This is a guest post from Paul Puckett of Beacon Wealth Advisors. Puckett is the author of Investiphobia: You Can Invest Without Fear. This piece originally appeared at his blog, Just Puckett, and I liked it so much that I asked for permission to reprint it here.
Here’s a little exercise that might be beneficial to your stress level and might even help you with your investments.
No matter where you live in America, there is probably a squirrel in your yard every day. Just for fun, take an opportunity to watch the squirrels today. Maybe take that morning cup of tea or coffee into the yard and sit quietly watching the squirrels at work and play.
Watch them as they stand in line at the little squirrel coffee shop discussing the acorn futures market. As they read the Squirrel Daily’s Business section looking for an update on the upcoming acorn tax legislation. Panicking as they hear that there may be an oversupply of acorns driving the price down or a shortage due to climate change. Many squirrels distrust the reporting of other squirrels, so you may notice some watching Fox News!
If you actually see squirrels doing these things in your backyard today, film it and your money worries will be over. But you won’t see squirrels doing anything like this.
So go back to your coffee, take a deep breath, let it out nice and slowly, and watch what squirrels really do all day. You may see them stop and enjoy an acorn, or you may see them collecting acorns and running off to hide them. They may have a little fun chasing each other or running off a few birds from your bird feeder.
If you think about it, squirrels are the ideal long-term investors. Every day, they work on their portfolio, harvesting dividends (acorns) that have fallen from their investment portfolio (trees). Some of the dividends are used immediately. They sit back and enjoy a little of their tree’s income for immediate consumption.
You may see them reinvesting the dividends by putting them in a little hole where, if not found during the winter, they will ultimately become another income producing investment in the form of another tree. Squirrels never develop investiphobia. Following their instincts, they invest wisely and enjoy the fruits of their labor and their investments. We should be more like squirrels.
So, hop up and chase your neighbor up a tree. Or, get to work and focus on work. When you play, enjoy yourself immensely. Life should be fun. Do this daily and you may find that your portfolio does fine, even when you don’t watch it every day, hour, minute!
Money is not your life — it’s simply the means to the life that you want.
J.D.’s note: I just thought this was too cute — and too apt — to pass up. Thanks to Paul for allowing me to re-post this at Get Rich Slowly.
This article is about Funny Money, Investing
I never really thought about the sprouting acorn trees from that perspective. I always thought they were just forgetful, burying their nuts all over the yard and leaving me to pull the new spouts up come Spring. Touché squirrel, touché. What do I symbolize in their squirrel economy, heartlessly destroying their investments every year?
One thing we cannot learn from squirrels: how to safely cross the street.
I’ll be in my backyard today with the video camera trying to end my money worries.
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Very interesting post. You make a very good analogy. Squirrels are always collecting harvest for their winters. It’s like the story about the cricket and the ant. The cricket is sitting in the shade in the summer singing songs while the ants are harvesting away so they don’t starve in the winter. Weeks turn into months and the Cricket is still procrastinating while the ants are still working tirelessly to get their harvest for the winter. Then winter came, and the cricket had no food, while the ants enjoyed the fruits of their labor.
We can learn a lot from this story when it comes to saving and investing. You make excellent points. A lot of us are like the cricket, procrastinating and spending money on things that hold no value. We wait till the last minute when everything is in chaos to think about what we did. If you hold the 80/20 rule to this, 80% procrastinate and spend endlessly, while the ants or 20% spend wisely and save for the future. We may not enjoy the fruits of our labor now, but the future holds much prosperity.
Thank you for this. Very thought provoking!
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If you listen closely to what at first impression might sound like mindless chattering, you will hear the boy squirrels arguing with the girl squirrels as to whether it makes sense to climb the really high trees just to be able to bring home a few extra acorns.
(The is intended as a lighthearted joke reference to a “controversial” blog post that appeared here earlier this week.)
Rob
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The acorn is an outstanding metaphor for money. If you plant (save) it, the acorn is enabled to grow over time into something much larger, which may eventually produce more acorns (money, dividends).
If you do not plant (save) it, the acorn remains an acorn.
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That’s a funny title JD, but alas, I don’t think we can learn much from squirrels. They gather and conserve or else they die. Humans on the other hand, are fantastic destructive forces who know how to eat ourselves into oblivion
Rgds,
RB
Rich By 30 Retire By 40
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It’s really interesting how we humans have so much to learn from animals – be it investing or life lessons. Here’s a wonderful article about what we can learn from another very lovely animal – dogs.
What Dogs Can Teach You About Life
Enjoy!
Cheers~
Mark
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Is it just me or did anyone else read this and think of Tevye from ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ when he says…
“[to God] Anyway, Motel and Tzeitel have been married for some time now. They work very hard, and they’re as poor as squirrels in winter. But, they’re so happy, they don’t know how miserable they are. ”
It just made me smile, and it is my favorite musical of all time.
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This is cute! I loved the line about “Fox news”.
It reminds me of an article I read this week about preserving food. The author said that preserving fruit, vegetables and herbs should be part of our weekly gardening routines rather than a “chore” to be done all at once. I thought that strategy works well whether you’re building a food store for the winter or dealing with your finances
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I loved this. It is helpful getting any clear perspective on investing and money, especially if it comes from a squirrel.
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Unfortunately, before I finished my cup of coffee, the squirrels carried off my last 3 tomatos and the eggplant that was going to be picked in the next few days…
I don’t think I took away the same message as the author!
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Haha! Does this remind anyone else of Scrat?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ci144OUw-fI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILGAnIr9Pqw
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Loved the post. However, all metaphors break down somewhere, and as I recall, squirrels are rather frenetic, as depicted so smashingly in the animated film, Over the Hedge.
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If we would be more like squirrels we would live more like farmers or hunter-gatherers. Acorns are more like food, than dividens. So maybe instead of playing the market, we could all learn how to garden and stock food? Now that would be a nicer way to live
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The squirrels in my back yard also often bury rocks from the path instead of acorns. Sorry, squirrel = not a very bright role model.
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Loved this post!
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Blarg.
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Like squirrels, we also need to save to survive, and to even out the rough patches in life. I think we start to lose something though when saving becomes the pursuit of wealth, often for it’s own sake, as if we couldn’t possibly be happy if we didn’t have it.
The last paragraph of the post speaks volumes, that we should enjoy life and have fun while we go about our business, even if that’s planning for a future that hasn’t happened yet.
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In my case, the Cricket comes along and takes all the acorns I have harvested throughout the year in the form of higher utility, phone, cable, etc. bills…
But, if I had taken some acorns out of my tree on Wall Street before fall, I might have had more acorns to pay those bills with.
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JD,
Thanks for sharing my post about squirrels. Love the comments, you have great people on your site. I hadn’t heard the crickets and ants story, and I love the musical Fiddler on the Roof (although I had forgotten that line), and many commented about how money should not be the goal. The only addition I want to make is about the difference between dividends and food.
I’m not sure there is a difference! Dividends pay for our needs as well as our wants. Right now, I want a gyro. If only I had the dividends to pay for it!
Thanks again, Paul
And if it wasn’t in the post, remember, Money is not your life. It is simply the means to the life that you want! (Whatever that life, and however much money it takes, it’s your life to choose!)
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Squirrels really are a great example. They are always working on putting away for those rainy days. Interesting post.
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Isn’t this cribbed from the book “Gung Ho” by Ken Blanchard – specifically, The Spirit of the Squirrel?
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Mac, if it is similar to “Gung Ho”, it was not intentional. I have read a few Blanchard books, but Gung Ho wasn’t one of them. I’m flattered that I wrote anything that could be compared to Ken and I’ll make sure to get a copy of Gung Ho to see his squirrel story.
To the extent they are similar, must have been inspired by the same muse…
Best regards, Paul
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Of course it was unintentional – I did not mean to imply otherwise. Besides, Gung Ho, like many of Blanchard’s books, is a management tome, heavy on the metaphors; not an investment guide.
I’m sure the squirrel metaphor has been applied to many situations.
Congratulations on your success, Paul!
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