This week, I’m talking about life changing money habits.These are the habits, the goals, and the behaviors that will have the biggest impact on your life. 

Today, I’m talking about the last life changing habit of the week - increasing your giving. The emotional, psychological, and spiritual benefits of giving are well-documented. According to research, generosity is one of the secrets to a meaningful and happy life. 

I included this habit of increasing your giving last in this week’s topics, because it’s the thing that most of us still aren’t doing enough of, even when we are doing everything else well with our finances. 

Knowing that giving has tremendous rewards for the giver and the receiver, I encourage you to look at how much you gave of your time and talents to the organizations and causes that you care about most in 2020 and ask yourself if you’re in a position to do more this year. 

It’s hard to give at a meaningful level when you’re buried in debt, you don’t have any cash in the bank, you don’t have a handle on your spending or your financial priorities, but if that’s not the case for you and you’re in a comfortable position financially, then I encourage you to get aggressive with your giving. 

That starts with evaluating what you gave last year. How much of your income went to the causes that you care about the most? 

Just over half of American households (55%) donated something to charity in 2014. That means 45% of us gave nothing. On average, Americans give 2.1% of their disposable income to charity. So nearly half of us give nothing, and when you average it out, we’re giving about 2% of our income to charity. 

We can do more and especially with such well-documented benefits of giving more, consider giving more in 2020. 

If you gave 2% of your income last year, give 3% or 4% of your income this year. Set up an automated contribution so your giving doesn’t become haphazard or an afterthought like it does for so many of us. Being intentional with your giving in 2021 will go a long way toward increasing your giving and bringing more purpose and meaning to your life as a result.

That’s it for today. Thanks for listening. My name is Ashley Micciche and this is the One Minute Retirement Tip.

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