YOUR GIVING ACCOUNT

Do you have a giving account? What is a giving account? A giving account is an account you setup where you make consistent deposits for the purpose of giving away money. If you think about it, you’ll notice that we all have receiving accounts, right? Accounts were we deposit money we receive. We should also have a giving account.

I know your next question is: Why do we need a giving account?

We need a giving account because giving leads to receiving.

Want an example? In Joe Vitale’s book titled “The Greatest Money-Making Secret in History,” he wrote about Percy Ross. Percy Ross started with $2,000,000 and in 17 years gave away around $30,000,000.
How is this possible? How can you start with only $2 million and give away 15 times that amount? Percy must have received a great deal of money throughout his life.

The same thing happened with Edward Stephen Harkness. Edward inherited $100 million dollars from his father. During his life time, he gave away $130 million. He created the first teaching hospital in New York City. When he died, he left $55 million to his wife. I'm not the smartest guy in the world, but the math doesn't add up. $100 minus $130 million does not equal $55 million. Somehow Edward receieved $175 million during his life. Giving must lead to receiving.

Yesterday, I was flipping through the channels and landed on the show Business Nation (It’s on CNBC). They profiled a story on Kiva.org. I’m hooked. Kiva lets you lend money to struggling entrepreneurs in poor countries. Here is a video clip explaining Kiva...

My wife and I have decided to become Kiva lenders. We are going to start off small with $1,000. As our Kiva loans are repaid, we will use the incoming funds to make new loans. In other words, we plan to turn our Kiva account into a “self-financing” giving account. See February’s Income for Life Newsletter to learn more on “self-financing.” We also are going to have our kids help us decide who we should loan money to through Kiva. This is going to be a family project. As our loans are repaid, we can show our children how we have helped these struggling entrepreneurs. I’m hoping that our children learn some valuable lessons from this experience. Here is what I hope they learn:

1) Happiness can be found when you help others.
2) You don’t have to have a billion dollars to give away money.
3) Help those who help themselves.
4)  Gratitude! They might get to really see how others live.

You don’t have to start with a $1,000. You can start with $25 at Kiva.org. I know you can afford $25. It might just be the best $25 you’ve ever invested. Give it a try!

Comments

[Josh Schoenly]

Rob,

What a powerful post. It is amazing when you look at many of the wealthiest (not just monetarily) people in the world and realize how much they give back. Each does it is different ways, but they give. A good friend of mine who sold a business he created with partners for a very large some of money has been giving in the form of lending similar to Kiva and he gets some much enjoyment out of doing so. Well I am off to open my Kiva account!

Best Wishes,

Josh Schoenly
Harrisburg Region Owner

[Carlos Samaniego]

Rob, I love this idea about Kiva. One of my personal goals for this new year is to find a charity that I can support and feel like I am really helping someone! Thank you for this idea!