Exploring Money Trees and Goals with Tina Hang
On this episode of Financially Naked: Stories from The Financial Gym, our host is Emily Egan, PR Manager, and she is joined by Financial Trainer, Tina Hang.
Podcast Note
The Gym has a Slack channel for staff and someone recently posted they bought a money tree.
A money tree is a type of tree that is native to Central and South America and it is called the Pachira Aquatica. The concept of money tree came from Asia. If you have a money tree, it is a symbol to bring you wealth and it is like a good lunch charm.
The tree produces nuts, so the other names for it are the water chestnut, the French peanut, the Malabar Chestnut.
The tree is known for its braided trunk, and the trunk is man made. It is about four to five trees that are braided together when the tree is young, so they grow together.
The legend of the money tree is there was a really poor farmer and he found a tree in his field. He decided to grow and sell the trees and he became really wealthy. The actual story is a man in the 1980s in Taiwan decided to braid the trunks of the trees to lock in the luck.
Each stalk usually has around five to seven elongated leaves. Typically, there are five leaves per stem and they represent the five elements of feng shui: fire, water, earth, wood, and metal. It is supposed to bring you positive energy. When you have six or seven leaves, those are for extra good luck.
In the wild, the tree can grow to 60 feet. In the house, it can grow six to eight feet. The money tree is supposed to be placed in the southeast corner of your house.
Tina waters her tree once a week by submerging the pot in water for 20 minutes and she prunes away the dead leaves. If she spends 20 minutes caring for the tree, she will spend 20 minutes caring for her finances, and this is where you will see the results grow.
Tina’s tree growing parallels her money growing.
Tina loves traveling and she is trying to save up for a couple trips next year. Long-term, she is into the FIRE movement and she wants to be financially independent.
When trying to be more mindful of your money, it is good to start small. This could be spending five minutes a week looking at your bank balance and spending. Once you establish that habit, you can work your way up to doing other things. Establish measurable goals.
Spend your money on what you value and enjoy, then cut out the stuff that is wasteful that you don’t really enjoy.
Most Gym clients are saving for having a baby, travel, and buying a house. What they find is clients in New York spend their money at Duane Reade, Amazon, and Seamless.
For more information on money trees, search on plant blogs and YouTube. If you want to get one, many popular online plant farms sell them as well as local retailers.
Want to work with Tina? Sign up for a free consult call here!