Why wise farmers don’t plant one seed at a time?
There is no doubt that all of us want to be rich, but of course rich is subjective, maybe achieving financial freedom is a more appropriate goal for each of us than simply being rich.
The definition of financial freedom is income from assets exceeds living expenses, which is income that comes regardless of whether you work or not. Living expenses not only includes basic necessities and also some basic luxuries like broadband Internet access, pay TV and others depending on one’s definition.
The key towards achieving financial freedom faster is simply to plant many seeds at the same time, but maybe not too many that one is unable to take care of all.
The type of seeds planted determines the types of fruits. No one plant a mango seed expecting that a durian will come out.
This is what we can learn from farmers; does it make sense for a farmer to plant just one seed, and then sit and stare at it for months to make sure it grows?
Similarly, depending on life stage and what you earns as well as what you have. The seeds of success need not be planted one at a time. For example, if one is still in colleges, not having much money to invest does not warrant not learning and thinking about it. Starting a business part time, be employed in part time work, learning about insurance planning, read books on personal finance and investing is all about planting required seeds at the same time.
Another case is when being employed full time, one does need to do other things to earn additional income like starting a part time business that is more in line with what you are interested in so that if things don’t work out, time is not really wasted. Of course, other aspects of business such as competition, unique selling position, demand and marketing etc, are equally important if it were to succeed.
Let us assume that you have just graduated from colleges not too long ago and unfortunately, compared to previous and most probably next batch of college graduates, your job prospects and starting income is most probably going to be less. Some, if not most may even still be jobless now, officially contributing to unemployment statistics a few months after commencement ceremonies. (Still a contribution though)
One does need to plant the first seed like continue looking for jobs, but at the same time, can concurrently plant other seeds like thinking of what businesses to start which need not cost a leg and a hand financially, reading and learning so as to increase financial intelligence. Or to the least extent, exercise regularly, quit smoking and excessive drinking of alcohol, this may directly reduce medical bills in future.
Planting more seeds of success concurrently is especially important if the seeds’ germination time and time required for harvesting is long. In other words, there is a large time lag between taking actions and getting results. This is especially so for learning about a seemingly complex field of finance and I guaranteed you that as long as your IQ is above normal level, you don’t need advices from the high priests of finance.
Image Credits: ricephotos
My advice is don’t let time pass you by.
There is a time lag between taking actions for a goal and receiving outcomes; whether the outcome is what you wanted is another matter though.
But one consideration to keep in mind,
How to avoid spreading yourself too thin?
There is no doubt that for the case of farmers, if they got more land than they could handle, most would be unable to plant seeds over every single inch of land, tilt every single inch and finally harvest every single inch.
This is similar for you, while one is advised to plant more than one seed at the same time, there is a need to avoid stretching too thin and ended up not achieving anything significant.
For instance, in the case of an undergraduate student with a little more than $10 000 in a bank account, with no other income other than some savings from part time work during the school vacations, it will be wise for him to learn more about market cycle investing using index fund rather than investing through direct stock ownerships, building up own portfolio of stocks consisted largely of blue chips. The former is more safe as one won’t lose everything while the latter is require even more capital for a diversified portfolio.
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Very interesting and amusing subject. I read with great pleasure.