“There was a place in A.A. where spirituality and money would mix, and that was in the hat!” (12&12 163)

Do you have a problem with money? I did. I had too much!

I wasn’t born to money. I left home when I was 21 with a very used car, about 300 dollars in cash, the clothes on my back, and a prospective job 1,540 miles away. In the years since then, I’ve been able to save money and live a comfortable middle-class lifestyle. But I still had a problem with money.

I didn’t realize this until I heard in the Ninth Step promises that the “fear of financial insecurity” would leave me. Fortunately the Fourth Step includes a fear inventory. While working to this point in the program, I began to sense more clearly that I had a problem with money. It wasn’t that I was greedy; on the contrary I was very generous to friends and gave happily to many causes. What was the problem then?

Fear, for one thing. The Big Book says pointedly that fear is a big problem. It calls it “an evil and corroding thread” (67) and says it “ought to be classed with stealing” (68). For another thing, I used my money-making ability to hide from reality. It’s difficult to describe this in just a few words, but I’ll try.

I really thought that I deserved no less than I had because I had made it on my own. But—I didn’t and I hadn’t. I was given a talent from God (as I understand Him) and a blessing from my parents. The talent was in a field that had high income potential and the blessing was from my parents, who taught me to live within my means, pay cash, and not to get into debt. I worked hard at developing this talent and living the blessing, but even the ability to do this wasn’t innate. It too came from somewhere else. What I’m trying to say is that my ability to use the talent and blessing was also given to me. I don’t own these, they were given to me.

Now it’s my turn to give back. I found another blessing in the program, and that’s the Seventh Tradition.

There are times when I’m trudging the road so to speak and can’t seem to find my way. When this is the case, I look to see if I have a resentment, fear, or owe an apology. If the answer is no, then I look for any hidden lust. If there isn’t any, I seek out someone (usually my sponsor) more sober than I am and see what he has to say. If there is still no relief, I’ll make a gratitude list. If this doesn’t work, then the Seventh Tradition comes to the rescue. I simply go online and make a donation to the Seventh Tradition at sa.org. It works every time!

For me, it’s another way to carry the message to the sexaholic who still suffers. Under the title “SA Is Self-Supporting,” the White Book says: “The fellowship has evolved a means of supporting its world services that is working” (183). I like to think that when I contribute to SAICO, I’m reaching the hand of SA to someone in another place who doesn’t have the advantages of sponsor, meetings, and literature.

I also had to give the amount of my donation a thorough overhaul, and here’s how I did it. I used an inflation calculator to see whether I was giving enough. I posed this problem: If the first donation in the first AA meeting that passed the hat in 1939 was one penny—the smallest possible coin available at the time—then what was the smallest amount I would give today? The equivalent of one cent in 1939 is 17 cents today. In other words, if you put a dollar in the hat today that is only .0588235 cents in 1939 dollars. Or let’s say you wanted to be very generous in 1939 and you put a dollar in the hat. That’s equivalent to over 15 dollars today.

If you have a problem with money, I am happy to share my solution with you. Maybe you too need to ask yourself, “What am I giving back?” Who knows? Relief from the bondage of self may only be a few clicks away.