Don't eat your children

 Don't eat your children !

Interesting head line; it comes from a report or white paper that I read some forty years ago. As I remember the report it amounted to investing some of the money that comes your way so that you have money working for you and not just your labor.

The report told a story of two farmers who planted grain. One farmer harvested his grain and sold all of it that he did not consume. The other Farmer did the same except he saved a few pounds as seed for the following year. When it came time to plant for the next year the first farmer had nether the money to buy seed or any seed to plant. The second farmer planted his seed on time. He did not Eat His Children

The first farmer might be able to get a loan and buy the needed seed, but the extra time, cost and problems could have been avoided. The moral of the story is to set aside something for the future. For you and I, Don't Eat Your Children" means to always be ready to take advantage of opportunity when it comes your way.

You do this by having all those things that make up your financial life in order and by being mentally prepared.

Something magical happens when you do this. If you are financially ready to take advantage of profitable opportunities. If you have kept up to date with information concerning your area of interest, then more opportunities present themselves. And the rich get richer.

So how do you make yourself ready?

• Save the extra money that comes into your household so that you are financially ready for any opportunities that comes along.

• Set aside 33% or more of the profits you made on any deal you make as seed money for the next deal.

• Maintain an excellent credit rating so that you always have access to money at low rates when needed.

• Stay abreast of what ever area of interest you have so that you know a good deal when it is presented to you.

• Read the newspapers and journals that are applicable for your area of interest, be they about stocks, bonds, real estate, development, REIT.s or any of the hundreds of ways of putting money to work.

• Get started, do a small deal to get your feet wet and learn as you go.

The key is to be both financially and mentally ready to act when a profitable opportunity comes your way.

These five things are your children, the extra money that so easily slips away, the profits from the last deal you did, the credit rating that allows you to multiply your monetary assets, the knowledge that gives you the edge if you posses it, and the stalwart attitude to act when you are presented with opportunity so as not to be numbered with the poor and timid souls who can only state "if only I had, back when".

Once upon a time deep in the jungle lived a cannibal tribe. In years when the wild game was scarce the families would eat the young children in order to survive. As the years past they reached a time when the wild game stayed scarce for a prolonged period of time and as it happened they soon found themselves with no children left to eat. The wild lions returned and as all were now old, with no young men to protect them, the lions ate them all.

Don't eat your children and you will be ready when opportunity strikes.