It’s a challenge to combine idealism and money in the same blog – or even in the same life – but I’m stubborn enough to try.

I get some strange reactions from different idealists, that sound a little like this:

“How can you be so callous and judgmental?”

“Don’t you know there’s more to life than money?”

“You can’t possibly know what it’s like to be poor.”

“What about all the horrible things money does?”

Money people give me different reactions:

“How can you be so irresponsible?”

“You’re out of touch with reality!”

Dear Idealist:

I don’t mean to be callous or judgmental, but I do want to make sense of it all.

Of course there’s more to life than money, but it sure does help me to live my ideals better.  So I’ve got to deal with money, whether I want to or not.

I’ve never experienced third-world poverty, and that is a very real concern.  But I know what it’s like to exist on rice and beans, and I’m not here to rip people off.  We’re all in this together.

And it’s true, people do stupid and horrible things in the name of money and business.  Money can cause a lot of misery.  It can also do great things and change people’s lives.

To money people:

You’d be surprised what we idealists go through in the name of “responsibility,” but some forget to be responsible for our own proverbial oxygen mask.

You’d also be surprised how much we know about reality, even when we don’t articulate it well.

So I’m reviving this blog on the following assumptions:

• Money is all about people. It’s about marketplace, commerce, communication and value.  You can’t have any of that without people.
• Different people have different “money styles,” and the more we understand our own and others’ money styles, the easier it is to do business.
• Money is full of meaning. Numbers are crucial, too, but the more we understand what money really means to us at an individual level, the closer we will be to having open, honest and profitable business transactions that benefit all.
• Money is amoral. It can be used for evil things, and for good things.

For all the above reasons, money is one of the most risky conversations an idealist can have.  It’s also one of the most important.

And the timing couldn’t be better, as we enter tax season and we work our way through today’s current financial situations.

I’d like to share, not only my own thoughts, but those of others who have wrestled with similar questions.

How do you feel about such a conversation?

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Delicate. Complex. Fleetingly real. Reach for it, and it slips through your fingers. Open up to the possibilities, and it lands on your hand. Or it may not. Do what you love and money will follow. Or it may not. That’s what money is like to an idealist!

After a long sad story of server blips and eventually needing to abandon my previous Idealist’s Money Blog, I’m back at it again.  I believe money is a deep and intermingled issue, and once again, I’ve created seven categories for exploration.

Money & Personality Type

All types have our strengths and weaknesses, but from what I’ve seen and experienced, introverted intuitive-feelers struggle with money – a lot – either with how to work with it, or how to earn enough of it. We seem to lack the “money gene.”

For one, money is an extravert’s turf. It has to be. To sell something, you have to have a buyer. To work, you have to have an employer. You need someone (usually lots of someones) on the other end who wants what you have to give or sell.

I will base most of my discussion on Jungian personality types. For more information on Jungian personality types, see http://www.typelogic.com/ for starters.

Money & Gender

Personally, I’m not crazy about anything that makes women “the problem” (or men either, for that matter). But from what I’ve seen, money may indeed be different for women than for men, and some credible people have recommended books to me, so there must be something to it. Therefore, the category is here, and I’ll be exploring this side of money, too.

Money & Business

Currently, I own a business, and I know many other business owners who are – Idealists! too. In fact, that’s why we’re in business – to make a difference in the world, and to do it our own way. But no matter how good we are, or how many people whose lives we touch, if we don’t make money, we don’t stay in business.

The fact is, a business exists to make money. If you don’t make money, you don’t have a business. You may be doing something very good, but it’s not a business.

So here we are, entrepreneurs in a pursuit that seems directly antithetical to our purpose in life. Yet we’ve made it our purpose in life to keep it going. It requires being two people: an idealist and a business manager. Or it requires a paradigm shift. So here is a space to explore making money as idealistic business owners.

Money & Culture

This one has my attention. Idealists like things to be “fair.” But throughout history, the distribution of money has never been “fair.” To complicate matters, Americans like to believe we are fair. But deep down, we know we are not. Some of us have never been poor. Some of us have always been poor. Some have been born into wealthy homes, and lost what we had. Some had humble beginnings, and for some odd reason we know isn’t fair, we suddenly have more than we know what to do with, and racing past our peers. So therein lies the question: What am I worth? And what does that mean in a system that’s not fair?

Could our understanding of our role in society really affect our relationship with money? For most, maybe not. For an idealist, I think so. That’s why I have to explore this.

Money & Myth

Especially appealing to the intuitive-feeling understanding of life. How money appears in mythology, how humans now and through the ages have dealt with money on a spiritual level.

Money & Ourselves

The day to day detail of managing money. What does it say about our personal lives?

Money in General

Everything else.

Comments?

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