The
miser acquires, yet fears to use his gains
- Horace
Some
days ago, I was talking to a friend on the topics of savings. The most
important question here was, ‘how much is right amount to save?’ My honest
opinion is an amount, after saving which you don’t need to make big
compromises. However the general consensus on this topic was, it is essential
to make sacrifices to boost the savings. I begged to differ and my reason is
illustrated by the below story.
In
a small Indian village, the months of April, May and June were big boon to the mango
traders. All the mangoes that they procured had good demand and they made good
money in this trade. However, it was July when the demand was high and supply
was low, fetched maximum profit. Owing to climate and lack of cold storage
facilities, selling mangoes in July was more a matter of luck than anything
else. However one trader decided he will let go all the sales of earlier three
months and make a merry by saving this huge pile of stock in July itself. So,
he came up with the idea of burying all the plucked mangos in huge pit and
covering it with grass. When his peers were making the market price and
enquiring about his complete lack of business, he dodged the issue, thinking
about how his present sacrifice will help him make big bucks in future. The
mango season was almost over when he geared up to sell his stock. The day he
uncovered the grass, he realized that all the mangoes were rotten and he
could not sell any. His mindless saving had proved to be a terrible idea. In the
hope of making more, he lost all his investment.
This is what few people do
to themselves. They save, make sacrifices, and give up on the present, with a
dream of seeing themselves comfortable in the future. This approach may not be
the smartest one. If you want to win a race, you should be well aware as to
where the finish line. A blindfolded run has helped no one win races. Give up
on something, only if you have to. If you make sacrifices with a hope that it
will one day pay rich dividends, you may be headed for bitter disappointments. Happiness
is not a big chunk of cakes which one saves and eats a later point. Even if it
is one, keeping it for a long time might make it stale.
