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During my primary school days I remember reading the story of ‘Grandma and her Goose that lays Golden eggs’. It goes something like this:

‘There was a grandma who had a goose. Everyday it laid one golden egg. The grandma took the eggs to the local market and sold them.

She became rich. Soon she became so impatient of getting only one egg a day. She wanted to become rich faster.

So she killed the goose and cut wide open to take out all the golden eggs, just to find none.’

The moral of the story, as per our Lopen was not to be greedy and how it can lead to grief.

I felt so sorry for both – the goose and the grandma. If we use this story in personal finance context, most of us will be the grandma.

Moral of the story in Personal Finance

Dorji got Nu.150,000 as an annual bonus. If he put it in fixed deposit, he’ll have around Nu.12,000 as an interest income in a year.

This means Nu.150,000 (Goose) laid Nu.12,000 (golden eggs). The best decision will be re-investing the eggs for more income.

5 years down the line, even through the bank’s Fixed Deposit account, he will have more than Nu.220,000!

But will he be smart to do that? I think he might as well use Nu.150,000 as well. Dorji will be the grandma.

However, he is not alone in it. It’s very hard for human beings to actually delay gratification for future benefits. Marshmallow experiment proved long before in humans.

The Smart Financial Decision Matter

The greedy grandma lost the goose and golden eggs. Dorji lost potential future capital gains or interest income.

In pursuit of a financial freedom, both returns and the investment giving this returns are equally important.

However, how much we save actually determines wealth and not by how much we spend.

Unless we’re grateful of the returns and limit our desire, we might as well erode the investment like the grandma killing the goose.

Therefore, we shouldn’t kill a goose that lays golden eggs i.e not to spend the investment that gives consistence returns.

Moreover, the marshmallow test also proved that children who could wait longer without eating a given number of marshmallows for more had better adult lives.

Hope you are saving consistently to get a goose that lays golden eggs if you’re pursuing financial independence goal.