Wisdom dictates that we use our time and resources wisely because we are on a limited timeclock. It has been said that if you give a man a fish, he will eat for a day, but if you teach him how to fish, he can feed himself for a lifetime. If you spend everything you earn, you will be broke. If you save and invest a portion of what you earn, and only live within a budget of your earnings, there may come a day when your money will earn money for you. If you borrow, you will be in debt, and “the borrower is slave to the lender.”
Investments are not always monetary, and how we invest our time and resources will determine how well we live our lives. Investments are always related to time, and whether we invest in children, education, real estate, or financial markets, we are looking for a return on our investment over time. Of course, everyone wants the fastest return possible on their investment, but some investments will only yield results and growth over long periods of time. If we only look for the fast return, we display a ‘get-by’ and a ‘live-for- today’ mentality. When we invest for the long run, we consider the next generation and the future beyond our time here on the planet.
So, if you are investing time and resources in something that is not, and will not, yield a return, it is time to divest. If you are investing time and resources in something that only yields a return for the greedy and the selfish, it is time to divest. If you only invest in get-rich-quick schemes and those things that only give you immediate gratification, it is time to divest. If your investments make the rich richer, and the poor poorer, it is time to divest. If your time and resources are invested in ways that destroy others, or the planet we live on, it is time to divest.
If your relationships suffer because you have invested your time and resources poorly, it is time to reinvest. If your health is failing because you neglected to see the long-term value of investing in healthy living, it is time to reinvest. If your mind and spirit are deadened and numbed, it is time to reinvest. Wisdom may dictate that we expand our understanding of wealth, economics, and time and resource management. Supply side, and trickle-down theories of economics, help to create wealth for a limited number of people. In fact, most of our economic and investment theories are not designed to distribute wealth or make it possible for others to share in the wealth acquisition process. Perhaps we need to develop a boomerang philosophy of economics and investments. Just as you throw the boomerang and it comes back to you, this philosophy of economics and investment would be based on the principle that says you become wealthy by giving rather than taking, and by investing to reinvest in the lives of others, and for future generations. If we are going to be disciplined for success, it cannot be our success alone, or for our generation alone.