Illustration is by Milo Winter
Many people take no care of their money till they come nearly to the end of it, and others do just the same with their time. –Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
I remember watching an old cartoon about a grasshopper and an ant when I was a kid. I thought it was very entertaining and learned a very valuable lesson about money and hard work. That the two go hand-in-hand and not to let anyone tell you any different.
Little did I know that the story was originated from an Aesop fable. Aesop was an ancient storyteller from Greece that is responsible for many children’s stories. One of his most famous works is the Tortoise and the Hare.
The story is a classic tale of what can happen if you do not work for a living. Here I share with you my takeaways from the tale.
THERE IS A TIME SET ASIDE CHILDISH THINGS
There’s a time for work and a time for play.
In the story, the grasshopper is very happy in the beginning. It is springtime and the flowers are in bloom. The sun is shining. He wants to sing, dance, play, and be merry.
However, the ants know that, much as they like to always inform us on Game of Thrones, winter is coming.
The ants know that they must shore up their resources before the cold comes or they will be unable to provide food, clothing, and warmth for themselves.
Same rules apply when it comes to life and money. You work to provide your family, a roof over their heads, warm beds to sleep in at night, food on the table, and pay your bills.
When you are a child you spend part of your day at play. A much higher portion of your time is spent in recess and leisure while you learn and grow. However, the older you become, as maturity sets in, then the more you are to put playthings aside. You have responsibilities.
My father always told me growing up: responsibilities first, fun later. I still think of those words even today. Before I even start writing one word for this blog, I clean, pay bills, retrieve messages, return phone calls, open the mail, etc.
I need a clean desk and an open mind free of daily tasks and chores to be able to focus. When I was younger everything was cluttered; my desk, mind, and room. As an adult, I have learned to keep everything neat and tidy. Less hassle that way.
When I am organized I can also pay attention to what I am spending. Make a plan and budget for what I need and want. From this I learned, the more I save, then the more freedom I have as I have the means to provide for myself. Automating savings was the key.
THE MORE YOU SAVE
In one book I read, the father of the author was a hippy that did not care about money in his youth, now that he’s older that’s all he’s worried about. As you get older, life becomes more expensive. Partly due to health care and others due to inflation. Therefore, you must squirrel away your money chips while you can and fill up the money pot. You do this by working when you are young and able.
Work when you’re young so you don’t have to when your old. Work as hard as you can. This elevates the stress of not knowing later, if you will have enough in abundance, so that working will be at will and by choice instead of because of no other options.
Check out this chart below to see how much you save can change your life.
Source: www.mrmoneymustache.com
Mathematically, regardless of income, you save more, then you become financially independent faster and that’s true no matter how much you earn.
EARN YOUR WAY TO FINANCIAL FREEDOM
Did you know, by saving 10 – 20% of your income annually, it would take approximately 30-40 years of working to accumulate enough money to retire? Maybe.
The fact of the matter is that life throws many curve balls at you. Sometimes you see it coming and sometimes you don’t.
The longer it takes to save your money; the more inflation decreases your purchasing power. That’s why you want to save more money faster. This gives your money, more time to earn compound interest and beat inflation.
Did you know, by saving 50% of your income annually, you would earn enough money for one year of retirement? That’s right. That means working for 10 years would equal 10 years’ worth of retirement. The formula is this: 1 x X = years of retirement or 1 (years of work) x X (years saving 50%) = years of retirement
See the chart below and see how much time it will take to save up just one year of retirement.
Source: www.flannelguyroi.com
Basically, if you aim to save, you are buying your freedom. The more you save, the quicker freedom comes.
WHAT YOU CAN DO WHEN YOUR FINANCIALLY INDEPENDENT
Getting back to the ant and the grasshopper story, you learn that once winter does finally come, the ants are safe, warm, and dry, buy the grasshopper is cold and hungry.
The ants worked hard every day. Every ant helped. They all had to work. And they saved up more resources than they actually needed. And when they day came, they were protected.
The grasshopper is left out in the cold with no food or place to stay and freezes outside because he chose to play instead of work.
The ants have mercy on the grasshopper and allow him to come in out of the cold. They decide to be kind and neighborly as it is very important to be a good neighbor. They tell the grasshopper they want him to live, even though he made fun of them while they worked. They feed and warm him by the fire. They tell him he must prepare for winter. They also tell him you must work to live.
The next summer came and this time the grasshopper heeded the ant’s advice and not only did he play, but he also worked.
Therefore, you must learn to work before you play. I learned that if you are unprepared then you are likely to fail. In addition, that being a good neighbor can make all the difference in someone’s life.
Lastly, the biggest takeaway I get from the story is this: money offers protection. So make sure you save a portion of every dollar you earn. I suggest saving $0.45 of every dollar you earn. And since it’s no secret that woman earn less, I suggest $0.50 of every dollar a woman earns should be saved. This would mean you become financially independent within 20 years! Possibly less.
That means, if you start working and saving 50% of your income at age 24, you can walk away from your full-time job at 44.
Sky is the limit from there. You can start doing all the things listed on your bucket list. You can become an artist, photographer, writer, blogger, or tightrope walker. The point is you can do what you want. You can lie on the beach all day if that’s what you want. The thing is, now you get to choose.