Reading a post recently here on read.cash wherein the writer explained that they were working in a professional job in Venezuela, and was earning a $16 a month salary, it got me to thinking what $100 is worth to me, and what it is worth to someone else in another part of the world.
I happen to live in the United States where the average annual household income is around $70,000.
I play the big multi-state lotteries often, and it is not uncommon for the jackpots to reach into the hundreds of millions of dollars. This is truly life changing money. And I have often said that if one day I should be fortunate enough to be the winner of one of these jackpots, I would want to find some way to give some of it back to the community at large.
Granted, when most people think of charity, they think of it in terms of donating money to organizations that serve myriad causes. I tend to think more in terms of what I like to call "working charity."
That is, giving to people who are just out there trying as hard as they can to make an honest living. It's giving a bigger tip to a hard working waitress, or slipping a few bucks into the pocket of the guy bagging my groceries at the grocery store. It's maybe paying for groceries for a working single mother of three.
But reading that post also reminded me that even if I did that, what would the real impact be of my working charity? In my country $100 will not do much to really provide for any life altering change. In my country $100 is a mere token. Sure, anyone would still appreciate it. But in terms of moving the needle for anyone, any movement of the needle would be so small it would hardly be noticeable at all.
It made me think what greater impact I could have if I gave $100 to someone in Venezuela who makes $16 a month? That could provide for roughly 6-months worth of living expenses. Or what if I gave $100 to someone who is in Bangladesh who makes $30 a month? That would provide for about 3-months worth of living expenses.
Even in a country like Serbia where the annual average household income is higher, about $3,000, $100 would provide for at least a couple of weeks.
It is something that I think would be a very fun thing to do. And in no way is this a call to the Heavens to drop this cash down into my wallet so I can get started doing this right away.
For me it is simply putting things into a bit of perspective, and then looking at how much of an impact a place like read.cash or noise.cash can have across the globe.
A lot of our friends here and there are from the Philippines who have an average annual household income of roughly 267,000 pesos. In U.S. dollars that's about $5,354. If one person in the Philippines can accumulate just 1BCH at roughly $700 worth of coin, the impact of that windfall is roughly a month and a half's worth of living expenses.
For someone in Venezuela it will provide for 44 months. For someone in Bangladesh it will provide for 23 months.
For a guy like me, sitting here in the United States plodding away at the keyboard churning out an article here and a post there, none of this is very impacting in the overall grander scheme of things. It's just a little bit of extra that I can be thankful for while I am having a little bit of fun.
But for someone else in another part of the world? Their time spent in places like this is offering them greater opportunities than maybe they have ever had before to truly get ahead and have an impact on their lives, and their families lives.
And it also makes me think differently about the impact that I can have both here and on noise. The nickel or two that I tip to someone in one part of the world may not be worth much at all. But in other places? It's a virtual opportunity of a fortune.
If nothing else, it simply makes me think a little bit differently about how much a little bit of money can really have an impact that I had not considered before.
Lead image courtesy of Pixabay, user StockSnap. Money Currency Business - Free photo on Pixabay
Ooh,, I wonder what are the jobs of your friends that has an annual income of 267,000. And how many hours do they have to work for it.
I'm from the same country but not in the city. And minimum wage here is $7.3
People who thinks what they earn from thier country worked abroad in hope that thier monthly income will increase to satisfy thier family's needs.