DAY 20: Give, But By A Budget!

I give too much, and that has been a grave source of concern for me. It is good to give, but sometimes we can give unintelligently. You know, I told Frank on the hotseat of Who wants to be a millionaire that I was going to give out half of my winnings, and I did. In fact, I felt good about that, but I have since discovered that most of my giving is unintelligent. What do I mean?

I give a lot mainly because I've always wanted to be like/emulate billionaire philanthropists who give out millions of dollars regularly. But you know what I discovered, those philanthropists can give so much, and regularly too because they have mastered wealth principles. 


Most of them have multiple passive income streams and have already established their names as excellent businessmen and entrepreneurs. They can now give back because they have payed themselves, invested their savings, and like the faithful steward in the bible, they have made (and are still making) huge returns on their money. But I was not yet there! So I made a mistake!

In other words, BILLIONAIRES GIVE BACK, THEY DON'T GIVE FORWARD (-with the aim of making money out of giving)! Which is what most of us do. We give because we see giving as a means to make money. And I must confess that the church is partly to blame in its unbalanced teaching of giving. While it is good to give, while it is scriptural to give, still, you must give within a budget. Nowhere in the bible are we told/commanded to give more than we can afford to. If you do, or have been made to believe you should, change your mindset, or change your church!

We should not put the cart before the horse by giving without a budget. You should spend- by a budget, live- by a budget, and give -by a budget. It is OK to give a portion of your income to charity. What is not OK is when you empty your account to 'give', especially with the aim that the giving will bring back a million-fold return. That is simply a 'get-rich-quick' mentality. 

Why should you give and feel bad afterwards, like you've been hoodwinked?

If you have a passion for giving, I gave some ideas in the article If you won N1 billion today...(I) please read it. I talked about how you can channel your passion for giving rightly. While it is OK to give, it is not OK to give and not have any savings, any emergency fund, or any money left in your retirement account.

Give wisely.