Issue #108: For Love or Money
One of the things that have been debated for a very long time is whether people act out of personal conviction (for love) or because of incentives and opportunity for gain (for money). The answer to this question has a tremendous impact on our personal, professional, and financial lives. Most of us tend to think that our personal lives are exclusively based on personal motivations (love) and that our professional and financial lives are based on rational decisions (money). The truth is that these two forces mix and meld in everything that we do. Understanding the way that they work can help each of us to live more complete and fulfilled lives.
The first circle of understanding when it comes to the relationship between love and money is the realization that the two are linked. Most people will not work for free in a job, even if they love it very much. Conversely, there is also a point where additional money fails to produce additional motivation. The key to understanding this trade-off is the notion of a non-linear relationship. In other words, money motivates up to a point and then begins to lose its power. Similarly, doing something that you love only becomes motivating after your monetary needs have been met.
It is frequently noted that “money can’t buy happiness” and we wholeheartedly agree. However, the lack of money will 
generate a large amount of unhappiness. Thus, money is not something that makes you happy in and of itself, but something that allows you the freedom to do the things that make you truly happy. Similarly, pursuing a personal passion such as music, writing, or athletics may not produce much if any income. Because of this, it is necessary to satisfy your monetary needs so that your passion can be pursued in your leisure time. Furthermore, our ability to help others is frequently constrained by our financial resources. Each person has a limited amount of time in the day and good intentions won’t even buy a cup of stale coffee. To the extent that our non-monetary desires to help make the world a better place come to the forefront of our mind, it must necessarily trigger a monetary desire to generate resources that can be dedicated to said charitable cause.
The way that this relates to our personal lives involves many layers. Nobody will argue that lots of money is necessary to have a happy and fulfilled life. However, if every evening meal becomes an argument over how the months bills will be paid, it will be extremely difficult to achieve happiness or fulfillment. When there is only one cookie left, my goal is not to ensure that it goes to whomever is the highest bidder between my spouse and children. My goal is to do my best so that everybody in my family is satisfied. Incidentally, this is one of the reasons why family business dealings frequently encounter so much difficulty. When the non-monetary world of family that is driven by love and affection is forced into the monetary world of business where costs and profits must be monitored meticulously, there is tremendous room for strife and misunderstanding.
Another iteration of this phenomenon plays out in the workplace. Many people say that they value autonomy and interesting work as the reasons why they stay at their current job. However, students graduating from college frequently cite compensation as their primary goal when looking for employment. So how do these two notions intersect? Compensation is what attracts people to join a company, and is also the primary incentive for them to stay. However, compensation alone will only inspire people to work hard enough to avoid being fired. (Promotions also matter, but they tend to come less frequently as an employee rises in the ranks) The thing that inspires people to do more than the minimum is a feeling of autonomy, interest in their work, and meaningful things to work on.
When dealing in the arena of investments and financial decisions, most of our decisions are rational and calculated. However, the whole reason why we make these calculated investment decisions is so that we will have sufficient financial resources in the future to care for ourselves and our family. In this way, the monetary means of investments ultimately serve a non-monetary end of providing for our family, enjoying the things that make us happy, and achieving financial security.
Ultimately, there will always be a cross-over between monetary and non-monetary motivations. Love and Money are both necessary for a complete and fulfilling life. The secret to happiness is not the pursuit of one to the exclusion of the other, but creating a healthy balance between the two. In this way, we can achieve ever greater success in our personal, professional, and financial lives.
“No one would remember the Good Samaritan if he’d only had good intentions; he had money as well.“
Margaret Thatcher
