This page is quite old hence its rather spartan appearance.
Why not check out our Latest Stories page for our newest articles or search our site for anything.
By
The main recipients of Scrooge's moral rebirth are his poor clerk Bob Cratchit and his family, especially the crippled boy Tiny Tim. When Scrooge wakes from his ghostly visitations, he delivers a huge turkey to the Cratchit household and gives Bob a raise. He becomes a "second father" to Tim and reconciles with his own nephew.
Initially cold, heartless and unfeeling, the miserly old businessman is detestable at the beginning of the story, but he is transformed in one night by the visits of ghosts from Christmas past, present and future. So the foolish investor is transformed by the visits of the Foolish ghosts into a Fool.
Now I would never dare to try to link Dickens' magical literary genius to the work of the Motley Fool, or in particular to the work of this Foolish writer, but in many ways the Fool acts like the ghosts of this great book. The Foolish Ghost of Christmas Past comes to remind us how often we have handed control of our own financial destiny over to other people. How we trusted the Wise, the Financial Advisor, who sold us financial products that increase his or her wealth more than they increase ours. It reminds us about our investment in an endowment that failed to endow, a growth PEP that failed to grow. The error was not that of the Financial Advisor, it was ours because we handed over the responsibility for decisions about our own financial futures to someone else. We can't blame the Financial Advisor; we have to blame ourselves for being foolish.
The Foolish Ghost of Christmas Present reminds us of the folly of investing on tips and rumour; it shows us the lure of daytrading. It reminds us that the exciting promise of quick riches is something that is simply playing on our greed but which in reality will lead us towards financial oblivion. When Scrooge is visited by the Ghost of Christmas Present, the miserly old man notices a pair of ragged and dirty children at the ghost's feet. When questioned about who they are, the ghost replies: "This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want." Two of the three main planks on which the Motley Fool was founded are Education and Enrichment: to dispel financial ignorance we published our Ten Steps, and to dispel financial want we show how investing small amounts of money and time can reap rewards in the future. But enrichment for its own sake is pointless; why amass huge riches if you do not put those riches to good use?
The Foolish Ghost of Christmas Future will show how we will be unable to rely on other people, or the government, to provide for and look after us when we retire. How money squandered now is wasted and lost forever, and how the miracle of compound interest can never work unless we actually put money to work Foolishly. It also shows us the folly of accumulating wealth for the sake of wealth alone. Use it to make your life, and the life of your family, better -- but don't forget the people who are not so fortunate as we are, and make sure we help others to become empowered to improve their own lives.
Although the theme of A Christmas Carol is a serious one, there also is a lot of amusement in the story, which ties in with the third plank of Foolishness -- amusement. There is the scene when the ghost of his former partner, Jacob Marley, appears. When asked if he doubts his senses about seeing Marley, Scrooge replies that his senses may be affected by something he ate. "You may be an undigested bit of beef," he tells the ghost, "a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato. There's more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are." A Scrooge joke! Don't forget, to be a true Fool you must be able to enjoy yourself: "don't worry, be happy!"
In A Christmas Carol Dickens was trying to show that society had a responsibility towards the really unfortunate -- to people who are victims. It is obviously as true today as it was in Victorian London; there are still masses of needy people in the world, and there is terrible neglect going on. Most people who read the Fool are fortunate: we may have been badly treated by the Wise, but after the visit of the Foolish ghosts we are now in a position to change, to provide for ourselves, to be empowered. Scrooge woke up from his dream and changed his ways; the Fool is helping people to wake up to the mistakes of the past. It really is possible for people to wake up and do what Scrooge did.
But don't forget, as we use Foolishness to educate, amuse and enrich ourselves, that there are many people who have not yet discovered Foolishness. Spread the word to them, and get the Foolish Ghosts to visit them too! Remember that the Foolish purpose of enrichment is to be able to use our wealth to provide for our families and to the greater good of society. Being a Fool is not simply about personal enrichment; there is no point in having money if you don't use it to affect something, to make something better.
The story of a Christmas Carol has resulted in the image of Scrooge in the popular mind as the miser. If you say 'a Scrooge,' you think of a mean or miserly person. This is wrong; Scrooge has been maligned for generations. Scrooge reformed himself (with the help of the Christmas Ghosts). The real story is that Scrooge does actually see the error of his ways and becomes a reformed character; he becomes a Fool. We too can be like Scrooge, and can become Fools, we can wake up on Christmas morning like Ebenezer Scrooge, all set to tackle the errors of our ways and glad that we have another chance.
Become a Fool, take control over your own finances, but don't forget the people who are not as fortunate as ourselves: the homeless, the needy, the millions upon millions of children around the world that aren't being educated. Use your new-found Foolishness for the greater good.
Related links