The 7 Things I Learned About Money While Living In a Third-world Country –

I moved to Cambodia in mid-2018 to pursue a career path and lifestyle of service, altruism and meaning. The decision to pack up my life and move to a foreign country all on my own was no trivial thing. However, I knew that taking massive action was necessary if I were to learn more about myself and the world around me. While there, I learned many lessons about the world, many of which were related to the nature of money. Ironic, right? — Not at all. Here are the seven things I learned about money while living in a third-world country -

Money is just an exchange of energy exerted and value provided — We use money as an exchange of energy through time and space. You exert energy in a value-adding way, and you receive money in return for the energy you’ve exerted. Your energy and your time are the most valuable resources you have. That’s why people pay you for them, and the more time and energy you devote to something, the higher the likelihood of receiving a return for your efforts. Jordan Peterson has mentioned that people who work just 10% longer each week improve their chances of financial success by 40%. However, it’s not necessarily the amount of energy you exert and the time you devote. There are a lot of people out there who work themselves to the bone with very little compensation. That’s where the value-adding component of this equation makes the difference. If you solve a billion-dollar problem for a billion people, you will most likely be rewarded accordingly. For these reasons, I have less of an issue with specific wealth disparities. Of course, inequality becomes detrimental when a select few at the top control all the wealth while everyone else is poor. But, in the case of most western nations where the majority of people live comfortably, having a few people at the top controlling immense amounts of wealth is a good thing from an economic perspective. The people who control large amounts of wealth probably obtain their wealth by being hyper-productive individuals who work non-stop. I would rather those large amounts of wealth be in the hands of hyper-productive people, as they are more likely to use their wealth in productive ways. So, the energy you exert and the value you put into the world determine how much money will flow into your hands.

Having A Vision Is Important — After spending a year in Siem Reap, where I worked in a company, I moved to Battambang and connected with an educational NGO that housed teens and kids from underprivileged backgrounds. The purpose of this school was to train and mentor these kids from rural regions to be job ready for the city where there is more employment opportunity. They taught and mentored them to be career ready so that they could find employment opportunities in cities. I wanted to immerse myself into their way of life fully, so I stayed on campus for about a month, where I slept on a yoga mat on the floor under a mosquito net. We would eat the fish we caught from the local pond and sometimes even the mice caught from the rice fields. Conditions were extremely rough. I connected with this NGO by taking up a role as a business development manager. It was up to me to raise funds and then strategise with the people who worked for the NGO on allocating these funds to create a better living and learning environment for the kids who lived on campus. We agreed that $10,000 would go an incredibly long way in improving this school’s living conditions. With $10,000, we could get the kids from sleeping on the floor and into beds, improve the vegetable garden so that the campus was self-sustaining, knock down the outdoor kitchen, and build a new and improved one that was more hygienic. I was caught up in the moment when making this commitment, but it was something I was all in on. At the time, I recall picking up the book ‘Think & Grow Rich’ by Napoleon Hill. In this classic finance book, Napoleon Hill says you must get clear on what you want and have an unwavering desire to achieve it. By this point, I had already told myself that I wasn’t leaving the town until I had raised $10,000 to help renovate this school. Even if it took me five years, I would continue trying to find new ways to raise money. I had a target, and behind this target had a deeper meaning tied to it. That made the unwavering desire easy to attain. Napoleon Hill also says you must use faith — that means visualising you obtaining this money and programming your mind to believe in the outcome with all the conviction in the world. So, what was the result? — that school received more than $10,000, and I didn’t have to do anything to get it. By absolute chance, my cousin took a last-minute emergency trip to Cambodia after a significant chain of events, and I introduced him to the people of the school. He said he would return to Sydney to run a charity event to raise the $10,000. He returned to Sydney and attempted to run this event; however, he encountered many obstacles as he had never organised such a thing. Despite his doubts, he said he would do everything in his power to find a way; he, too, had an unwavering desire and a vision. It just so happened that, at the time, someone we knew very well caught on to our project. This person also happened to be a seasoned veteran in running philanthropic events. At the time, she was organising an event for a humanitarian cause in the Middle East; however, these plans fell through. She noticed that we were doing work in Cambodia, and she reached out and said she would run an event for our cause instead. Together, they raised over $10,000, which was invested into buying about 15 bunk beds for the students and building a brand-new indoor kitchen. When I think back to how this unfolded, I cannot help but feel that some higher power was working in our favour. The stars had aligned mystically; it was hard not to attribute some of this to divine intervention. But this unwavering desire, along with a clear and meaningful mission, is an unstoppable force. You will always find a way; if you don’t see a way, there will be a way that finds you.

Financial success is a mindset — Stanford psychologist and author of the book ‘Mindset’, Dr Carol Dweck, discusses two different mindsets that people hold — a growth mindset and a fixed mindset. Having a growth mindset is much the same as having an attitude of abundance. When you have a mindset of abundance, you believe that the world is full of opportunity and that there is more than enough for everyone to take what they need. On the other hand, much like a fixed mindset, a mindset of scarcity brings about fears, doubts and a sense of helplessness. Many people raised in circumstances of poverty where resources are scarce and times are tough usually develop mindsets of scarcity. This scarcity mindset keeps people stuck in the cycle of scarcity and poverty. Having a fixed or scarcity mindset leads you to believe that because you were born into poverty, you will always be destined for circumstances of poverty. In reality, this doesn’t have to be the case. Many people have moved up in socioeconomic status in the past, but when you believe that you are destined for something, you’re likely to behave in ways that align with this perceived destiny. If you think you’re always going to be poor, you will act in ways that ensure this imagined destiny remains a reality. Sure, financial education, in addition to a substantial amount of opportunity, is part of the equation of financial success, but your money mindset also plays an integral role. There have been plenty of examples of people who have come from poor backgrounds and made enormous amounts of wealth, who end up losing it because they had a poor mindset. That poor mindset leads to sabotaging behaviours, resulting in the loss of their wealth. Mindset is essential regarding your finances, regardless of socioeconomic status. It’s usually the mindset that keeps people stuck where they are.

Happiness, Joy & Fulfillment Exist outside of Finance — A study from the US found that once people hit an income of $75,000 per year, any increase in income after that no longer yields higher levels of happiness. This study is a few years old, so this figure must be adjusted for inflation. The authors also mention that if you come from circumstances of poverty, however, income increases yield higher levels of happiness. Cambodia is a third-world country. It has one of the lowest GDPs on the continent of Asia. There are a lot of people earning at most $10–20 per day. Does this mean they are constantly miserable? — not. The people in Cambodia are so family and community-orientated that their large families and broader communities provide a lot of happiness and joy. The people of Cambodia seemed to access their joy, happiness, sense of belonging and meaning in life through things like their family, community, and things like altruism and religion. So no, money isn’t enough to bring happiness. It most definitely can enhance one’s level of life satisfaction; however, happiness exists separately from money. Without those fundamentals, such as family, community, contribution, meaning and purpose, happiness isn’t attainable by simply adding more zeros to your bank account. And the Cambodians are living examples of this. Sure, their lives would be better with more money; however, money wasn’t a requirement for joy, belonging and meaning in life — these are the core requirements for happiness. Money is separate, and it just enhances these things.

You will be amazed at the lengths people will go to get by — Hate your job? — yeah, I’m not too fond of most of the ones I’ve had, either. However, I rather slave away doing the things I do than have to send my ten-year-old child out on the streets at midnight every night so they can approach tourists and beg for money. I would rather do my work than send my kids barefoot into piles of garbage so they can bring back food scraps to feed us daily. And I much rather do the work I do than have to sell my children to child traffickers. Sounds extreme? — Well, it is. This is the stuff going on in many third-world countries, particularly Cambodia. Let’s not sugarcoat things; it’s a bloody harsh world for many people. You have no idea how bad things can get. People out there do unimaginable things to see the sunrise tomorrow. Meanwhile, people are sitting on unimaginable amounts of generational wealth, and some have also done unimaginable things to get to where they are. Like it or not, this world is run by money, and it can turn into one hell of a dark place given the right circumstances or motivations — Life is unfair, unequal and unjust.

Regardless of your socioeconomic status, if you live in the West, you’re one the wealthiest human beings walking planet earth — In the book ‘Factfulness’, author Hans Rosling discusses four levels of income on a global scale. If you’re in level 1, you’re living in extreme poverty. Here, you’re making about $1–2 per day. There are about 1 billion people on earth living in extreme poverty. The next level is considered middle income. If you’re in level two, you’re making about $4 per day. About 3 billion people are living on level 2. If you make between $8–32 per day, you’re in level 3. Here, you make enough to access tap water and stable electricity. About 2 billion people are living on level 3. At level 4, you’re likely making hundreds of dollars per day, you have access to adequate shelter and electricity, and you have access to more food than you can stomach. About a billion people are living on level 4. If you live in any advanced Western nation, regardless of socioeconomic status, you’re likely part of the 1 billion living on level 4. That means you’re among the wealthiest of the 8 billion people living on earth. How’s that for some perspective?

No matter how little you believe you have, you always have enough to give because there will always be someone worse off — I was on my way to work one morning, riding my bicycle through town, when I stopped at traffic lights. I spotted a man sitting on the side of the road in a wheelchair. He was an older man with no legs. He sat there with a hat in his hand, signalling to those who rode passed that he was asking for donations as he was incapable of working for his own money. To begin with, this man looked poor, and the fact that he could not work meant his life was one of struggle and misfortune.

I watched closely as I spotted a tuk-tuk driver handing him some money and placing it in his hat. Suddenly, I woke from my half-sleepy state, sitting there in admiration. These tuk-tuk drivers earn an average of $10 daily, and most have families to feed. For a tuk-tuk driver to be handing out donations told me something extremely relevant to the mission I was on in learning more about how generosity works in Cambodian Buddhist society.

This wasn’t the only time I saw people who struggled financially handing out money to those less fortunate. It was a common occurrence, and I gathered that a certain mentality existed amongst the people of Cambodia, whereby those who handed out money were less concerned with having excess amounts, even though that wasn’t an option for most middle-class people. However, they saw the importance of being generous with what they had. If they had enough to feed themselves, then whatever was left over should go to someone unable to provide for themselves. In a sense, as much as you might think you are struggling, there is always someone else who is doing worse, and you must contribute to the best of your capabilities.

Some experts suggest that evolution isn’t just about the survival of the fittest but also dependent on how one can thrive in a group or a community. As a result of the Khmer Rouge genocide in the 1970s, Cambodian society was torn down to its core and forced to rebuild from almost nothing. One must see the value of working together as a community for survival. I say this for two reasons;

1. You never know when you are going to need help. Poverty and struggle are prevalent, and your support network becomes extremely important during times of strife.
2. Working as a team, combining minds and spirits far outweigh the benefits of working for yourself, especially when trying to rebuild a nation as the Cambodians are trying to do.

From a philosophical standpoint, if we go back to the four noble truths in Buddhism, we see that one of the causes of human suffering is our desires and cravings as human beings. Besides the immediate causes of suffering, illness or death, our deep-rooted causes of suffering may come from our greed. If the Buddhists believe in the liberation of suffering, it is evident why altruism is valued in their society. I concluded that acts of altruism function as a counter-weapon against greed and therefore have the potential to reduce our suffering and the suffering of those around us.

The money lessons I learned while living in Cambodia have been invaluable to my life. I learned more about this complex thing we call money, how it works, what people do to obtain it, how it can impact our lives and how people behave concerning it. It seems ironic that so many money lessons can be learned in a place where money is scarce for most. However, these places are some of the best places to learn about the fundamentals of money because it’s in these places where you find the extremes. Humanitarianism and philanthropy are also brilliant ways to learn about money because you have to raise it and allocate it. You know how to sell goodwill to those who have money, and you discover ways to help receive and distribute it to those who don’t have much. The entire process of raising and allocating taught me about energy and value exchange, unwavering desire, effective strategy, mindset and much more.