The following laws were published in 1977 in 'Seven laws of
Money' by Mike Phillips. Mike, a Bank of America banker, was
instrumental in developing Master Charge.
1. Do it! Money will come when you are doing the right thing.
The first law is the hardest for most people to accept and is the
source of the most distress. The clearest translation of this in
terms of personal advice is "go ahead and do what you want to
do." Worry about your ability to do it and competence to do it,
but certainly do not worry about the money.
2. Money has its own rules: records, budgets, savings,
borrowing. The rules of money are probably Ben Franklin-type
rules, such as never squander it, don't be a spendthrift, be very
careful, you have to account for what you're doing, you must keep
track of it, and you can never ignore what happens to
money.
3. Money is a dream - a fantasy as alluring as the Pied Piper.
Money is very much a state of mind. It's much like the states of
consciousness that you see on an acid trip... It is fantasy in
itself, purely a dream. People who go after it as though it were
real and tangible, say a person who is trying to earn a hundred-
thousand dollars, orient their lives and end up in such a way as
to have been significantly changed simply to have reached that
goal. They become part of that object and since the object is a
dream ( a mirage) they become quite different from what they set
out to be.
4. Money is a nightmare - in jail, robbery, fears of poverty. I
am not expressing a moral judgment. I am making very clear
something that many people aren't conscious of: among the people
we punish, the people we have to take out of society, 80% or more
are people who are unable to deal with money. Money is also a
nightmare when looked at from the opposite perspective - from the
point of view of people who have inherited a lot of money. The
western dream is to have a lot of money, and then you can lead a
life of leisure and happiness. Nothing in my experience could be
further from the truth.
5. You can never give money away. Looked at over a period of
time, money flows in certain channels, like electricity through
wires. The wires define the relationship, and the flow is the
significant thing to look at. The fifth law of money suggests
that by looking at the gift in a larger or longer-term
perspective, we will see that it is part of a two-way flow.
6. You can never really receive money as a gift. Money is
either borrowed or lent or possibly invested. It is never given
or received without those concepts implicit in it. Giving money
requires some payment; if it's not repaid the nightmare elements
enter into it. A gift of money is really a contract; it's really
a repayable loan, and it requires performance and an accounting
of performance that is satisfactory to the giver.
7. There are worlds without money. They are the worlds of art,
poetry, music, dance, sex, etc. the essentials of human life.
The seventh law is like a star that is your guide. You know that
you cannot live on the star; it is not physically a part of your
life, but rather an aid to orientation. You are not going to
reach this star, but in some sense neither are you going to reach
your destination without it to guide you.
