1. Money is not, in and of itself, a straight line to happiness. It can contribute, but by itself, is empty. For happiness, meaning and a sense of current, recent and active contribution is required. Also, a sense that you’re in the process of fulfilling your purpose in life helps a lot too.

2. Having money (or not), doesn’t make any human better than another. There are way too many variables that go into the creation of a person’s character to ever say that the result of money means that a person is “good” or “bad.” I think as a society, it would be great if we stopped ‘worshipping’ people with money. Or symbols of it, like fancy homes, nice cars, etc.

We should instead admire and celebrate those who are pouring their hearts into the service of others.

It seems that those who are a bit more consciously aware already know this. And really, society, over time, knows this as well. Think of the big names that come to mind as they have persisted through time, as stars in the sky of history.

Jesus, Gandhi, Mother Theresa, etc.

Even entrepreneurs who’s names we remember, like Steve Jobs. We don’t remember him for how much personal wealth he amassed, but rather for what his service did for humanity collectively, and our lives individually.

I guess if there’s a conclusion here on this point, it would be…

Find something to do where you can provide meaningful service to people AND earn income while you’re doing it. Even if history doesn’t remember your name, you’ll still have the benefit of being profitably happy during a big chunk of your time on this floating blue planet.

3. Having enough money can make generosity easier. It can also make it so you think about money WAY less than you did when you ‘needed’ it. This allows you to spend more of your time thinking about how you can be of service to others, instead of chasing more dollars for yourself.

For this reason alone, even if there was no other, I believe we should all strive for lives of financial freedom.

If you are a generous person and love to spread your generosity to others, having more money will only magnify this ability and this is why, a goal for a prosperous life (ESPECIALLY if you’re providing service along the way) is the furthest place from “selfish” you could find yourself - in spite of what “they” say.

And #4 because we all like to go the extra mile right? ;-) I have found that as I’ve become more and more financially independent, I’m more and more free to be me.

I suppose we can all be ourselves whenever we choose, but I think it’s also true that many of us are always wondering how we should be in relation to how it will affect our ability to earn a living.

I think it’s a shame that we sometimes feel we have to do this.

We hide what we really think and don’t say what we really want to say because we worry about what others will think and dang it, those others might just be a customer some day.

Of course some self restraint is always wise, that being said, it sure is nice to let more of your real self come out from time to time without worrying how it’s going to affect your financial situation because you’ve built a pretty strong fortress of stability around yourself and your family.

In conclusion, as I reflect back on my journey I realize that I did start out chasing the money. Not because I wanted money but because I wanted freedom and money was a pre requisite to that. Somewhere along the way I discovered the magic of passion, service and purpose and made the switch to chasing those instead.

Great thing about that switch is, it doesn’t seem like it’ll ever get old or stale in its power to move me forward. I’ve reached financial goals and said to myself “is this all there is?”

I’ve never provided meaningful service to someone and had that same question cross my mind.

Have an awesome day Friend and thanks so much for reading!