06: Investing In Community

Last time, we talked about what you own inside your investment accounts, if you have them. Investing for the future is part of good financial planning, and sometimes (mistakenly) the only thing that gets any attention is investing money. Today, we’re looking at another investment that’s as critically important to future you and that takes time, care, and discipline to nurture.

That’s right, we’re talking about community, specifically the people who live within walking distance, your neighbours.

Storytime: The Great Blizzard of ‘24

Let me start with a story: last winter, our town was hit with 140 centimeters of snow in 36 hours. The highway was closed, power was out, and the roads weren’t plowed. If you were very, very determined, and had good snow boots, you could maybe struggle your way across the street. Any further and you were out of luck. 

Our neighbours had a fireplace, we had a gas stove, and someone down the street had a generator. Between us, we got warm, stayed fed, and kept our devices charged so we could keep in touch. When it stopped snowing, we dug each other out. 

My parents live what’s normally a fifteen minute walk away, and may as well have lived on the moon. My mom, caring for my dad as they waited for his heart surgery appointment, had support even though we couldn’t get to them. Their neighbours had likewise cobbled together a network of heat and electricity, keeping each other warm and devices charged. Mom didn’t have to shovel a flake of snow.

As unexpected as this particular crisis was, it wasn’t exactly unprecedented. Bad snowstorms happen around here, people come together to cope, and eventually things go back to normal. 

But what if there is no normal to go back to? Or what if the next crisis is one you’ve never faced before, or aren’t equipped for? What if the future is nothing like what we’re assuming it will be? 

Enter the people you live next to. The people you can get to and who can get to you. It’s time to invest in your relationships, not as a transaction where you expect to get something out of people, but as a critical part of your human infrastructure, a network of people you can rely on and who can rely on you when things go wrong…and with whom you can build the conditions for more things to go right, because here’s some excellent news: the world doesn’t have to fall apart for community building to have been worthwhile! 

Hard Work (at least for me) That’s Worth Doing

Now, as a hardcore introvert, a white person who grew up with the cultural values of individualism heavily impressed upon me, and someone who’s happiest at home and reading a book, I know how much of a challenge this is, so our work today only has three steps: 

Step one: Count the number of people whose homes are within a five minute walk or less, even if there’s a ludicrous amount of snow.

Step two: Of those people, count how many you know by name, and how many you’ve spoken to in the last year.

Step three: Find a reason to talk to a neighbour you don’t know or one you haven’t spoken to in a while.  The goal is not to become best friends, or even to become friends at all. The goal right now is to build a network of people who live close enough to each other for mutual support.

Where (and When) to Start

If you’re struggling to find a reason to strike up a conversation out of the blue, you might be tempted to start with giving something, like extra beans from your garden, an invitation to a drink or a meal together, or help shovelling their driveway. These are comfortable ways in, sure, but if you want a really effective way to get to know your neighbours and start building a network of support, try asking for something instead.

The classic cup of sugar, a clipping from their garden, help lifting something, advice about something it seems likely they know about. It’s much easier to give help than to ask for it, so while you’re getting to know your neighbour a little better you’re also practicing this incredibly difficult but very necessary skill. And you’re doing one more thing: you’re making it easier for them to ask you for something in the future by modelling how it's done. 

Step four (I lied): Repeat until the answer to step two is “all of them”. 

Contributing to the resilience and connectedness of your immediate community is as important as contributing to your RRSP, and has uncountable extra benefits, and the best time to start is today.   

RESOURCES

When Disaster Hits, Your First Responder Probably Will Not Be A First Responder