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> The muscles you use for giving are the same muscles you use to save or pay down debt.

Citation needed.

I think all he's saying is that if you get in the habit of living on less $ (because you're giving 20, 30, 40, 50% away to others), if you decide to give it to _yourself_ to paydown debt, or save for retirement, you're already used to living on "50% income", so it may not be as difficult as for soemone who hasn't done this exercise.

Edit: sloppy typing

The motivations are different: paying down my debt enhances my own financial well-being, while donating to charities enhances others'. Or: paying down debt is self-interested, while donating is selfless (or at least self-interested in a different way).

The point is: living on 0.5 * $annual_income requires discipline. If you give 0.5 to charity, good for you. If you put 0.5 to a retirement plan, or apply to some long-term debt that you assume, good for you. Not everybody has the discipline to get $10 and only look at $5 as "available".

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