Passive VS Active Income

The Parable of the Pipeline : A Pablo and Bruno story by Burke Hedges tells teaches us valuable lessons in our chase towards money.

The story starts with two men Pablo and Bruno who are situated in a small village. In this small village, there is a water spring at the top of the mountain and the small village is located on the bottom. The villagers need water so they asked Pablo and Bruno to carry buckets of water from the top of the mountain to the bottom.

So each day, Pablo and Bruno would haul buckets of water from the top of the mountain to the bottom. They would earn a good wage and life was great. Bruno was happy because he found that with the money he earned, he could save up and buy a cow and afford the dream house he always wanted.

On the other hand, Pablo wasn’t satisfied for his body was getting weak and he knew that he couldn’t do this for the rest of his life. One day Pablo had an idea to build a pipeline that directly connected the spring to the bottom of the village. He drew up the plans and realised it would take a lot of work and time on the side. He showed this to Bruno to help him build it but Bruno wasn’t interested and wanted to continue carrying buckets of water so he could earn money now and reach his goals quicker.

Pablo decided to build the pipeline on his own. He worked during the day and at night in digging rocks and building the pipeline. In the first month, he had little to show for it and many villagers ridiculed him and called him Pablo the Pipeline Man. Meanwhile, Bruno was earning more money and he would go to the bar at the end of the day. Months later, Pablo completed the pipeline and immediately started earning income from it without him working every day.

The moral of the story is that we tend to trade time for money. We mistakenly focus on the money in the present moment but ignore what may happen in future. We may get sick, we may lose our energy or some other adversity may occur. When this happens, we are no longer able to work and trade time for money, we immediately need another source of income without us working. This is called passive income. Therefore, while you’re still young or have energy, you must build your pipeline so that one day, it will take care of you when you’re unable work or decide to leave your job.

Stay Strong and Be Relentless.