The Bible says, ‘The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.’
i have noticed, however, that for most people, talking about money seems to be the evilest of evil. Or close to.
Why is it that people do not like to talk about money? As if it is this hallowed ‘That-Which-shall-Not-Be-Named’ mystical creature upon whose mentioning chaos and damnation occurs?
You don’t believe me? Try asking someone sitting with a group of friends how much they earn.
And it goes a little something like that.
Well, i’ve been thinking about it a bit lately – tbV and i did a preach on kingdom economics on the West Coast and it feels like time to get some conversation going on about it here.
People react uber strongly any time i dare question the exorbitant prices football stars get paid in transfer fees.
When i called it evil that the “U.S. will spend $350 million on #Halloween costumes for our PETS which is 32 x’s more than Liberia’s healthcare budget” there were a bunch of people jumping in to justify or explain to me why it was not really that bad.
And more.
So this is just an intro piece, but what would YOU like to hear on the topic?
And how free would you be, in a group of relative strangers, to say what you earned? Deal or no big deal?
[To look at Giving that Costs, click here]
[For a piece looking at how we spend our TIME, MONEY and ENERGY, click here]
[For an excellent piece on ‘Storing her Money in the Stomachs of the Needy, click here]
Good stuff, I’d love to delve into it some more! I think for me personally, I am happy to tell people what I earn. I thought about why my friends get so touchy when I bring it up and I have come up with a few theories…
One of the reasons people are protective about their earnings is because many people have invested a lot of time and effort into getting into their current position of employ. People often study a certain field, which has a general wage-expectation. Basically what I’m saying is that people will be making a pretty set amount for a while, and it is connected with how well they did and what job they were able to secure. This forms a part of their identity and is a measure of their success in life (at least they think it is).
I’m not sure if I quite got my thoughts across succinctly there, but you get the idea. Now for me, I have worked many different jobs in various fields and probably will move to something completely different in the near future. Therefore, my worth is not as connected with my current job title and hence my current wage. I know it is only for a season, so I have nothing to be self-conscious about.
This theory works for people who feel they are not earning a huge amount, but what about those who are not keen to talk about their earnings when they are coining it?
What do you think?
PS. I currently work in a marketing team for a startup App company. I joined 4 months ago for a measly R4000 a month, asked for a raise to R5600 p/m, and again to R7000 p/m. It’s not nearly what I want to earn but it pays the bills for now. Kinda…
I have to agree with steve. It comes down to either folks feeling they are not truly successful in dollar amount and hence are embarrassed to dish out the info for fear of being judged, or they make a lot, have worked hard for it but are afraid that people will now expect certain things from them due to their very comfortable income. Its all about perception. If I’m around well to do folks and share my salary information, I will come up short. But around my family, the same shared info would cause them to expect me to extend gifts and always offer up to pay the tab. Its easier and more economical for me to talk about religion and politics than what I earn. Oh, its also against my company policy to share that info. Im sure they dont want employees knocking at HR’s door asking for equal pay.
this also a cultural concept – here in Bosnia people ask you what you earn as one of the first things to get to know you 🙂
True story to illustrate – my landlady went to the US to visit her son and as she didn’t speak English at all, she wrote me out a list of questions for me to translate into English for her to learn so she could talk to people over there… the first question was “what is your name?” and SERIOUSLY the second question was “how much do you earn?”
(I did tell her that she couldn’t ask that!)
But why can’t she ask that is the big question.
Maybe as question 7 or 8 at least…
Interesting to know though.
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