Giving is as important as saving. Even if you think you don’t have enough money to give, we all have people and causes that are important to us. Allocating an amount of money from every earned dollar for giving – as well as saving– needs to be established immediately even if you don’t know how it will work with your current cash flow or income situation. You can decide to hold off with the gift or  save the money only for a short while until it’s needed (like the end of the month), but if you wait until you have $100,000 in order to give $10,000, it won’t happen. You must set aside $1 from the $10 earned to develop the habit.

When do you start saving and giving? Developing wealthy habits doesn’t happen overnight. Start with your children: when they earn $10, put aside $1 towards long-term savings and $1 that they can use for giving. For yourself, start the next time you earn any money. Transfer 10% into savings and withdraw 10% for giving. If you get to the end of the month and you need some for your already – established expenses, transfer what you need from savings and if necessary deposit the “giving money” back into your account. After a while, you will have established the habit of allocating money and you’ll eventually find that you don’t need all of what you have set aside for your current expenses, and it will indeed be money you have saved and are able to give away.