Need & Greed - why do we trade?

[timsk]

This plopped in my Inbox today, no authors credit I'm afraid. It's a tad saccharine but, nonetheless, pertinent to many of us I suspect.

'A boat docked in a tiny Mexican fishing village.

A tourist complimented the local fishermen
on the quality of their fish and asked
how long it took them to catch them.

"Not very long." they answered in unison.
"Why didn't you stay out longer and catch more?"

The fishermen explained that their small catches were
sufficient to meet their needs and those of their families.

"But what do you do with the rest of your time?"
"We sleep late, fish a little, play with our children,
and take siestas with our wives.
In the evenings, we go into the village to see our friends, have a few drinks, play the guitar, and sing a few songs.

We have a full life."
The tourist interrupted,
"I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help you!
You should start by fishing longer every day.
You can then sell the extra fish you catch.
With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat."

"And after that?"
"With the extra money the larger boat will bring,
you can buy a second one and a third one
and so on until you have an entire fleet of trawlers.
Instead of selling your fish to a middle man,
you can then negotiate directly with the processing plants
and maybe even open your own plant.

You can then leave this little village and move to Mexico City , Los Angeles , or even New York City !

From there you can direct your huge new enterprise."

"How long would that take?"
"Twenty, perhaps twenty-five years." replied the tourist.
"And after that?"

"Afterwards? Well my friend, that's when it gets really interesting, " answered the tourist, laughing. "When your business gets really big, you can start buying and selling stocks and make millions!"

"Millions? Really? And after that?" asked the fishermen.

"After that you'll be able to retire,
live in a tiny village near the coast,
sleep late, play with your children,
catch a few fish, take a siesta with your wife
and spend your evenings drinking and enjoying your friends."

"With all due respect sir, but that's exactly what we are doing now. So what's the point wasting twenty-five years?" asked the Mexicans.

And the moral of this story is:
Know where you're going in life....
you may already be there.'

 

[JRP2891]

This plopped in my Inbox today, no authors credit I'm afraid. It's a tad saccharine but, nonetheless, pertinent to many of us I suspect.

'A boat docked in a tiny Mexican fishing village.

A tourist complimented the local fishermen
on the quality of their fish and asked
how long it took them to catch them.

"Not very long." they answered in unison.
"Why didn't you stay out longer and catch more?"

The fishermen explained that their small catches were
sufficient to meet their needs and those of their families.

"But what do you do with the rest of your time?"
"We sleep late, fish a little, play with our children,
and take siestas with our wives.
In the evenings, we go into the village to see our friends, have a few drinks, play the guitar, and sing a few songs.

We have a full life."
The tourist interrupted,
"I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help you!
You should start by fishing longer every day.
You can then sell the extra fish you catch.
With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat."

"And after that?"
"With the extra money the larger boat will bring,
you can buy a second one and a third one
and so on until you have an entire fleet of trawlers.
Instead of selling your fish to a middle man,
you can then negotiate directly with the processing plants
and maybe even open your own plant.

You can then leave this little village and move to Mexico City , Los Angeles , or even New York City !

From there you can direct your huge new enterprise."

"How long would that take?"
"Twenty, perhaps twenty-five years." replied the tourist.
"And after that?"

"Afterwards? Well my friend, that's when it gets really interesting, " answered the tourist, laughing. "When your business gets really big, you can start buying and selling stocks and make millions!"

"Millions? Really? And after that?" asked the fishermen.

"After that you'll be able to retire,
live in a tiny village near the coast,
sleep late, play with your children,
catch a few fish, take a siesta with your wife
and spend your evenings drinking and enjoying your friends."

"With all due respect sir, but that's exactly what we are doing now. So what's the point wasting twenty-five years?" asked the Mexicans.

And the moral of this story is:
Know where you're going in life....
you may already be there.'

Did you lose money today Timsk? :cheesy:

 

[arabianights]

I trade to make money, timsk trades because he's having (an extended) mid life crisis

 

[scose-no-doubt]

This plopped in my Inbox today, no authors credit I'm afraid. It's a tad saccharine but, nonetheless, pertinent to many of us I suspect.

'A boat docked in a tiny Mexican fishing village.

A tourist complimented the local fishermen
on the quality of their fish and asked
how long it took them to catch them.

"Not very long." they answered in unison.
"Why didn't you stay out longer and catch more?"

The fishermen explained that their small catches were
sufficient to meet their needs and those of their families.
'

C'est impossible.

I think Joe Ross has posted this tripe before.

Edit: Fishing is a very dangerous and time consuming profession. This whole story is balls and therefore the metaphor is rendered useless.

 

[0007]

Many years ago I had a very responsible & well-paid job/career. Once, on a long night shift a colleague and I worked out that if it wasn't for our assumed lifestyle and responsibilities, we could comfortably live on a third (certainly half) of what we were earning - and still have a meaningful and satisfying existence without any of the hassle that our sort of career responsibility imposed. When I eventually gave it up, that turned out to be one of the great freedoms of my life, giving me total control of that priceless asset -time: something which was previously owned and allocated by my employer.

As far as trading goes, I like making a few bob as much as the next guy, I like being successful and I like the challenge of always trying to improve. And I'm the boss. I make enough to satisfy my needs - so why would I want to go and work for something much bigger (like the fisherman). What could be better than what I've got?

So maybe the cheesy fisherman's story does have a point. It all depends on what you consider to be a satisfying and meaningful life.

 

[Chartsy]

im too young realyl to say 'why; i trade lol but just want to give it a good go and try to enjoy it and try and get a good statement to show to someone/a firm :/ lol if that fails i can just do some other job and trade unagressively

 

[spy74]

I'll never forget as a first year grad at a big four accounting firm, we were given the chance to interview the CEO. someone asked if he had any regrets regarding his career. He answered that he had a very fulfilling and exciting career (blah blah...) but has very little memories of his daughter in the first few years of her life because he was focusing hard on becoming CEO.....It's all about trade-offs I guess.

 

[rongeroni]

Hi,

your information seems to be great and helpful to me and to other thanks for your iformation as it can help me taking many descisions

Thanks!

 

[shadowninja]

Hi

I'm Barry Scott.

http://cillitbang.co.uk/index.shtml

 

[meanreversion]

I'll never forget as a first year grad at a big four accounting firm, we were given the chance to interview the CEO. someone asked if he had any regrets regarding his career. He answered that he had a very fulfilling and exciting career (blah blah...) but has very little memories of his daughter in the first few years of her life because he was focusing hard on becoming CEO.....It's all about trade-offs I guess.

Why doesn't he just get a new, young wife and have another baby, and this time round he can change as many nappies as he wants. After a week he'll realise he didn't miss a whole lot.

 

[advfntrader]

lol - maybe he loves his wife ?...no theres a novel idea :clap:

Why doesn't he just get a new, young wife and have another baby, and this time round he can change as many nappies as he wants. After a week he'll realise he didn't miss a whole lot.

 

[meanreversion]

Has anyone noticed that football "love rats" always score on the pitch after the story breaks? John Terry scored a bullet header after his story came out, Peter Crouch got a hat trick and now Wayne Rooney scores for England. Funny world innit

 

[MrGecko]

someone tell Emile Heskey.

 

[shadowninja]

Maybe they should "invest" some of that money in extra-marital activities just before an international game since they get so damned much of it. Even ten £5 crack whores would do the trick - it's quantity not quality that we want.

 

[spy74]

Why doesn't he just get a new, young wife and have another baby, and this time round he can change as many nappies as he wants. After a week he'll realise he didn't miss a whole lot.

yeah. but now the trade-off becomes really steep. a divorce settlement, two kids to provide for, and a new (more than likely) gold digging wife to look after, and he's not earning the $$ of a CEO....just to change a few more nappies. I'd just go for more nappies first time round....