Everyone uses money. We all want it, work for it and think about it. If you don’t know what money is, you are not like most humans. However, the task of defining what money is where it comes from and what its worth belongs to those who dedicate themselves to the discipline of economics. While the creation and growth of money seems somewhat intangible, money is the way we get the things we need and want. Here we look at the multifaceted characteristics of money. Before the development of a medium of exchange, people would barter to obtain the goods and services they needed.
This is basically how it worked: two individuals each possessing a commodity the other wanted or needed would enter into an agreement to trade their goods. This early form of barter, however, does not provide the transferability and divisibility that makes trading efficient. For instance, if you have cows but need bananas, you must find someone who not only has bananas but also the desire for meat. What if you find someone who has the need for meat but no bananas and can only offer you bunnies? To get your meat, he or she must find someone who has bananas and wants bunnies.
The lack of transferability of bartering for goods, as you can see, is tiring, confusing and inefficient. But that is not where the problems end: even if you find someone with whom to trade meat for bananas, you may not think a bunch of them is worth a whole cow. You would then have to devise a way to divide your cow (a messy business) and determine how many bananas you are willing to take for certain parts of your cow. To solve these problems came commodity money, which is a kind of currency based on the value of an underlying commodity.
Colonialists, for example, used beaver pelts and dried corn as currency for transactions. These kinds of commodities were chosen for a number of reasons. They were widely desired and therefore valuable, but they were also durable, portable and easily stored. Another example of commodity money is the U. S. currency before 1971, which was backed by gold. Foreign governments were able to take their U. S. currency and exchange it for gold with the U. S. Federal Reserve. If we think about this relationship between money and gold, we can gain some insight into how money gains its alue: like the beaver pelts and dried corn, gold is valuable purely because people want it. It is not necessarily useful – after all, you can’t eat it, and it won’t keep you warm at night, but the majority of people think it is beautiful, and they know others think it is beautiful. Gold is something you can safely believe is valuable. Before 1971, gold therefore served as a physical token of what is valuable based on people’s perception. Money is any object or record, that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts in a given country or socio-economic context.
The main functions of money are distinguished as: a medium of exchange; a unit of account; a store of value; and, occasionally, a standard of deferred payment. Any kind of object or secure verifiable record that fulfills these functions can serve as money. Money originated as commodity money, but nearly all contemporary money systems are based on fiat money. Fiat money is without intrinsic use value as a physical commodity, and derives its value by being declared by a government to be legal tender; that is, it must be accepted as a form of payment within the boundaries of the country, for “all debts, public and private”.
Everybody knows the value of money. Nothing is more powerful than money. In fact, if we have no money, we cannot buy goods, clothes and other necessaries we need. Without money, we cannot go to the movies, theaters or other amusements places. How can we spend our free time pleasantly on rainy evenings without a color television in front of us? Music from a new hi-fi can relax us quickly after a hard day of work. But how can we satisfy our needs, our desires and our pleasures when we cannot afford to buy them? Thanks to money we can improve our spiritual activities easily.
We can go to any schools; any universities we like to further our knowledge. If our parents are wealthy and powerful we may be sent abroad to study. Moreover, we can enjoy pure happiness by contributing our money to Charity funds to help the poor, the wretched and the victims of other disasters. But money not only brings us the good but the bad as well. This accounts for much of the wickedness in the world. The rich often depend on it to oppress the poor and millionaires sometimes treat their servants with great cruelty.
Many young people, being purse proud of their parent’s wealth and richness, neglect their school activities, always play truant and indulge themselves in alcohol, gambling and debaucheries. They often commit suicide after playing ducks and drakes with all their parents’ fortune. Money, in this way, is the root of all evils. To sum up, happiness does not depend on the quantity of money but on the way how we use it. We should use our money properly. The right use of money may bring us a comfortable life and a cheerful heart. What were you taught about money as you were growing up?
Something like “money doesn’t grow on trees”, or “money is the root of all evil”, or maybe “all rich people are greedy”? Well, how do you expect to become a success financially if you believe these things? You attract into your life what are thinking about and what you believe. If you think there is not enough money in this world for everyone you will never have enough money. That is called the Law of Attraction. First of all, believing that “money doesn’t grow on trees” is an example of what’s called lack or scarcity programming.
Our parents taught us that there was never enough money to go around, and that it was not readily available or abundant. But in truth, the universe is very abundant, and there is lots of money to go around for everyone. Just think what you could do if you have so much money how much your heart desires. What wonderful things you could do with it: travel to the countries you have always dreamt of, buy a house you even scared to think about it, attend meditation classes so you could spiritually grow, donate money to your favorite charity, spend more quality time with your family and the list goes on.
The key is to start thinking that you deserve the money and that there is lots of it available for you, and then you can start attracting it into your life. That’s abundance thinking, which is the opposite of lack or scarcity thinking. When you start thinking about the abundance the Law of Attraction will do the rest. You do not need to know how it is going to happen just make the first step, first thought. Starting is already winning. And what about thinking that “money is the root of all evil”? Can you really expect to become a success if you believe that money is the root of all evil?
Unless you have a desire to be an evil person, your subconscious will not let you have money if you believe deep down that it is the root of all evil. By the way, that quote is taken out of context in the first place. It was originally stated as “the love of money is the root of all evil”. So it has nothing to do with the money itself. Now that you understand that, you can start to think that money is in fact good. You can help people with money. You can stimulate the economy with money. Even the most kind-hearted spiritual person, who says they don’t eed money, can do more to make the world a better place with money than without it. And what about thinking that “all rich people are greedy”? Well, that creates us versus them, whereby you have labeled all of “them” greedy in your mind. You, on the other hand, are very giving in your mind. That’s why you don’t have money, because you’re not greedy. Sure, there must be some rich people in the world who are greedy. But there are also poor people who are greedy. There are both rich and poor people who are very giving as well. The amount of money you have has nothing to do with these character traits.
In fact, a lot of rich people got there by not being greedy. Having a giving attitude opens up a flow of money that often brings them more. You will find the same thing… give away money joyfully to a friend, and notice that it comes back to you in some other form. The world needs to be a balance of give and take, and being joyful both as you give and receive will ensure that you always go with the flow. And changing your mindset from what you were taught as a child to a healthier view of money will allow you to become the financial success you deserve to be, to become real you.
Money does change people either positively or negatively, GENERALLY, we may classify people in two types when it comes to their reaction to sudden wealth: FIRST TYPE: positive change: This is when money changes the way you live, you’ll be indulging yourself and enjoying a better living standards, better home better car, better education and better whatever. Sometimes and I say sometimes, your interests change I mean you add new interests to your old ones. This is a desirable and an expected change. SOCOND TYPE: negative change:
As a consequence, people as their income rise and as their living standards go up, their surrounding change, they can’t still go out with their old buddies’ coz they don’t share common interests with or because they seek wealthier friends, this is a negative change. Money mustn’t change the way you look at your people, it is possible that with money you’d have new interests and new friends but you can’t replace your old buddies, never but unfortunately some people fall into this pattern. Having lots of money can be like a drug.
It can make you feel powerful and giddy (frivolous). It can convince you that everything’s going to be okay. Years ago they asked the great fighter Joe Louis what he thought about money, and he said, “I don’t like money very much, but it calms my nerves. ” Money makes us unjustifiably feel that we’re better and more important than we really are. When money can make you feel humble (umile – modesto), then I think it’s really useful. But if it fattens your ego, which it often does, then look out. That way lays madness.
That’s what all the Greek tragedies are about — hubris — and that’s part of the problem with money. It is greatness, it is power, it is beauty. Money is about love and relationships. It has a wonderful power to bring people together as well as tear them apart. You can’t escape money. If you run from it, it will chase you and catch you. A great philosopher once said “Money is a barrier against all possible evils. ” Let’s explore and expand on this thought. Money can prevent the sufferings that come with poverty like cold and hunger.
While sickness cannot be totally obliterated by money, it can be considerably relieved by it. Generating wealth and giving away money to charity can also provide us with the satisfaction of relieving others from suffering. With money, we can obtain an advanced education that may aid us in the development of genius and extraordinary achievements. It gives us the leisure to devote a part of our time to culture and art. Money can provide a powerful diversion for all or our troubles by permitting distraction from society anxieties that assail us.
So we must try to get a thorough understanding of all that we may possibly do, in an honorable and legitimate way, to conserve wealth. Even to those who have inherited wealth, idleness can be a certain cause of ruin. A great fortune needs genuine labor for efficient administration. Those who leave this duty to strangers may pay a penalty for their negligence. This is why a rich man, who wants to create wealth, preserves and increase his fortune, should be his own business manager. Even artists must know the price that their work is worth.
It is necessary for the artist to be a businessman in order to have the right to be a genius. History is full of example of this. The great Shakespeare labored as a theatre manager to obtain the necessary leisure to produce his dramatic masterpieces. Edison worked as a telegraph operator to pay the bills while he “moonlighted” as an inventor. From the bottom to the top of the ladder, it is necessary to amass money in order to apply it to some great cause. Money is the means by which we may fulfill our purpose in a larger and better way.
Everyone should, in his own way, make an effort to amass some money. Some will apply money to their daily wants. Others seek to swell the fortune that they desire to leave to their children. Some only desire money so they can devote it to some noble enterprise or charity. Finally, a large number see money chiefly as a means of immediate gratification. Whatever the reason, everyone capable of earning money should learn how to manage it properly in order to ensure that they will have enough of it to apply to the causes that they choose.
