Risk and reward: the turtle lesson

Earlier today I witnessed a natural selection paradox; a mid-sized turtle was flopping its legs, walking alongside a very busy Orlando avenue.

Some cars could clearly see the dome-shaped shell, barely averaging 1/2 a mile an hour on the asphalt, and changed lanes; others, either unaware of it or because they didn’t care of the consequences, drove right above it.

Why was the turtle walking alongside the road, instead of staying on the water-drenched grass of the sidewalk, I wondered.

And then, I realized that this almost suicidal run of the turtle has its application in the domain investment world.

More often than usual, we leave our comfortable investment range and endeavor in risky areas that we should not otherwise be at. We take considerable risk and expect either complete destruction, or an unprecedented reward.

The turtle eventually made it back onto the sidewalk, with the help of a pedestrian who risked his own life and disregarded traffic. As an analogy, we often risk more than what we’d normally should, due to the particular conditions; often times, the reward is not monetary but simple satisfaction for achieving something extraordinary.

And that was the turtle lesson, on an otherwise monotonous Monday.