A fable of Aesop

There was a man who was so worried about the safety of his possessions that he sold them all and bought a lump of gold which he buried on the outskirts of town.

He had no greater pleasure than to visit it and to muse or dream. He did not own the gold, but the gold owned him.

One day he found the gold gone. He was distraught and told a neighbour of this loss. The neighbour told him to put a stone in its place – “since you never meant to use it, the stone will be just as good as the gold”.

Aesop’s moral is that the value of money depends not on its accumulation but on its use. It remains as true today for trustees and advisers as it did 2,500 years ago.