WHY ALL OF US SHOULD WANT TO ACQUIRE WEALTH!!!

Many people have brought to my attention their thoughts on how they feel about the acquisition of greater wealth, including: 

You don't need more wealth or money, you have everything that is important!  

We Should be happy with what we have!  
I'm comfortable where I am!

It is too difficult to raise kids when you have a lot of money!

YES, all of these statements CAN BE TRUE.  I definitely believe that I have everything that is important in my life right now.  I have a wonderful wife, beautiful and healthy children, a roof over my head, and a great job.  I need to be happy with where I am and what I have in my life, which I wrote about in an article on Being Content, but not Complacent.  Raising kids is going to be difficult no matter what you do, so having more wealth doesn't necessarily make it more difficult, but adds another component that you have to be careful and educated about.  

However, I wanted to address these thoughts with the thoughts of others and from what I have learned through reading and my own personal experiences.  

First of all I want it to be very clear that no one NEEDS WEALTH, but having an abundance of temporal goods provides us with so many opportunities to help others and progress.  As said before,
With Great Opportunity Comes Great Responsibility!!!

Here are a few reasons why we should all want and work to acquire some degree of wealth:

Get Rid of the Worry!
There is hardly anything more stressful than worrying about money!  It is one of the primary reasons for divorce and depression.  To have wealth and not worry about bills, debt, or providing the necessities of life is one of my top reasons for acquiring wealth.  There is so much good and opportunity in this world that we will miss if we don't have the time or resources to acquire it.  Most of our lives are run by money, so why not take back our lives and get rid of the worry and stress.

Education opportunities for ourselves and children.  
I have been trying to buy books and go to seminars where I can learn from great people.  It takes a fair amount of money to actively participate in such activities.  Every cent put towards self investment is well worth it.  We grow in value as we increase our knowledge base, and that knowledge base sometimes takes some financial and time investment.  Again, it is not necessary to have money to gain knowledge, but there are so many great opportunities that require a financial investment in order to participate.
Often we think of higher education, aka college, when we think of needing money for our children's education.  This is one area that yes, we need money for, but what about when our children are younger.  Money can provide tutors, classes, and for me I will be traveling to parts of the world for cultural and hands on education.  Again, not necessary but the more we can give them now the further ahead and the greater opportunities they will have later.

Opportunities to serve. 
With all that is demanded of our time it is often difficult to "give back" to the communities and world we live in.  Although it is crucial we serve others, it is often set to the back burner after work and family has gobbled up our time.  As more wealth is gained and we learn to have money work for us, instead of us work for money, it allows us the opportunity to walk away from work and serve others.  I could be a scout leader and go camping for a week, travel the world in missionary service, work for Habitat for Humanity building a home or providing Physical Therapy to suffering people in under privileged worlds.  How would I ever be able to walk away from a job, for any extended period of time, if I lived paycheck to paycheck or I hadn't positioned my financial well being to allow time away from the office.

More time to do good.
We have all seen the movie where the workaholic dad or mom misses their kids recital or game because they were too busy making money.  Their values were out of wack and they had to go through some hard knock lesson to change.  Well what if you have to work and miss your kids events because you just don't have enough money and you have to be at work.  As we accumulate wealth and smarter ways of getting money to work for us we can do more good, not only for our family, but for our community through volunteer work, politics, coaching, and other service opportunities!

More resources to "Feed the Hungry and Clothe the Naked".

There is so much need to help those who are without food or clothes not only in the communities we live, but throughout the world.  Here are some interesting facts from FeedingAmerica.org, taken from the U.S. Census Bureau:

• Almost half the world — over three billion people — live on less than $2.50 a day. ...\
• More than 80 percent of the world's population lives in countries where income differentials are widening. ...
• The poorest 40 percent of the world's population accounts for 5 percent of global income.
• In the U.S. 46.7 million people (14.8 percent) were in poverty.
• In the U.S. 15.5 million (21.1 percent) children under the age of 18 were in poverty.
• In the U.S. 4.6 million (10 percent) seniors 65 and older were in poverty.
• In the U.S. the overall poverty rate according to the Supplemental Poverty Measure is 15.3 percent, as compared with the official poverty rate of 14.8 percent.[ii]
• 6 percent of households (6.9 million households) experienced very low food security.
• Food insecurity exists in every county in America, ranging from a low of 4 percent in Slope County, ND to a high of 33 percent in Humphreys County, MS.[vi]

No matter where you live there is a need and a responsibility reach out to those lacking.  Having the financial resources to buy and donate food and clothing as well as teaching financial skills to others is an opportunity for those that can afford it.  Hopefully you are seeing the trend that I am trying to point out that having greater wealth means more opportunities to help our family, friends, and the community.

More Responsibility but a better You.

The more we have of anything, the more responsibility that we have towards others.  In order to get to a point where we have greater wealth we have to change our poor thinking, poor habits, lack of knowledge, and switch it for something better.  We have to push ourselves to become a better person and a more valuable person to our families, friends, and the world.  As we gain knowledge, wealth, talents, or anything else, if we don't use it to help our family and then others, what good is it.  Anyone can fall in Love with money, which is the root of all evil, but if we remember to be grateful and stay close to God then that temporal prosperity could change lives and the world for the good. while preserving our spiritual well being even with riches.

 “When this people are prepared to properly use the riches of this world for the building up of the Kingdom of God, He is ready and willing to bestow them upon us. I like to see men get rich by their industry, prudence, management and economy, and then devote it to the building up of the Kingdom of God upon the earth.” (JD, vol. 2, pp. 114–15.)   -Brigham Young-

Andrew Carnegie, one of this country’s great philanthropists, stated his attitude toward wealth as follows: “This, then, is held to be the duty of the man of wealth: First, to set an example of modesty, ostentatious living, shunning display or extravagance; to provide moderately for the legitimate wants of those dependent upon him; and after doing so to consider all surplus revenues which come to him simply as trust funds, which he is called upon to administer, and strictly bound as a matter of duty to administer in the manner which, in his judgment, is best calculated to produce the most beneficial results for the community—the man of wealth thus becoming the mere trustee and agent for his poorer brethren, bringing to their service his superior wisdom, experience, and ability to administer, doing for them better than they would or could do for themselves.” (The Gospel of Wealth.)

Here is a great article that lists the warnings and responsibilities of having wealth. Scriptures on the pursuit of wealth 

THE LAW OF ABUNDANCE

SO HOW DO I BECOME WEALTHY???

This is one of the primary reasons for this blog, to figure out how to become wealthy and achieve my goals.  As I figure out how to do it I hope I can clearly communicate my process and help you achieve the same thing.  

So far I know I have to accomplish these things to become wealthy:

1. Create residual income: You have to get your money to work for you, meaning in order to open up my time and gain more currency with the 24 hours myself and everyone else has in a day, I have to find ways to earn money without having to be present.  

2.  Multiplying affect:  Because we only have 24 hours in a day and there is only one me, if I try and use my skills to earn money I will only be able to so much before I cap out on how much I can do and achieve in a day.  Learning to multiply myself is crucial in removing the cap and opening up endless windows of opportunity.  This is why the internet has created more millionaires than there ever has been because one person can create a website that can reach the world.  Authors and movie makers have done this for years where they write one book or make one movie that can then be distributed to millions of people.  A business owner can train his employees to provide the skill set that he has, thus multiplying his abilities through the training of others.  Being able to multiply you and your skills to reach a mass audience is key to being successful.  

3. Invest in yourself:  Take the time to constantly learn and grow as an individual.  As you increase your knowledge base and skill set you will become more valuable, and in turn people will want to exchange currency for your abilities.  

4.  Invest:  I don't know a lot about investments and how to do this, but I found, what seems to be a decent article, on this very topic found here

5.  Convince yourself that you are worthy of success:  so often we are hindered by self limiting beliefs.  Through affirmation statements, positive thinking, and gratitude we can convince our subconscious and conscious mind that we are worthy of achieving anything that we desire.  

TAKE IT FROM THE EXPERTS