Lessons from a Farmer

By Admin | Aug 21, 2008

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A Farmers Crops Once again, the simplest of items can teach important concepts. As I was driving across the countryside in the middle of the country, I realized how farmers and finances both succeed on the basis of a few principles.

What begins the creation of success for a farmer? It isn’t a secret! It begins with the planting seeds, thousands of them, over and over again. He does the same thing, many many times. The more seeds he plants, the greater his harvest.

When it comes to our finances, we have to perform the same correct actions over and over. Whether those actions are saving money, clipping coupons, saying No to temptation, paying off debt, or refusing to fall back into the old credit card trap.

Financial success comes from doing the right things over and over.

A farmer has to protect his crops against pests and invasive weeds. He prevents them by several different measures and insures the success of his crops by taking preventative measures. He knows WHEN the timing is correct for pest control and he doesn’t overdo it, but attempts to apply just the right amount of pesticide.

We have to know when we’re weak and subject to temptation. We have to insure our wallets don’t leak. For most of us, these temptations occur at various specific times during the year, birthdays, vacations, holidays. To prevent these invasive pests and weeds from destroying our financial crops, we have to take preventative measures as well. We set up Christmas club accounts, save into a specific savings account, and make wise choices to insure our financial success.

Financial success comes from circumventing temptation.

Finally, a farmer has to fertilize his crops. He tends the soil and insures that it is in optimal condition for maximum yield. He may incorporate different supplements, minerals, and compost to help boost the soil’s health and thereby boost his harvest.

We fertilize our financial crop in several ways as well. We explore ways to make extra money. We educate ourselves in financial matters. We put our money into investment vehicles that will produce a good harvest and we then monitor its performance, making adjustments as necessary.

Financial success results from insuring growth.

Once a farmer has allowed his crops to mature, he begins the harvest. That’s where the similarities end. We can harvest our money at any time, but a farmer cannot harvest too soon or else he will have immature and unsellable crops. We get to decide when we harvest, early or late, and if we wanted to allow our financial crops to continue to grow, they will!

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6 Comments so far

luxuryoption August 21, 2008

“You reap what you sow, more than you sow, later than you sow.”

“Trust God and leave all the consequences to Him”

I wish I could claim these sayings, but that distinguished honor goes to the great Dr. Charles F. Stanley, of the First Baptist Church of Atlanta, GA. (In Touch)
=============================================

Proverbs 3:5-6
5: Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding.
6: In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight
LP August 22, 2008

Hi luxuryoption. I love Dr. Stanley too.

The Scriptures are very clear on this subject!
Thank you for the reminders to “look unto Jesus”!
Paul said in Gal. 6:7 “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked, whatsoever a man sows, this he shall also reap”.

God bless you! and yours!
Weekly Link Round-Up: The Read, Relax, & Enjoy (for me) Edition | simple mom August 23, 2008

[...] Lessons From a Farmer :: The Wisdom Journal [...]
krisH August 25, 2008

I was raised on a ranch/farm and although your blog has good points, but just because you plant the seeds, and do all the work, fertilize, water the crops, sometimes we don’t have control over the weather, wind storms, hail, tornadoes, and drought. Sometimes the seed never grows, or the crop doesn’t produce a yield like we’d hope it would. We’ve had that year, had a awesome stand of wheat, and just weeks before harvest, it hailed, and we no longer have a wheat crop. Oh sure we have insurance, to cover the expenses.

I know your post is about financial and money, but sometimes when you do everything you can in your powers, and you still come up empty.

Ron 's reply:
August 25th, 2008
#krisH→
You’re right. In those cases, it pays to have prepared by having set aside funds for emergencies.
krish August 25, 2008

So where do those emergency funds come from? I’m a wife, we have no kids, but I work in town, so that we have health/accident insurance, IRA, and to buy groceries, and then work out at the ranch in the evening, and days off, while the husband works on the ranch, and he does do other day jobs when the arise. We take out a operation loan, but do you do when the cattle market goes down the drain, and your about $15000. short to pay off the operation loan. Go beg the banker for a extension, sell off some cull cows? We already have the loan set up so that it draws interest, and ask for what we need monthly, rather than having to pay interest on the whole amount. So where do we find the emergency fund to put away for a rainy day? We’re already being frugal, we either buy most of our clothes from second hand stores, or I sew them, we raise most of our own veggies, and beef. We very rarely eat out, or go to the movies.