Yoga principles that can be applied to your financial life are plentiful. In Ashtanga yoga, there are “eight limbs” that include “don’ts” (Yamas) and “do’s” (Niyamas). The more we do good things for our body, the more it pays off. It’s the same with money, the more healthy habits we incorporate into our money life, the more it pays off.

The Yamas include: non-violence, absence of falsehood, non-stealing, sensory control/chastity. The Niyamas (do’s) inlcude: purity, contentment, determination, study and devotion. The three we’ll focus on are (i) absence of falsehood, (ii) non-possessiveness, and (iii) contentment.

Absence of Falsehood

Absence of Falsehood  is  one that screams initially to me as “Don’t give your money to scam artists, family, relatives, or friends to ‘invest’ for you.” The only one that should be investing your money is you. If you need help, hire a certified financial planner (that doesn’t sell primarily insurance) and pay them hourly to give you guidance and direction. I can list friend after friend that has lost money, ranging from $5,000 to $500,000 from trusting someone to “take care of their money.” They are not dumb, this has happened to business people, actors, doctors, and all sorts of savvy and educated individuals. This happened to my mother-in-law who wrote check after check to a “friend at church” who took $150,000 and all she had to show for it was a gutted, shell of house, no plan, and no contract. He wasn’t even licensed. Just a “handyman” that started on something small then used a cross between “I need more money to do x” and “we’ve been praying for you” (she was recently widowed).  When family stepped in for a sit down with my mother-in-law, the man and his daughter, the daughter had the audacity to say, “You got a lot of insurance money, didn’t you?”

A common thread to many of this sad stories is:

• Thinking intelligence in one area translates to intelligence with money.
• Refusing to obtain basic financial literacy and education about money.
  
  
• Hope and belief over logic and reason (“too good to be true” is more than a quaint adage).
• Trusting others with hard-earned money.
  
  
• Not hiring or seeking an independent, non-interested third person opinion (cons thrive on flattery and isolation).

It’s been both my honor and relief to save clients and friends from potential financial disasters. It takes wisdom and humility to not only bring a deal to a third party and pay a small fee, but to be open enough to receive the analysis and opinion. The two most recent transactions (a land deal and a solar deal), both chose to pass after our discussion.  For instance, the land deal provided my client no say or power, offered no track record, and had no recourse if the “management” ate up all the investment.

The solar deal was a pure scam, in my opinion, but was harder to point out because it was her and her husband’s trusted church friend that wanted $100,000 to start a solar company and then take it public, where they’d “make millions.” The “friend” had no experience in the solar space and spoke of going public like it happens every day. The “friend” was offering “sweat equity” but was not putting up a nickel of his own money.

Fortunately, my friend and her spouse, took their $100,000 cash and went with another contract I reviewed for them–a licensed financial planner that was going to invest the money in index (mutual) funds. Their money is now in a brokerage house, and the planner educates and helps them choose their investments. The annual fee he charges is pennies compared to the potential loss of their entire principal, not to mention the psychological scars people endure when faced with the loss of their own hard work and a trusted relationship.

Non Possessiveness

Non Possessiveness or non attachment is a hard lesson I learned in college. I remember I’d save up my grocery money so I could buy the “expensive” moisturizer at the Clinique counter. One day a close friend was over and I always shared everything with her. Then she picked up some hand lotion and said, “Should I use this on my face?” I hesitated and thought of the mint green bottle of my pricey oil-free moisturizer. I did not offer it. Instead I just said, “Yes.” She used the hand lotion on her face.

The guilt pricked my conscious later. I thought, I’m lucky and blessed to afford nice things. Right then and there I made a commitment that if I had, I would share. I don’t lend money. It’s rare, but if I’m asked to borrow money and I can afford to, I gift it. Each promises to pay it back (not one has, and that’s okay).

The exception applies to Sees dark chocolate truffles. Even if my husband buys them for me, I hide them and he forgets. Then I eat them by myself, alone, in the dark. Just kidding. I’ll eat one after a salad when I just need a little “something” to finish off my meal.  But not when the spouse is around. He’ll make me share. And he’ll eat the whole truffle in one bite. “Savor” is not a word in his man-vocab.

This Principle Applies to Our “Stuff” too.

At eckhartyoga.com, they summed up the “stuff” problem well:

The more we hoard material possessions, the more we weigh ourselves down with not only physical, but energetic baggage, and the more we become attached to and worry about losing these said possessions. Believing that the new object we buy will bring us happiness is based on a feeling of lack that all too often enters our minds…. If we lighten the load a little by either selling some of the things we don’t need, or even better by giving them to charity, then we move towards living a less cluttered life both in our homes and in our minds.

Contentment

Contentment is one of the most powerful side effects of doing a regular practice of yoga. That quieting of the mind as we truly focus, breath into the poses, and sink into savasana at the end of a practice, lends itself beautifully to a new level of feeling “centered.” For me, this is the place I’m always reaching for, my center, my place of peace, my contentment.

A year or two before I met my husband I remember being at home and thinking some combination of “What’s next” and “What do I need?” I had a great job, my “meant to be” home and a paid off car. An impression struck me clear and distinct, “Be satisfied.” I was walking near the dining room and it stopped me dead in my tracks. I heard it again, “Be satisfied.” Right then I realized that I was often focusing on what was next, what I needed to do, be, accomplish, have. Sometimes we need to just be where we are, be grateful, satisfied, content. That’s what the practice of yoga is about. If we apply that principle to money, the change can be powerful.

When we’re content, we’re not constantly obsessing about what we need to have or buy. One way to get to serious contentment with money is to be debt-free, except for your house. Pay off those student loans, car loans, and credit card bills like they’re on fire. Not owing anyone anything is pure freedom.

The true genius in this arena is my good friend, Dave Ramsey. Okay, I’ve met him a couple of times but he’d never remember me from Eve. Neither would Chris Hogan. But I’m a huge fan of his mantra of getting “gazelle intense” about getting out of debt. When people start on his program, the average person takes 12-24 months to pay off staggering amounts of debt by going scorched earth: rice and beans, beans and rice, no vacations, no eating out, overtime, a second job. If you want to get inspired, listen to his radio show or podcast. He used to have “Debt Free Fridays” where that’s the calls he took, now you’ll hear a “Debt Free Scream” most days of the week.

So today look around. What are you grateful for? How can you be satisfied? How can we practice contentment as if it were an art?

On a final note, my mother-in-law was paid back $60,000 and a licensed contractor is going to finish the work. She is learning to navigate life without her husband, who handled all their financial affairs. The real moral of the story is be in the know, don’t abrogate responsibility to another person. We all have a responsibility to be self-sufficient. My father-in-law left her in very good shape but he could have helped even more by teaching her and making those decisions together.

So let’s be knowledge seekers and take responsibility for our welfare, physically and financially. Namaste!

xo, tricia