Reconciling Wealth Building with Philanthropy

[John Matthews]

I was having this conversation with my fiancee last night. We've both grown up of the mindset that it's important to help others, whether through financial means / volunteering time / etc. That said, I am significantly more business minded than she, and one of the concepts that was under fire last night, was the idea that you need money to make money, so in the beginning you need to put all of your money into your business, but her concern is many "rich" people never flip the switch and talk the talk, they're always concerned about building their estate larger and larger.

So I understand this is a very personal question, but I wanted to get some thoughts as far as how most of you reconcile the two. For example, do you plan to donate some fixed percentage of your assets / income every year? Did you do this from day one, or did you start after you were making some amount of income? Do you volunteer some fixed percentage of your free time? Do you give back in some other way that you're now free to do with the added financial freedom you've earned?

[Jeremy Tillotson]

@John Matthews it is refreshing to see this question being asked. I wrote an article you might want to read http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/1113... First I am a Firm believer that you will be "Blessed By The Measure You Use To Bless Others".In Re there are endless ways to do this. Maybe you form a non profit housing venture (you can still pull a salary) and do giving back at the same time. Maybe your business model is giving back more than you realize, often times we help people out of situations they would rather not be in, walking away from a closing table with a seller giving a tearful hug, and knowing I am still the one making money on the deal. Maybe you give a discount on a house (while still making a profit) to help someone who needs it, whose life was turned upside down through no fault of there own. Maybe you bend your rules for a VET who had a rough time, and his credit is trashed, but you rent to him anyways. Maybe you buy a house that you are on the fence about, because it will help the other party more than you, but you still make money. Or maybe you buy a trailer to only break even because a park is trying to screw over a person who just had a job transfer and moved their free and clear trailer in 4 months earlier and the park is trying to take it for nothing if he moves. These are all true stories of things we have done over the years. I have had years with negative income on paper and we still choose to do these type of endeavors. I find that people who tithe faithfully are blessed, I also find it usually when you can least afford it these opportunities present themselves. As a final note I think people do notice and while they may not tell the world for you, people do find out, and that does bless your business. Someone has 2 yellow letters who are they going to call. Just my thoughts.