GIVING – The Surest Path to Wealth

On Thursday, 3rd August, we received a shocker from the world of business and wealth!

Amazon Founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos briefly dethroned Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates to become the world’s richest man for less than 4 hours, before settling back into 3rd place. That was a quick one if you ask me.

Why is Bill Gates the Richest Man Alive?

Have you ever wondered what is keeping Bill Gates up there despite the tough competition?

I am sure there are lots of sophisticated business jargons that can be used to answer this question such as market capitalization, stock value and all that. I wouldn’t want to go into all that now. I am going to highlight one of the simplest reasons Bill Gates has maintained the world’s most coveted position for the past two decades. But before then, did you know that Microsoft makes up only a fraction of Bill Gate’s wealth?

You will be surprised that contrary to popular belief, most of Bill Gate’s money is not coming from Microsoft, the company he founded as a Harvard dropout. If not Microsoft, then where does his wealth come from? According to ABC, he owns just 25 percent of the world’s biggest software company which constitutes about only $11 Billion of his net worth. His biggest asset is a publicly traded company called Cascade Investment.

Bill is actively involved in giving out his money either to Charity or to other businesses through big investments. And he is getting more in return.

The Law of Giving

The Law of giving says the more you give of yourself without expectation of return, the more that will come back to you. Enoch Tan of Mind Reality writes that “what you give to one person, you will receive from a different source. So you don’t have to give with the expectation of receiving back from the same person you give to, but knowing that it will definitely come back to you multiplied from other sources. It works according to the law of cause and effect where the universe always mirrors back to you whatever you do.”

“We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.” – Winston Churchill

The universe operates through a dynamic exchange – giving and receiving are different aspects of the flow of energy in the universe. And in our willingness to give that which we seek, we keep the abundance of the universe circulating in our lives (Chopra)

Bill Gates Obeys the Law of Giving.

Bloomerang reports that, to date, Mr. Gates has donated more than $30 Billion to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which so far has given away $35 Billion in grants to fight hunger, disease, and poverty.

Guarded by the belief that every life has equal value, the Gates Foundation works to help people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to lift themselves up from hunger and extreme poverty. In 2007, the founders of the foundation were ranked as the 2nd most generous philanthropists in America, just behind Warren Buffet.

Together with US investor Warren Buffet, Bill Gates also set up the giving pledge which encourages the world’s richest people to give out at least half of their fortune to charities.

Have you noticed how the richest people in the world are in one way or the other involved in Charity?

According to ABC, despite his philanthropic efforts,

  • Mr. Gates still added about $15 billion to his net wealth over the past year, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index.
  • Mr. Gates’s net worth is reportedly equivalent to 0.5 per cent of the US GDP
  • If he was a country, Mr. Gates would rank above the Ukraine with the 63rd-biggest economy in the world, according to the World Bank.
  • On Bloomberg’s ranking of billionaires, Mr. Gates has a $13-billion lead on number two, Zara majority owner Amancio Ortega.

How You Too Can Create Wealth By Giving

The problem with most of us is that we have mastered from childhood the habit of receiving. We were used to looking up to our parents for money, food, clothes, footwear, school fees and other necessities of life. As we grow into adults, we became used to looking up to employers and the government for wages, salaries, allowances, annual leave, pension and other retirement benefits. This is the pathway to poverty and endless frustration.

Occasionally, when we give to a beggar by the roadside or someone in need, rarely do we consider giving genuinely from the bottom of our hearts. Other people enjoy giving only when their act of charity is going to be broadcast for everyone to see.

It is not just about the giving. The intention matters as well. Don’t wait until you have a million dollars in your account before you learn how to give. Start with the little you have and let it come from your heart.

Deepak Chopra, the author of Seven Laws of Spiritual laws of success,  stated that the intention should be to create happiness for the giver and receiver because happiness is life-supporting and life-sustaining. If you want joy, give joy to others; if you want love, learn to give love; if you want attention and appreciation, learn to give attention and appreciation; if you want material affluence, help others to become materially affluent. In fact, the easiest way to get what you want is to help others get what they want. (Success Values)

Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again. – Luke 6:38 (KJV)

However, do not forget that giving and receiving is not about money or materials things alone. You can also give in kind such as free service to the less privilege, your community, religious house, school etc. It also includes giving help to your colleagues in office, classmates without expectation of receiving anything in return.

In fact, there are lots of benefits to be gained by volunteering your time for a worthy cause. My friend, Mbuodile Obiosio highlights them in this article.

How Do You Give?

Chopra emphasized that the intention behind our giving and receiving is the most important thing. When the act of giving is joyful when it is unconditional and from the heart, then the energy behind the giving increases many times over. But if we give grudgingly, there is no energy behind that giving. If we feel we have lost something through the act of giving, then the gift is not truly given and will not cause an increase.

“It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.” ― Mother Teresa

Once the intention is right, you can rest assured that the Natural Law of Giving will work in your favor, creating wealth for you just like it is doing for Bill Gates.

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7 thoughts on “GIVING – The Surest Path to Wealth”

  1. This is an awesome piece. A must read for young people everywhere especially in Africa and Nigeria. The option of investing in products, people or offering to volunteer for a cause, a company is a great tool to achieving more success.

  2. STEPHEN INYANG

    Yeah. The world revolves around giving. The world can only be a happy place if people learn to be genuine givers. Thanks for this piece.

  3. Pingback: FINTEL Frank Talk - DAY 9 of 10 (Give more) - FINTEL Coach

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