Are you a prisoner of money?

There is no doubt about it; money is good. It is a good thing to have to spend, to save and to invest.

We all aspire to have more money, but in the process many of us become hostage to the very thing we need or desire most. Sometimes we also become prisoners of what money has enabled us to have.

Take Kiwanuka, a CEO of a manufacturing company. He earns a pretty decent income and gets fantastic bonuses. He has the lifestyle that goes with his status. His friends have however noticed something amiss about Kiwanuka and it has nothing to do with his comfortable lifestyle.

There is actually nothing wrong with that. The problem is that Kiwanuka always feels the need to bring up how much money he makes, what bonus he has earned, what he intends to buy and so forth. This can be at very weird times.

They could be talking about the heat wave, but he always manages to throw in his financial status. It has become so bad, that his friends now avoid inviting him when they meet.

It’s the same case with Jacinta, who runs an investment advisory business that is doing reasonably well. She has built the business from scratch and has seen it grow to the level where it is now well known, profitable and pays her a reasonable salary on a monthly basis.

She has ingrained a good working culture in her company and people generally enjoy working there. Then she decides to add another stream of income. She figures that apart from simply advising people on investments she can make money by directing them to certain investment providers for a commission.

This commission will be banked directly in her personal account and will not form part of the company’s financial reports. However, a year later, things have changed noticeably in her company. Her clients complain that things are just not the same.

STOLEN IDENTITY

They can tell the advice they are receiving is no longer unbiased. Some of her employees say the positive energy in the company has changed and Jacinta had suddenly become very money-minded to the detriment of the business.

Now on to another prisoner of money, Tony. He is 26 years old and lives with his parents. He believes life has simply been unfair to him. He didn’t go to college like many people because he did not make the grades required and his parents could not afford a private university. He works as an administrative assistant at a software company, where he earns Sh15, 000 per month. 

He talks a lot about how the government has let the country down and how he was not born privileged like others. If he managed to get some money e.g. from well-wishers, the lottery, advanced inheritance, rich relatives, etc., he would move to another country where opportunities for people like him are better.

Tony is a good artist. He can paint but he believes that is not a good career or way to make money so he hasn’t tried it. 

Now let’s look into the details of how these three have been held hostage by money. Kiwanuka’s identity has been stolen by money. The reason he feels the urge to always talk about what he has and what he is making or will make, is because that is how he affirms himself.

That’s his way of propping himself up and he thinks he adds value or becomes important to the people around him based on his money. The more money he earns the more important he believes he is.

The problem with this is that it will never be enough. He will never arrive because money is a moving target. Kiwanuka will always aspire to have more because there is always more money to be made and therefore he will always have something to prove about himself.

As for Jacinta, her greed for money today has blocked her foresight. She had a perfectly good business, which was going somewhere but got distracted with the opportunity to make some quick money for herself.

She then lost focus on the real value she was providing, and her stakeholders i.e. her staff and clients could tell the difference. She is now at risk of losing a business that could have given her sustainable income for the longterm.

Money made Jacinta short-sighted. It stole her goals and her focus.

VICTIM MENTALITY

In Tony’s case, money has victimised him and taken his self-confidence hostage. He believes that unless he gets more money today he does not have the power to change the trajectory of his own life. Whilst we can see that Tony is talented and if he put his mind to it (and stopped complaining) he could generate additional income using his art, he doesn’t see that. 

He wants to play victim and let the money, from people who feel sorry for him, find him where he is. Money (or a perceived lack of it) has stolen his ability to see and appreciate what he has e.g. a guaranteed roof over his head for now and raw talent.

Money is a good servant, but a terrible master.  If you make it a master it will take you hostage because it simply has a way of ensuring the conditions for your release are never met. There will never be enough money for Kiwanuka to feel secure.

The greed trap that Jacinta has walked into will never be fulfilled. If Tony has decided to be a victim of life, there is always another reason why things won’t work out. Even if he does jump ship and migrate, he will find reasons to complain and not to use what he has.

Make money a resource that works for you not the other way round. Kiwanuka needs to get security in his value as a person without the money.

Jacinta needs to keep her eyes on her long-term vision and forget the distractions.  Tony needs to just start painting and see where that goes. Master money, don’t let it master you.