Investing 101: Brazilian Edition

At a young age, I learned the importance of investing from my father.  He taught me the basics and showed me what could happen if you saved money and invested wisely.  The process captivated me immediately, and I am eternally grateful.  Later in life, I was able extend my knowledge of the principles of investing through the tutelage of some of the best financial advisors in the world at the biggest brokerage firm in the world.  Putting those principles into practice and thoroughly monitoring the process was tremendously rewarding for me.  However, it wasn't until I arrived on an island in southern Brazil that I truly discovered the value of investing.

I have a very good girlfriend who I talk to about all sorts of things.  She only speaks Portuguese and she is one of the sweetest girls on the planet so it's a win-win for me.  Anyway, a few days ago we were discussing her upcoming travels.  She is going home (about a 10 hour drive from Floripa) a the beginning of June.  She is from a VERY, VERY small town up north.  Her father left her when she was 2 and her mother left her shortly thereafter.  Her neighbors were kind of enough to take her and her brother in, and she has since considered them her family.  Anyway, to make a long story short, she told me that she would like to get silicon implants (fake breasts, if you will).  She is an extremely attractive girl but, as I said before, this is the most competitive place I've ever encountered when it comes to beauty.  Girls do as much as possible to maximize their beauty (it's no wonder than Brazil has the highest per capital plastic surgery in the world).  I thought about what she just told me for a minute or two and it dawned on me: how in the world did she expect to pay for the surgery?  The large majority of people here are far from wealthy.  They work just enough to pay some bills and go out a few nights a week.  It is not a culture of 401k's and IRA's.  I asked her how she intended to pay for the surgery.  She told me that her family, her surrogate family, has given her a cow each birthday for the past nine years.  Now, the cows have grown a great deal and are worth quite a bit of money.  She told me that she would sell the cows to pay for the surgery.  Yesterday she found out that one of the cows is even pregnant and its value has instantly increased substantially (we're talking double-digit returns here!).  I have since contemplated going back to my roots and revitalizing Packard Cattle Company.  Needless to say, the whole conversation left me speechless.  I peppered her with questions out of simple curiosity, and she answered each and every one thoroughly and seriously.  I thought about the things I have encountered here and this most certainly has pleased me the most.  In the United States, this girl wouldn't have to pay for a thing.  Here in Brazil, she is selling her nine cows (technically ten) to buy a fake rack.  Only in Brazil......

Nine cows in northern Brazil: ~10,000 reais

Breast augmentation in Sao Paulo for a beautiful girl: ~10,000 reais

True value of a cow: priceless