Over 2 billion people live on less than $2 a day. Think about it. $2 a day. From this perspective, the US financial crisis seems like a minor inconvenience for most of us.
I love the holidays and lots of presents under the tree are just plain fun. Over the years I have changed my buying habits, focusing more on the practical side of life. A few years ago I added in the tradition of making a tin of homemade cookies for each of my kids and their significant others. In many ways, they look forward to the cookies more than the presents. There is just more giving when it gets that personal.
This year I am adding another new twist to the holidays. I am honoring each family member with a MicroPlace donation. MicroPlace takes donations and investments and creates micro loans around the globe. These are small loans, say $20 or $150, allow people in poverty to start small businesses. They may buy a cow or buy inventory to begin a basket making business. I like the idea because it isn’t a hand out, it is a hand up.
Hand outs disempower people. Being a charity case does not engage pride or personal responsibility. A hand up, a micro loan, allows a person to lift themselves out of poverty. Empowering the individual to feel that sense of accomplishment and pride that naturally comes to us when we make our own way.
For more information on Microplace:
https://www.microplace.com/
For more information on world poverty:
world bank statistics
May prosperity be yours,
Mackey McNeill, CPA/PFS
President and CEO
Mackey Advisors
www.CultivatingProsperity.com
859-331-7755
Mackey@CultivatingProsperity.com
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment