Topping Corn

Read Time / 2 Minutes

Theme / Financial Planning

In the early light of the morning, I would grab a 30-gallon trash bag – rip out holes for my arms and head before slipping it on – and start walking the rows of corn in the fields of local farmers.  It was a job of extremes: from chilly damp mornings to breezeless hot afternoons, with bees threatening all day.  As a corn-topper, I pulled the tassels off the cornstalks in the cow rows, leaving them to be pollinated by tassels in the bull rows.  Every fifth row was a bull-row, and bees would cross-pollinate for the farmers – plus agitate me.  In the early mornings, the leaves of the cornstalks would be full of dew, soaking me as I walked the rows.  Later in the day, the sun beating down would make me wish for the morning’s dew.

De-tasseling a field is a step-by-step process, starting on one end of the field and walking up and down rows to the other end.  The same can be said of financial success: step-by-step diligence is imperative.  Dave Ramsey’s Seven Baby Steps provides a process that is easy to understand and fruitful to follow.  

Baby Step 1 – Save $1,000 in a starter emergency fund

Baby Step 2 – Pay off all debt (except the house) using the debt snowball

Baby Step 3 – Save 3-6 months of expenses in a fully funded emergency fund

Baby Step 4 – Invest 15% of your household income in retirement

Baby Step 5 – Save for your children’s college fund

Baby Step 6 – Pay off your home early

Baby Step 7 – Build wealth and give

Just as it took perseverance to overcome the distractions while de-tasseling a field of corn, it takes diligence to reach Baby Step 7.  However, we are not in this journey alone.  Our heavenly Father provides the encouragement we need along the way: “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9).

Doug Hanson, MBA

Wealth Advisor