The Person You Want to Be – Part Two

Following Your Dream

If you missed Part One of this three-part series click this link to catch up.

As I began to “put pen to paper” (so glad I don’t have to go down that road anymore, as my handwriting is quite illegible, so much so, that my Wife thought I would make a good doctor,) I felt we should look deeper into the expression, ‘dreams.’

A little earlier, I read on my desk pad, “Always invest in your dreams” So, why don’t we do just that – invest in our dreams…. I would not blame you if you felt that the whole business of having dreams for your needs and wants, let alone seeing them come into your life, is a lot of idle nonsense.

Never lose sight of the fact that because you do not believe in something – that does not make it untrue or impossible to reach; rather it is how you see something to be – not how it actually is…. Let me give you an example. You read what is written here and say to yourself, this is a lot of garbage! Somebody else reads it, says its worthwhile trying, persists and sees a dream come true. What is the difference between these two different points of view? Simply put; how each person viewed the message in what they read. I term this process ‘faith.’ And my definition of faith is this: ‘Faith is believing in something when all your senses tell you it can’t happen.’

Having put that out way then, let’s consider my writing pad’s wise words: “Always Invest in Your Dreams”.

Here is a story for you; Hannah was a twenty-year-old when she joined a bank. Her immediate supervisor advised her to put away twenty five euros a week into a fixed deposit account and to forget about ever taking money from that account. She followed her supervisor’s advice. Hannah set a goal of becoming a manager by her thirtieth birthday. In the interim she focused on her work and also took up study courses which were paid for by the bank.

She had forgotten about her investment and as the 25 euros was deducted from her account she did not notice that either after the first year. She was surprised to see that she had accumulated a sum of 20,000 euros after just 10 years. In addition to this she had a attained a BCom degree, which outside of time cost her nothing. She was thirty years of age, a manager in the bank. Based on her performance the bank gave her no-deposit loan to buy an two-bedroomed apartment. This purchase became a new investment because the money she had been paying in rent, now went to paying off her loan. She had met a young man, Dylan, also an aspiring banker, when she was twenty six. after going together for two years they decided to get married and Dylan moved in with Hannah. They agreed to share cost of living on a fifty-fifty basis. and they would only consider a family in three years. Along with her promotion Hannah trebled the weekly payment on her fixed account.

On her thirtieth birthday Hannah had reached an amount of 500,000 euros. Yes, it was true that it was all of twenty years saving, but it was more than that. Hannah had learned the art of disciplined living and wise investment. The story has a wonderful ending, because at fifty-five years, Hannah and Dylan took early retirement, leaving two children who both attained their degrees, to follow their respective careers. Two children who were not only in trained in the skill of financial management, but also the value of a solid education.

So, what is the moral of this story? Hannah had a dream. At twenty years of age if she had told anyone that her dream was to marry a like-minded partner, have a family, retire at fifty-five and go live on a tax haven Caribbean Island, they would have laughed. Not only they, but her senses as well!

What was the bridge between Hannah’s dream and her fulfilment? A six lettered word – ‘action.’

Dreams are no different. I would think that all people have dreams about the kind of person they would like to be, but not everyone has takes the time to squeeze these dreams into some form of a particular order. However, a few do focus on what they want and condense this into a way forward, which they follow with a passion; these ‘few’ will probably be about 6% of the world’s population! Only 6% treat their dreams as investment capital – capital that must be invested wisely.

So why not join the 6%?

Do you want to?

I will wrap this up next week, promise. It’s just that I decided to limit these postings to +- 500 words, but once I get started, the words just fly by, and before I know it, I’m up to 840 words!! such is the life of a writer so, please bear with me again until we meet in two weeks’ time for the very challenging end to ‘Following Your Dream.’

sirpeterjames.com copyright 2017

Please note that figures I have quoted are as close as possible to being realistic but as, I am neither financial advisor nor banker, you must check with your own financial advisor to obtain accurate figures.