Enslaved By Money

What Is Money?


People have many ideas of what money is.

Some say it is a form of measurement.

But a measure of what? Wealth? In the olden days, people measured wealth by how many cows, sheep and horses they had. But do people measure wealth today by your cows and horses? How about slaves? Was there a time when manpower was considered a hot commodity? Are slaves worth anything today? Are your dollar bills sitting in the bank going to protect you if a recession strikes the country? No, wealth can not be measured by the dollar bill.

Some say it is a form of power.

Yes, money can give you power, but if you are stuck on a desert island forever with a trillion dollars, will that money mean squat to you? If someone offered you water and a helicopter to fly out of there, you would trade all your money in a split second. So money is not an accurate measure of power. It heavily depends on how and how wisely you use it (hint!).

Many believe it is the root of all evil... and several others take on this belief without much questioning.

Now, now, now... money is NOT the root of all evil (otherwise, why do you think churches still accept monetary donation and charity?). The love of money is the root of all evil. Remember, money is an excellent servant but a terrible master. If you are trading your life away for the dollar, money then has power over your time and life.

And unless you have proper financial intelligence, the lack of money can spawn a lot of evil thinking and negative mindset as observed in conmen, thieves, criminals, freeloaders, cheapskates, and more.

But what is money, really?

Money is an idea, backed by confidence.

While money has naturally been developed by merchants in the older days to replace the questionable barter system, money today is literally invented by the rich and wealthy.

Entrepreneurs are willing to part with their money to buy other people's time. Other people's time, i.e. employees time, becomes their employer's asset and the employers use this priceless resource to go on to create more wealth for themselves.

And here's the thing: as long as you work for money, you are enslaved by it!B 80% - 90% of the populations today are being enslaved involuntarily.

What we don't realize is that there is a part of our soul that cannot be bought at whatever price. Would you chop off your little finger if your boss offered you 24 months of your salary immediately? You and I know we are worth more than that. But when you hear of cases of people selling their body parts for cash in some countries, you realize how desperate they are.

But to be perfectly honest, we occasionally DO sell out a part of ourselves for money.


Awareness Before Change


Now don't get me wrong: I worked at a job before I became an Internet Entrepreneur.

But let's face it: our needs today are growing more than ever before in any period of history. Prices go up, salaries don't. There are more baby boomers than ever and have very little pension to show for their decades of years of work efforts.

And there is no guessing to how many people really, really hate the unhealthy, hectic lifestyle of getting up early, coping with stress for most of the day, sitting in traffic jams, spending more money and time in traveling, enjoy very little rest, and repeating the viscous cycle day after day.

Definitely doesn't paint a nice financial and lifestyle picture, huh?

The first step to change is to be aware of the problem. Awareness before change (or ABC for short) is necessary if you are to make any changes, start taking control of your financial life, and get out of the rat race.

We need awareness to know what state we are in so we know where we are going. For starters, indulge me in a quick exercise as we wrap up this article:


Time And Money


There are generally 4 types of people in the world:

(1) No time, and no money.

Most employees fall into the category. You can't go shopping on a Tuesday afternoon or fire your boss whenever you like. Most employees can't even save money in their pension to last 3 years!


(2) No time, lots of money.

Self-employed, professionals, and small business owners are in this category. They are slightly better off than the employee because they earn more, but they have to work even harder than employees to keep up with the diminishing profit margins, competition and servicing their customers.


(3) Got time, no money.

A lot of farmers, villagers, college dropouts or bums have lots of time but no money. Maybe ignorance is bliss, but without a stable source of income, how long can you last?


(4) Got time, and lots of money.

This is the category of big business owners, landlords and investors. Imagine, not having to work for money, but having money to work for you by investing and earning profits by using your money to make money.


Short Quiz

1. (How you can know) Which one of the four categories are you currently in?

2. Which one category do you desire to be in tomorrow?