I believe that in order for one to be noted as "financially successful" one must be able to have a peace of mind about their cash flow. It's not all about how much you make a year, but how you handle your earnings. More stable people usually tend to budget their finances so as not to overspend, while other not so stable people tend to end up in debt. Being able to have that peace of mind about your finances means that, if and when an incident occurs, you won't be devastated by any financial setbacks. It's also a plus to see a positive trend in your bank account, whether it be a slow and steady growth or a rapid one.
Giving to others isn't exactly an easy task. Sometimes in order to give, you'd end up having to go out of your way to do so, putting yourself in a compromising position. I think that several chances to give to others are taken up by the spur of the moment opportunities we see to help ourselves. For example, that chocolate bar in the store that looks delicious then but you'll just end up complaining about later. Sure, it's just a small amount, but hey, we end up with a lot of those small amounts don't we? If we can become not so eager to spend that money that might be burning a hole in our pocket, we would find that our ability to give to others would increase by quite a bit. This way we can show compassion in serving others without decimating our finances as well.
