Good Money Revolution summary

Think of all the things you can do with money.

You can buy a new car . . . a new house . . . pay for your kids through college. You can eat well . . . travel well . . . You can even invest well, and grow your pot further.

Money, in other words, can buy you happiness . . .

Except, as we all know, it can’t. Because there’ll always be a problem with your car, a bigger house, another trip to take, a higher-yielding stock portfolio – and that’s not even mentioning everything else that can go wrong in life. Money is no guarantee of happiness – not by a long shot.

But there’s one thing you can do with your money that is guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

And the great thing is – it’ll probably motivate you to get out and earn more money, too, in a self-perpetuating, virtuous circle.

That’s right, folks. I’m talking about giving money away.

There’s science behind this. At the University of British Columbia, some researchers gave students a little bit of money for free. Half of them were told to spend it on themselves; the other half had to spend it on someone else.

At the end of the day, the scientists asked the students how happy they felt, and guess what: those who had given their money away – to a friend or a soup kitchen or something – were happier than those who’d spent it on themselves.

So, money isn’t the same as happiness – but if you do the right thing with it, it can do some serious good.

And it follows from that, of course, that if you have more money, you can do more good.

That’s what the Good Money Revolution is all about. Yes, the idea is for you to earn more money. But only so you can do something good with it.

Here’s an example. One of the author’s clients, Dave, had a business that was going really well. But Dave felt unmotivated. He’d forgotten why he’d gotten into his work in the first place.

So the author asked him: What causes did he care about?

Dave remembered a trip he had been on a few years ago. He’d seen a small village that was so impoverished it didn’t even have a real school. It’ be great, Dave reflected, to do something about that.

So, the two of them came up with a new business plan. Dave’s aim was to expand his existing business – so that he could use some of the new profits to build a school.

That was all it took to re-motivate Dave. Sales shot up straight away.

Because making money for its own sake won’t make you happy. But making money to fuel your Generosity Purpose? That’ll do the job nicely.