Best-selling author and success expert Brian Tracy states money is what is called a “deficiency need.” This means that it only motivates you when you feel deficient in it when you don’t feel that you have enough. Above a certain level, when you feel that you have enough, it is no longer a motivator. Put another way, when you have enough money, you don’t think about it very much. But when you have too little, you think about it all the time.

It is important to develop a successful philosophy about earning, saving, investing, spending and giving money.  Thankfully my money philosophy has evolved a bit over the years, and I now know that money has a greater purpose than merely an exchange of goods and services.  Perhaps it’s the greatest purpose is serving mankind. Ask yourself how much will the current judgment errors in my personal philosophy cost you in the future? How much will it cost you in a month, two months or a year? Money and success have a cost.  Money itself is neither good nor bad, in fact, it’s neutral.  We can use money for positive purposes or negative ones.  But money always presents challenges and will always call for intelligent decision-making.  You should not only account for your money but must give direction to your money.

There are two significant errors most people make when making a major financial decision. 1) They don’t seek wise counsel and 2) They don’t follow wise counsel.  There are plenty of people who have experience and training in what you’re facing.  Seek someone you can trust and get their input on major decisions, particularly when it comes to money.  Poor decisions regarding major purchases can be extremely penal.  After getting the advice you must put it into action.  Good advice without corresponding action is useless.  The ancient scriptures admonish us to seek wise counsel.  The scriptures denote that the wise listen and increase, the unwise ignores counsel and ends in poverty.