The Seeds and the Soil: An Investment Parable
I feel as though I am trapped inside a personal finance parable sometimes. Below are two real-life money conversations (paraphrased to protect the innocent) that I have had in the past couple of days.
The finance-guru sat down with his disciples:
Coworker Disciple: "I'll start investing when I'm more financially secure."
Finance Guru: "Investing is the way to get more financially secure, not something you do after the fact."
Programmer Disciple: "If I can just get a piece of the KPCB iFund Venture Capital Initiative, then I would be all set."
Finance Guru: "How much money did you spend on that iPhone, and why isn't it in a Roth IRA instead?"
Programmer Disciple: "What's an IRA?"
Simple messages, but I have a hunch they fell on deaf ears. The concepts are simple, but like all good ideas they must overcome some psychological resistance to break through to consciousness. The seed was planted, but like all seeds they will be fruitless if not combined with some genuine action on the part of the soil. Bad soil will yield no fruit.
See Jesus's parable of the sower and the seeds in Matthew chapter 13 for more on this. It is as true for investing as it is for the gospel:
That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. Then he told them many things in parables, saying: "A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. He who has ears, let him hear." Matthew 13:1–9
If you fall in the bad soil category, consider yourself warned: Snap out of it, get your butt in gear, and start investing NOW! If you are worried about taking the first step, you should be following along with my series "Investing for the Absolute Beginner", and I will help get you started.
Have any of you heard any stupid money comments recently? If so, pass them along below.
