“Divine love always has met and always will meet every human need.”
― Mary Baker Eddy

We love Gary Chapman’s book, The Five Love Languages and continue to recommend it to others. The simple-yet-profound concepts it contains have helped our family members enjoy stronger, closer relationships.

As Valentine’s Day approaches with its emphasis on love and romance, we thought it would be fun to look at wealth and prosperity through the lens of Chapman’s love languages.

No matter what your “love language” is, or whether you are single or coupled, this is for you! 

Words of Affirmation.

If this is your love language, you feel most cared for when your partner openly expresses how much they appreciate you. In the world of prosperity, our words can be equally important to those around us. Whether we are business owners, homemakers or artists, being able to express ourselves openly and especially to affirm others with our words is a valuable skill.

We also want to consider the concept of “appreciation,” which closely relates to affirmation. Appreciation has many meanings. We are huge fans of gratitude, which is the act of affirming and appreciating all good things around us. Are we speaking words of appreciation?

When we appreciate someone or something, we give it value in our perception. Similarly, in the economy, appreciation signifies that something is rising in value, such as a housing market or an antique car. Of course, depreciating is the opposite – a depreciating asset is one that is losing value! So we want to always be focused on appreciation.

Who and what are you appreciating? And are you investing in things that are appreciating? And are you affirming and appreciating everything that you have? 

Touch.

For those whose primary love language is touch, they enjoy physical closeness with their sweetie. And when it comes to wealth and abundance, who we touch and how (in the broader sense of the word) also has a dramatic impact on our prosperity. Wealth is not created or enjoyed in a vacuum, and success often has everything to do with those we are connected to.

It is said that our incomes tend to be equal to the average of the incomes of the five people we spend the most time with. Who are we touching and being touched by? Do we have mentors who inspire us to reach higher, do better, and make a greater difference?

Our willingness to connect authentically to others is another important aspect of how we connect with others in the world. Are we willing to be examples ourselves, perhaps helping to coach and mentor others? Do we build networks of relationships that allow us to touch and be touched by more people?

The more people we can touch, the more prosperous we can be. 

Acts of Service.

Washing your loved one’s car may earn you bonus points with your sweetie, and discovering your own car detailed and gassed up may make you love and appreciate your significant other even more, but serving others does more than just fan the flames of love. Serving others has been known to have wealth-producing side effects!

In the flow of abundance, giving and receiving are both essential. By creating value for others and truly serving them, we open ourselves up to the flow of wealth.

If a business owner is “stuck” in their business and in need of more revenue, it is time to examine how they are currently serving their target market. Rather than a tempting to “sell to” others, we must direct our focus instead to what we can give and how we can serve.

This is one reason why we choose to serve clients in a fiduciary capacity here are Partners for Prosperity. While those who sell from a suitability platform may also offer valuable service, they are not legally bound to hold the best interests of others first. (See this article and also this one for more on the Fiduciary vs. Suitability platform for financial advice.)

The value of service is hard to overestimate in all areas of life. By raising children who know the value of service, we can counteract entitlement and foster independence and leadership. By serving and volunteering, much good work is continued in the world.

Gifts.

In the five love languages, Chapman identifies that some people enjoy and feel loved in the act of receiving gifts. They feel appreciated when their partner takes time and effort to select and give something to them. And the act of giving cannot be divorced by the act necessary to complete it – that of receiving.

One of the strongest predictors of wealth is whether or not a person can adopt one critical habit – the habit of paying themselves first.

Do we have the ability to give to ourselves, and to receive?

It takes a commitment, and sometimes a bit of discipline too, but it is a practice that pays dividends… literally!

“If you want to be rich, all you have to do is make a decision to do something that most people don’t do,” writes David Bach, a millionaire by age 30. In his book, The Automatic Millionaire. Bach affirms that people who pay themselves first by saving automatically are by far the most likely to build substantial wealth.

Our capacity to receive is also critical here. When we receive, whether from a job, a business or an inheritance, are we able to keep a portion of what we receive, as recommended in the timeless book, The Richest Man in Babylon? Do we have the ability to hold wealth, or do we feel money “burning a hole through our pocket” the moment we have a little extra?

Our willingness to receive also allows us to charge what we are worth, to negotiate for a pay raise, and to look for the best investments.

When we are good receivers, we open ourselves up to greater prosperity.

Quality Time.

If this is your love language, you  enjoy dedicated time with your sweetie. You treasure the moments, hours, and days you spend together.

Time is also incredibly valuable to those who achieve financial success and freedom! While the poor and middle-class may like to label all those wealthier than them as “workaholics,” the truth is that successful people are those who learn to use their time wisely and who also have the most control over how they spend their time.

Robert Kiyosaki introduced the concept of the “Cashflow Quadrant” in his book of the same name. The cash flow quadrant identifies the four different types of people who make up the world of work and business. Two of them have a high level of control over how they spend their time, and two of them don’t.

On the left side of the quadrant, “E” stands for Employee. An employee trades their time for dollars, working for others. “S” stands for Self-employed or “Solo-preneur,” someone who works independently. The self-employed may have more control over their schedules, but generally they still cannot take extended time off if they wish to make a living!

On the right side, “B” is for “Big Business” – Kiyosaki defines this as 500 employees or more. These are businesses with managers and systems, businesses that are capable of running without the owner’s constant presence. (Richard Branson owns about 400 businesses in this manner!) Lastly, the “I” stands for Investor, which is someone who lives off of the cash flow generated by their investments. Typically investors have the greatest time freedom of all.

Can you choose how you spend the precious moments of your life?

As Tammi Brannan observed in “Discovering Our Purpose, Treasuring Our Time,” time is the most valuable asset we have. And when our assets generate enough cash flow to support our needs, we experience greater freedom to choose exactly how we spend our quality time.

We wish for you a life filled with love and prosperity. And when you hear of the five love languages, don’t forget that these five love languages also give us insight into prosperity!

More Love, More Prosperity!

If you haven’t read it yet, here’s a link to Gary Chapman’s book, The Five Love Languages on Amazon.com.

And if you don’t yet know the 7 Principles of Prosperity™, sign up for our complimentary Prosperity Accelerator Pack – you’ll receive a video and an audio about the 7 Principles, as well as Financial Planning Has Failed, our subscriber-only ebook that reveals how Prosperity Economics and the 7 Principles are the cure for Wall Street risks and disappointments.

And if you’d like to commit to the Automatic Millionaire habit of paying yourself first… we’d love to help you do that! Contact Partners for Prosperity today and we can help you determine which saving or investment strategy makes the most sense for you.