New Currencies in a World of “Wobbly” Money

Conversations around new types of “currencies” are becoming commonplace. Why have they not been considered before?

👋🏼 Hey, I’m Joanna! I’m an advisor and communications consultant sharing insights and ideas relating to democracy, wellbeing, AI, culture, spiritualism and the human condition…read on if this has piqued your interest.

The meaning we give to money – money meaning coins, cash or digital numbers – is defined by the feelings we project onto it. For me, money facilitates spiritual self-actualisation. But money alone can’t buy it, nor can it provide all the answers and solutions. We inherently know this. But it’s taken a squeeze on salaries, an increase in the cost of living, a pandemic and global unrest for a collective awakening to alternative types of currencies beyond the monetary kind to become the norm. And I for one am thrilled about it. And so should you.

Historically money, depending on how much you have, can limit your humanity. If you have a lot of it, it can expand your humanity by giving you more freedom of choice. With these new currencies more and more people have freedom that doesn’t have to be bought. This is what makes them so remarkable and game-changing for humanity.

When we think about currency, we typically perceive it as a medium of exchange or money which a country uses to conduct business. More unconventionally, we can see it as an energetic exchange of value beyond the monetary kind. At a time when the relationship between social good and monetary pay – think doctors, teachers and social workers – no longer makes logical sense, where stagnant salaries are the norm (at least in the UK anyway), money has become increasingly digitalised to the point where we are numbing ourselves to the reality of its worth and where companies are pushing higher costs onto consumers (£5 for a coffee anyone?!), it’s safe to say that money has gone into a state of mayhem.

Unsurprisingly then it is inevitable that new currencies would emerge to provide a feeling of value and personal power when money is not functioning as it should for most people.

Beyond a feeling of value there is a sacredness which is intrinsic to the new currencies that are missing from the monetary kind. And this is where I’m fascinated to see how these new currencies will impact how we live and think about worth and value. Let me explain.

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These new currencies include the following: time wealth, trust wealth, social wealth, mental wealth, physical health, spiritual wealth and wealth of freedom and autonomy. In a world where work no longer offers equal economic rewards – CEO pay has seen a 1,209.2% increase since 1978 whilst typical workers have seen a 15.3% rise – this has led many people, especially within the Gen Z age group, to create new value systems of their own that makes sense in relation to their fundamental human needs. This not only is changing the perception of money, but it’s also emphasising the human factors which contribute towards a life well lived.

What happens when we remove money from the equation and offer something else instead?

In a global Randstad survey this year, over half of employees signalled that they were happy to forgo promotion; 64 % said their personal life was more important than their work. If basic needs such as secure housing, pensions and a regular pay increase with the same employer is out of reach for the typical Gen Z employee (which wasn’t the case a few decades ago), then of course they will shirk employers who are passive about engaging them in meaningful work that provides a sense of fulfillment and leads to self-actualisation. The currency of money doesn’t mean anything to an employee when their pay check doesn’t cover the costs within the second stage of Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs (safety and security). There are other things that count beyond money.

Having a lot of money is great. But is it so wonderful when you have no time to spend it or see your friends on a regular basis? What about your own human need to self-actualise, the highest level in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs? Counterintuitively, self-actualisation only happens when we seek and welcome the contributing of others e.g, a word of encouragement or a life-changing meeting with mentor figure.

It’s fair to say that all writers on Substack are participating in a form of self-actualisation. We choose to set up a blog, we spend time crafting and honing our ideas and sharpening our pencils to write something that we wish to write about, and which holds meaning to us. One of the reasons I decided to start writing here was because I started to feel spiritually off for not writing about the ideas that would drop into my head. I felt a calling to write and couldn’t not do it. This is why I think self-actualising is a fundamental human need, and it’s something that the wider world benefits from rather than just me alone.

Yet this requires time, freedom and the support of others. Whilst there is no denying that money remains an important currency – I agree with Patrick Muindi that “If something is good and more of it would be good for people, the best thing to do is encourage its production, and the best way to do so is to give it money” – these other currencies offer a form of exchange that is meaningful on a deeply human level without the price tag attached. It also avoids the psychological dimension of money which leads many people to associate it with survival and security, in turn impacting their physical and mental health, as well as their relationships with other people.

For example, trust wealth is one of the most important commodities in the digital age. The trust and sharing economy has been in the works for around a decade, and most of us have participated in it in some kind – you’ve probably used an Airbnb, shared an Uber, bought a second hand dress from Vinted or, in my own case, I recently stayed in an apartment for free in exchange for looking after the owner’s dog – and this has led us to live our lives with less restriction, increased ease and trust and enabled greater choice. Notice how the barter economy is in a state of bloom (for example, influencers posting pictures of their private car service in exchange for free rides). If we don’t have money to offer, what else can we offer that benefits the other person?

Tellingly, as the trust economy has grown, our trust in institutions has lapsed. Or as Rachel Botsman puts it: “We’ve stopped trusting institutions and started trusting strangers.” Our lack of trust in institutions is bad. Yet our ability to trust strangers can only be considered an excellent thing in an age of atomisation which is fraying our relationships and undermining the significance of community.

I think there’s something significant about this, as it makes me think of the passage in the bible which says “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” This lack of trust in institutions but direct willingness to trust strangers speaks volumes of the inherent and individual connection we can form with others, simply because they are a human being like us.

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This re-imagining of the modern economy and how we participate in it will continue further as we move into the astrological Age of Aquarius which will see themes relating to personal growth, transformation and power dynamics enter the collective consciousness. Technology is another big theme. This is why the emergence of new currencies, which are intrinsically human-focused and invests in human values, is a refreshing alternative to technology which is primarily aimed at driving economic growth above human dignity.

Former Chief Executive of the Resolution Foundation, Torsten Bell, commented last year:

“The wage stagnation of the past decade and a half is almost completely unprecedented. Nobody who’s alive and working in the British economy today has ever seen anything like this, and the toxic combination of low growth and high inequality has left poorer households particularly exposed.

Unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures. The energetics of money – from the first coin which came into existence in the 7^th century BC to the creation of Bitcoin in 2009 – has drastically changed how we engage with money in the era of globalisation. Money is a form of energy that comes and goes. Our own relationship with money, just as we have with our own relationships, shows us what’s of value.

Energy is currency. What you pay attention to will create your reality. How you spend your time will contribute towards that. How we quantify this is up to us. But the creation of new currencies which enhance, and not rob, the human experience is something well worth investing in if they offer richer meaning, moments and memories than hard cold cash ever could.

Thank you for reading!

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