Context
The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason, published in 1926, presents a series of parables to instruct the reader on personal finance.
Content
Seven Cures for a Lean Purse*
* Start thy purse to fattening: "For every ten coins though placest within thy purse take out for use but nine"
* Control thy expenditures:
* Make thy gold multiply: make sure your gold is in a position to multiply
* Guard thy treasures from loss: know the risk
* Make of thy dwelling a profitable investment
* Insure a future income
* Increase thy ability to earn
*The Five Laws of Gold*
1. Save 1/10th
2. Employ savings profitably
3. Use wisemen to advise investment
4. Be familiar with the business in which invested
5. Do not try to force impossibly high returns
Adages:
* A part of all you earn is yours to keep
* Men of action are favored by the goddess of good luck
* Better a little caution than a great regret
* We cannot afford to be without adequate protection
* Where determination is, the way can be found
Review
We must amelioriate yesteryear. Financial education is neither art nor a science; it is a practice. Typical knowledge or maids’ wisdom applies not. Game theoretically, the most popular strategy cannot always be dominant.
The Richest Man in Babylon is not that one who is wealthiest, rather, the one who navigates its customs and aphorisms with knowledge of the urgency to innovate by rebellion, excel by heterodox and recognition of a higher state of affairs, namely, Zion.