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In an earlier article, I have reviewed the first 3 chapters of this 9 chapter book. You can find a review of Part 1 here. This article talks about chapters 4 and 5. Part 3 of this book review talks about chapters 6 and 7. Lastly, Part 4 talks about chapters 8 and 9.
As I start this article, I want to talk about the tree. Dave places a tree on the cover and this has got me thinking about the meaning of this tree. Could it represent a family tree and leaving a legacy for that family? Could it mean that the tree has roots, which are the foundation of the tree just like becoming financially successful would be setting the foundation for your family's legacy? Whatever the meaning of the tree, I think it connects very well with the idea of building a legacy for your family.
Chapter 4
In this chapter, Dave talks about what he believes to be one of the most important parts of building wealth and leaving a legacy for your family. It is called contentment. This means that one must be content with where there life is at this current time. You have to stop worrying about what you don't have, but instead worry about everything that you do have. Attitude can change so much in the way that you handle money.
If you are content with what you have and your plan for the future, then you will more than likely succeed. On the contrary, if you constantly believe that you are struggling and that there is no way out, then you will probably be stuck in debt for a while. A belief or change in mindset is everything. Dave uses an example of two different families in this chapter. One family makes $40,000 dollars a year and has gotten themselves out of debt. They are so excited and have started to save for retirement. The other family earns $80,000 a year and is struggling to pay off their debts and they don't believe that they can. Looking at the numbers, a family with an $80,000 income should be succeeding financially, but that's not always the case. Financially speaking, it doesn't matter how much you make, it only matters how you spend your money.
Dave then moves on to different types of discontentment. The first sign is attempting to get rich quick. These people are always looking for some scheme and hoping for the lottery jackpot. They think that they can find a way to get rich quick. There is a great verse from Proverbs that speaks directly to trying to get rich quick.
““A faithful person will be richly blessed, but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished.””
When you try to get rich quick, then you are not trusting the Lord to give you wealth when you can handle it. Also, there is a study that shows that when people win the lottery, they lose everything they earned within 7 years. This is because they were not content in their life and thought they could buy happiness. You can't buy happiness. You can become happy by loving the life that has been given to you and remain content in that life.
The second sign of discontentment is trying to appear wealthy. By trying to look wealthy, people can get themselves into problems because they are living paycheck to paycheck. This is a financial nightmare for any family in this situation. When Thomas Stanley started researching for his book, "The Millionaire Next Door," he started by going to the so called rich parts of town, but he found out that most of the people in mansions weren't millionaires. They were living in debt, but instead he found out that the millionaire were living in average sized homes and didn't own brand new cars. They were wealthy because they didn't care about what people thought about them. They were wealthy because they lived the life that they wanted, not what everybody else expected..
The third sign of discontentment is jealousy and envy. Dave believes that these two are the ugliest, because an envious person believes that others shouldn't have what they can't have. Of course we all know too well, what jealousy can do to a person. It can make you become very ugly. When you are jealous, then you are not being content in where you are in your life. You are worried about other people. This can only lead you down the road towards trying to get rich quick.
As this chapter states really well, you must try to focus on living a life of contentment. This life is too short to worry about what you don't have or what other people have. That type of thinking will lead you down to a very sad and disappointing life. Instead, focus on what you do have and focus on how you can improve your life.
Chapter 5
In this chapter, Daves focuses on three questions:
- Why does work matter to God?
- Why should the right kind of work matter to us?
- How does the work we do impact the Legacy we leave?
I have always been a hard worker and find it hard to sit down and relax. I know that relaxation can be very beneficial, but hard work is also important. A majority of our days are spent working, therefore we should work on things that matter to us and we should work hard. The bible continually talks about the importance of hard work. Dave list many scriptures about hard work, including:
““Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.””
““Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth.””
Both of these verses talk about the importance of diligence and hard work. The verse found in Proverbs 10:4, specifically talks about hard work leading to wealth, whereas laziness leads to poverty. Personally, I believe that hard work is very rewarding and continued hard work will lead to prosperity. Dave always use the following quote, "Your greatest wealth building tool is your income." There is so much truth in that, because if you continually show up to work, then you will continually be paid. With this income, then you can build wealth by saving and investing.
Once again, Dave writes another chapter that gives you a lot of knowledge and a lot to think about. Work is part of our life. We might as well find a way for our work to leave a legacy for our family, and we should also find a way to find work that we enjoy or matters to us. I suggest reading more of this chapter to learn more about what Dave believes is important about hard work.
Read more reviews about this book in other articles (Part 1, Part 3 and Part 4).
Contact the writer here, or follow him on twitter @summitofcoin.
