Bucking Hay Bales

Read Time / 2 Minutes

Theme / Wise Investing

Dust filled my nostrils and sweat rolled down my back – but the pay was good.  During summers in middle school, I would buck hay bales for two weeks for a local farmer, forgoing my pleasure of afternoons spent staying cool at the city’s public swimming pool.

My fingers ached as I grabbed fifty-pound bales of hay, lifted them off the stubble-filled ground, and stacked them on a flat-bed trailer as a tractor pulled it slowly across the hay field.  Once the hay was stacked securely on the flat-bed, we would take it to the barn and stack it again for storage until winter.

Stacking is the most important part of bucking hay bales.  Hay bales poorly stacked collapse and require re-stacking, or, worse yet, the hay bales break the twine holding them together and defeat the whole purpose of bailing.   I remember the satisfaction I felt in seeing the culmination of our work: a large stack of interlocking hay-bales, with each hay-bale strategically placed to support the stack.

Bucking hay bales took diligence, but it was necessary for the success of the farm.  It reminds me of Proverbs 21:5 “The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.”  The same can be said of building an investment portfolio, with its appropriate use of equities and fixed income to build a secure financial future.  Each portfolio structure depends on our personal goals, time frames, and risk tolerances.

Just as I bucked and stacked hay bales for a purpose, we need to be wise in creating and managing our portfolios to reach our financial goals.  I do not miss those days of summer, when a cold bottle of water was my best friend, but when I see a well-stacked stack of hay bales today, I smile. 

Doug Hanson, MBA

Wealth Advisor