On a train in rush hour...

The Investment Banker and the Fisherman

An investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The banker complimented the fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The fisherman replied, only a little while.

The banker then asked why didn’t he stay out longer and catch more fish?

The fisherman said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs.

The banker then asked, “but what do you do with the rest of your time?”

The fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my friends, I have a full and busy life.”

The banker scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat with the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to the City, then nationwide and eventually overseas where you will run your expanding enterprise.”

The fisherman asked, “But, how long will this all take?”

To which the banker replied, “15-20 years.” “But what then?”

The banker laughed and said that’s the best part. “When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions.”

“Millions.. Then what?”

The banker said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your friends.”

Love is the Best Currency

It’s What the Investment Banker turned Beggar will tell you..

For his Legal Tender (Money as it’s called), which paid the mortgage to his Studio flat and bought him a window side table at the finest restaurants, soon ran out.

Little did he know, that the portfolio of financial instruments soon stopped playing. The Pension fund he devoted his life to soon died too. The woman who he had no time for soon got married, and the neighbourhood he grew up in soon grew old and rusty too.

The Wealthiest person invests love without looking for return

To them, will always be a home to stay.

To them, will always be a table to eat on.

Merry Christmas