The Parable of the Mexican Fisherman

I hold this story close to my heart. The first time I heard this Parable I was in my Senior year of college. It was first day of classes for the semester so I was bright eyed, bushy tailed, and ready to tackle this year with 100% of my effort. My Finance Professor at the time read us this story:

"An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The Mexican replied, “only a little while.”

The American then asked why didn’t he stay out longer and catch more fish?

The Mexican said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs.

The American then asked, “but what do you do with the rest of your time?”

The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siestas with my wife, Maria, and stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine, and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life.”

The American scoffed. “I have an MBA from Harvard, and can help you,” he said. “You should spend more time fishing, and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats, and eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middle-man, you could sell directly to the processor, eventually opening up your own cannery. You could control the product, processing, and distribution,” he said. “Of course, you would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then Los Angeles, and eventually to New York City, where you will run your expanding enterprise.”

The Mexican fisherman asked, “But, how long will this all take?”

To which the American replied, “Oh, 15 to 20 years or so.”

“But what then?” asked the Mexican.

The American laughed and said, “That’s the best part. When the time was right, you would announce an IPO, and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich. You would make millions!”

“Millions – then what?”

The American said, “Then you could retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you could sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siestas with your wife, and stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play guitar with your amigos.” "

Then he asked us what we thought this meant. He received responses like "The system wants us to work until we're dead" "You need to start a business to be happy" "Money isn't everything" and an array of other responses! After internalizing all responses he looked as us, smiled and said thank you and start his lecture. Perplexed, I raised my hand and said "Professor... well, what does it mean?" and he smiled once more and said "To me this story means whatever you want it to mean. It's a story that can be interpreted in many ways. One that's supposed to help you target what's most important to you. Do you value in financial freedom? Are you willing to sacrifice you current happiness and energy to set yourself up for the future so that one day you can live a worry free, lavish life of relaxation? Or, are you happy working day in and day out living a semi-lavish life and be rich in other ways like family or values? The choice is yours and your life is yours to do what you want with it."

And then it hit me, the rules and laws of leading a fulfilling life are governed by what makes us smile and in turn we can set ourselves up for whatever life we want to live as long as we have a plan that results in true happiness. There is no room for judgment and only room for interpretation as people are allowed to live their lives the way they want to.

And then I was hit once more, realizing that I wasn't entirely sure why I needed to pick one or the other. I knew I wanted a life of financial freedom, but I also wanted to enjoy my youth. From that point on a made a promise to myself, I will invest in my future and focus my efforts on identifying things that not only make me happy but also make me money. If I was to do multiple things that fit this I would be able to enjoy an abundance of activities and monetize them as I grow and eventually I can step away from all of them and have them just keep making money in the background. I later found out that this process can be considered "Passive income". Passive income by definition is income that requires minimal labor to earn and maintain.

I plan to use passive income in my life to help me continue to participate in the things that make me happy while they make money for me in the background. Leaving me time to enjoy the fruits of my labor with my future family.