Wealth Isn’t Just the Size of the Bag, It’s the Grip

Making room for what matters

I was looking at my budget last night and realized something crucial was missing.

Giving.

Hang with me…

Now, I admit this isn’t a very sexy hook to an article. But what if the simply act of giving was powerful enough to change your whole money mindset? And in return, the actual numbers in your investment account?

My motivation to examine the budget wasn’t very holy at all, to be honest.

I was trying to figure out how to make room for a new car payment.

My 10-year-old car is perfectly fine. It’s paid off, only has 62k miles, and I work from home anyway. But I just wanted something newer and more exciting.

There’s nothing wrong with that if you have the means. We finally broke down and bought my wife a new SUV last year because squeezing three kids and two adults into a small sedan wasn’t working. She loves it, and honestly, I love driving it on the weekends.

But as I looked down my list of expenses last night, it hit me: my charity and giving line item had been completely empty for the last year.

For a while now, I’ve been obsessed with optimizing. Every spare dollar, every dividend, every single penny went straight into my investment portfolio. I thought white-knuckling my way to financial freedom was the goal.

I’m no saint here, and I’m not writing this to toot my own horn. I also don’t have hard data to prove this to you. But I do know how it’s worked for me in the past.

When I give, my perspective shifts from my own tiny world to others. And ironically, it makes my own world feel bigger, richer, and more exciting.

Maybe the greatest wealth hack isn’t a 10x stock. Maybe it’s learning to stop thinking about ourselves.

The scarcity mindset

When you refuse to let a single dollar go, you train your brain to operate from pure scarcity. You become terrified of losing what’s “yours,” which just makes you a frantic, emotional investor.

True wealth isn’t just about the size of your bag, it’s about the flexibility of your grip. If you can’t give any away, you don’t own your money. Your money owns you.

I realized I was holding on way too tight.

So I talked to my wife and we made a change. This morning, I reduced my weekly investment DCA and redirected that money into automatic giving.

And to be even more transparent, I think we can do more and probably will in the future.

Give to what matters

If you’re looking at your own numbers this week, take a second to ask yourself if you’ve been holding on a little too tight lately. No judgment. Just a question worth asking.

And if the answer is yes, think about where you could redirect some of it. Is there a problem you feel passionate about solving? A local organization doing good work, a community project, or your church?

What could your giving do? Not just for them, but for you.

Until next time, keep walking!

Jeremy