Mar 08, 2012: One afternoon we were musing about the nature of our financial lives. We were wondering how we could visualize the entire financial game symbolically? A symbol is easy to remember and often leads to clarity in understanding. After some quiet moments a tree's picture dawned on the screen of our minds. We named this tree "HEART - A HEAlthy Retirement Tree." Let us introduce our HEART :).
HEART - HEAlthy Retirement Tree
ROOTS The roots of our financial tree 'HEART' represent a righteous and meaningful Livelihood. Strong and deep roots are essential for a tree to grow tall and offer a huge shade. The deeper the roots of our income stream, the stronger our HEART is.
So it's very important to be well placed in a good profession which offers a steady and reasonable income. To make the roots of our HEART grow deep, we need to invest time and energy into our professions and nurture it daily with love, dedication and devotion.
TRUNK The trunk represents our true Savings. No matter how deep the roots of our HEART are, without a trunk there will be no branches to offer shade in our golden years. So along with deep and healthy roots we need a wide and strong trunk.
Every month at FIRST we add strength to our HEART's trunk by saving a portion of our pay checks. This approach needs disciplined effort. But it's totally worth it. What a joy it is to see our HEART's trunk strengthen every month!
BRANCHES We've visualized five main branches for our retirement tree. Our HEART has a branch for each of the following: Emergency Funds, 401(k)s, IRAs, Investments and Charity.
These five branches will lend support the entire gamut of leaves which in turn will offer a cool shade in our retirement. All these branches grow from the trunk of Savings which is supported by the deep roots of a stable livelihood and frugal living.
PESTS Ignorance, whims, irrational behavior, emotional roller coasters, laziness and lack of discipline are viewed as pests. These pests are small in size but can multiply fast. Sometimes these pests give birth to dangerous bad habits like spending more than incoming cash flow. When this bad habit is practiced for a prolonged period of time, it often leads to the disease of debt.
Slowly over time, these pests can crawl beneath the soil and attack the roots of our HEART. Gnawing at the roots they can eat away the trunk and branches as well. This inner attack can hollow our HEART and finally make it collapse to death. Without a HEART, when our bodies have aged and need a cool shade to rest, we'll find ourselves getting toasted in the blaring sun of rising costs and sparse cash inflows.
But there is a way out. As good gardeners we shall use pest control to kill pests.
PEST CONTROL Our main arsenal for pest control are single-minded focus and discipline, a clear recognition of our current needs(and not wants), a view of the consequences of not having a healthy retirement tree and a sense of responsibility to take charge of our lives.
Above all, love for our families will keep the entire arsenal in place. Love will enable us to pour our energies through steadfast efforts into nurturing our HEART.
If we make our HEARTs big, they will continue to serve our next generations even after our sojourn on Planet Earth has ended. Numerous philanthropists have shown how a big HEART can offer far-reaching support to many souls of our united family of humanity on Earth. May God bless us with healthy HEARTs :).
We hope that you liked our simple concept of HEART (HEAlthy Retirement Tree). What do you think about it? Drop a line :).
Image Source(s): iStockPhoto
HEART - HEAlthy Retirement TreeROOTS The roots of our financial tree 'HEART' represent a righteous and meaningful Livelihood. Strong and deep roots are essential for a tree to grow tall and offer a huge shade. The deeper the roots of our income stream, the stronger our HEART is. So it's very important to be well placed in a good profession which offers a steady and reasonable income. To make the roots of our HEART grow deep, we need to invest time and energy into our professions and nurture it daily with love, dedication and devotion.
TRUNK The trunk represents our true Savings. No matter how deep the roots of our HEART are, without a trunk there will be no branches to offer shade in our golden years. So along with deep and healthy roots we need a wide and strong trunk. Every month at FIRST we add strength to our HEART's trunk by saving a portion of our pay checks. This approach needs disciplined effort. But it's totally worth it. What a joy it is to see our HEART's trunk strengthen every month!
BRANCHES We've visualized five main branches for our retirement tree. Our HEART has a branch for each of the following: Emergency Funds, 401(k)s, IRAs, Investments and Charity. These five branches will lend support the entire gamut of leaves which in turn will offer a cool shade in our retirement. All these branches grow from the trunk of Savings which is supported by the deep roots of a stable livelihood and frugal living.
PESTS Ignorance, whims, irrational behavior, emotional roller coasters, laziness and lack of discipline are viewed as pests. These pests are small in size but can multiply fast. Sometimes these pests give birth to dangerous bad habits like spending more than incoming cash flow. When this bad habit is practiced for a prolonged period of time, it often leads to the disease of debt.Slowly over time, these pests can crawl beneath the soil and attack the roots of our HEART. Gnawing at the roots they can eat away the trunk and branches as well. This inner attack can hollow our HEART and finally make it collapse to death. Without a HEART, when our bodies have aged and need a cool shade to rest, we'll find ourselves getting toasted in the blaring sun of rising costs and sparse cash inflows.
But there is a way out. As good gardeners we shall use pest control to kill pests.
PEST CONTROL Our main arsenal for pest control are single-minded focus and discipline, a clear recognition of our current needs(and not wants), a view of the consequences of not having a healthy retirement tree and a sense of responsibility to take charge of our lives. Above all, love for our families will keep the entire arsenal in place. Love will enable us to pour our energies through steadfast efforts into nurturing our HEART.
If we make our HEARTs big, they will continue to serve our next generations even after our sojourn on Planet Earth has ended. Numerous philanthropists have shown how a big HEART can offer far-reaching support to many souls of our united family of humanity on Earth. May God bless us with healthy HEARTs :).
We hope that you liked our simple concept of HEART (HEAlthy Retirement Tree). What do you think about it? Drop a line :).
Image Source(s): iStockPhoto
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