Saved - Ben Hewitt - Part 1

Saved: How I Quit Worrying about
Money and Became the Richest Guy
in the World
Ben Hewitt

2017 Reading Challenge - Day 33

 February 2, 2017 

Book 9 - Saved: How I Stopped Worrying About Money and
Became the Richest Guy in the World
by Ben Hewitt (2016)
 Part 1 - Pages 1-224
Reading Time - 4 Hours

I think I came across this book on the library shelf as I was randomly browsing. It looked interesting so I grabbed it. That is part of the problem with my Reading Challenge... I keep getting side-tracked by interesting books that are not on my "official" reading list. Argh.

Anyhow... this book was interesting. The author takes a look at what he calls the unconscious economy (what we live in right now) and makes a pretty convincing argument for how unstable and unsustainable it really is. He makes a case for something called the conscious economy. Along the way, he examines how our monetary policy works (it doesn't), what is money (debt) and the unsustainable expansion of our commodified society (the earth is finite, not infinite).

His argument essentially lies along these lines. We have traded relationships for commodities. We just go to the Big Box Store and buy what we need. This really tears at the fabric of our communities. We could, for example, share things with our neighbours. I've heard of this before... the idea that we don't all need to own a hedge-trimmer but that we could borrow things like that from each other. That we could make an investment in our neighbourhood relationships. Instead of hiring someone to build a fence or fix our toilet, we draw on our "savings" by seeing if friends or neighbours can help us. These sorts of relationships strengthen our community and feed our own souls.

This isn't really a book on minimalism but... it does crop up. To be happy with what we have... to buy things that have meaning and are not simply cookie-cutter particle board things from IKEA. He argues that money is really a representation of trust. In which case, our real wealth does not lie in our bank accounts (as virtual numbers) but exists in the real world as our relationships with others. Cause, ultimately, if the whole economy goes in the toilet... money and even gold will be worthless... what will have worth is the deposits we have with others... the trust, the community, the relationships.

It's an interesting vision of a new world.