The pig and hen were good friends in a farm. One lazy sunny afternoon, while shooting the breeze together under the shade of the old oak tree just outside the barn, the hen had an inspiration! “Hey pig! Would you be interested to be a millionaire?” said the hen, fluttering her eye-lashes in a most alluring manner. “What? What do you mean?” The pig awoken from his stupor… “Wake up! Wake up! Pay attention!” the hen nudging the pig as she spoke. “If we work together, we can be millionaires!” “How?” said the pig with a smile. The pig always had a soft spot for the hen. “There’s a new casino opened just outside of town. We just have to place a million dollar bet on the roulette table – black or red.” “But we don’t have a million dollars,” said the pig scratching his head. But he is hooked. The pig has always envied how some of other pigs managed to have all the money in the world; and they are always in the company of the most beautiful hens and chicks of the farm. Yes, the pig wants to be rich like them! The hen snuggled up to the pig and gently tapped her feathered wing on the pig’s head. “Silly! We just need to borrow it from the bull from the farm across the street. I borrow; and you act as my guarantor.” “But what if we lose the bet?” quizzed the pig. “We won’t!” said the hen confidently. I’ve been to this get rich quick seminar and I have the magic formula!” All we need to do is to wait for 10 straight outcome of reds, and we place all our money on the next 11^th turn on black!” The hen was quite excited and was clapping her wings as she spoke. “What are the odds of red appearing again after 10 consecutive turns?” The next day, both the pig and hen visited the bull from across the farm. The bull was the notorious money lender of the area. In his youth, he went overseas to Spain and has gorged to death quite a few bull fighters there. Now retired from bull fighting, the bull has diverted his attention to the lucrative business of “private finance”. “I can lend you the money,” said the bull sucking and blowing his cigar. “But what collateral do you wish to pledge?” The bull was checking the hen out from claw to beak… The hen cuts a pretty face you can say! “Well, we can pledge ourselves. If we don’t pay up, you can do with us whatever you want.” The hen put one wing behind her head and the other on her hips. All this while, the pig just stood there frozen with fear of the size and overpowering presence of the bull, and did not pay attention to what the hen had pledged on his behalf. Blinded by lust and greed, and now fear! I guessed you all knew the outcome of the story. The pig and hen lost their bet at the casino and was rounded up by the bull. The bull made the hen his mistress; and the hen had to surrender all her eggs to the bull as payment. As for the poor pig, the bull sold him to the local diner together with the eggs from the hen. There you have it - bacon and eggs! Can you see the difference between being committed and involved? The pig is committed, while the hen is involved. ___________________________________________________________ Do you see parallels between the above story and you? 1)     Your relationship? 2)     Your business partner? 3)     Your work place? 4)     Your investing/trading journey? About the Author: "Hi! I'm a Singaporean working in Athens, Greece. I aspire to be like the swan that's here and gone. And if need be, I'll rather be the hammer than the nail. Yes, it's from that song. 123, Away, I rather sail away.... (El Condor Pasa)" Singapore Man of Leisure (welcome to my blog; just google it!) This post was written by a guest contributor. Please see their details in the post above. If you'd like to guest post for TheFinance.sg, feel free to contact me for details about how YOU can share your tips and knowledge with our community.