Most nursery-bought fruit trees take two to five years to produce fruit, while trees grown from seeds take seven to 10 years. The exact time depends on the environment, care provided, and the type of tree you are growing. New fruit trees need to be watered every day for the first one or two weeks. After that, you must water every two to three days until week 12.
With all the time and effort required to grow a fruit-producing tree, you’d think there wouldn’t be much interest. But you’d be wrong. In fact, a record number of households today are building their own gardens as food costs continue to surge. Growers are selling a record number of fruit and nut trees worldwide to hopeful home gardeners and small homesteaders—all looking to gain food independence.
Planting a Money Tree
Two and a half years ago, for the same reason that people plant fruit trees, I decided to plant a money tree. My plan was to get my “money tree” to produce $100 a month, to demonstrate that financial independence is a real possibility for anyone willing to try. With so many believing they don’t know enough, have enough, or make enough money to invest, this account demonstrates that whatever you have is enough to plant a money tree and slowly gain financial freedom.
The great news is it won’t take nearly as much time and attention for your money tree to produce as it does for a fruit tree to produce.
I decided to plant my tree at Fidelity and track my progress publicly. The account was opened with $2,000, but I could have opened it with $10. I decided to purchase three ETFs: SPYI, JEPQ and CONY. I also automated a $150 deposit into the account every single month. When I had extra, I would add more, but the minimum amount going in was $150 a month.
The only rule I have for the account is that every seed (stock, mutual fund, or ETF) must pay me a dividend. This money tree is all about income. Every penny that my money tree produces is a penny that I don’t have to work for. The more it produces, the less I have to work/produce.
Below is a snapshot of the money this small account has produced for me in 2025:
The Benefits of Planting a Money Tree
Income
The month after I began investing, the income started rolling in. I didn’t have to wait 2-to-5 years to start receiving income. One month was all the waiting I needed to do. Every month, I earned income I could use for any reason. Since I didn’t need the money, I decided to (DRIP) automatically reinvest any money received to buy more shares, which helped increase the amount of the next dividend payment. At the end of 2025, I received a total of $1,314.09 in dividends.
Price appreciation
At the end of the year, the account balance was $6,708.51, and this is where things get interesting. I certainly didn’t put in $6,708.51; other forces were working just as hard as I was to grow the account. Share price appreciation.
When I began purchasing SPYI, the cost of a single share fluctuated between $48 and $50; by the end of the year, the price range was $53. This gave me an average cost basis of approximately $50, with a 6% return on the 67 shares that I purchased in 2025. The return on JEPQ was around 8%, and while CONY didn’t offer any price appreciation, the dividend allowed me to break even. More needs to be said about CONY, but that will be in another article. Splitting the difference, I earned approximately 6.5% on $6,708; this comes to $436 for the year.
Collateral
While the focus of this account is income, there is a third and even more powerful element to be considered. Equities (individual stocks, ETFs, and mutual funds) are real assets. They are assets that you can borrow against. This is done through margin. When your account crosses $2,000 in value, you can open a margin account, which allows you to borrow money against your holdings. This means that if an emergency exceeded the cash you have on hand, you could pull cash from this account without having to sell shares of the stocks you’ve been working hard to build. And the best part is that as your brokerage account continues to grow, so does the amount of margin available to you.
The Harvest
When you combine income-producing, price appreciation,and collateral, even building a small money tree (account) becomes a powerful game changer for your personal finances. This account generated more than $1,700 in growth and income and provided access to more than $9,000 in margin.
Why Pursue Financial Independence?
Financial independence means having enough money to pay for your life without relying on a job or other people. It brings freedom, safety and choice. It doesn’t happen all at once, but it can happen if you take the first intentional step.
You know what they say…the best time to plant a tree was yesterday, and the next best time is today. So, what are you waiting for?
