Feng Shui is an ancient Chinese philosophy based on the belief that chi (or energy) is the life force that flows within and around everything. By arranging your environment according to the principles of Feng Shui, you can help direct chi to promote serenity and success.
How can we apply these principles to our financial lives to invite wealth and abundance?
Feng Shui your Workplace
Our office environment has a significant influence on our energy and our success. Malca Narrol is a Toronto-based Feng Shui consultant who works with corporate clients to help create successful working environments.
According to Narrol, the location of your office, desk placement, and where you sit relative to your boss and colleagues all impact your ability to manage your career, maximize opportunities and income, and successful manage your working relationships with superiors, colleagues and / or clients.
“Ideally, choose an office where you can sit with your back to a solid wall and see both your entrance and the window. This provides you with the maximum ability to have vision, the most control over your circumstances, the most support from others, and the most calm and balanced energy” says Narrol.
You should also pay attention to the messages being conveyed in any signage, business cards, logos, and artwork. Are they in-tune with the image you want to project?
Feng Shui your Investment Portfolio
As Feng Shui is about arranging objects to create harmony and balance, these same principles can be applied to your investment portfolio.
Balance and harmony – how different investments work together – are the cornerstone of diversified portfolio. Typically, when creating a balanced portfolio, investments (stocks, bonds and cash) are allocated across asset classes, industry sectors and risk factors to align with our long-term and short-term needs and risk tolerance. We can also make pro-active portfolio choices about businesses that align with our ethical compass.
In the run up to Chinese New Year, Hong Kong Brokerage CLSA puts out its Feng Shui Index (FSI) as an alternative, light-hearted forecast about what’s in store for investors and the Hang Sent Index (HSI) in the coming year. The report draws on findings from a Feng Shui master, who evaluates the Bazi, (eight-character fortune) against the birth sign of the Hang Seng which is the Earth Rooster. The relative strength of the elements – Earth, Water, Metal, Wood and Fire – are evaluated as they cycle through the five phases in the respective monthly charts.
The 2019 Chinese Lunar New Year falls on February 5th and is the Year of the Earth Pig.
Feng Shui your Wallet or Purse
In a recent Facebook post, financial expert Suze Orman suggested, “Take out your wallet and look at the way your bills are organized. Are the ones mixed in with the tens? Are they all stuffed in there, facing different ways? How you actually keep your money is where respect for it starts. When you care for your cash in the same way you care for other important things in your life, you’ll remember that both you and your money deserve respect.”
If applying the principles of Feng Shui to promote energy and harmony in your financial life, your wallet or purse and how you organize them can say a lot about your relationship with money. According to Orman, a messy purse can often imply credit card debt and someone who is behind on payments. A cluttered wallet bursting with crumpled bills, old receipts, business cards and photographs can reflect a financial life that lacks control and order, the opposite type of energy that you need to receive wealth. Orman offers a series videos and books on how to organize your financial life. In Feng Shui, it’s important for our possessions to be in good repair. You show respect for your money by making sure your purse and wallet are not tattered or broken.
