They sell piggy banks on the streets of Bogot\u00e1, and I imagine across Colombia, daily.\u00a0 Handmade in the red clay of Rolland Garros, these piggy banks proliferate.\u00a0 They are cute, desirable, large to small, a great variety of piggies, and you have to smash them to pieces to access your savings.\u00a0 My personal piggy, bought on the street, is now very heavy, solid, and so far resistant to my desire for a new sweater from Zara!\u00a0 But wait, something so simple as a piggybank might just support a booming economy?\u00a0 Savings \u2013 what a concept.\u00a0 Every penny might count.\u00a0 From a very young age, we might encourage saving money, taking responsibility, making a connection between desire and reality.\u00a0 Is Colombia onto something basic?<\/p>\n

Lest anyone think that I am being third-world biased in introducing Colombia by way\u00a0 of clay piggies, let me state here and now that I have never encountered a bank as sophisticated as mine in Bogot\u00e1, Helm.\u00a0 Entering an branch of Helm is like entering an exclusive boutique hotel.\u00a0 A (money) concierge greets every arriving customer.\u00a0 How might he or she help?\u00a0 A money deposit?\u00a0 Let me direct you to our automated deposit machine which counts (or rejects) your every bill, and provides you with a photographic record of your deposited check.\u00a0 A banking problem, let me seat you for our next available associate.\u00a0 While waiting, enjoy our ambiance of contemporary furniture, lighting, color choice – mainly very hip orange and white –\u00a0 and typography.\u00a0 Feel free to avail yourself of our free water bottles and candy.\u00a0 Everything communicates that your patronage is important.\u00a0 What a concept!\u00a0 We want you to know that your money means something.\u00a0 And Helm’s on line site savings account logo features, you guessed it – a clay piggybank.<\/p>\n

Perhaps these two contrasting images of Colombia, are the same thing, expressed differently.\u00a0 Money counts.\u00a0 Street vendors of piggybanks want you to begin saving money.\u00a0 The extraordinary number of banks in Colombia are also invested in wanting you to save money.\u00a0 It is a very competitive world.\u00a0 Most people here don’t have a checking account; they have a savings account.\u00a0 Point made.\u00a0 There are an incomparable number of bank branches on block after block here, of that much I am sure, focused on savings.<\/p>\n

I am not writing a scientific article here, numbers of penny savers in Colombia versus numbers of penny savers in the United States.\u00a0 How could one ever figure that out?\u00a0 I’ve tried, and statistics are hard to come by.\u00a0 Number of home or property owners per square foot or square meter in Colombia versus number of property owners in the United States, good luck.<\/p>\n

However, one of the most surprising things about this country for me is that even the most unassuming neighborhoods here have offices, apartments, and store fronts For sale<\/em>.\u00a0 For rent <\/em>is the norm in many countries, but strikingly the number of For Sale<\/em> signs in visible windows (the most popular advertising venue here by far) in Colombia is impressive.\u00a0 Vendo!\u00a0 En Venta!<\/em>\u00a0 This country divides its municipalities into economic strata, 1 through 6 (6 being the most exclusive), hard to get a handle on.\u00a0 However, even in Estrato 1<\/strong><\/em> (the lowest of the Estratos), in the most unassuming neighborhoods, the concept of ownership runs deep.\u00a0 The piggy banks of every street corner take on power.\u00a0 Every penny saved here is a penny saved toward destiny, toward control of destiny.\u00a0 Pride of ownership, even in the poorest of neighborhoods here, has value.<\/p>\n

Now that instability in terms of property ownership has established itself worldwide, and now that the questioning of economic foundation has become mundane, savings are hardly the beacon that stand out as the road to salvation anywhere.\u00a0 And yet, piggy banks line the streets of Bogot\u00e1.\u00a0 Here, in Colombia, in a country far off the mega-dollar landscape, a penny saved is still a penny earned.\u00a0 The foundation of growth is still strong here.\u00a0 Piggy banks are as common here along the Calles and Carreras as lottery tickets are along the highways and byways of first world countries.\u00a0 Chance versus discipline.\u00a0 To buy a small or large ceramic piggybank and start to deposit change daily versus an investment in the odds of the national chance of Who WantsTo Be a Millonaire, <\/em>well it seems to come down to that.\u00a0 Not that you can’t do both.\u00a0 Just, count your pennies first.\u00a0 And start saving.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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