By Dr Benjamin Franklin and Dr Agon Fly

“II. But with our industry we must likewise be steady, settled, and careful, and oversee our own affairs with our own eye, and not too much to others;

WOW! I wonder what Benjamin Franklin would think of ‘modern’ investment vehicles such as mutual funds, ETF’s, hedge funds, and derivatives of all kinds? These instruments require that you not “…oversee [y]our own affairs…”

The companies and the people that sell these products would have you believe that they are “steady, settled and careful,” but those qualities are not intrinsic to their products or the hallmarks of the marketers. In fact, the less you know the easier it is for them. If you think that’s an exaggeration, try reading a prospectus. You’ll discover that you know less after reading than you did before, and the prospectus is supposed to be the fountain of truth about mutual funds and primary stock offerings.

The truth is that America has lost sight of the wisdom that makes it great. Unless Americans reject the conventional wisdom, which is no wisdom at all, and regain clarity about how to handle their own money, they will soon find themselves gaining wisdom and clarity from the bankruptcy judge.

Father Abraham continues his lecture about being “steady, settled, and careful:”

for, as Poor Richard says, I never saw an oft-removed tree, nor yet an oft-removed family,
that throve so well as those that settled be. And again, three removes are as bad as a fire;

Father Abraham uses the word “remove” the way we might use the word “move.” In the America of the 1750’s, the ability to settle down in one place permanently was not quite as easy as it is today. Families built their own homes, made their own furniture, collected dinnerware one item at a time, and so on. Moving frequently would make being “steady, settled, and careful” quite difficult for the family.

You might remember, also, that Benjamin Franklin started the first volunteer fire department in Philadelphia around this time because a fire meant the loss of all that a family owned. The insurance that we rely on today was non-existent.

Just as a transplanted tree finds it hard to thrive, so a frequently transplanted early American family would find it difficult to thrive. In America today we hardly think twice about moving across town or across country. Many families spend their future trying to create a better one. They move to a new house or a new job or a new school district or a new city hoping that the mere fact of moving would create a better future. Americans burn their connections to place and destroy a part of their families when they do.

Granted, a lot has changed in the last 250 years, but Father Abrahams premise is just as valid today as it was in 1758; the deeper the roots, the stronger the tree. The same thinking applies to how you deal with your money. Moving money around like play money on a Monopoly Board is just as damaging to your personal economy as moving your family around is to your personal relationships. Money needs a home; it needs to be “steady, settled, and careful” in its own way.

As always, Benjamin Franklin, through the character of Father Abraham, brings wisdom, which knows no century, to the 21^st century. We stand in awe of it both because it is timeless and because it has been buried by the advertising and marketing of the Behemoths, who would like nothing more than that ‘we the people’ remain slaves to their shibboleths.

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www.YouBeTheBank.com

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