Just a Little More

In modern societies, money is a basic necessity of life. Few civilized cultures function on a barter system nowadays. Consequently, we must all obtain a certain amount of money simply to survive, to buy food and clothing, to pay the rent or house payment; electric and water bills, to put gas in the car, and to pay a host of other ordinary expenses. Even if you have no desire to get rich, it still takes a substantial amount of money just to make ends meet each month, and for many people the money runs out long before the month does.

The making of money and the acquiring of material goods dominate the activities of many people during the day as well as their dreams at night. The problem is that most people can never get enough money to be satisfied. The answer to the question, “How much is enough?” invariably comes back, “Just a little more”. The term greed means simply, “a consuming desire to have more”. It has the nuance of a grasping for more, a lust to acquire. Some of the most selfish people you will ever meet are not rich people, but people who want to be rich as quickly as possible. They may not be extremely poor, middle class, or moderately wealthy, but the insatiable desire for material wealth can turn them into conniving pernicious people.

Causes of Financial Insecurity

• Living beyond our means
Our budget must never exceed our income. The pressure of mass media advertising which says, “You just got to have this or that because life will stop if you don’t have the latest of everything.” Another pressure is keeping up with our neighbors. Our neighbor buys something and we have to have one too. The result: debt like a sinister monster creeps up on our blind side, threatening our future and our house.
• Living unrealistically
This kind of life depends so much in debt because they didn’t have the exact amount of money to buy on cash basis. They don’t accept the reality and don’t know how much they owe or what interest they are paying. They threw away bills unopened because they don’t have the money to pay.
• Living without help
Get help from a trusted friend, who had good friends or friend who is a good businessman or a banker who will teach you not to borrow anymore money.
• Living and not asking yourself questions
Questions like these must be answered by you truthfully:
a. Can I afford it?
b. Do I need it?
c. Is it the best investment?
d. What would I do if I can’t pay it?
e. Am I buying items that will depreciate in value or a depreciating item?

          Greed and lust for the power purchased by money can control a person’s thoughts, actions and attitudes all the way. The love of money, the quest for it, the extent to which we are willing to go for it, is a telling indicator of how just tight a hold of money has on us.

           People often say there is nothing wrong with having money; it is when money has us, that the problems occur. And that is true. Yet many of us tragically miscalculate the strength of the stranglehold money has on our lives, not to mention the tightness which we clinched our fists around our money or checkbooks. We think we control money, but the truth is that money is choking the life out of us, while we foolishly continue to grasp for it.