• 

Genetics play a significant role in our lives whether we like it, admit it, or not. How we manage money, or fail to, including our money habits are also genetically linked.

If any of one’s parents is a spendthrift and philanthropist with whatever they have, certainly at least one of their children will inherit those tendencies. Similarly, if the other parent is a miser and is stingy, at least one of the children will inherit those tendencies. Those tendencies will be either dominant or recessive in one or all of the children.

However, if any of the children strongly abhors either of the tendencies, and is intentional about not inheriting it, s/he can work hard to ensure that s/he does not become that tendency. For example, if growing up I watched how my mother was always giving our things and household items to everyone that visits us, often depriving us, I might hate being a philanthropist and or giver. Likewise, if momma was also hiding stuff from others and does not help family members or friends who needed our help, I might detest being a miser. The key is be intentional about playing the part that you want to be till it becomes a part of you.

This is so true and became evident to me while in college and participated in the U. S. Census decennial count. All information collected are confidential. I marveled at a particular race who, though they don’t make much comparably, were happier and better managers of their resources. In one of my rapport, I remembered chatting with one head of household who told me that he’s being living in his house for ten years and that he doesn’t go out, he’s happy at home with his family. All he wants to do is rest after work; most times his wife and children go out without him. He owned his home and was planning to pay it off way before the maturation of the thirty-year loan that he got. He stated that he came from a poor background, but had worked hard to financially elevate himself and wanted to give his family a different lifestyle. To say that I was impressed was an understatement.

“It’s not how much you make, but how much you keep.” The quote has been attributed to a few. One of those people is no other than Robert Kiyosaki, the personal finance guru and author of the Rich Dad Poor Dad series. The other is Shaquille O’Neal, the former LA Lakers forward.

One who makes $40K a year, like the head-of-household guy above, could be living a more enriching lifestyle than another who makes $120K a year with a big hone, big mortgage, every gadget in town in his household, cars, and college kids. The latter’s finances could be stretched thinner and leaner than the former.

A man’s life does not consist in the abundance (or lack) of his possessions.

No excuses for any of us. Being from a poor background, does not restrict us to poverty for life. An intentional act, coupled with divine ideas, and working smart and hard, will break the backbone of lack.