Investment Strategies
We’ve all heard those old wives-tale investment paradigms: “buy low, sell high,” “invest for the long term,” “daily compounding pays off,” “T-bills and Euros always move obliquely.” Alright, well maybe not the last one, but do you ever feel like those sayings were thrown down to us by the gods of Wall Street to deceive us? I do, every time. And you know what? I’m right. They are diversionary tactics to keep us from getting a good return on our investments. Want to know the investment secret they won’t tell you? The strategy you can use to topple their money-grubbing vice-grip on our economy? Here it is: discipline your children. Yes, your children. Nothing will bring about a more potent return on your time and money than drawing a line in the sand with them.
I’m a single parent with a nine-year old boy. I’m blessed with a kid who is one of the most well behaved and socially adept individuals I know. I attribute a good deal of our positive relationship to the fact that the kid got spanked… a lot. Now, I’m not going suggest a method of discipline, but I will say that you must utilize it whatever it is. If you don’t, monetary riches won’t save your family from the ruins of a wayward child.
If your child is anything like mine, from 2-4 years, it’ll seem like all you do is discipline them. The investment protocol is this: You ask your child, “pick up your mess,” or “don’t touch that” etc. You’ll most likely receive defiance. You ask them again defining the consequences of noncompliance. They’ll probably defy you again. Parents, your next move is the most critical point of the next 16 years of you child’s life. If you give in, give them another chance, or give grace prematurely, you’re bankrupt. They need to make sure that rules stand firm in any circumstance. Even if it needs to come from the wrong end of a swat in a populated grocery store. If you stand your ground and lay the law down precisely as you indicated, you deposit moral cause-and-effect which rolls over into maturity in their future. After disciplining, make sure they understand what happened, that you don’t hate them, and that if they do it again (which they will) the same thing will happen. Hug them. Don’t hold it over them. Go have some frozen Flaky Flix with them. You see, the flip side of investing discipline is investing quantity time. No child ever loved a parent that ignored them. Similarly, no child ever loved a parent that refused to discipline them. Of course it’s hard, but raising kids is hard.
Quantity time spent and discipline are 4000 year old tried-and-true currencies of good parenting. Although you may have to discipline your children hourly from 2-4 years, think of it as dollar-cost averaging in the uncertain climate of a child’s rearing. Besides, the return on integrity in child’s life is beyond the dreams of Avarice.
