Counter-Intuitive Investments

The last thing people think of when investing their money is to just give it away. Typical monetary investments ensure some level of return, or at least some percentage for expected returns. Giving away our money or time provides no expectation of increases afterward. But in a relatively recent speech given at BYU, the economist Arthur C. Brooks explains that statistics show that people receive an increase when they give more. The typical thought is to gain money first, then give away your extra. The statistics show that by giving more first, you get more in return. Completely counter-intuitive, which the economist has to admit. He didn't believe his own data. It applied to giving financially and even donating blood. It applied on an individual basis as well as the country as  a whole.

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On top of the financial gains from giving, self-reported happiness increases with giving as well. Happiness is proven to improve productivity. It becomes a bit of a cyclical process. People give, become happy, become more productive, gain more financially, and have more to give. The process requires people to give first, though. Malachi 3:10 says "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." It appears that those who have proven this commandment have received the blessings mentioned there.