George S. Clason's the Richest Man in Babylon by Karen McCreadie

Author:Karen McCreadie
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Infinite Ideas Ltd

HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU…

If you don’t already have one, type ‘make a will’ into any search engine; you’ll be presented with millions of pages. Many websites offer free forms to download and complete, or you can simply complete the forms online and have your will returned in a few days for a reasonable fee.

29 SHOW COMPASSION TO OTHERS IN NED

Arkad states the last essential aspect of ensuring self-respect is, ‘He must have compassion upon those who are injured and smitten by misfortune and aid them within reasonable limits. He must do deeds of thoughtfulness to those dear to him.’ Extending a helping hand to others is still important.

Take the UK. Considering there are over 200,000 charities in operation across the country, Britons must surely be compassionate. Between Children in Need’s Pudsey Bear and being systematically hijacked by charity muggers (a.k.a. chuggers) on high streets up and down the land, they donate millions to charity every year.

DEFINING IDEA…

If you want others to be happy, practise compassion. If you want to be happy, practise compassion.

~ THE DALAI LAMA

However, according to Lord Joffe, the British have actually been getting less charitable over the past fifteen years. Apparently, despite rising average incomes and the doubling of personal wealth, charitable donations have dropped by 25%. Most Britons give away just 7p of every £10 they earn. Interestingly enough, it’s not the rich who dig deep for something like Comic Relief, it’s those people who don’t necessarily have the spare cash to do so. Perhaps the spate of donation scandals has fuelled latent concerns about just how much gets to its intended destination, or perhaps the rich are just mean and that’s how they got rich in the first place…

Thankfully, not all rich people are mean, and there are several examples of outstanding generosity. One of the most famous philanthropists of all time was Andrew Carnegie. Having amassed a fortune in steel, he spent the second half of his life giving it away.

In recent times billionaires and long-time friends Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are carrying on that honourable tradition. In June 2008 Bill Gates stepped down from the day-to-day operation of Microsoft to focus on his work with the world’s largest philanthropic organisation, the $30 billion Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The foundation focuses on fighting such diseases such as malaria, HIV—AIDS and tuberculosis, and on improving US libraries and high schools.

In 2006 Warren Buffet pledged to gradually give away 85% of his wealth in favour of five foundations. At the time of the announcement the gift was worth over $40 billion, making it the largest philanthropic gift in history. However, because the donation is in Berkshire Hathaway B shares and is also staggered over several years, the price of the shares on the date of each gift will determine its dollar value. Considering that the value in those shares has already increased by over $1000 per share since Buffet’s announcement, the final value of the donation is likely to be far more than $40 billion.

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