Getting Your Financial Ducks In A Row

Photo credit: jb

This article is Part Nine, the final portion of our series of the lessons from George S. Clason’s bestseller The Richest Man in Babylon. Did I just hear a collective “FINALLY!”? If you’d like to go back to the beginning and catch up on the earlier lessons, you can start with the first article in the series by clicking this link.

The Luckiest Man in Babylon

In this final chapter, Clason ties all the lessons together with the story of Sharru Nada, a rich merchant, who tells his young companion, Hadan Gula, the grandson of his business partner, the story of how his grandfather had become such a successful merchant.

In a nutshell, the grandfather and Sharru Nada had each found themselves in dismal financial straits. Learning from one another and from listening to the successful people around them, each applied the lessons we’ve discussed throughout this series. With time, effort, patience and discipline, each man gradually improved his situation. Times arose where they were able to help one another out, and eventually they became business partners, successful in every venture they undertook. (Honestly, read the book if you want the whole story – it’s a good, quick read – you’ll not regret the time spent.

The Lessons

Here are the lessons we’ve learned throughout the review of this book:

• Part of all you earn is yours to keep. Another way to put this is: pay yourself first. Begin a savings plan with a portion of all you earn.
• Take advice only from those experienced in the matter of your questions. Don’t ask your barber for advice on surgery, and don’t ask a surgeon for advice on building a house.
• Take advantage of compounding of returns. Don’t spend the earnings that your savings accounts generate; reinvest your dividends.
• Control your expenses – learn to “get by” on only a percentage of what you earn.
• Invest with wisdom. Understand the investments that you make, and make certain that the reward is worthy of the risk in all you invest in.
• Own your own home. This has both a financial and a spiritual benefit.
• Invest with an eye to the long-term. Make certain that your investing activities will provide you with an income in your old age.
• Always improve your ability to earn, either by improving your skillset in your job, or by increasing your knowledge of investment activities.
• Learn to recognize situations when you can take advantage of “good luck”. Take action with good insight, don’t procrastinate.
• Know when to be cautious, especially with regard to loaning money to family and friends.
• Plan in advance for events that might cause you harm – ensure that you’re insured against disaster in all its forms.
• Have a good advisor or advisors to help you understand all of the negative “clamor” around you. This can help you to maintain your discipline in good times and bad.
• Having the right attitude (“the soul of a free man”) can make all the difference in your outlook on life – and therefore on the results you achieve.
• If you find yourself in a debt situation, put a systematic plan in place to eliminate the debt, but not at the expense of your saving plans. Use organization, communication, and discipline to work yourself out of the debt hole and regain your status among your acquaintances and colleagues.

That’s the list that I’ve developed of the primary lessons from this book. I hope that if you weren’t already familiar with the book that this series has sparked an interest for you. I’d love to hear stories from anyone who has benefited from the book – as well as if you found other gems within its pages that you’d like to highlight. Just leave your stories in the comments section below.

Photo credit: jb

This article is Part Eight in our series of the lessons from George S. Clason’s bestseller The Richest Man in Babylon. If you’d like to go back to the beginning and catch up on the earlier lessons, you can start with the first article in the series by clicking this link.

The Clay Tablets From Babylon

This chapter* is fancifully comprised of several letters back and forth between an archeologist, digging up the ruins of old Babylon, and his colleague at St. Swithin’s College of Nottingham University. (Imagine a scene from one of the Indiana Jones movies…) The subject of the letters is a collection of clay tablets that the archeologist has had delivered to the college – supposedly the record of our old friend Dabasir’s financial affairs. If you don’t recall, Dabasir was introduced to us in the previous chapter, The Camel Trader of Babylon. In that lesson, we learned that having the right attitude can take you where you want to go in life. In these clay tablets, we find the details of how Dabasir worked his way out of debt.

In the letters, the professor at St. Swithin’s is telling his colleague the archeologist that the details written on the clay tablets has opened his eyes to a new way to deal with his own financial affairs… and then in a subsequent letter he explains that the formula used by old Dabasir has, in fact changed his life.

Here is the lesson: If you find yourself dealing with a debt situation that is out of control, the only way to “fix” it is to organize your information and begin attacking the problem. Old Dabasir details on the clay tablets how he used the first rule, saving one-tenth of all his earnings, to begin building up his savings. Then, he made a list of all of his creditors, including the amounts owed. He took this opportunity to visit each creditor, explaining that he could not currently pay off the debt completely, but that he was undertaking to gradually pay off all of his creditors. He took his list of debts to show them, and explained to each that this debt would be serviced by two-tenths of his earnings, each debt in proportion.

Some of his creditors rebuked him – saying they needed all of the money returned immediately. Others were happy to hear that he was working his way out of debt. In the end, none of the creditors had any choice but to accept his offer – which he attended to religiously. Each time he earned some money, one-tenth went into his savings, two-tenths was split among his creditors evenly, and the remaining seven-tenths he and his wife used for food, clothing, and other needs.

The surprising thing, to both Dabasir and later the professor at St. Swithin’s, was that getting along on 70% of his earnings was not as difficult as he thought it would be. Soon enough, in both cases, the debts were disappearing, and the savings were accumulating. In due time, both men retired all of their debts, had increased savings, and had learned to live on much less than they earned. These are keys to financial success.

There’s no magic to it – but for some reason those particular proportions work well and provide success to anyone who undertakes such a plan. Very important to the success of this plan is to write down your debts, and to talk to your creditors to explain your plan. Don’t skip this step, as you’ll either cause problems for yourself when the creditors don’t understand, or you’ll underestimate the size of your debt. Writing it down will put you in a position to track your progress as you begin retiring the debt, as well – which can be very helpful to keep you motivated through the process. Sticking to the plan – having discipline to carry it out – is all that remains for you to succeed.

Three facets – Organization, Efficiency and Discipline – are used to resolve this problem. Organizing your debt information so that both you and your creditors understand it. Efficiency is necessary to manager your own life on only 70% of your earnings. And Discipline is required to maintain the payoff schedule, as well as the savings activity, throughout good times and bad.

One more chapter awaits, this one called “The Luckiest Man in Babylon” – and it brings many of the lessons together in one concise place.

*Note: in my current copy of the book, this interplay with the archeologist and the colleague is not included, but only the actual information from the tablets, along with Dabasir’s narrative. I left the original (to me) description intact as it helps to explain and drive home the point of the message.

Photo credit: jb

This article is Part Seven in our series of the lessons from George S. Clason’s bestseller The Richest Man in Babylon. If you’d like to go back to the beginning and catch up on the earlier lessons, you can start with the first article in the series by clicking this link.

The Camel Trader of Babylon

In chapter 8, we are introduced to Tarkad, a young fellow who has fallen upon hard times. He owes money to literally everyone he knows, and cannot even come up with enough money to buy a simple meal to keep from starving. He considers stealing some food, but his forays into theft in the past have taught him the lesson that that is not the way to go. So he finds himself hanging around outside an inn, hoping that he’ll see a friendly face among the folks coming in to dine at the inn. Instead, he finds Dabasir, the wealthy camel trader, to whom Tarkad owes a small amount of money (of course!).

Dabasir asks Tarkad for the repayment, to which Tarkad explains he has suffered much misfortune, and as such does not have the money to repay him. Dabasir rebukes his excuse, but then invites Tarkad to join him in the eating-house so that he might tell him a tale.

The tale, boiled down, is of how Dabasir had at one time been subject to slavery in his youth. Through wanton spending and living for the day, he became so heavily in debt that he could not only not pay the debts, he could no longer support his wife.  She left him and went back to live with her father.

After a time, Dabasir could find no gainful employment and took to a life of robbery. As you might expect, his success there was short-lived, and he was caught and enslaved. It might not seem so, but this is where good fortune shone on young Dabasir:  he happened to be sold to a man who required him to attend to his wife’s camels. This wife, Sira, notices that Dabasir is not like the other slaves, much the same as she was not like the master’s other wives. Sira then approaches Dabasir with a life-changing question:  “Do you have the soul of a slave, or the soul of a free man? If a man has within him the soul of a free man, will he not become respected and honored in his own city in spite of his misfortune?”

Pondering these words, Dabasir becomes determined to face up to his debts, become respected and honored, and truly live the life of a free man. Fortune worked in his favor again, as Sira helped him to escape from his slavery – but his journey back to his homeland was very difficult… many times he wanted to give up and die. Over and over he told himself that the soul of a slave would give up and allow the winds of circumstance to direct him – but a free man would stand up for himself, and through sheer determination make his way through the difficulties, to get back to Babylon and face his debtors. Of course he did, and over time paid off all of his debts, and became a respected and honored man in his own country. The details of just how Dabasir paid off his debts are covered in the next section of the book.

Lesson:  Self-pity and allowing the circumstances to direct your life are the actions of a man or woman with the soul of a slave. Taking charge of those circumstances in your life, taking action when action is needed, are the ways of a man or woman with a free soul. The only way to make yourself successful is to take on the mantle of the free man’s soul, having the courage and determination to be accountable and, eventually honored and respected.

The next chapter “The Clay Tablets From Babylon” outlines Dabasir’s specific methods for retiring his debt obligations. It is presented as if the old camel trader had written it all out on clay tablets, which have been found in the modern day.

Photo credit: jb

The sixth part in our series of the lessons from George S. Clason’s bestseller The Richest Man in Babylon. If you’d like to go back to the beginning and catch up on the earlier lessons, you can start with the first article in the series by clicking this link.

The Walls of Babylon

In chapter 7, the shortest chapter of the book, we are introduced to Old Banzar – who is an old warrior of times past. At this particular time, the city of Babylon is under siege, and king, along the main garrison of troops, is off on a conquest. But the city of Babylon is well-protected by enormous walls with huge bronze doors, which keep invaders out and provide a vantage point for the defenders to counterattack with burning oil, arrows, and if necessary, spears.

The citizens of Babylon are frightened out of their minds. All day and all night, they can hear the sounds of the invaders trying to breach the walls – and they see evidence of the fierce battle in the multitude of wounded soldiers being carried down from the walls.

Time and again, the citizens approach Old Banzar, who was in the best position to deliver news as a guard upon the passageway leading up to the walls, to ask if the walls will hold. Some are concerned for their own safety. Others are concerned about the safety of their families. Little children ask if they will be safe. Banzar, knowing the strength of the walls and the defenders, reassures all that the walls will hold, and the invaders will be turned back. He knows this because the walls were built at a great expense of money and human effort, specifically for this task. Due to his confidence in the defenses, the citizens are able to rest more comfortably.

Finally, after a siege of three weeks and five days, the attackers withdrew, just as Old Banzar predicted. The good citizens of Babylon can finally sigh their relief.

The lesson:  In this case there are two lessons – the first is that security is something that must be planned in advance, to fit the needs of the potential calamities that might come to us, threatening our safety. In our financial lives we plan security in many ways: through insurance for life, health, and property; with diversification of our investments; and by choosing investments with risks appropriate to our ability to absorb losses, among other things.

The second lesson comes from Old Banzar himself. Having experienced many battles upon those walls, and therefore being in the position to know that the defense was up to the task, he was able to reassure the citizens that all would be well. Much the same as the citizens of Babylon, we often hear day in and day out of the terrible things going on with the markets, the economy, and so forth. It is helpful to have an advisor or mentor, someone who knows how the “defenses” work in our times of need. This experienced person is in a position to really know what is going on, and to help reassure us that all will be well.

The next chapter is called “The Camel Trader of Babylon“, and it will help to explain how you can get yourself out of the financial ruts you may be in, to achieve financial independence.

Photo credit: jb

The fifth part in our series of the lessons from George S. Clason’s bestseller The Richest Man in Babylon. If you’d like to go back to the beginning and catch up on the earlier lessons, you can start with the first article in the series by clicking this link.

The Gold Lender of Babylon

In this chapter (chapter 6 of the book) we learn a few valuable lessons about lending money. The story is about a young man named Rodan who came into some sudden unexpected money. As you might expect, his “friends” quickly multiplied and his family became bold in their requests for loans. And, not wishing to be foolish with his money (which amounted to what he could save otherwise in fifty years!), Rodan wisely seeks the counsel of the gold lender, Mathon, due to his long experience in loaning money successfully.

One of the first things that Mathon explains is how providing assistance to another should never result in your taking on the burden yourself. In other words, were Rodan to loan his money to someone who was incapable of repaying it, he would be taking on the burden of the lack of that money. The way to alleviate this is to require a borrower to provide some sort of collateral, something of value to the borrower, to secure the loan.

In some cases the collateral is of greater value than the loan – in those cases the money lender is virtually guaranteed of the return of the principal plus interest, or the collateral can be sold to make up the money loaned. In other cases there is the promise of wages to be earned – these are also very easily assured, for the most part. In yet other cases there is nothing of value that the borrower can deliver other than the assurance of his friends and family that the loan will be repaid (the modern-day co-signer).

Mathon provides Rodan with many examples of good and bad loans he’d made throughout the years, each with similar lessons. In the end, Rodan asks the real question that he came to ask: should he loan his “found” money to his sister’s husband in order to help him get started out as a jewel merchant?

Mathon asks some simple questions: What knowledge does the brother-in-law have of the ways of trade? Does he know where to buy at the lowest cost? Does he know where to sell at a fair price?

Rodan acknowledged that his brother-in-law did not possess the skills of a merchant. And so Mathon explained again that, while it is noble to lend a hand, it is critical to make certain that you are not taking on the burden for yourself. In the case of Rodan’s brother-in-law, the purpose of the loan would likely end up in failure due to the brother-in-law’s inexperience; thus transferring the lack of funds to Rodan.

Put succinctly, when loaning money you must always have a way to ensure that it will be returned to you with interest. Whether that is in the form of collateral, the borrower’s good reputation, or the assurance of a co-signer (possibly with collateral), you must always make sure it’s a given fact that your money will be returned once borrowed.

As the parting statement from the gold lender, Mathon shows Rodan his chest full of tokens used as collateral for loans… and inscribed on the lid, very succinctly, is our lesson:

Better a little caution than a great regret.

The next installment will cover The Walls of Babylon – with some insights regarding financial advisors and protection.

Photo credit: jb

Today we’ll continue on the journey of examining the lessons of George S. Clason’s exceptional book The Richest Man in Babylon. If you’d like to start back at the first lesson, you can find it here. Today’s lesson is from the chapter entitled “The Five Laws of Gold”.

The Five Laws of Gold

This chapter starts out like a predictable prodigal son story – from the viewpoint of the son, a fellow by the name of Nomasir, who was Arkad’s son (Arkad was the richest man in Babylon, introduced in the earlier reviews). The story is related by another man who knew Nomasir.

It seems that when Nomasir was ready to make his way in the world, his father gave him a bag of gold and a clay tablet, upon which were written the five laws of gold. As you might expect, Nomasir was foolish with the bag of gold, and only after losing it all did he review the five laws closely. They are as follows:

1. Gold cometh gladly and in increasing quantity to any man who will put by not less than one-tenth of his earnings to create an estate for his future and that of his family.
2. Gold laboreth diligently and contentedly for the wise owner who finds for it profitable employment, multiplying even as the flocks of the field.
3. Gold clingeth to the protection of the cautious owner who invests it under the advice of men wise in its handling.
4. Gold slippeth away from the man who invests it in businesses or purposes with which he is not familiar or which are not approved by those skilled in its keep.
5. Gold flees the man who would force it to impossible earnings or who followeth the alluring advice of tricksters and schemers or who trusts it to his own inexperience and romantic desires in investment.

After reviewing these laws carefully and putting them into action in his own world, sought out advice from skilled investors, and began to build his fortune. Over the course of ten years (he was to return to his father after this time) Nomasir built quite a life (as well as fortune) for himself. Upon his return to his father’s home, he paid back the original bag of gold, and then paid two more bags in exchange for the five laws.

The first three we’ve covered in the earlier reviews – save at least 10%, invest your money to compound the returns, and follow the advice of people who understand how to make money. These are foundational concepts that certainly bear repeating.

The fourth law is an expansion of the third: make sure you understand your investments. This is one of the reasons that speculative investments like cryptocurrency don’t pass muster as a good idea. Not that the very concept of Bitcoin (or whatever the coin in question is) is so difficult to understand, it’s a store of value, much the same as a euro, a dollar, or a pound sterling is. What’s not understood is why the value increases or decreases, often wildly…? The coin is still the same as it was the day (or hour, or minute) before, but somehow it’s worth more (or less) than it used to be. It’s all owing to someone else’s estimation of the current value – rather than something produced by the coin itself. Because of this I’ll continue to repeat that cryptocurrency is not an investment, any more than a dollar is an investment. And until the valuation equation stabilizes, I see no need to hold assets valued by a cryptocurrency, unless a marketplace I want to participate in requires it. (And yes, I know that some people make money by investing in various currencies, but the average Jane or Joe doesn’t have much business in that activity either.)

And now to the fifth law: we all come across fraudsters and schemers who would like to part us from our money. It’s important to be able to recognize these. It may take some time at first to gain the recognition, but soon you get to the point where you can feel the sales pitch, and you can tell it’s a fraudulent (or at best, hypersold) activity or investment. Steering clear of these things is critical to advancing your wealth safely.

Lesson:  The first three laws have been covered previously, but are always worth repeating. The last two are important to remember – keep your investing activities in the well-understood and proven realms. Much like Warren Buffett has preached, it’s important to invest in something you understand – and with the advice of those who’ve been there before.

The next section will cover the chapter “The Gold Lender of Babylon” – which provides interesting lessons for those who are asked by family members or close friends for a loan.

Photo credit: jb

This is the third in a series of articles reviewing the lessons found in the definitive classic, The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason. If you’d like to start at the very beginning (a very good place to start!) – you can find the first article here.

Meet the Goddess of Good Luck

In this chapter, Arkad is asked by a student about how to attract good luck. It is noted that people may work side-by-side with one another, and one may have good luck while another does not.

The students are questioned about times when they had experienced good fortune to perhaps find out the way that good luck came upon them. One student found a wallet full of money – but could not reckon how to continue finding more wallets. Another noted that Arkad himself had been seen at the horse races, betting on the grays. Alas, Arkad pointed out that gaming houses and horse races, while frequent locales for witnessing the good fortune of a few, the odds are always in favor of the organizers (the house), and good luck does not flow to the game players very often.

Finally, a livestock trader speaks up about a time when he allowed good fortune to slip through his hands. It seems that he had an opportunity to purchase a flock late one night, when the owner of the flock was anxious to complete the sale and return to his home. By delaying the purchase until morning, more buyers were on the scene who were willing to pay a much higher price than was originally offered, and so the good fortune slipped by. By procrastinating his decision, the buyer lost out on a fine profit.

At this, another fellow, a trader, pointed out that he had been subjected to his own procrastination early in his career. By finally recognizing it and working against the urge to delay, he was able to cause much good fortune to come his way. By taking action, even in small ways, toward making a decision, the trader accounted that his fortunes had changed to the better.

We see these kinds of situations in our lives all the time. Maybe there’s a good opportunity to invest in a valuable piece of real estate at a reasonable price, or to buy stock when the overall market is relatively low-priced. Unless we recognize these situations and take action, even a small action, we are driving away the “good luck” that action brings to us.

This is not to say that we should fall for every pitch that comes to us. We should evaluate each opportunity closely, and take action one way or another as we see fit, especially when we seem to vascillate. As Arkad points out, too often we are dead sure about our wrong decisions and tend to procrastinate about the right ones. Over time you gradually begin to recognize these faults and overcome them. Doing so brings “luck” in the form of opportunities taken advantage of as they are presented.

Lesson: A person of action is favored by the goddess of good luck. Procrastination upon decision-making only leads to regrets. Make decisions with all the good information that you have – either for or against an action – and carry out the decision. Indecisiveness does not bring good fortune.

The next part of this review is “The Five Laws of Gold“.

Photo credit: jb

This is the second in a series of posts in review of the lessons found in the book The Richest Man in Babylon. The first article can be found here.

Seven Cures for a Lean Purse

Arkad, the richest man in all of Babylon, has been persuaded by the king to teach others the secrets of his wealth. The king wants all of his subjects to know how to acquire wealth, as he wishes for Babylon to be known as the wealthiest city in the world.

Arkad agrees to the scheme – he will teach his secrets to a group of citizens, who will be destined to become teachers themselves. These teachers will then go on to teach others the wisdom of Arkad, how to acquire and maintain wealth.

In this chapter, Arkad lays out the cures for a lean purse to the future teachers over the course of seven succeeding nights.

As a preface, Arkad admits to the king and later to his students that he started with nothing at all, just the same as the students. His only advantage at that point was a desire to become wealthy – plus the knowledge given to him by someone who had “been there, done that”. In other words, he started with no more advantage than any of his students have.

The First Cure:  Start Thy Purse to Fattening

Every person who has a capacity to earn a income has the ability to begin saving money. A job is a source of income, and through income is where the entire process of wealth creation begins.

As was revealed to Bansir, Kobbi and their friends in the second chapters, Arkad explains the great benefit of paying yourself first out of all income. The recommended amount is not less than one tenth (10%) of all earnings. Even though we covered this lesson in the first article, its value cannot be underestimated. This particular lesson is revisited over and over throughout the book.

There is no better way to increase savings than to regularly set aside a portion of all earnings, designated as savings. As these seemingly insignificant sums are set aside, you don’t notice them missing from your day-to-day cash flow, and before long the savings begin to mount up. Getting in the habit of saving (and therefore spending a bit less) is the foundation of any successful wealth creation plan.

In these times when many folks are nearing retirement with perhaps less savings than they need, the best way to make up the differential is to put more money aside. Many consider the benefit of taking larger risks with what remains of their savings, or somehow reducing their future expenditures, but the best (and really only, in most cases) way to get back on track is to continue regularly saving – and likely delaying retirement by a year or two from the original plan.

The Second Cure:  Control Thy Expenditures

Once you’ve begun setting aside ten percent of your earnings, you must learn to get by on only ninety percent, and the lesson here is to get by with only ninety percent, or even less if possible. Arkad explains that “what each of us calls ‘necessary expenses’ will always grow to equal our incomes unless we protest to the contrary'”.

This again is a long-held truth: if we do not examine our outlays we will always find a place to spend every last cent of our income. It is for this reason that it is often helpful to, upon receiving an increase in salary, begin by setting aside the amount of the increase into savings. After all – we were able to “get by” on our pay amount before, right? And if we have been overspending our salaries, we must split those expenses out into “necessities” and “wants”. Your “wants” can be had later when you’ve become wealthy. Remember, patience is a virtue.

For controlling expenditures, it may be necessary to enlist the help of a tracking tool of some sort, which can be as simple as a spreadsheet. By tracking your every expenditure, you gain an understanding of where all of your income is flowing to. And by understanding where your money is going, you can make decisions about which expenses are necessities, and which are simply “wants”.

The Third Cure:  Make Thy Gold Multiply

As we set aside the prescribed ten percent of our earnings, it is important to start that money working for you, multiplying your savings. Arkad describes this as causing your money to be workers for you and to have children who are workers as well, and the children of your money to have children of their own, all working for you. This is one way of describing compounding returns.

The investment of your “gold” can be as simple as a bank savings account or as elaborate as an IRA or other deferred-tax account. The point is that you are setting this money aside – make it work for you and return a dividend, and in turn put the dividends to work as well.

Of course there are many ways to invest your savings, but it is wise to invest in ventures that are assured of return. Compounding this return upon itself causes your multiplying savings to increase at an ever-quicker pace.

The Fourth Cure:  Guard Thy Treasures From Loss

Here Arkad makes a very important point: “The first principle of investment is security for thy principal.” Even though there are possible investments with large “promised” returns, these often come at a high risk to your principal – the money you’ve been saving all along. As a minimum, you need to start out with very safe investments that guard your principal, so that at any time you can get at least the amount back that you’ve saved over time.

When you have savings built up, there are many ventures that will come into your sights – some promising outrageous returns, others a fair return with less risk. As you consider your alternatives, make certain that you seek out advice from others who know and understand the venture. Use this advice as you choose investments for your savings, with the first principle of security in mind.

The Fifth Cure:  Make of Thy Dwelling a Profitable Investment

In this lesson, Arkad points out the benefit to be had by owning one’s own home. Instead of paying rent throughout the years and having nothing to show for it but a box of rent receipts, it is wise to pay roughly the same amount as your rent toward a mortgage and eventually have a paid-for home of your own. Plus, very often the value of the home appreciates over time, while you’re still making the same mortgage payment as before; rent amounts increase with the passage of the lease term in many cases.

Arkad also points out the spiritual benefits of owning a home – where you and your family can enjoy a yard and perhaps a garden, and how owning property in and of itself does good to a person’s heart.

I realize there are often good reasons to rent rather than buy. These reasons are often linked to being in a transitional phase, where you might not be staying in the same geographic area for very long, or the high entry point for home ownership in a particular area. I concede that home ownership is not a panacea for everyone, but for many it can be a very useful component of the wealth creation process.

The Sixth Cure:  Insure a Future Income

This is the lesson concerning retirement and disability income planning – or in Arkad’s words, “it behooves a man to make preparation for a suitable income in the days to come, when he is no longer young, and to make preparations for his family should he be no longer with them to comfort and support them.”

Planning for the foreseen and unforeseen is critical in your wealth creation process. You must consider those things that could occur to eliminate your income (unemployment, disability or death) and prepare yourself for those potentialities. Plus you need to think about that time of life when you’re hoping to retire from work and live off of your savings. There are many ways to prepare for these situations.

First suggested is to bury some money in the sand – of course this isn’t the best answer, although it might be partly useful. However, Arkad suggests putting money aside with the money lender (bank) and adding to it regularly, receiving rental (interest) for the loan. In time, the compounded interest and regular contributions will grow to a sizeable sum from which you can draw in old age or your family could use if you were not with them any longer.

Obviously, life insurance and disability income insurance would be products available today to cover premature death or disability, while retirement savings accounts, pensions, and annuities are available to cover the your income needs in old age. Otherwise, the “cure” is the same, just modernized with the products available in today’s world.

The Seventh Cure:  Increase Thy Ability to Earn

This last of the cures speaks to a way to increase the benefits of the other six: If you can increase your ability to earn, you can readily set aside more income toward building wealth. The way to do this is twofold… begin with industriousness and a desire to earn more. This attitude will serve you well in your current job. Working hard and taking pride in what we do doesn’t go unnoticed, and perhaps might gain you a raise for doing the same work.

At the same time, improving your skillset and knowledge of your profession will open doors of opportunity for increasing earnings. This could be at the current job or expanding out to new opportunities, or even going into business for yourself. You could start up a side-gig and augment your income in that manner as well.

In closing, here in Arkad’s words are several more items to consider in increasing your earnings capacity as well as your self-respect:

Many things come to make a man’s life rich with gainful experiences.  Such things as the following, a man must do if he respect himself:

He must pay his debts with all the promptness within his power, not purchasing that for which he is unable to pay.

He must take care of his family that they may think and speak well of him.

He must make a will of record that, in case the Gods call him, proper and honorable division of his property be accomplished.

He must have compassion upon those who are injured and smitten by misfortune and aid them within reasonable limits.  He must do deeds of thoughtfulness to those dear to them.

And lastly, to cultivate thy own powers, to study and become wiser, to become more skillful, to so act as to respect thyself.

The next article will deal with the chapter “Meet The Goddess of Good Luck“.

Photo credit: jb

I’m re-re-reading a classic, George S. Clason’s The Richest Man in Babylon. As a result, I’ve decided to re-do and refresh my review of the lessons in the book (last updated in 2009) – not a book review, mind you, but going through each of the lessons in the book in its entirety. There are nine parts to my review, and I’ll be releasing a new part every week over the coming 8 weeks.

What’s very interesting about this book is that the lessons aren’t anything new. Perhaps it’s fanciful to assume that these very conversations were being had in ancient Babylon, but the basic lessons have been around for ages and they still apply! Yes, there may be new tax legislation all the time, and from time to time a groundbreaking product may take the stage, but all in all the way to gather and maintain wealth is unchanged throughout the centuries…

The first installment of these lessons takes place in the the first two chapters: The Man Who Desired Gold, and The Richest Man in Babylon.

The Man Who Desired Gold

This first chapter sets the stage for the rest of the book; we are introduced to a chariotmaker, Bansir, and his friend Kobbi, a lyre-player. These two fellows are talking together as modern-day friends might, commiserating about their shared plight. Each man has spent his entire life working, working, working, but they have nothing whatsoever to show for it. Kobbi finds Bansir sitting on a wall daydreaming, rather than finishing the chariot that is half-made in his workshop. He asks Bansir for a loan, since it appears that he must have plenty of money due to his lack of industry.

Bansir tells his friend of his dream, where he had all the money he desired, enough to spend on everything his heart wanted. But he awoke, and found himself still in his dire condition, living hand-to-mouth, with no savings, and no investments to provide him with an income.

Sharing the dream, both men wonder aloud how it is that some people eventually move beyond the situation that they find themselves in. They’ve hoped all their lives that hard work alone would be enough to magically transform their lives to ones of leisure. (to borrow a phrase “So how’s that working for you?”)

As they talk they come to the realization that most men are born into similar circumstances – they even observe a line of slaves being driven to work carrying water to the king’s gardens, noting that they could just as easily have traded fortunes with any one of them. Likewise, they discuss the great fortune of their old friend Arkad, who is known as the richest man in Babylon. How is it that Arkad has such a great fortune, yet they have nothing at all?

Together, they finally decide that the way to learn how to provide themselves with a fortune is to talk with their friend, Arkad, the rich merchant.

Lesson: To start yourself on the way to riches, it is important to learn from others who have experience in acquiring riches.

The Richest Man in Babylon

So Bansir and Kobbi, among other friends in similar situations, go to ask their friend Arkad, the richest man in Babylon, to share the secret of his great fortune. They point out that they all started in the same place – they played together as children, and attended the same schools. How was it that Arkad became the richest man in Babylon?

In answer, Arkad shares his story…

As a young man Arkad was, in fact, in the same boat as Bansir, Kobbi and the others – working, working, working, and never getting anywhere financially. Through his job he happened to become acquainted with a money lender, Algamash, who Arkad decides to ask the same question being asked of him now – how did he become a rich man?

Algamash provides Arkad with the first lesson:  part of all you earn is yours to keep. This is that age-old saying that we’ve all heard often – Pay yourself first. It’s simple enough, but if you don’t take it to heart, make it a part of your every action, and put it into practice you won’t know the vast benefit of such a habit. As Arkad learned, paying oneself a tenth of everything he earns teaches a man to live just as well with the remaining 90% of his earnings. He didn’t even notice the difference.

Later on, as Arkad has gotten into the habit of putting away that tenth… we learn the second lesson. Arkad built up a bit of money and decided to take the advice of his friend the brickmaker, to invest in some gemstones. Algamash points out the folly of taking advice from a brickmaker about gemstones, as Arkad painfully learns by losing all of his savings. Why should he take advice about gemstones from a brickmaker? Lesson two from Algamash: take advice only from those that are experienced in the matter of your questions. 

After a time, Algamash returned again to check on Arkad. He had learned from his mistake and invested on the advice of a shieldmaker who dealt in bronze, and by lending him funds Arkad had earned nice dividends. When asked what he had done with the earnings from his savings, Arkad proudly told Algamash about the feast he had given, the clothing he had purchased for his wife, and his plans to buy a donkey for himself to ride upon. At this news Algamash admonished Arkad – “If you take the children of your gold and make the children produce children, you’ll enjoy many a rich banquet without regret.” The third lesson: take advantage of compounding of returns.

Once Arkad had learned and applied the lesson of compounding returns (making the children of your money to produce children of the children), he had mastered the secret of increasing his wealth. Upon learning this, and knowing that his heirs had not learned these lessons, Algamash offers Arkad a job, managing some of his properties. In return, Algamash makes Arkad a partner in the profits, and the heir of a portion of his fortune. And the rest is history.

Some of the young men in Arkad’s audience believe that he was very lucky to happen onto Algamash, and for Algamash to fortunately agree to share his wealth. But others in the group realized that it wasn’t luck – it was a deep understanding of these lessons that produced Arkad’s “luck”. If he hadn’t become Algamash’s partner, some other opportunity would have presented itself, or at the very least the application of the lessons would have continued the gradual advance of Arkad’s fortune.

In our next installment, we’ll review the lessons of the next chapter –  Seven Cures for a Lean Purse.