SERVICE: Adopting a spiritual attitude to financial prosperity

A fascinating article on the US Bahá'í website about a couple that offers courses in financial planning states in part that to a very great extent, wealth lies "in knowledge about budgeting, spending and investing." One of their workshops is titled "Riding the Financial Waves: Wealth and Prosperity Through Character Education." A positive review of a few of the principles they teach is found in the article "Facts About..." included below.

Their company is called Mind Treasures (see their website here).
Besides the virtue of service, the endeavor incorporates understanding for the living of a better life.

The Bahá'í writings also emphasize the importance of wealth. Bahá'u'lláh says:

...man should know his own self and recognize that which leadeth unto loftiness or lowliness, glory or abasement, wealth or poverty. Having attained the stage of fulfilment and reached his maturity, man standeth in need of wealth, and such wealth as he acquireth through crafts or professions is commendable and praiseworthy in the estimation of men of wisdom, and especially in the eyes of servants who dedicate themselves to the education of the world and to the edification of its peoples... (1)

Facts About Making Socially Responsible Investing

By Alvero Godwillas, Published Jun 28, 2007

An awareness of the guidelines for socially responsible investing can open-up a path to wealth. That fact stands out to any viewer of the web site www.mindtreasures.com. Alex Mazloom, the operator of that site has done an excellent job of presenting the many "treasures" about socially responsible investing.

Mazloom's treasures help to define the meaning of responsible investing. His treasures unearth the relation between responsible investing and concern for others. His web site equates responsible investing with a willingness to dedicate money to the welfare of society.

The information on mindtreasures.com acts like a series of guideposts on the road to responsible investing. The web site slants its material toward younger adults. It includes quotes such as this: "Having attained the stage of fulfillment and reached his maturity, man standeth in need of wealth, and such wealth as he acquireth through crafts or professions is commendable and praiseworthy..."

The facts about responsible investing incorporate the information in the above "guideposts." In the following paragraphs, the reader will find details on that information. Those details pull-back the curtain on the best ways to amass and handle wealth.

Education represents the first step on the road to responsible investing. The future investor should acquire a deeper understanding of wealth. Possession of many material goods does not show the possession of material means.

An appreciation of that fact should lead to a better feel for how to manage money. That is another valuable fact, a fact that relates to responsible investing. Management of money requires formation of a good financial strategy.

Obviously the earning of money should be part of any financial strategy. The treasures of the mind ought to include knowledge about many different ways to acquire wealth. There is no one way to get rich. Older adults often obscure that fact from the eyes and ears of younger adults.

Many older adults are like the men in the movie The Graduate, starring Dustin Hoffman. Those men give the graduate all manner of advice, such as "Try plastics." They present opinions, not facts.

It is a fact that education should be part of responsible investing. Youth should put money and time into getting a good education. That fact was illustrated in a second Hollywood movie, Stand and Deliver. During that movie the math teacher drives with a student down a road. He comes to a dead end. He then says that a life plan that does not incorporate education puts a person on a road with a dead end.

Some of the treasures on Mazloom's web site put education in the limelight. One of those treasures offers these words of wisdom: "Regard man as a mine rich in gems of inestimable value. Education can, alone cause it to reveal its treasures and enable mankind to benefit therefrom."

]The above quote highlights the connection between education and responsible investing. Education is an investment. Society benefits from that investment. The knowledge gained in school, or in a training program, can allow a person to better utilize his or her talents.

A person who has found a way to fully utilize his or her talents is bound to contribute to society. He or she stands an excellent chance of becoming a socially responsible investor. That fact offers far greater challenges than a push to "try plastics." (2)


Notes:

(1) Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh Revealed After the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, p. 35
(2) Review taken from the website (corrected slightly here by me):
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/291305/facts_about_making_socially_responsible.html
The author's quotes are from the Bahá'í writings unless otherwise stated.