From Struggling to Charitable: 111 Steps to Mastering Money

By Lungile Dingaan

REKINDLE THAT DREAM OF A WEALTHIER LIFE.

Most people fail to understand the broad spectrum that money encompasses. Money isn’t limited only to being the coins, the notes in your wallet and the numbers in your bank account. In truth, money is much bigger than just being the commodity we exchange and receive goods for on a daily basis.

Debt, interest, credit, lending, investing, borrowing, gambling, benefits, retirement, charity and time are all aspects of money which are intertwined. When most people transact, they don’t realise the implications a single transaction can have on the other aspects in this fragile chain.

Not necessarily a consequence of lack of money, in most cases failure to manage all aspects of money holistically induces financial ruin. Continuation of similar actions results in bad habits that can cause a chain reaction of (financial) disasters, which may lead to chronic financial problems.

The journey ‘From Struggling to Charitable’ addresses this topic very effectively by motivating you to make informed and life-changing decisions through thought-provoking tales. Inspiration is given by historical events which anyone can learn from and still replicate today.

The ‘111 Steps to Mastering Money’ details with precision the descriptions of various money aspects. Once sensitised to all of them, your financial wisdom will expand and with the steps applied, money becomes your own servant, working and earning you more thereby making you a great personal fortune.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lungile Dingaan
• Release date: Aug 8, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370837465

Book preview

FROM STRUGGLING TO CHARITABLE:

111 STEPS TO MASTERING MONEY

FROM STRUGGLING TO CHARITABLE:

111 STEPS

TO MASTERING MONEY

LUNGILE DINGAAN

Copyright © 2016 Lungile Dingaan

Published by Lungile Dingaan Publishing at Smashwords

First edition 2016

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system without permission from the copyright holder.

The Author has made every effort to trace and acknowledge sources/resources/individuals. In the event that any images/information have been incorrectly attributed or credited, the Author will be pleased to rectify these omissions at the earliest opportunity.

Published by Author using Reach Publishers’ services,

P O Box 1384, Wandsbeck, South Africa, 3631

Printed and bound by Novus Print Solutions

Edited by Bronwen Bickerton for Reach Publishers

Cover designed by Reach Publishers

Website: www.reachpublishers.co.za

E-mail: [e-mail]

Contents

Introduction

The Principles of Money

The concept behind the book

Knowing money

What is money?

Interest and money

Why do we need money?

And what is wealth?

The implications of debt 31

The importance of paying your debts

The three levels of economies

Why giving reckless loans is a bad idea

Money’s the absolute form of power

Stigmas attached to money

The future of money

The Don’ts of Money

Mistakes made by the poor

Time wasters

Signs you are heading for financial crisis

Things you mustn’t do to get money

The Do’s of Money

Keep track of your rising expenditure as your income grows.

Finding a reason to be rich

Lessons learned from the rich

Preparing for Take-Off

Time and money

Time management for successful living

Changing your mindset

Gearing Yourself for Wealth

Sources of business funding

Business environment

Decision making that’s geared for success

Finding motivation and will power to create wealth

Self-Improvement Strategy

Understanding your current financial situation

Making yourself marketable

How to Make Money

How to become rich

How to save money

The rules of lending money

Wealth Management

Behave like a successful person

How the rich maintain and grow wealth

The benefits of generosity

Thinking about retirement

Growing Your Wealth

Ways to invest

Buying an existing business

Examples of People Who’ve Made It

Success stories of people with humble backgrounds

Summary

Final thoughts

About the Author

Introduction

"A sailor knows and won’t fail to foresee,

just because he sails a cool breeze on a smooth sea –

it doesn’t mean the breeze can’t turn into a hurricane,

and the blue skies into a flood of rain."

Hello. My name is Lungile Dingaan. For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to share my thoughts and experiences on the subject of wealth. I’ve always been fascinated by wealth. I describe myself as someone who’s achieved good successes in my life through hard work. On the subject of finance, I’ve had my fair share of ups and downs. If I’d known then, just before I ventured into business, a few more of the things I know now I’d definitely be a lot more successful right now.

As the saying goes, it’s never too late to start, especially with learning something new. During the past few years, while reminiscing, I came to a realisation I’m not where I’m supposed to be with my financial situation. That is, I’m far behind on the promises I’ve made to myself, my family and my businesses. I thought to myself, given the amount of time and effort I’ve put into my businesses, I deserve a little bit more if not much more.

The problem I experienced is that, in as much as I was making good money most of the time, the money I was making wasn’t really working as hard for me, it just used to come and go and all I knew, I was just surviving, maintaining a lifestyle. I regard myself as a businessman, which makes finding an answer to the following question even more compelling – ‘why am I not getting rich?’

I know my situation is better than most other people’s, and through the income of my businesses I can get out of debt relatively easily. Maybe that’s reason enough not to care. On the other hand, I realised for me to continue living the lifestyle I’m accustomed to, I’ll have to continue working hard as long as I want to keep my lifestyle. If I stop working at any given moment, I will have to majorly downgrade my lifestyle.

This can’t be right, I thought, there has to be something I’m not doing right that’s hindering me from building substantial wealth. It’s not that I was reckless with money or anything like that, since I wasn’t in any financial trouble. The thought of having to work for the rest of my life perplexed me.

Through an initiative I’ve taken in searching for answers, one thing that struck my mind was how little knowledge I had about money. Where I was failing myself, my family and my businesses is I didn’t know how to make money work for me. All I knew was how to work and make money.

I’ve learnt money needs to be a holistic entity that is inside and outside of you and is in every direction you look. The most shocking realisation I made is that since the dawn of time and all along, people and their money are in a master and servant type of a relationship. In addition, the rules that govern money are both timeless and universal.

A person can either be a master or a servant to his/her money. As a consequence, money enslaves a person who doesn’t apply the rules of mastering it. Hence you find the majority of people working very hard for their entire lives yet they struggle with very little hope of overturning the situation and becoming rich, let alone being charitable.

However, when a person enslaves it, money works very hard. Its loyalty beats anything else in the world and all it wants to do is stay with that person, multiplying with no complaints or protest. The reward to a person who is a master to his/her money is that he/she never has to work hard. Such people gain access to this world’s finest offerings as at their disposal they have more time and money available to do as they desire.

Having said that, once you subject money to specific rules that will ensure you enslave it, eventually you’ll create a perfect relationship. Utilising these guides, you’ll know how to fine tune key financial aspects of your life. You’ll learn about the connotation of money, debts, interest and the marketplace. Your past influences too affect your current financial decision making and better decision making shall be possible through the elimination of societal stigmas about money.

The importance of valuing time and of knowing how to extract as much production out of a single day can’t be underestimated; hence making better use of your time is a strong requirement. The role your mindset plays is very crucial and lastly, keeping the desire and motivation levels high is a necessity.

Let me share the lessons of this incredible journey of mine which has saved me from impending ruin and set me on the path towards financial prosperity. I’m hoping a whole lot of people who find themselves in similar situations will find this inspirational and will travel the road already travelled.

People and their money are in a servant and a master relationship in which the stronger of the two dominates the other.

CHAPTER 1:

The Principles of Money

The concept behind the book

For most people, attaining wealth is an impossibility. They hop from pay cheque to pay cheque in a perpetual circle of debt, month after month, year after year, from the first pay cheque at a young age right up to the last at retirement. Yet despite all this hard work and regular payouts, most never achieve any sort of financial freedom.

This book is about coaching anyone that all it takes to achieve wealth is a mindset change and embracing the concept of wealth as an attainable reality. That means changing your ideas and understanding the key fundamentals of money and wealth. This is because you as an individual played a role in the current financial situation you find yourself in.

Most importantly, the reason you’re still in this financial situation is because you believe it by constantly telling yourself where you are is where you belong and you’ll never be rich. The main premise I’m putting forward is that achieving success is self-belief and with a positive attitude and esteem you too can be rich.

We all know the super wealthy have a mindset which is totally different to the rest of us. It’s a fact that wealthy people have different habits to those of average people. The mindset is the most prevalent force when it comes to managing wealth, money and identifying opportunities. The wealthy have a unique way of thinking that helps them earn more money through sound financial decision making. Their leadership skills are what attract ordinary people to them and when you attract people, surely you can attract money.

Surprisingly, the common denominator between a poor person and a rich person is money. One has little of it and the other lots of it, but we can agree even the poorest of persons has had access to money-making opportunities at some stage. The door to wealth is never closed for anyone and is still waiting to be knocked at. Opportunities exist today and will continue to do so.

We all start with a clean financial slate which we have to nurture for the rest of our lives. When you neglect your financial wellbeing, financial disasters follow. Conversely, when you improve this area of your life, all other areas are positively influenced. When one aspect of your life is compromised, every other aspect becomes compromised too. Humans need complete harmony to operate at peak performance and that includes finances.

Is it possible for mere mortals like me and you to achieve great wealth? Becoming rich takes a combination of dexterity and patience in equal balance. You build on these qualities continuously, combined with sound decision making and the ability to endure leaner times, then your wealth will grow. Getting rich is neither fast nor easy, but with a little bit of perseverance, it’s definitely possible.

When you reach an obstacle, turn it into an opportunity. You have the choice. You can overcome and be a winner, or you can allow it to overcome you and be a loser. The choice is yours and yours alone. Refuse to throw in the towel. Go that extra mile that failures refuse to travel. It is far better to be exhausted from success than to be rested from failure.

Mary Kay Ash (Businesswoman)

Knowing money

If money plays such a crucial role in our lives by bringing us happiness when we have lots of it and unhappiness when we don’t, then how come we know so little about it?

Before you think about being rich, you need to understand money is just a concept. It doesn’t exist in reality. It only becomes real to the person willing to receive it for what they might do in order to receive the money. It is the concept of creating money, accumulating wealth and investing surplus funds which we must comprehend. These are the key ingredients towards financial freedom.

What is money?

It’s quite surprising how very little poor people, and most middle-class people, know about money, except it’s something you earn by working which you can use to buy goods and things. The other way to get money, according to poor people, is you can ask for it or borrow it from someone who has lots of money. Sadly, that’s as much as most people know about money.

Poor people give their labour and receive little money. Middle-class people give their time and receive some money. Rich people hardly seem to do anything and receive the most money. Money is a tool of exchange used by all people irrespective of their class. The world’s wealth is accessible to anyone and there are no limits as to how much a person can make. The only limit is how much effort you’re willing to give to acquire a stake of this wealth.

Money on its own has no value unless you attach a price to something. Money in a wallet has no value until it’s taken out and exchanged for something else. We don’t appreciate looking at money in the same manner as we appreciate looking at a house, a car, or a piece of clothing we just bought. On its own, money is inept and dud until such time as you can find something to exchange it with or a service to exchange it for.

Money didn’t always exist; it was started somewhere in China around 500 BC in the form of coins made of rare earth minerals, although there are records of people using shells prior to that. Everything that has value is, in essence, a representation of wealth. However, no one has everything and there’ll come a time when you’ll need something from someone else. If you can’t get it as a donation or for free, the obvious solution is to buy it. Because this thing has value and represents wealth, the other person will want something from you in exchange, which represents value to him/her too. That’s where money comes in.

Long ago before money, people would exchange goods, for example a cow would be the equivalent of two sheep. This is called bartering. With the complexity of goods exchanged, it became difficult to agree on a price for different goods. Supposedly, one would price salt higher than rice because salt is more scarce and therefore more valuable than readily-available rice. Another person would have plenty of salt in a stockpile and less rice, thereby putting a higher price on the rice than on the salt.

Much later, people began exchanging with gold and silver but this also proved demanding as each time a transaction was made, the mineral had to be examined, tested and graded for quality. It was also risky to carry gold or silver around and this was exaggerated by the hassle of carrying the often-heavy minerals. Despite these negatives, gold and silver in the long run proved to be enduring. With these minerals established, the economies of the ancient worlds were born and trading across kingdoms, empires and continents became much easier and predictable.

With the popularity of gold and silver, coins were also made of minerals which included bronze and copper. Coins were made under the authority of kings or merchants, meaning no one else could produce or make fake copies of them. Gold, silver and bronze coins were small, easy to carry round and very durable. From then onwards, it became easy to set a price on an item based on the number of coins it commanded. The formal pricing of goods was born, which formed the basis of trade as we know it. With pricing, profits could be made, taxes imposed and interest charged. The profits from trade made the markets flourish. At last, kings could earn income from taxes and their empires grew.

Banking began when the merchants had so much gold and silver they needed a place to store them. Bankers kept this gold and silver and in return gave the merchants a piece of exquisitely written paper acknowledging the amount of gold and silver that particular merchant had in storage. With this paper, the merchant was also able to trade with other merchants who had similar pieces of paper, without having to go to the bank to get his/her physical gold first. This was the birth of paper money and cheques.

People were then happy to trade with paper money and even forgot they had gold and silver in the banks. The private banks also accumulated a lot of coins and paper money in addition to the gold and silver they already had. The bankers realised rather than keeping all this money they could also loan the money out and generate interest from the borrowers, which became the basis of the banking system.

In today’s economy, the concept is the same, but we have various forms of payment such as credit cards, bank transfers, internet banking and much more. With digital or electronic banking, the principle is you’re instructing a bank to take money from your account and deposit it into someone else’s account without you having to go to the bank, all done electronically.

Going further back, what that meant was the bankers