The Richest Man in Babylon is a book that every person should be read. Yes it is that important.
There are 30 days left in the year and one of the things people like to do is create some resolutions for the new year. The popular ones are like weight loss, spend more time with family, and probably the most important is dealing with their financial health.
I wished i read this book 20 years ago. It could of made a huge difference in my life. It is written like a parable so there can be different interpretation. There are several different stories of men becoming successful in the ancient city of Babylon.
Some of the stories required me to read it two or three times to truly understand what the message is. The book was written the 1920’s so the language can be difficult to translate to modern English language. The common theme throughout the book is that YOU should be paid first before you pay anyone else. The author calls it FATTEN your Purse first.
From the book, it is my understanding that we are all SLAVES when we are in debt to others. To many people live pay check to pay check just trying to keep their head above the water. Regardless of your situation make sure you pay yourself at least 10% of what you earn.
Here is the LAWS of building Wealth translated for 2016.
- 1. Pay yourself at least 10%
- 2. Control your spending
- 3. Make sound investments that grow interest
- 4. Have insurance to protect you from any loss
- 5. OWN your house
- 6. Prepare for retirement
- 7. Increase your professional skills so you can get paid more
Here is some more quotes that i found to be profound.
- 1. Wealth is power, with wealth many things are possible
- 2. The road to wealth is when I decide that a part of ALL i earned was mine to keep.
- 3. Live according to your income
- 4. Pay yourself no less than 10th of what you earned.
The author of the book, George Samuel Clason had a very interesting back story. George was born in a small town called Louisiana, Missouri, on November 7, 1874. Upon graduation of High School he went to University of Nebraska. Shortly after graduation he was called for duty in the Army and fought in the Spanish-American War.
George started off his writing career by writing the very first road atlas of both United States and Canada. Then in 1926, He made an agreement with many large banks and insurance companies to distribute a series of pamphlets about saving money and creating a financial success.
That is when I realized that this book had an agenda. The agenda is the promote the idea of savings, it was a basically a promotional book that favored the banks and insurance companies.
These are still great stories even though I understand that this was a sneaky way of convincing you to give money to the companies. You can compare Richest Man in Babylon to a modern day infomercial or a product placement in a reality television show.
I really enjoyed reading the book and I believe should be required reading. I know many people say that these are just common sense, but if that was the case then why is most Americans covered in debt?