I went to a church service last weekend with my mother-in-law and the main topic of the sermon happened to be about money. And inevitably, this led to a discussion of tithing. Now I know plenty of people think that when they go to church it’s just going to be a boring lecture guilt-tripping anyone who doesn’t live a perfect Godly life (aka everyone). But there are a lot of excellent thought-provoking life lessons in the Bible that can apply to everyone whether or not you believe in God or Jesus.
It’s always awkward when pastors talk about giving money, and they always make multiple jokes about how awkward it is. For anyone who doesn’t know, one of the tenets of most Christian faiths is to give 10% of your income as a tithe. Like many official Christian beliefs, I imagine the number of Christians actually following that rule is relatively minimal. Most churches insinuate that you should give the full 10% to them, however I personally am of the opinion that as long as the money is going to a charitable cause, it shouldn’t matter. I was impressed that this particular pastor expressed that it he didn’t care whether people donated the tithe to his church or to another cause, he just emphasized that amazing things happen to generous people.
For non-Christians and skeptics, giving money away has been shown to make people happier than spending the money on themselves. Here’s an excellent TED talk that covers this topic better than I can. And it makes total sense – I’ve always felt that giving someone an awesome Christmas present and watching their excitement at opening it is much more satisfying than receiving a similar present myself.
I have to admit that we are not as good at giving money away as we should be. I think the problem is twofold: First of all, it’s unfortunately true that the more money you have the harder it is to give it up. Second, it can often feel like donated money falls into an abyss with little feedback on how helpful it’s been. As a pursuer of FI/RE, I feel that every little extra bit helps in pursuing my goals and dreams. I freely admit that this is absolutely a selfish thought because obviously millions of other people in the world are struggling to simply survive, let alone accumulate enough money to retire early. My only defense is that most people I know are using their extra money to buy fancy houses, new cars, and nice clothes and aren’t donating their excess either.
As to my second point, I do think that some charities are getting better at providing feedback to their donors and writing thank-you letters, providing pictures, etc. However these efforts also take extra time and money that could be spent on the actual cause so it’s a bit of a catch-22. Many charities do allow donors to sponsor a particular individual which allows you to see the direct benefits they receive from a donation. One of the guests on the FIRE Drill podcast (Justin from Saving Sherpa) discussed how he sponsors a child through Ciudad de Angeles, and he actually visits her in person. I can imagine how much happier seeing the direct benefits of your donated money make you feel versus just sending money to an organization online.
I’d like to get better about donating our money and time this year. I think the best way to do it would be to give up something I would normally buy myself and donate that money instead. That way I don’t feel like I’m sacrificing my savings, but I can still give back.