All I want for Christmas is...HOPE
It feels so surreal that we are reliving the "Covid nightmare" for another Christmas. As you all know I cherish my end of year message and love to wrap the year up for what it was for us, for our clients and for our country.
Here we are still wrestling with Covid! The bad news is that we might continue to wrestle with it for two years, and maybe more. Where do we go from here?
As some of you already know, a few years ago I had a mid life crisis! I didn't end up buying a toy or moving countries. I ended up writing the Money Intelligence book! As a result, I went through a process of personal transformation about money and our relationship with it. Maslow's hierarchy of needs' ultimate goal of self actualisation ended up mirroring my Money Intelligence model that led to the concept of the Money Anchor as the "self actualised capitalist"! I defined the Money Anchor as someone who believes that contribution, empowerment and compassion are the values we need to adopt to support each other. But I went against the current understanding of the self actualised millionaire philanthropist, and added that the Money Anchor is someone who gives their time, knowledge and if necessary money to those less fortunate
Four months under lockdown 2.0, working all alone with only my laptop and the comfort of my meditation room overlooking olive and fig trees in my garden can do wonders to an accountant: "The world is no longer what it used to be" I realised. This could be the reality for the next decade. So what should we do? What is there to change?
I learnt from my resilient refugee grandparents and hard working small business parents that when it seems like "one lost everything", there is still one thing - as long as we breathe - that we never lose: The Wealth Within and the Wisdom to identify it. Whenever bad stuff happens or good stuff happens and as long as we breathe, we can keep going and praise God for the precious gift of life. So all is GOOD while we wrestle with Covid!
There are good people who are not only wrestling with Covid. There are good people who are wrestling with poverty, injustice, trauma and mental health (and wars and climate change and & and!). This Christmas, I want to support some of those people and I invite you to support them too! Maybe spread the message and become a "Money Anchor" giving them your time, knowledge and if necessary your money to support their good causes. Why? Just take a moment "while you're wrestling with Covid" and look around you and see what you have and who you have. And then look to your right, towards your "neighbour" and choose to love and support them. Wouldn't it be nice if each one of us helped someone to our right and lifted them up?
Here are the awesome leaders/Money Anchors I added on my list to support this year and I invite you to support them too:
Keenan Mundine and Carly Stanley wrestling with injustice:
Following the death of his parents, proud First nation man, Keenan Mundine was placed in foster care and ended up in jail before he was 10 years old. After breaking the cycle of incarceration, he founded, together with proud Wiradjuri woman Carly Stanley, Deadly Connections foundation to help young aboriginal people break the cycle of poverty and incarceration. To find out more click here and for a tax deductible donation, click here. For corporate sponsorship, click here.
Andrew Plastow wrestling with inequity and disadvantage:
After decades as a public school principal, Andrew Plastow left the system in despair at curriculum trends he beleived were not empowering Aboriginal students. The proud Kamilaroi man decided to act on his frustrations and founded a new school, Ngutu College, grounded in indigenous ways of teaching. The College opened in Adelaide with 105 students from aboriginal and migrant backgrounds. This year I ran a short money course for the school's year 6 students teaching them how to calculate the gross profit margin and make a profit on selling their Christmas gifts! An amazing school worth sponsoring. For tax deductible sponsorship, click here.
Father Chris Riley wrestling with family breakdowns:
Father Chris Riley's Youth off the Streets foundation helps young vulnerable people who find themselves on the streets as a result of family breakdown and addiction. This year, I offered our money course - free of charge indefinitely - to the foundation's 160 employees across Australia and also made the program available to every youth off the street young person the foundation supports. The organisation has lots of ways you can get involved, click here to find out more.
Jason Partington wrestling with mental health:
My long time friend and one of my first clients Jason Partington founded Meditation for Men and Making Meditation Mainstream Foundation. His meditation movement on the beach has spread across Sydney's beaches from Manly to Bondi. His programs are a reminder to all of us to take time out and meditate/pray. As the treasurer of the Making meditation Mainstream, I offer his foundation our accounting service to support him so he can support others. You can just rock up on the beach early mornings and join those who have got together to meditate. Find out more here.
Giving back doesn't need to be grand. It benefits both the giver and the recipient. Look around you and find just ONE person you can help/mentor/support/advocate for. If each of us looked to our right and found ONE person, to whom we can give an extra helping hand to, then we can wrestle with our human condition of fear, selfishness and greed and transcend it with hope, faith and love. We can wrestle with Covid and everything else. We can bring Hope and that is what Christmas is all about...