Long-term savings is a necessity

Around the obvious need to Save in the long term, and the behaviors or ways of being that encourage us to be "savers or manirrotos" there are two anecdotes that perfectly illustrate the root of one or the other behavior.



1.- The first of these is the so-called MarsMallow Experiment: in the 60s of the last century was first performed, at Stanford University (USA), and then it has been done many more times with the same results.

They take a large group of children of 4 or 5 years and are given a treat or a cake, and they are made this proposal: The treat is yours and you can eat it, but if you wait 15 minutes without eating it you will receive another , and even bigger, and you can eat both.

Statistical results confirm that approximately 70% of children do not stand the wait, are unable to delay their desires in exchange for a greater good, and eat the candy without expecting the greater reward for waiting.

This test, therefore, confirms our NEED to want MORE, but also the need to have it NOW. We prefer a quick, immediate and lower prize first than a jackpot (in quantity or quality) but that requires some waiting.

2.- The other anecdote, says a lot about the philosophy of life of oriental roots, based on patience and organization: There is an oriental saying according to which "who sows tamarinds, does not eat tamarinds", because some varieties of said tree take between 80 and 90 years to bear fruit for the first time.

Once, a boy who saw an old man planting Tamarinds came up and asked, "Hey, Grandpa, why is he sowing tamarinds, if he knows he won't be able to eat his fruits..? To which the old man, showing the proverbial patience and Eastern wisdom answered him: For this field that once belonged to my grandfather, and then to my father, now belongs to me, and because it is mine, I plant in him what I want."

Although we dispense with the obvious funny pretension of the anecdote, both this and the previous one perfectly illustrate the two ways of thinking that can motivate or induce LONG-TERM SAVING.

On the one hand appears the essentially Latin character, to take advantage and enjoy the moment WITHOUT CARE for the future, even in the face of the promise of a jackpot and evident.

And on the other hand, there's the ability to "sacrifice" your present a little bit so that someone (your children, grandchildren, or next generations) can benefit in the future.

These are undoubtedly ways of thinking and acting almost opposite, but we are obliged to reconcile. Without abandoning the idea of enjoying the present, preparing the future, and above all doing so as soon as possible.

It is very obvious, and completely SAFE that the next generations will retire with pensions much lower than the current ones, and with a huge loss of purchasing power with respect to our working life, so WE MUST AWARE OF starting with a Private Savings (in the way you think it's convenient), but FORCE YOURSELF to do it NOW, and educate our children on that same idea, so that the percentage of children who are able to sacrifice a little their present to IMPROVE THEIR FUTURE is better and better , and so that more and more people think about the future of the planet, in the environment, to leave us a more just and equal society, in the future of Pensions... and so there are more and more people... "planting tamarinds".