The Farmer and The Calf: An Investment Story
This article is posted under Investing, Mindsetting.
I remember reading a story years ago about a farmer who received a calf from a rich man.
Hopeful that the calf will be able to help him have a better life, the farmer did his best to take care of it. But as the calf grew, so did the farmer’s expenses.
One day, he said to himself, “I don’t want to wait anymore for this calf to become an ox. I’ll just sell it and buy several sheep which are easier and much cheaper to take care of.”
And so he did just that.
After several months, he realized that breeding sheep were not as easy as he thought. And so he said to himself, “It takes too long for these sheep to give birth. I better just sell them and buy myself several hens which can lay eggs for me everyday.”
And so he did just that.
The plan worked very well, he was earning good from selling all the eggs. Life improved for the farmer. But after several months, the hens started to lay less and less eggs until one day, the hens couldn’t produce anymore.
The farmer was devastated. In his anger, he cooked all the hens and had himself a feast.
Later that week, he remembered the single calf that started it all and realized that after all his hard work, nothing had changed in his life.
Are you like the farmer who often becomes impatient when investments takes so long to grow and gives up when things become hard? Remember that there’s no shortcut towards success and time is your ally. Be patient and persistent and the money will come soon enough.
And when it does, do you make the mistake of spending all your earnings? To become rich, you must learn to delay gratification and use the profits as leverage to earn more. Again, be patient and soon enough, you’ll have more than enough to spend for both your needs and your wants.
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Photo courtesy of ajnabihope
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Hi, my name is Fitz and this is my blog entitled, Ready To Be Rich.
this is inspiring kuya fitz,
this is a very true story for most of us
thanks for the reminder.
Great story. Business success cannot be done overnight. We should apply the law of the farm – that is the process of planting and waiting patiently until the rice are ready to harvest. We should not harvest or try to grab what we planted if they are not still fully grown.
ganda ng story fitz, dpat tlaga tyaga sa lahat ng bagay.
Thanks for sharing this wonderful story. Dapat talaga hindi hapit, para maganda kalalabasan.
Thanks everyone. This story is actually inspired by a friend who’s been becoming frustrated and impatient with his investments lately. It’s a way for me to encourage him to be a bit more patient.
i dont know if this jives with the topic but i can relate to the behavior of the farmer. there was one time when we were on a resort in pansol. my wallet got stolen. it contains my IDs and php 3000. to my despair, i end up buying a kickers shoes worth 3500. i just want to forget what happened that night and so i turned my attention into feasting with a new pair of shoes.
over the years, i learned that scenarios like this cannot be prevented, however the suceeding reactions can be thought over and over so that we would lead to a wiser decision.
The story of the calf and the farmer is applicable when the stock market is in normal condition. This time it is not. The stock market climate has changed. That is why we need unusual investment strategy in today’s unusual investment climate.
Waiting patiently is good but the market is offering great investment opportunities. Remember that great gains are acquired during a recession. The key is to be able to seize every opportunity that the market gives to us.