Does Giving Help Make You Wealthy or Are You Wealthy in Spite of Giving?

Here's an interesting question: does giving help make you wealthy or are you wealthy in spite of giving?

There seems to be two different views on this issue. The first is that giving in and of itself somehow unlocks the "spiritual realm" (which is a vastly different idea from one person to the next) which draws more money to you and allows you to eventually become wealthier than you would have otherwise. A similar belief along these lines suggests that what goes around comes around and if you are generous more money will flow to you. Here are a few examples of this sort of thinking from some well-known financial personalities:

• A Thought on Giving from David Bach

• More on Giving from David Bach

• Suze Orman: Twelve Steps to Wealth Step Twelve: Giving

• Dave's [Ramsey] Advice on Tithing and Giving

The other view is that if you give, you have less money -- it's pure and simple math. A dollar given is one less dollar you have. So the more you give, the worse off you are financially.

If you've read Free Money Finance for more than 15 seconds, you'll know where I stand on this issue, but I thought I'd open it up for discussion as it should provide some interesting perspectives. Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Comments

[Matt]

Giving should be its own reward, and giving money as a strategy to increase your financial returns is not only foolish but in completely the wrong mind one should be in when giving. Perhaps giving helps cultivate a proper mindset about money the is conducive to a frugal and/or humble lifestyle, but to suggest that it opens up some sort of karmic rate of return is ridiculous on so many levels.

At the very least, such a belief is taken on purely faith alone. Playing slot machines while wearing your 'lucky socks' is about as sound of financial advice, perhaps more so because the slots at least have some mathematical chance of paying out, whereas giving may very well have a 0% chance of returning you something tangible.

Giving is without a doubt important. If you're going to do it though, do it for the right reasons, to help those less fortunate than you.

[Ryan]

I think what you are referring to is similar to "Prosperity Ministry", which basically says that the more you tithe, the richer you will be. I don't personally agree with this philosophy.

[Susan]

I've got considerable debt repayment, so much so that I no longer own a vehicle (but not repossessed)in order to expedite the process. I ride the bus to work and everywhere else but I have noticed that when I give I feel much better about my situation. I feel renewed and even somewhat wealthy. Perhaps real wealth has less to do with money and more to do with gratitude for what I do have and the ability to help someone else. In that respect, the return is immediate and good for my soul.

[Lord]

Giving certainly makes you feel wealthy. No doubt it can be abused like everything else though.

[plonkee]

I don't think giving money away makes you actually wealthy. But it certainly makes you feel wealthier.

Giving in the right mindset is likely to mean that you are a more thoughtful and compassionate person. This may draw people to you, and lead to either a greater happiness in life, or for people to trust you with more money in some sense.

[mysticaltyger]

I believe there is a mystical quality to all of this. When I started tithing on a regular basis, I found a better paying job without much effort and my financial situation gradually improved. I've been tithing for 12 years now, and I will never stop doing it. I don't know exactly how or why it works, but it does.

[Minimum Wage]

After rent and debt service, I have $300/mo left for everything else. I have a creditor who disagrees with the idea that maybe giving draws more money to a person.

The creditor wants more money drawn to THEM, and they want it NOW, and they're not willing to wait for some hypothetical payoff down the road.

[Dr. Artfredo C. Abella Ph.D -COA-PHILIPPINES]

Does Giving Help Make You Wealthy or Are You Wealthy in Spite of Giving? It all defends. Giving is the realization that we are merely God's stewards of earthly possessions, hence we have to return a portion of all that belongs to Him. However, does it help to make you wealthy by giving? One billionaire made a very sound advice on how to become rich: " Never lose money." So here it is, giving would make us difficult to attain to become rich but when we say will it make us wealthy? Then that is a different scenario. Being wealthy may not mean having lots and lots of money. Being wealthy can mean peace of mind, contentments in life and comfortable living. Of course having money would be integral of being wealthy but it is not the only thing that matters alone. One millionaire despite of his being rich would pronounce to the world that he is the most miserable man in this earth. Why is this so? It is because of GREED, it his lust for the money that makes it evil. For both of the questions asked, my answer is yes because if we say we are wealthy it connotes to so many things, wealth may mean bliss and happiness in life. The Bible would recant: " What good does it do to a man even if he owns the whole world but loses his soul." I fully believe that giving or simply put it tithing or philanthropy is but one gesture that is so divine, that is so kindly that we can do for the rest of our unfortunate kinsmen. Even the Yumi society of Japan where it is attributed to a very successful economic community model would advocate that giving or giving of gifts is the most effective way of making things in life run smooth. Someone has said that money particularly is the fuel that makes life run smoothly. Just imagine the magnitude of ease that it can do to a society or an individual who is in dire need of such help. The saying give so that you will receive is applicable here. Indeed giving must also be coupled with a cheerful spirit, if you must give then for heaven's sake give it whole heartedly or none at all. Remember, if for one day we will leave this material earth and meet our creator the only thing that matters will be the good deeds that we have done and the good memories that we left.

[sed]

I think it's a combination of two things.

1) People who give make that a priority and then work the rest of their finances around the giving which makes them more financially literate and able to build wealth in the long run.
It also seems that the religious/ethical priority of giving to the less fortunate could make you re-evaluate the frivolities in your life and live on less allowing you to build more wealth.

or

2) People who give already have built their wealth and can give their excess income.

[Eileen Chilson]

Paul Newman is a good example of what happens when you give your money to help charity. He was already wealthy, but decided to start a "food business" and give all the profits to charity. In 20 years he gave away 250 million dollars (that's just the profits, not sales, taxes, etc.)

The Bible does say, the more you give, the more you receive. We should expect to receive, so we can continue giving, but in the mean time, God will provide for our needs and our desires. God is very generous. It's all about the "relationship" with Him.

There are a lot of wealthy business men who started their businesses without much money and grew to be very wealthy and were also very generous with their money from day one. The founder of Quaker Oats is a good example (his autobiograpy is on Amazon) Even during the 1930s depression his business thrived. Another example is the founder of "Little Debbie's" cakes and cookies sold in every grocery store. He gave back 30% of his profits to charity. Even Angelina Jolie gives one third of her income to charity. The motive for giving should be because it's the right thing to do, but I challenge anyone out there to test the waters, even with the wrong motive and see what happens:):) I don't think the recepients of your giving are going to care about your motive.