The Richest Man in Babylon

Hello,

Just finished reading a great book called, "The Richest Man in Babylon" by George S. Clason. Below are some extractions from the book.

Basically, it is a collection of "Babylonian parables" about managing money and building wealth.

There are lots of good principals to point out:

• A Part Of All You Earn Is Yours To Keep
  This principle states that you should save at least 10% of whatever you earn. That money should also be put to work for you in some sort of investment (stock market, CDs, money market accounts, commodities, other wise investments etc.).
  
  
• Seven Cures For A Lean Purse
  
  1.) Start thy purse to fattening
  2.) Control thy expenditures
  3.) Make thy gold multiply
  4.) Guard thy treasures from loss
  5.) Make of thy dwelling a profitable investment
  6.) Insure a future income
  7.) Increase thy ability to earn
  
  "...thus the seventh and last remedy for a lean purse is to cultivate thy own powers, to study and become wiser, to become more skillful, to so act as to respect thyself..."
  
  
• Meet the Goddess of Good Luck
  
  - Good luck waits to come to that man who accepts opportunity
  - To attract good luck to oneself, it is necessary to take advantage of opportunities
  - Good luck can be enticed by accepting opportunity
  - Men of action are favored by the goddess of good luck
  
  
• The Five Laws of Gold
  
  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 trust it to his own inexperience and romantic desires in investment.
  
  
• Better a little caution than a great regret
  
  
• We cannot afford to be without adequate protection
  
  
• Where the determination is, the way can be found

Those are some of the principles from the book. I thought it was a great read. I could also see this book being required reading in an economics class, specially targeted towards people that need to learn how to manage and save their earnings and begin their money to work for them through sound investments.

It was an easy read for me as well because it was broken down into small digestible stories. I don't have too much time to read, but when I do, it was easy to get back into. So you could read for a bit, then put the book down, and not really lose where you left off on.

The book can be bought at Barnes and Noble for less than $10 dollars, I highly recommend it.