THE RICHEST MAN IN BABYLON

THE RICHEST MAN IN BABYLON BY GEORGE S. CLASON.

The richest man in Babylon is a book written as far back as 1926. It teaches a lot on financial intelligence. It is simply written and straight to the point. It contains a series of parables, and it is more traditional than contemporary. It is a book gotten from the wisdom of ancient men in Babylon. Some of these men were merchants, some slaves, some just average men in the society.

We sometimes have reason to wonder how this would be of any help to the present day investor or to those seeking financial intelligence in this 21st century, giving that things are a lot different nowadays. However, the book clearly points out that the law of wealth (money) can be compared to the law of gravity, both are universal and unchanging. So whatever principle used to make wealth even in the ancient Babylon can still be practiced today.

The story depicts the lives of two friends - Bansir and Kobbi respectively, who were craftsmen involved in chariot building and music respectively. They were very skilled at what they did, yet they were still very poor. So they decided to seek financial advice from one of their friends Arkad who was the then richest man in Babylon. The principles which Arkad taught these men on financial freedom is the basis for the whole book.

These principles are summarised under 7 major subsets which are as follows:
1. Start Thy Purse to Fattening: Since the book was written in simple terms, fattening their gold purses then was a better way to describe savings in our modern world. Arkad who learnt to save 1/10th of all his income from the advice given to him by Algamish, a very wealthy man in his time. Algamish said, "I found the road to wealth when I decided that a part of all I earned was mine to keep." So for every gold(money) earned Arkad saved at least 1/10th of it for himself.

2. Control Thy Expenditure(spend wisely): After keeping one tenth of your income, of course you have just 9/10th of your income to spend. Arkad advised that they buy only necessary and important things. Modern day financial books will refer to this as "avoiding liabilities as much as possible."

3. Make Your Gold(money) multiply: For every money you save for yourself, rather than spend it on frivolities, let it work for you to produce more gold(money). We call this "investment" in this modern time. So you can decide to create a passive income from your savings, just don't spend it on frivolities. In Algamish's word, "every gold piece(money) you save is a slave to work for you, and every copper (money) it earns, is its child that can also earn for you."
4. Guard Your Treasure From Loss: In other words, it means "insure your treasure," for every gold you make secure it. This doesn't mean to save it up somewhere and hide it. No, it means to deal wisely in using your gold (money), and take careful steps. For example when we buy a car in our present world, we are expected to insure it, just incase of unforseen circumstances, at least if we don't get back all investment made, our principal value should remain intact.

5. Make of Thy Dwelling a Profitable Investment: In simple terms, Arkad advised every man to be the owner of the house he lives in, because even that is an investment on its own. And not just that, more attention should be paid to assets rather than liabilities. Having more than one of this house and making money from it is what we would most likely refer to as "estate management" if you would agree with me.

6. Insure a Future Income: Pardon me to use Kiyosaki's words but I am sure "Rich Dad Poor Dad will categorize this under portfolio income. Invest in stocks, bonds and the likes," let your money(gold) grow. Of course there was nothing like stocks in Arkad's time, so they used means like money(gold) lending, house renting and the likes to make more money(gold). And lastly.

7. Increase Your Ability to Earn: This I must say is the most vital point after point 1, because the world will keep changing. The investment system that worked for Arkad, is different from what worked for Bill Gates and even a bit different from what is working for Mark Zuckerberg. This is because we move from one age to another, information wise. Formerly, forex, treasury bills and the likes were like the major thing. Of course it still pays its due, but now people are moving past that to bitcoins, cryptocurrency and the likes.

So the only way to increase your ability to earn is to be more informed about your current society - read newspapers, go online, ask questions, read more financial books and understand the system of things. However, the principles for making this wealth still remains the same, whether in this age or in the next.

Here are some quotes i came across while reading(some are abbrevated):
As our acts can be no wiser than our thoughts, so also can our thinking be no wiser than our understanding.

Sometimes, the reason why we never find the measure of wealth is because we never sought it.

I would not settle for less, rather would I make myself a guest at this banquet of good things.

Two kinds of learning: one that taught us the things we learned and knew. Two, the training that taught us how to find the things we did not know.

When a youth comes to the age for advice, he receives wisdom of years.

I found the road to wealth when I decided that a part of all I earned was mine to keep.

Advice is freely given, but watch that you take only what is worth having.

Opportunity is a haughty goddess who wastes no time with those unprepared.

Will power is the unflinching purpose to carry a task you set for yourself to fulfillment.
God bless you!

REVIEWED BY ADEBOLA ADEKANYE.