Although love and money always come up as the two most prevalent of human concerns, we are strangely never really taught about money at school, nor does anyone really know much about it.

Martin Wigand’s “Exchange Money, Creative Money and Future Money – Their Threefold Dynamic in Our Economy” was slow to start off with, but like a weaver bird that started large, going smaller and deeper in, he presented the most coherent, enlightening and powerful explanation of “money” I have ever come across.

Basically, crudely:

1. Purchase or exchange money is that which directly represents a physical asset. This was the first form of money and can now be seen as the notes and coins – only 5% of the money we use today.
2. Creative or loan money is that which has been “created” by private bank systems. One “creates” money by convincing someone that you can pay them back, with interest in a specific time. This is where the debt starts, but is not in itself bad – as fire turned civilisation from primitive to the middle ages,  “loan money”  birthed modern civilisation. It gave people the power to dream and turned society from a society of scarcity to abundance.
   
   The problem comes in through two abuses of debt – ordinary egoism, when you take debt out to buy a TV or anything else that does not actually increase your productivity or save you costs; and creative egoism, when loaned money is used for personal gain, not to create new wealth, like a speculator. Pretty much, both come down to that fact that if you take out debt, it must be used to make more value.
   
   At present, world debt is just too much – the US’s debt is 369% of the country’s annual GDP. However, on the balance sheet, the money in the world is equal to the debt, so it would be a stable system, if it weren’t for the interest that this massive amount of debt requires paying.
3. Future money, what Martin says we need more of, is billionaires realising that the amount of money they have is absurd and then investing them in humanitarian and social growth. This increases value in the world.

So, I guess, we’re running out of “value” – that’s why there isn’t as much money around anymore. Why my parents had bought houses by my age. As Martin said, why in the past, one could expect money to come to you automatically if you did a good job and invested in good. That’s not enough anymore, he says, and one has to make your own solution. He recommends:

1. Recognise TINA – there is no alternative.
2. Understand the three functions of money – purchase, creative and future.
3. Base your financial decisions on strong values:
   • Buy healthy food, support fair trade
   • Invest consciously and responsibly
   • Give money with your whole heart
   • The most important investment is a network of good friends
4. Check your attitude to work – do you work for money or do you contribute to the great project called humanity?