HIMPower Magazine August 2015 | Page 27

Personal Empowerment Is God Pleased with Your Net Worth? by Rosalyn H. Glenn Net worth is described as the value of an individual after she has added up all she owns—home, cars, furniture, savings and investment accounts, retirement accounts— and subtracted all she owes—mortgage, car payments, and loans. The resulting number is her net worth. Not to be confused with selfworth, net worth has more to do with where a person stands financially. Self-worth is defined as how a person thinks about her usefulness or importance to the world, value as a person, or purpose in life. Self-worth and net worth are often considered the same although they are not. People often measure their self-worth based on their net worth. They think, “The more money I have, the more worth I have.” I totally disagree with that sentiment; however, I would argue that one cannot fully achieve a positive self-worth without a positive networth. A positive net worth is foundational to maintaining a healthy self-esteem. In his hierarchy of needs, Abraham Maslow indicated that esteem and self-actualization were among patterns that human motivation runs through after the physiological, safety, and need to belong are met. When a person can provide food and shelter for herself, feels safe and secure both physically and financially, feels a sense of love and belonging, feels accepted and valued by others, and feels a sense of accomplishment, she is said to have a healthy self-esteem. The clincher here is that it takes financial resources to achieve the majority if not all of the aforementioned. It takes money to buy food and shelter which to a certain extent provides safety and helps a person to feel secure. In order to engage with others, belong and add value, and be valued it takes some level of financial resources. www.pneupathforliving.com  27