Beware of Financial Baobabs

I’ve written several posts inspired by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince—the first one explains how I chose my blog’s name, and the second talks about my motivation for seeking something new professionally. I decided to continue the theme today by talking about one of my favorite trees (and the role it plays in the book)—the baobab!

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First, a Caveat.

Baobabs are amazing trees. I have nothing against them, but they represent a specific threat in this book (which I’ll go into after waxing poetic about the real-life tree).

They’re found in Africa, Asia, and Australia. The most common species of baobab, Adansonia digita, is in Africa. These trees are basically mini-ecosystems in their own right. Elephants will eat their bark, and the large tree trunk holds a reservoir of water that holds 35,000 gallons of water. They’re an important part of the environment where they’re found, and they are stunning.

The trees almost look like they are upside-down (and there are folk tales that tell that story) because they don’t have leaves for 9 months out of the year—their bare branches stick up into the sky like a tangle of roots. And another thing? These trees are HUGE. This is a photo of me with a baobab in Tanzania—I’m not even standing close to the thing. This was also my first time seeing one with leaves on it!

Ok, I’m going to stop talking about the tree and start talking about the metaphor. Here’s the excerpt from the book about baobabs (FYI, the sheep referenced is one that the narrator drew for the little prince when they first met, at his insistence):

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Every day I’d learn something about the little prince’s planet, about his departure, about his journey. It would come quite gradually, in the course of his remarks. This was how I learned, on the third day, about the drama of the baobabs.
            This time too, I had the sheep to thank, for suddenly the little prince asked me a question, as if overcome by a grave doubt.
            “Isn’t it true that sheep eat bushes?”
            “Yes, that’s right.”
            “Ah! I’m glad.”

            I didn’t understand why it was so important that sheep should eat bushes. But the little prince added:
            “And therefore they eat baobabs, too?”

            I pointed out to the little prince that baobabs are not bushes but trees as tall as churches, and that even if he took a whole herd of elephants back to his planet, that herd couldn’t finish off a single baobab.
            The idea of the herd of elephants made the little prince laugh.
            “We’d have to pile them on top of one another.”

            But he observed perceptively:
            “Before they grow big, baobabs start out by being little.”
            “True enough! But why do you want your sheep to eat little baobabs?”

            He answered, “Oh, come on! You know!” as if we were talking about something quite obvious. And I was forced to make a great mental effort to understand this problem all by myself.

            And, in fact, on the little prince’s planet there were—as on all planets—good plants and bad plants. The good plants come from good seeds, and the bad plants from bad seeds. But the seeds are invisible. They sleep in the secrecy of the ground until one of them decides to wake up. Then it stretches and begins to sprout, quite timidly at first, a charming, harmless little twig reaching toward the sun. If it’s a radish seed, or a rosebud bush seed, you can let it sprout all it likes.

But if it’s the seed of a bad plant, you must pull the plant up right away, as soon as you can recognize it. As it happens, there were terrible seeds on the little prince’s planet…baobab seeds. The planet’s soil was infested with them. Now if you attend to a baobab too late, you can never get rid of it again. It overgrows the whole planet. Its roots pierce right through. And if the planet is too small, and if there are too many baobabs, they make it burst to pieces.

            “It’s a question of discipline,” the little prince told me later on. “When you’ve finished washing and dressing each morning, you must tend your planet. You must be sure you pull up the baobabs regularly, as soon as you can tell them apart from the rosebushes, which they closely resemble when they’re very young. It’s very tedious work, but very easy…Sometimes there’s no harm in postponing your work until later. But with baobabs, it’s always a catastrophe[…]”

            […]I don’t much like assuming the tone of a moralist. But the danger of baobabs is so little recognized, and the risks run by anyone who might get lost on an asteroid are so considerable, that for once I am making an exception to my habitual reserve. I say, “Children, watch out for baobabs!”

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Big Problems…

Before they grow big, baobabs start out by being little.Let’s be real. No one ends up with a pile of credit card debt overnight. Or a stack of past due bills, or so many Amazon boxes at your door that you can’t remember what you purchased. These things don’t show up as immediate giant issues; they’re slippery slopes. It starts gradually and eventually gets out of control.

Now, this of course isn’t the case with all spending. I will be the first to say that there are awesome ways to spend money. But I think we all have financial baobabs in our lives. Either big things that we need to address, or small bushes that are going to grow out of control if we’re not careful.

I’m trying to be more self-aware of when these financially detrimental habits first get started. And I’ve done a good job of uprooting those bushes, though at times they grow back unexpectedly. For example, when I first graduated and became a “real adult,” I spent A LOT of money on food delivery. Now? I don’t think I’ve opened my GrubHub app in months. And I’m pretty proud of that because it wasn’t something that was adding anything to my life; it was more of a knee-jerk reaction to stress and not wanting to cook.

…Become Overwhelming.

It overgrows the whole planet. Its roots pierce right through. And if the planet is too small, and if there are too many baobabs, they make it burst to pieces. The poor prince is worried about the survival of his small planet. I think the imagery in this line is so powerful—the idea of his planet being ripped apart by the roots of a tree that is only growing as its nature dictates. But like the prince’s planet, our financial planets can only withstand so much. Depending on the size of your planet, maybe one baobab isn’t a problem. You’ve acknowledged it and put a fence around its perimeter. Maybe you monitor the ground for any risks to your planet’s structural integrity. But if you have multiple baobabs? And you aren’t taking care of them? It’s an emergency.

The other thing about this? What your planet can handle is personal. Earth is capable of holding thousands of baobabs, no sweat. The little prince’s planet can’t survive one. Something that I spend money on might not be a problem, but if you spend on the same thing, it might overwhelm your planet. This is just another reason to not compare your financial journey to that of others around you!

Be Disciplined

It’s a question of discipline. It is, of course, easy to spend like there’s no tomorrow. To ignore the monthly statements in the mail and to accept every boozy brunch invitation (I mean, bottomless mimosas are basically saving money, right??). But that’s where having clear financial goals comes in handy! Know what you want–what you’re striving for. Keep it clear in your mind so that you have the discipline to uproot those baobab bushes before they get too big. Because those small bushes jeopardize the survival of something else that you actually love and can’t live without.

Don’t Procrastinate

Sometimes there’s no harm in postponing your work until later. But with baobabs, it’s always a catastrophe. It’s totally normal to want to avoid problems that have gotten out of hand. To stick your head in the sand and hope they go away…or maybe to tell yourself that you’ll deal with it when you have more money to help. But that’s a mistake! Catch your baobabs early. Uproot them. Now, if they’re already big, this might not be simple. It may take time and energy and multiple attempts. It may mean asking for help from a financially responsible friend or a professional. Of course, that overwhelming feeling is part of the reason we want to procrastinate. But this isn’t a term paper or a trivial project; it’s your life.

Exceptions to the Rule

Ok, remember how earlier I talked about how awesome real-life baobabs are? They’re a huge asset to the ecosystem and support all types of life in times of drought. Let’s bring that into our metaphor. Some baobabs, no matter how financially ugly on the outside, are actually good things. They may look like something that would tear a planet apart, but they store life-sustaining food, water, and shelter for when times get tough.

One of the baobabs in my life that is actually good? My pets. I have three–StarDog, SunCat, and StarCat. They’re a pretty big financial drain; pets are expensive. But they aren’t a bad thing for me just because of that. They’re a huge help to my mental health and overall well-being. So that extra cost is worth it. Reallocating money in my budget for them is barely a hardship. They’re the best kind of metaphorical baobab. And I know that while I spend more money now than if I didn’t have them, that spending isn’t irreparably jeopardizing my other financial goals. Just pushing back their “achieved” date by a little bit.

Sometimes, I think the personal finance community is a little too focused on eliminating all “unnecessary” expenses. So while it’s important to identify your scary financial baobabs, it’s also important to recognize when they’re actually beneficial. Maybe not financially beneficial, but holistically. Which is, after all, the overall focus. Money isn’t the end goal; it’s the means to that end.

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Do you have any financial baobabs in your life? Or bushes that might grow into baobabs? Any baobabs that are good? I’d love to hear them!