When Warren Buffett released his tax returns after the second Presidential debate, one thing stood out to me: how much he donated to charity versus how much he made in 2015.
He wrote:
OMAHA, Neb.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Answering a question last night about his $916 million income tax loss carryforward in 1995, Donald Trump stated that “Warren Buffett took a massive deduction.” Mr. Trump says he knows more about taxes than any other human. He has not seen my income tax returns. But I am happy to give him the facts.
My 2015 return shows adjusted gross income of $11,563,931. My deductions totaled $5,477,694, of which allowable charitable contributions were $3,469,179. All but $36,037 of the remainder was for state income taxes.
The total charitable contributions I made during the year were $2,858,057,970, of which more than $2.85 billion were not taken as deductions and never will be. Tax law properly limits charitable deductions.
My federal income tax for the year was $1,845,557. Returns for previous years are of a similar nature in respect to contributions, deductions and tax rates.
I have paid federal income tax every year since 1944, when I was 13. (Though, being a slow starter, I owed only $7 in tax that year.) I have copies of all 72 of my returns and none uses a carryforward.
Finally, I have been audited by the IRS multiple times and am currently being audited. I have no problem in releasing my tax information while under audit. Neither would Mr. Trump – at least he would have no legal problem.
Did you see how much he donated to charity? $2.85 billion. Even more interesting is that he never claims his charitable deductions on his tax returns.
Did you notice his 2015 adjusted gross income? $11.5 million. Wow, right?
Buffett’s current net worth is $66.4 billion. The amount he donated to charity overall in 2016 was only 4% of his overall net worth. Even though he earned an income of $11.5 million, he still donated way more than he earned that year. Can you imagine doing something like that?
The Key to Wealth
You see, that is one of the most valuable keys to creating wealth – to give way more than you take in. That wealth is not limited to just money. It is in everything we do in life. If you give more love than you take, you will receive more love than you put out there. If you give more food to others than what you take for yourself, you will receive a bounty of food from the most unlikely of sources.
That latter part is something I witness daily. I give food to the homeless whenever I can. I have way more food than I know what to do with. I don’t expect anything in return when I give.
As a reward from the universe, neighbors knock on my door to deliver plates of food on their best china. People pick up chocolates when they travel to give to me as a gift. Just the other day, someone dropped off a large jug of vinegar just because I commented that I loved the salad dressing my neighbor makes.
The rewards for showing kindness, expecting nothing in return, creates even more wealth according to what you give. That is the key to having a wealthy life. Give way more than what you take for yourself. Give without wanting anything in return. In Buffett’s case, he gives way more than he makes in a year, and still continues to grow his wealth in other areas (investments, interest, etc.).
The most important thing is that he never claims those charitable acts on his tax returns, because to take a credit on your tax returns for charitable giving means that the act of giving was not so selfless. You still got something in return for doing a good deed. That does not equate to giving without some sort of strings attached. The universe does not reward you for those types of actions.
The Lesson
So the lesson learned here today is to give way more than you take in without expecting anything in return. For those who need guidance in growing your monetary wealth this way, start by tithing 10% of your gross income to charities and those who need help. Give selflessly. As your wealth grows each year, donate more and more and more. Don’t claim your charitable contributions on your tax returns. When you have more than enough money to sustain you and your loved ones, start donating more than you take in. This is your way of sharing the wealth and thanking the universe for the wealth it gave to you.
A few weeks ago, I started packing an extra lunch to give to the homeless guys on the block that I adopted in NYC. There are usually two or three guys on that block.
I started packing an extra lunch, just to up my thoughtful giving game. Instead of giving the guys a little treat pack, I would give them a meal that I made in my own kitchen. This was about sharing the blessing I’ve been given. If God deemed that my refrigerator and pantry be filled with so much food (more food than I can consume myself), then I should share the bounty.
When I changed my diet a couple of months ago, I noticed there were certain items I could not donate to the neighborhood food pantry. It made me ponder what I should do with all of this food I can’t eat anymore. That’s when I realized I could cook up a few meals and give it to my guys during the week.
I have a bread machine with plenty of flour. I didn’t know what I could do with all of that flour after my lifestyle changed. Then I realized, I can bake bread for them.
A few days after I came up with the idea of making complete meals for the guys, I saw a Facebook posting about someone who used to do the same thing.
When the writer of the story was a young boy, his mother used to send him to school with an extra lunch for one of the boys in his class. She told him, “Give him the lunch before school.” He didn’t understand why. There were times he would hand the boy the lunch during lunch hour.
He didn’t realize until he was older that the reason why his mother asked him to give the boy the lunch before school was so that no one would know his situation. It was a way of hiding that boy’s poverty from their classmates. Kids can be cruel. His mother wanted to protect the boy from that cruelty he would have received from other kids by receiving this charity.
The author realized the invaluable lesson she was instilling in him. There are kids today that are humiliated because they can’t afford a hot lunch. It is even exacerbated by the school system when children have their hot meals taken away and have it replaced by a cheese sandwich.
A bunch of idiots on a school board decided to institute those rules of cheese sandwiches when parents failed to pay their children’s lunch bills. It’s the school system humiliating the child in front of all of the other children, because their parents are not paying the school lunch bill. They’re punishing the child for their parents’ failure.
It’s not right.
Imagine changing that narrative if you are a parent. What if you sent an extra lunch with your child, just in case there was another child that was subjected to the cheese sandwich? What if you sent them with extra food for those children whose only food they will receive that day are from those school meals? There are some schools that have a private food pantry for impoverished children who are from homes that cannot afford food.
It is private so that other children do not know who is shopping that food pantry.
It is a shame that children have to fear other children finding out that they are starving. Children with the wealth of food on their tables should share with those who do not have that same blessing. This is a human quality that should be instilled in each and every one of us. We should not feel ashamed or overprotective of sharing our blessings with others.
I’ve seen people repulsed when I stop to give food to the homeless guys or stop to talk to them. Someone was telling me recently that he was out with a woman when they were stopped by a homeless man asking for assistance. He went to give him the few dollars he had in his pocket. The homeless man accidentally brushed up against the woman and she freaked out. She was so disgusted she said she had to go home and shower to get the homeless off of her.
When he told me this story, my mouth literally dropped. He re-emphasized the most important point, “They are human beings, too.”
We live in a world where there is so much abundance. It is unfathomable that anyone should go hungry in this country. How is it that we cannot share this wealth of food with everyone?
If you’re a parent, teach your kids a valuable lesson about being a thoughtful and giving human being. Send them to school with an extra lunch for those kids that are hungry. Get the other families to do it, too. If there’s no private food pantry, get the school on board to start one. If there is one in your child’s school, donate to it.
Kids that don’t have to worry about food have a better chance at succeeding in school. When they are focused on where their next meal is coming from or the fact that they are starving, they will fail in school. Even in colleges, this is an issue. Don’t think that just because someone got into college that they are not homeless or starving. They are still trying to better their situation, but it becomes difficult when they are looking at the clock hoping they get to the shelter in time or the fact that they are starving. When all you can think about is food, it makes it harder to concentrate on your studies.
It takes a village to help raise each and every child. We need to change the current narrative and stop being so divided. It is small changes like this that will help move our future as a society in the right direction.
For the adults, pack an extra lunch. You never know who you’ll encounter that may be hungry and starving. Maybe you already know someone that could use that extra lunch you’ve packed. There may even be someone in your own workplace or church congregation that can’t afford food.
Donate to your local food pantry. If there’s no community food pantry, start a giving box where people can put food in the pantry box. People that need the food can take what they want. This is about helping each other. No one in America should go hungry. Do your part and share your blessings with others. Not everyone gets that same blessing of a hot meal three times a day. Some people are praying for what you take for granted.
How are you changing the world? Oftentimes we get so caught up in our own lives that we forget to care about anything else around us that doesn’t affect us. Then one day, time stands still for a moment and we are forced to stop. We are forced to watch an atrocity taking place. Then we ask ourselves how this could happen. How could evil like this be born into this world? What can we do to help the victims? How can we stop the evil from growing? How can we stop it from happening again?
When we say “we,” we don’t necessarily mean ourselves. We mean the government, our armies and just about everyone else out there but ourselves. Trust me when I say you’re not the only person thinking that.
That’s what needs to change. We need to change.
If we truly seek to change the world and to make it into a better place, we need to go out there and make these changes. How does one start?
It’s The Little Things
Changing the world doesn’t happen overnight. It takes small steps at first. You start by getting out of your shell and interacting with complete strangers.
After seeing the movie “Shelter,” I started carrying around extra food with me to give to any homeless person I came across. Usually, it’s an orange or a clementine. Homeless and the poor don’t always get their nutrients because they don’t have access to fruits and vegetables all of the time. With the cold days of winter settling in, they’ll need some Vitamin C to keep them from getting sick.
Since seeing the movie, I find myself walking up to sleeping homeless men and leaving them an orange beside them. I stop to talk to a drugged out homeless kid begging for money, handing him an orange with instructions that he must eat it so he doesn’t get sick. I gave one to the guy I’ve seen everyday for the last 10 years because he’s wearing a boot on one of his legs now (how he injured himself is beyond me because he’s always sitting there zenlike, minding his own business, smoking a cigarette).
When I first gave that last guy an orange, his eyes lit up at the kindness. He looked at me and thanked me for the kindness. He was genuine about it, too. You could see it in his eyes.
It was one of those moments where just that one human interaction was very important. It meant that he wasn’t invisible. Someone actually saw him, stopped and acknowledged him.
I’ve noticed over these past few weeks random people watching me stop to leave something for the homeless man at the Finding Neverland theater on Broadway. I think they’re shocked that a well dressed person carrying a bag that could pay their rent for several months, would stop to pay attention to one homeless man. In a way, I hope that by watching me doing an act of kindness, it will encourage them to do the same.
I check to see what he’s eaten while he’s sleeping. It’s apparent he’s getting a lot of his food from Carmine’s. He doesn’t eat it all, but I notice that he’s eating that orange I left him. That’s what I’m checking for. I want to make sure he’s getting his Vitamin C.
I left him another orange this morning, but this time in a Ziploc bag filled with some candy as an extra treat.
For that doped up kid I ran into last night, I checked this morning to see if he did as I asked. Sure enough, someone bought him a McDonald’s breakfast this morning. He didn’t even eat it. But that orange…he ate.
There’s a reason why I chose oranges to carry with me to give out to the homeless. First, they need their nutrients. Second, it’s a sweet treat. Third, what harm can come from an orange?
The third part is the one I want to elaborate on. When you give, you need to make sure that what you give is something that will benefit another human being in more ways than one. You are doing a good deed, so make sure that the good deed is something good for them.
McDonald’s is not conducive of a healthy place to eat. Sure, it’s a hot meal, but there’s only so much McDonald’s a poor person can take. It’s also not a place you’d want to eat every single day. It’s junk food.
When you give, you have to think about the true karmic benefits of giving. What if the person was a vegetarian or didn’t eat pork, but you handed them a sausage, egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast because beggars can’t be choosers, right? WRONG.
Give them something you would eat. Give them something to eat that you enjoy. Give them something that will help them in that very moment keep up their health.
The reason why giving out fruit is a special treat for me (and for the people I give them to) is because there is a high risk of Vitamin C deficiency in the poor and homeless. That leads to sickness and scurvy. Giving them an orange is like giving someone a moment of sweetness that will benefit them and their health. [For more on the scurvy problem in the poor, click on that link.]
When you give to others, expecting nothing in return, you need to think of the good karmic benefit and how far it will go. If you gave them a meal from McDonald’s, how far does that good karma go if the meal makes them sick? I mean, it’s junk food. It’s not good for you. You know that. That’s not how you create a good karmic act.
If you hand them money, what if they take that money to buy drugs, alcohol, cigarettes and other things that are bad for them? How are you helping them? You’re not. You’re feeding into the reason why they are on the streets to begin with.
When you decide what is best to give, think of how it can benefit the person you are giving to. A bottle of water is a good thing. A can of soda is a bad thing. A cup of hot coffee or tea and a conversation is enlightening. A brand new pair of boots can be a bad thing.
For those who are aware of the police officer in Times Square that bought a homeless man a pair of brand new boots during one of the coldest winters Manhattan has seen in years, his kind deed was all over the internet and news. What wasn’t all over the news was what that homeless man did with those brand new boots.
About five days later, I was walking through Port Authority and saw that same man…without the boots. He was back to being barefoot again. I let a few of the news media outlets know about it and they headed down to Port Authority to see it for themselves. Sure enough, he wasn’t wearing them. He said he hid them. He didn’t want anyone to steal them from him. Truthfully, he probably had them stolen from him or he sold them. If they were used boots, he probably would have kept them.
He took that police officer’s good deed and shit all over it.
That’s what you need to be careful of…doing what you think is a good deed, but it ends up being cut short in the cycle of creating good karma by the person you did the kind act for. Those are the good deeds you want to avoid doing, because it doesn’t help anyone no matter how good your intent was.
Creating Good Karma
Creating good karma for yourself and for the world doesn’t end when you do the deed. You have to think of creating a kind act that will continue long after you’ve done your good deed.
For instance, in Morocco, the people there speak kindly of an American woman namedAmy Bend Bishop who visited Morocco back in 1927. She was the woman responsible for creating a free veterinary hospital in Fez, Morocco.
You may not think that’s creating anything special, but it was very special to the people.
The animals in Morocco are almost all work animals. The livelihood of the people depends mainly on those animals. If an animal needs medical attention, they can take it to this free hospital and receive free care for the animals. Although, if the animal is a pet, the owner usually has to pay for the vet bill. The reason that is that if you can afford to buy the food and care for a pet, then you should be able to afford the vet bill for your pet.
Her kind act to the people (and animals) of Morocco has helped keep the good karma flowing long after her death. The people there appreciate this act of kindness because it has helped them in so many ways. She also has people speaking kindly of her long after she’s died.
This is how you keep the good karma flowing and what we should all aim to do. Change the world one small step at a time.
There’s also a lady in Manhattan that died last week that had so many people in attendance at her funeral. Her family was astonished by how many people came. The church didn’t have enough seats to fit everyone.
The people that attended her funeral weren’t just family and friends. They were people whose lives she changed personally. For one Indian family that attended, they said that she had stayed in their home in India for one night many years ago. When one of the girls from that family came to America to attend Columbia University, the girl and her family were invited to stay with this lady for as long as it took for them to get acclimated to New York. How long was that? A month. This coming from staying with this family for one night in India. That is what we call being over generous.
That was the type of person she was.
Her manicurist…she helped her find a husband. She helped get her kids into the right schools. She really was so much a part of helping this woman and her family with all of the major things that happened in her life. Yet, she was just her manicurist.
She helped change the life of each person she came into contact with throughout her journeys around the world. Those changes were big changes in each person’s life. The amount of gratitude they have for her is the game changer.
She lived an incredible, happy life. Everyone loved her. She was wealthy and giving. She used her influence and her mind, heart and soul to change the world around her.
They may be little things to her, but they were big things for the people she helped.
This is how you change the world. You do things that will help people ALL OF THE TIME. There are problems that are BIGGER than you can imagine like how do you stop terrorists? You start by changing how you look at life, how you treat people, and by being kind.
You also have to stop being afraid. You have to stop disconnecting with life. You have to start reconnecting with the world not through your devices, but through real human interaction. The more you disconnect from the real world, the more the world becomes a stranger to you. You, just like everyone else that chooses to disconnect, becomes part of the problem, not part of the solution.
You can say you want change in this world, but you can’t change it by saying it. YOU need to be the change. YOU need to get out there and make that ripple of change. YOU can’t wait for people to change the world the way you wish to see it. YOU need to make that change the world needs. Start small, but think wisely. Think of how you can impact the world through your acts of kindness for the long run, not the short run. How can you change the world into a better place?
Now, imagine if everyone in the world was working towards this common goal of kindness to each other and making this world a better place for everyone.
Law of Karma
If you want great things to happen in your life, you need to do great things for others. When you do good all of the time for others, you are rewarded sevenfold. It’s just the way the universe works.
If you are constantly doing good and making sure that your good deeds go beyond just that one act and continues to keep going, the more you reap from the karmic benefit.
Happiness, good fortune, treasures, money, an amazing life…just about anything you could ever dream for yourself and so much more happens when you are doing good karmic acts. But it’s important that when you do good deeds, you are not looking for the karmic rewards. The universe still looks at your intent. The intent needs to come from a good place, not from a greedy place.
To change the world, you need to constantly be bestowing blessings upon the world and sharing the wealth that God gives to you. Be over generous, and the universe will be over generous to you.
The thing is, you can’t dictate what you want to the universe. I want to explain why…you need to trust that the universe (God) knows what’s best for you. You may think that you want X, but really it’s not what you need (most times it’s not necessarily good for you). God is a lot wiser than you. Trust that he’ll reward you brilliantly. You have to look beyond material possessions. Sometimes having an amazing journey in life with incredible experiences is worth more than all the money in the world. Happiness is the key factor.
Trust that God will know what will truly make you happy. If you go in with that blind faith, doing good for others all of the time without knowing what the reward will be (or caring what the reward will be), you’ll find God can be over generous, too.
Give greatly. Be over generous. Give wisely. Help everyone. Be kind.
To my fellow Americans, have a happy Thanksgiving. Be thankful for what you’ve been given and share that gratitude with the world by sharing that wealth with everyone you come into contact with. If you have leftovers, consider packing up a few meals and delivering it to shut-ins, the elderly spending Thanksgiving alone, the homeless, or families that need a little cheering up. God has given you this feast, share it with all those around you.
This year, I couldn’t wait to get the tree up, so on Thanksgiving Day, while the ham was still roasting in the oven, I put the tree up, decorated it, and began putting together the Advent gifts.
In November, I did all of the Christmas shopping I needed to do. I was done long before Black Friday hit.
This is the second year I’ve joined in the Frosty’s Friends program. This program is sponsored by Jersey Cares. People that sign up get a letter from a child with their Christmas toy wishes. This year, the kids asked for a lot of expensive gifts from Xboxes to DS2s to bikes, to not 1 Monsters High doll but 5 dolls, plus a Barbie and her car! I almost had a heart attack when I got the letters because I sponsored five children and they were all demanding really high ticket items including the now sold out Elsa’s Castle from Frozen.
Because I believe that children should have at least one amazing Christmas in their lifetime, I went ahead and bought them what they asked for…except for the Xbox One and the bike. I can’t ship bikes and the Xbox was out of the question. He asked for a DS too, so he got that instead.
I know a lot of people say I go above and beyond for these kids, but I believe that every child should have a Christmas, no matter how horrible their circumstances are. For these kids to be in the Frosty program, it means they wouldn’t have a Christmas if it weren’t for these gifts.
I will say this, I’m only going to sponsor one child next year. They are just asking for too much these days. This year’s gifts topped 4 figures between all 5 kids. I will say that shopping for all of them the second I got the letters actually helped me to score all of their coveted gifts long before they were sold out, including that now sold out everywhere Elsa Castle. I just hope the kids get their gifts and love them.
Part of me wishes I was there to see them open up their gifts, just to see their faces light up when they see that Frosty got them what they had been wishing for. To me, that look of joy and excitement on a child’s face…that’s what makes Christmas a happier day for me.
As for other charitable works this season, I ended up sending a Christmas box for the troops.
My brother is currently deployed, so he’ll be missing Christmas this year. We usually spend it together. With him away, that means we’ll both be spending this time without family.
He left Afghanistan a few weeks ago. I have no idea where he’s stationed now because they’ve been very secretive with each of the locations. He can’t tell me where he’s stationed until after he’s left each country.
We still stay connected on Skype via text messages. In those messages, he updates me on what he needs/wants while he’s out serving his country. His last message to me was that there apparently was no laundry detergent where he’s currently stationed. He asked me to send him some laundry pods. It was really fun discussing with the post office lady what was in the box I had to send through customs. She asked me, “What? They don’t have laundry detergent in the country he’s stationed in?”
Apparently not, because that was an emergency text he sent me.
The day after I shipped the Tide pods, I shipped out a huge box filled with goodies for him and his squadron. His only request was Ramen and Sriracha. He’s a huge gummy lover, so I made sure to fill it up with plenty of candy, too.
He just by chance mentioned that he didn’t have a bowl for the Ramen, so I ordered a bowl from Crate & Barrel with chopsticks so he could have his Ramen soup. What’s great is that Dollar Tree was selling all of this food for $1 each. A 5-pack of Ramen is $1. That beats what you pay at the grocery store these days.
I also found a few Thai microwavable products. I have no idea what it tastes like, but I’m sure he’s missing some good ole Pad Thai by now.
When I told him I shipped out the boxes and that there was more than enough for him to share with his colleagues, he responded that what I did was a good thing. I was supporting the troops.
It’s funny how he worded it, because he knows me. I don’t support war. I think our troops would be better off protecting us back at home.
This was the first time I’ve ever sent a care package to the troops. I think I felt more of that Scrooge spirit disappear after I mailed off the box.
As for trying to bring the Christmas spirit into my own home, I’ve been opening up a new Advent box every day.
A couple of years ago, I started doing Advent projects. The first year it was all about connecting to the spirit of Christmas. I had spent so many years not celebrating the holiday, that I decided to get reacquainted with the true meaning of Christmas.
I made sure to have plenty of Christmaslike activities planned from reading Charles Dickens, “A Christmas Carol,” to watching holiday movies, to learning all about the story of how Santa Claus came into being…that was my first year of Advent.
Last year, I opened up a bag with a new ornament for each day of Advent.
This year, it’s all about boxes. Each Advent gift had to be in a box with an activity for the day. This year, there were a lot of baking moments from cookies to pancakes for dinner.
Tonight, I’m having peppermint hot cocoa while watching a holiday movie. And yes, when I’m not at a hockey game, I’m watching holiday movies. On the weekends, ABC Family is on all day as they host their 25 days of Christmas movies.
With my latest addition to the family, Matthew Lucifer, around, I have had to put the tree and presents up on the kitchen table so he he won’t get into them. He’s super bad. Here are a few of his outtakes so far this season…
From trying to sneak out with the boxes to the post office, to standing on the charity gifts while I’m wrapping them, to laying on top of the boxes to be shipped out (which happen to be right next to the Christmas stockings), to getting into the decorations, to sitting on the charity presents…he’s been a handful.
That last picture…that gift…he ended up trying to rip open. Trust me, he’s been doing a lot of things he’s not supposed to be doing at Christmas. He gravitates between the naughty and nice list every single day. Naughty more times than nice.
This will be our first Christmas together, so I’ve already purchased his itty bitty toys. I had to give him a new Eeyore, because the other one he had he completely shredded. I still have to find a new harness for him and a few sweaters. Although, if worse comes to worse…we may stick to just bow ties because they’re much easier to get on him. {I learned he is a medium sized dog in clothes. Small is too small for him. He has a very large chest.}
All in all, I thought at first I was nuts for putting the tree up on Thanksgiving Day, but it ended up being a smart thing to do. Ends up Christmas started a little earlier for me this year. I needed to ship out everyone’s gifts weeks before Christmas. Thank goodness I finished shopping for everyone back in November.
Since my brother really can’t get any real gifts this Christmas, because he’d have to lug it from country to country for the next however many months, I decided to prepare for a bigger and better Christmas next year since he is missing Christmas this year.
This year is going to be a bit of a dry run. This is the first year I’ve done a Christmas tree. I plan on upping the ante for next year, including more incredible gifts than he got last year (because we are making up for a missed Christmas) and prepping the home to make it friendlier for his visits.
My brother is a gamer, so I ordered a new video game system, got a bigger, smarter TV, and now he can’t ask me about why I don’t do Blu Ray. In other words, this should be a big surprise for him. The last time I got a new flat screen, he showed up and looked at it and said, “Who got this for you?” I responded, “I did.”
“I mean…who helped you with this?”
“No one. I bought it by myself.”
I’m known to play dumb when it comes to technology, that’s why he gets all of my electronics for me. So doing this without him…I’m hoping he’ll be surprised when he shows up next Christmas.
As for this Christmas, I plan on keeping it low key, opening up gifts and then watching movies at home with some take out Thai food. Technically, that’s what my brother and I would have done anyway if he was home for Christmas.
I still have the Food Pantry to drop off items to before Christmas so my days of charitable giving are not yet complete. That means, more shopping to do.
I just want to end this with one last note on giving…for me, I don’t really need presents for myself because I buy what I want when I want it. I’m never truly in want of anything. But I realize that God gave me such an amazing life, career, and has taken care of me very well over the years. I have to share the wealth of what God has given to me. That means I donate to charities every month (St. Jude’s, Soles for Souls, World Wildlife Foundation and ASPCA). Once a year, I donate gifts to children in need. Every season I donate clothes and other items to the Vietnam Veterans of America. When I do a food order, I order extra items to donate to the food pantry. It’s an ongoing cycle of giving, because when you give to those who need, the universe returns the favor and provides you with the things you need. That is why I share the wealth God has given to me.
Giving is not just a one time deal around Christmas, it’s an ongoing thing. Yes, I am used to donating all of the time. It’s not a big deal anymore like it was when I first started donating. It’s part of the life I live. I know there are people looking for ways to get involved or to be giving during the holidays. Don’t just think of donating one time a year, do it all of the time. You’ll find that when you share your wealth with those who need help like children with cancer, animals that need protecting, or families that are hungry, you’ll find that your wealth ultimately grows substantially.
Every great financial adviser in the world will tell you that (and if they don’t, find a new one). It’s probably the smartest thing you could ever invest in…helping others. I go above and beyond because that’s what my heart demands. It has nothing to do with growing my own money. It’s just what my heart tells me to do. When you follow your heart, that is what makes this life worth living, because our universe becomes a much more magical place on this journey we are on when we give back.
If you are constantly depleting the bank account of good fortune in life, you’ll end up using it all. You have to constantly keep making good karmic deposits into that bank account if you want to continue living an incredible life. It’s just the way it works.
This may be my only post this month, because I’m working on upgrading this site for 2015 and working on new and improved content. I want to wish each and every one of you a Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year! Many, many blessings to you and your loved ones.
If you haven’t seen the movie “The Italian,” you have to see it. It was a powerful performance by a young boy named Kolya Spiridonov. Haley Joel Osment has nothing on this kid’s acting ability. The movie was so emotional right from the get-go.
Throw in the circumstances of the story about a young orphan growing up in a Russian orphanage who decides to go looking for his mother. The movie will leave you balling in tears.
After I saw the movie, I wanted to adopt my own little boy from an orphanage in Russia. But then I thought about all of those other little Russian orphans and then I thought…well…I can’t become an Angelina Jolie of Russian orphans. So maybe working with kids in Russia wouldn’t be such a bad thing…one of these days (when I get my Russian down and I can read and speak it better then a first year).
So when Depesha magazine announced that it was hosting a charity event to benefit children at risk in Russia…I thought…well, as long as the hockey season doesn’t interfere with it, then I’m there.
I’ve met some interesting people at Depesha events…mainly writers, critics, models, etc. Lots of beautiful people there.
So if you’re in the NYC area, you should consider watching “The Italian” and then buying tickets to this event. For the fashionistas of the world…clothing up for auction from various designers in Helen Yarmak’s showroom. It’s worth every single penny to donate your money because really…it breaks my heart to see orphans just trying to make it in the world.
When Warren Buffett released his tax returns after the second Presidential debate, one thing stood out to me: how much he donated to charity versus how much he made in 2015.
