If you have read the Old Testament, I am sure you have heard about the guy with the coat of many colors, Joseph. He had real skills: in both pattern-seeing and economics. (And I am sure that if he were alive today, he would be a wealthy Wall Street type of person.) His rise to power included dream interpretation, via patterns, as he successfully interpreted the dreams of Pharaoh’s cup bearer, the court baker, and eventually the king, Pharaoh himself. Then, Joseph was appointed to oversee Egypt’s agricultural economy ahead of a devastating seven-year famine. After interpreting Pharaoh’s dream of seven years of abundance followed by seven years of severe famine, Joseph was appointed governor of Egypt. Joseph’s economic acumen became national law. It became a taxation policy described in Genesis 47:13–27 that was so useful that it continues to be instituted in modern-day Egypt – just as the bible described! The verse Genesis 47:27 reads, “So Joseph established it as a law concerning land in Egypt—valid to this day—that a fifth of the produce belongs to Pharaoh. It was only the land of the priests that did not become Pharaoh’s.”
The Economic Law of the Fat and Lean Cows
Anyhow, Joseph rose to power because he described the king’s dream and interpreted it so well. The dream had a simple principle: growth doesn’t happen forever. If you remember the story of the king’s dream in the Bible, the skinny cows then ate the fat cows, and then the skinny cows emerged as the alpha cows. If You’ve been seeing the stock market go up and up here in the United States, we know it won’t go up forever; sometimes it comes down. Sometimes the fat cows are eaten by the skinny cows, as in Joseph’s dream. I am not calling for a seven-year famine here, but, as the saying by Benjamin Franklin goes, “failing to prepare is preparing to fail” (Mayberry, 2016, April 22).
Protecting Your 401(k) from Hidden Fees and Market Corrections
But the real question is, are you ready for the fat cows to get eaten by the skinny cows? I recently became aware of this myself via Life Surge’s Trade Surge Conference, but if you are putting money into a 401(k), you probably didn’t know, as I didn’t, that most of it is just going to fees (Fulkerson, 2026, August 28–30). More importantly, if a drop happens- called a correction- and if that happens sometime soon, and your assets are not in cash, you’re probably gonna lose a huge amount of money that you may not build back. But maybe the worst part of the story is that, while you lose out, the big cats (or skinny cows, whichever analogy you prefer) on Wall Street are still rolling in money. They are probably ready for the big drop. But the problem is, if you outsource your financial planning, these financial planners (at least some of them) are not as concerned about your money as they are about their own. I have learned that just because someone else manages your money, it doesn’t mean they really care. It doesn’t mean you’ll recover. The best way to hedge against market decline is to be ready and steward your own money. So you worked so hard, pouring your life into building your 401(k), only to have it washed away overnight. Don’t let that happen!
Joseph’s rise to power wasn’t just about predicting the future; it was about preparing for change. The cycles of history and the stock market follow the same rules. These axioms are from Ecclesiastes 1:9 (NIV), which says,
“What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” As the Bible says, “nothing” is truly “new under the sun.” As the lesson teaches, abundance never lasts forever, and waiting until the lean years arrive can be disastrous. Relying on Wall Street managers to protect your life savings can leave your financial future in the hands of people who care more about themselves than you. True financial stewardship requires your part; to protect your family, you must recognize the signs of an impending shift and take direct control of your own assets. By preparing today, cutting hidden fees, and personally positioning your wealth wisely, you can ensure that when the skinny cows don’t put ruin to your hard-earned future.
This information is provided for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
References:
Fulkerson, C. (2026, August 28–30). Trade Surge [Conference presentation]. Life Surge Conference, Pittsburgh, PA, United States.
Mayberry, M. (2016, April 22). By failing to prepare, you are indeed preparing to fail. Entrepreneur. https://www.entrepreneur.com/leadership/by-failing-to-prepare-you-are-indeed-preparing-to-fail/274494
