors of mindfulness as they apply to money along with the practical steps for how to actually manage money. For those who are ready to end their money stress, Moneyfulness® shows them how to never look at money the same again!

10 percent of all revenue will be donated to the Moneyfulness® foundation that fights poverty.

Chapter 1

THE GOAL IS POVERTY REDUCTION

Beware of little expenses. A small leak will sink a great ship.

–Benjamin Franklin

Poverty is all across the globe—the western world is no exception. When we hear the word “poverty,” we tend to imagine small shacks in faraway countries. We think of people who are literally struggling to get by, and even though we may be experiencing financial stress, as long as we can put food on the table each night, we do not consider ourselves to be living in poverty.

Because the word poverty calls to mind such specific images, let’s start this chapter with a definition of the word as it will be used here. In this book, we will use a wider definition for the word poverty. When you are struggling to live and have little to no possessions or money, that’s poverty as we know it. When you’re living paycheck to paycheck and have a lot of debt, that’s also poverty, no matter how big or small those paychecks are. And the third kind of poverty concerns the mindset. There exists a large group of people who will never feel like they have enough money or that they might lose the money they do have at any moment. Regardless of the actual size of their bank accounts, they never feel like enough is enough. They have an impoverished mindset.

The goal of Moneyfulness is to eliminate poverty from the world in all its forms. Let’s spend some more time understanding each form of poverty and how they can be combatted.

Shortage of Money in the Third World

Having no money in poor countries leads to completely different problems than we experience in the western world. If you have no money in the third world, this has immediate consequences for your health. You may not have access to food or water, the two essential basic needs for survival. There’s a good reason why, in Maslow’s Pyramid, food and water are at the bottom as the foundation of life itself. Ironically, there is plenty of food and water across the globe; it simply is distributed improperly. In addition to food and water, clothing and a roof over your head are the two basic needs a human has. When you don’t have any money to buy food and clean drinking water, you most definitely have no money to pay for clothing and a roof over your head.

According to WHO (World Health Organization), you are “poor” if you have less than $1.25 to spend a day. It is hard to imagine how to live on $1.25 a day. In 1990, 43% of the global population lived in poverty. In 2000, the percentage dropped to 33%, only to drop even further to 21% after 2010. The rapidly declining percentage of people who have to survive on less than $1.25 gives hope to eliminating poverty in the world. However, this daily amount still isn’t a lot, which is why funds that aim to eliminate poverty will be needed for quite some time.

Methods to Reduce Poverty in the Third World

There are two ways to reduce poverty. The first way is the most obvious method: donating money. Moneyfulness donates 10% of its turnover to projects that engage in poverty reduction. These have to be projects with a clear and transparent financial design. Projects in which money is being misappropriated are not accepted. The donated money must be spent directly and entirely on a concrete project for poverty reduction. These projects can be all across the globe. For instance, a village in Ghana that needs a water well to provide the village with clean drinking water. Another example is a project to support a food bank in New York. Where poverty exists, projects exist to improve the life of others.

The second method of eliminating poverty across the world is education. In addition to projects that donate money, projects that teach how to better manage money qualify for donations as well. All across the globe, educational projects can be established to better manage finances. The better we are able to manage our personal finances, the better our mindsets regarding finances will be and the happier and more positive our attitudes will be towards life.

Money, but Poverty Nonetheless

Mark, an entrepreneur and one of my customers from the administration office, had a gross income of over $100,000 a year. His wife had a part-time job and made $50,000 a year. These are amounts that would make a lot of people very happy. Mark’s income dropped from $175,000 to over a little over $100,000 in the past two years. This automatically meant there was less income every month. They kept living in the same, expensive house, wearing the same designer clothing and having dinner at their favorite five-star restaurant around the corner at least once a week. They went on vacation three times a year, across the globe, and of course, a ski trip was also included. Two years have passed since Mark’s drop in income, and they have depleted their savings. There even is an overdraft at the bank and they have credit card debt. When discussing his financial statements and tax return, he wondered out loud how his savings could have evaporated. Mark had not adjusted his spending pattern to his decline in income. Later on in the book, you’ll find out what money type Mark is, and why he keeps spending so much money. Mark wasn’t the only customer at the administration office who kept up appearances but was hiding a deficit or a pile of debt behind the front door. Having plenty of income but having even more expenses is a common problem in our society.

Methods to Reduce Poverty in the Western World

The first way to reduce poverty in the western world is through education, especially for those who have an income but do not know how to manage it, like Mark. In the current school system, there is little room for financial education, not even in economic studies. In school, the subject of economics is taught, but this hardly includes any knowledge about your personal finances, like how to deal with your own wallet. I have yet to encounter initiatives to teach children how to properly handle their own money at schools, at least not in a structural way like the method used to teach math or languages.

Because very few people have attended the school of personal finances, there are countless adults who do not know how to wisely manage their money. They worry about financial matters, and it gives them stress. Moneyfulness supports projects all across the globe in which education is provided about personal finances in a structural manner. By investing in education concerning your finances, you can help eliminate poverty at a later age. Education is a long-term investment.

The second method is volunteering, either your time or your resources. The food bank is a great example of a charity in the western world. There are a lot of harrowing cases of individuals and entire families who have gotten into trouble, and not always through any fault of their own. These people deserve to get a helping hand. Children, for instance, can’t help it when their parents don’t have any money. Initiatives to do something extra for these children to improve their lives contribute to their positive attitudes later in life. Homeless shelters are for the poorest people in our society; they must be helped. Try to Google projects near you. You’ll be amazed at the diversity and the number of initiatives that exist in this field.

It appears that there is a group of people, in the poorest regions of our society, who do not want to improve their own situation. They keep making the same mistakes, they don’t adhere to their agreements, promises are made, and broken just as easily, they show little flexibility, give up easily and have a bad temper. The conclusion that these people do not want to be helped is easily drawn. However, often it turns out that they are not unwilling; they are unable. Brain research shows poverty causes a serious emotional and cognitive burden. That burden disrupts the wiring in the brain, causing chronic stress. Stress affects the ability to address problems efficiently, to set priorities and to control impulses. Stress makes it harder to make plans and to achieve long-term goals. In summary: the skills you need to escape from poverty are deteriorated greatly by the stress caused by poverty. Don’t forget to help this group out of their vicious cycle.

A Poor Mindset

No true lack of money, but you still feel like you’re poor. How is that possible, you might wonder. If only I had millions of Euros in the bank, imagine the things I could do. Imagine these millions in your bank account. This question has been asked before and a lot of people fantasize about a stuffed bank account. This is one of the reasons why lotteries are doing so well. The answers to these questions vary greatly, from traveling to buying a new house or a new car, to going back to school or helping others and quitting the day job. Everyone has their wishes and dreams.

But about that first statement, how can someone with millions in the bank still feel like they’re poor? I will explain this based on the example of someone who used to be my employer. He was a successful entrepreneur and was listed in the top 500 of the wealthiest people in the Netherlands. At the time, I was the person financially responsible for his company. Every month, we discussed the figures of the company. As the person who was financially responsible, I learned a lot about the private circumstances of this entrepreneur. He was almost heading for retirement and forwarded a large portion of his capital to his children. After the meeting of his monthly figures, he expressed his greatest concern to me. He felt that, now that he had passed everything on to his children, he was poor and was bound to live on a minimal pension. It took me a couple of sessions to make him see that he had plenty of capital to last him the rest of his life, although he still wasn’t entirely convinced. His perception towards money could be classified as a poor mindset.

Solutions for a Poor Mindset

Mindfulness training is the number one way to cure a poor mindset. It’s all about looking at money in a new way, recognizing the behaviors and patterns that get you into trouble, and using that awareness to make changes to the ways you interact with money. When we have millions in the bank but see poverty, there’s a disconnect happening. The mindset needs to be shifted to get in line with the reality of the situation.

People with a poor mindset do not need charitable donations or a big helping hand. They need to understand the principles of mindfulness—a good exercise for someone in any one of these categories—so they can move forward with a plan to reduce their stress and to feel good about their finances.

You have a say in how your money is to be distributed across pending projects. By installing the Moneyfulness app, reading the daily content and by sharing your opinion, you can earn coins. By sharing these messages, you’ll earn extra coins. Participation in discussions at www.Moneyfulness.me and sharing these across various social media will earn you even more. Following the online course is the final opportunity to earn coins. Go to www.Moneyfulness.me to learn about all opportunities for earning and assigning coins.

You can find these coins at www.Moneyfulness.me. Here, you can also find pending projects that currently qualify for sponsoring. The projects are described and may have a video. You can now assign your previously earned coins to a project. Depending on the number of coins assigned, an amount is assigned to various projects. By assigning the coins you earn, you can sponsor projects. Help eliminate poverty through Moneyfulness. Earn your coins and give them to charities.

Chapter 2

MINDFULNESS AND THE MONEY METHOD

Many folks think they aren’t good at earning money, when what they don’t know is how to use it.

–Frank A. Clark

George was always stressed out, especially if he had to pay someone. He was always shouting at the people he had to pay, trying to get whatever he could for free. As you can imagine, George was not a very likable person, all caused by his instant behavior when his wallet was touched. I met him in a Moneyfulness workshop, and he was particularly interested in the practical part of managing his money. His wife sent him, and George wasn’t familiar with mindfulness in the beginning. He didn’t realize that his issues with money stemmed from his mindset until that workshop. It was like a lightbulb went off. After the Moneyfulness workshop, he also went to a mindfulness training voluntarily because he immediately recognized the benefits from the exercises. Now, the moment he feels his anger coming up, he uses the breathing technique he mastered in the mindfulness program and finds a sense of calm again.

Mindfulness has a stress-reducing effect, and it makes you more productive. It adds focus to your thoughts and to your actions. You will enjoy life more, which will make you a lot happier. Mindfulness teaches you to recognize something beautiful in every situation and to enjoy the little things in life. Mindfulness helps you relax and have a more positive image of yourself and your surroundings.

Various studies into stress-related topics clearly show the same three elements: relationships, work and money (and if work concerns retention of your job and with that, your income, this is associated with money).

In the existing mindfulness training sessions, there is plenty of focus on two of the three elements. In the formula of mindfulness, money is not addressed. People who sign up for mindfulness training generally come for anxiety, stress, burnout, or chronic physical complaints. Lack of money or a poor attitude towards money can cause someone great anxiety or stress, which could even lead to depression.

Changing your attitude towards money is the purpose of the Money Method. Everyone has certain beliefs about money. These convictions, have been created somewhere in the past. Perhaps because your parents or others around you voiced their negative opinions of money, saying things like, “Money stinks,” Or, “You can’t make a silk purse out of sow’s ear.” Or, “You must keep money moving.” Or, “Money doesn’t buy happiness.”

The other way to build convictions is through your own experiences. In life, you’ll go through countless of moments and experiences. If, during your first two jobs, you noticed that doing something extra for your boss leads to promotion or a raise, chances are you will automatically work harder in your third job. If you never saw your hard work pay off in your first two jobs, there is little chance you will work extra hard in your next job.

The Money Method helps you analyze your convictions. Where they come from is not relevant, but they are important to analyze. In particular, when money gives you stress or anxiety, the Money Method will help you understand why so you can address those feelings. As the name suggests, the letters of M-O-N-E-Y represent five steps that will change the way you think about money.

M—Mindset

O—Opportunities

N—Not judging

E—Empowerment

Y—Yourself

Let’s take a look at what each letter of the Money Mindset means before we dive into each in later chapters.

Mindset

Moneyfulness begins by questioning your mindset. What is your attitude towards money? It is irrelevant whether you have a lot of money in your account or whether you are in serious overdraft. In this phase, you will map your mindset in an honest way. After all, you are the one who has to face yourself in the mirror tomorrow. To help you with this, you will be given statements and examples. Find out whether you have a poor mindset, have a rich one...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: The Goal Is Poverty Reduction
• Chapter 2: Mindfulness and the MONEY Method
• Chapter 3: M–Mindset
• Chapter 4: O–Opportunities
• Chapter 5: N–Not Judging
• Chapter 6: E–Empowerment
• Chapter 7: Y–Yourself
• Chapter 8: Hollywood Principle
• Chapter 9: BANK Management
• Chapter 10: B–Buffer
• Chapter 11: A–Assets
• Chapter 12: N–Normal Expenses
• Chapter 13: K–Kindness
• Conclusion
• Appendix A: Moneyfulness for Mindfulness Trainers
• Appendix B: Moneyfulness for Entrepreneurs
• Appendix C: Frequently Asked Questions
• Acknowledgements
• About the Author