Leave a Legacy

If you follow the Barefoot Steps, you’ll eventually become wealthy. I have absolutely no doubt about it.

However, for some people, the only thing they gain from money is the fear of losing it. They get so caught up in the game, they never work out if they’re winning. They never ask ‘How much is enough?’, and they continue spending their time in jobs they don’t like, to buy ever more expensive things to impress people they don’t like.
At your funeral, they won’t say:

‘He drove a C-Class Mercedes … the limited edition … the one with the quilted trim.’

No, they’ll talk about the good things you did, and the difference you made to those you loved.
Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t need to be Bill Gates grand. You don’t need to have a building named after you, or have cured poverty, or hold any world records.

Give some money

Chennupati Jagadish is one of Australia’s leading scientists. Yet he grew up dirt poor in a small village in southern India. In fact, he might never have gone to high school if it weren’t for a kind teacher who invited him to live with his family and study.

Now, there are plenty of people who get to the top of the tree only to forget the kind people who helped them along.

Not Chennupati.

He’s responsible for helping nearly 1000 women in the third world pull themselves out of poverty, despite being on an academic’s wage.

How?

Via an outfit called Kiva.org, which he found out about through being a Barefooter.

Kiva (which means ‘unity’ in Swahili) is an award-winning, not-for-profit website that allows you to make micro-loans (starting at $25) directly to some of the world’s poorest entrepreneurs. They, in turn, use the money to start a business, and in the process often pull themselves (and their families) out of poverty.

Kiva provides regular updates on how the entrepreneurs are progressing (an impressive 98.7 per cent of loans are repaid in full). And it’s in these updates that you get to form a connection with the people you’re helping, and you get to see how $25 changes someone’s life.

The Barefoot Investor has its own Kiva lending team, which you can join. So far we’ve lent out over $500,000 and changed thousands of lives! You can join Chennupati and thousands of others by typing this address into your search bar: http://www.kiva.org/team/thebarefootinvestor.

What do you want your legacy to be?

On your next Barefoot Date Night, I want you to leave your phone at home.

Unplug from the face-suck of the glowing screen.

For one evening, you’ll stop gawking at other people and think about your life.

What do you want to be remembered for?

What do you stand for?

Read more about how you can leave a legacy in my book, The Barefoot Investor: The Only Money Guide You’ll Ever Need. Order your copy here.