Once upon a time, there was a rabbit capable of running faster than any other creature in the forest. Proud of its speed, the rabbit constantly boasted of its prowess and was always challenging other forest creatures to race.
This is a perfect example of a story containing financial lessons we can learn from fairy tales.
Read on to see what we mean.
The Tortoise and the Hare
One day, the rabbit came upon a turtle making its way toward a pond. Taking note of the turtle’s plodding pace, the rabbit began taunting the turtle. Having observed the rabbit’s racing style in the past, the turtle finally said, “I’ll race you and I’ll win, too.”
Laughing, the rabbit accepted.
The two of them lined up, a raccoon said “Go!” and the rabbit dashed away. Confident its lead was solid; the rabbit began meandering about the forest doing other things. It even stopped for lunch. After eating, the rabbit decided to take a short nap just before the finish line, confident it had time to blow past the turtle and take an easy win.
When the rabbit woke up, the turtle was stepping across the finish line, in its same slow fashion.
The Moral: Setting financial goals and sticking to them is the best way to accomplish them. Resources that could be put toward your future will be squandered if you allow yourself to get distracted by every little thing that comes along.
The Three Pigs
Once upon a time, three pigs set out to build homes for themselves. The first pig, concerned about time and cost, sacrificed quality and used straw. The second pig, concerned about quality and cost, used more time to build a slightly sturdier house out of wood. The third pig, more concerned about quality and time, spent more money to quickly build its house out of brick.
After all three homes were completed, a hungry wolf wandered into the neighborhood. Approaching the straw house, the wolf knocked on the door and implored the first pig to let it in. The pig, recognizing the danger, refused. The wolf took a deep breath and blew the straw house down, but the pig escaped to the wooden house.
Following the first pig, the wolf requested admittance to the wooden house. Similarly refused, it then proceeded to blow that house down, although it took a bit more effort. Both pigs escaped to the brick house while the wolf was struggling to do so.
Undeterred, the wolf approached the brick house and rang the doorbell (yeah, this pig had built it like that) only to be refused accommodation once again. The wolf, by now used to the drill, began blowing and blowing and blowing and blowing — but the brick house stood resolute.
The wolf finally gave up in defeat and slinked away.
The Moral: When it comes to good, fast and cheap, you can have any two, but not all three. Choosing quality over speed and cost ultimately saved all three pigs’ lives. Further, if ever there comes a time when you must admit you made a mistake and ask for help — do so. As an example, if you should ever find yourself in need of credit card debt relief, the sooner you get the right help, the faster your problem could be resolved.