Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence

We want to tell you a story, a true story, about a young boy and his life journey.

His father died when he was five years old.  His mother went to work every day, leaving him to help feed his younger siblings.  Childhood offered little leisure.  By twelve, he had left school.  At thirteen, after a troubled relationship with his stepfather, he left home.

He needed desperately to earn money to survive, so he found work on a farm.  Then he worked on the railways.  As he got older, he worked as an insurance salesman.  

When he was old enough, he studied law by correspondence and practised for several years, until he ended up having a fight with his own client in a courtroom.  

After decades of work, and little to show for it, he eventually started a business that succeeded, but then invested all of his capital into a new business that failed.  

But this man did not give up.  He started a petrol station business which he operated successfully until it had to close during the Great Depression.  By now he was forty years old, and he took any job he could find just so he could eat, which was a job serving food at a road-side restaurant. 

People liked his cooking, so he saved up for years and eventually opened his own restaurant.

Then it burned down.  So rerebuilt it and started over again.  The business was doing well, he was a good cook and people liked his food.  After several years of success, a new highway construction threatened the passing trade on which his business depended.  By now he was 65 years old and most people would by now have considered retirement on the modest sum he had received from this small business sale. 

Instead, he packed his cooking equipment and recipes into his car and went looking for restaurant owners willing to try his food.  He licensed his recipes and cooking methods, going from town-to-town, sometimes sleeping in his car between visits.

By the time he was 72, more than 600 restaurants were selling his food recipes, and the business was growing to become a national chain.  He had achieved, finally, success in business, and it only took him more than 70 years to do it! 

This man’s name was Harland Sanders. You may know him as Colonel Sanders, the face of KFC, one of the world’s most successful fast food chains. 

What was the key factor in this man’s life that determined his success?  Was it natural talent, skill, money?  

Ultimately it was his persistence that delivered success.  

Calvin Coolidge was President of the United States between 1923 and 1929, and is quoted as saying:  

“Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and Determination alone are omnipotent.”

In other words, talent and education can accomplish surprisingly little without sustained effort.  It is staying in the game, and not letting difficulty stop you, which in the long-run delivers victory. 

For investors, this is a critical life lesson for managing portfolios.  

Consider $10,000 growing at 7% annually, with returns reinvested. After ten years, it becomes roughly $19,700. After twenty, $38,700. After thirty, $76,100.

The third decade adds approximately $37,400, more than the first two decades combined. The arithmetic reveals why time matters, and persistence over time is fundamental to this maths. 

Persistence helps investors remain exposed to the growth they originally invested to capture.

The practical aim is to build an investment plan you can sustain and be persistent with over the long-term: diversified investments, manageable risk, and regular contributions where affordable.

Be like Colonel Sanders. 

If sustained over the long-term, this persistence can deliver exceptional outcomes for investors.