"The Richest Man in Babylon" by George S. Clason

"The success secrets of the ancients -- the most inspiring book on wealth ever written."

Money is plentiful for those who understand the simple rules of its acquisition.

1.  Start thy purse to fattening.  

2.  Control thy expenditures.

3.  Make thy gold multiply. 

4.  Guard thy treasures from loss.  

5.  Make of they dwelling a profitable investment.

6.  Insure a future income.

7.  Increase thy ability to earn.

Proper preparation is key to success.  Our acts can be no wiser than our thoughts.  Our thinking can be no wiser than our understanding.  (my thoughts: We must gain greater wisdom and understanding--as we raise our thoughts and knowledge to higher ground, our acts will follow with growth and progress.)

Ponder:  To what purpose do I devote my best efforts?  What do I seek?

"In those things toward which we exert our best endeavors we succeed."

Be not satisfied with the lot of a poor man.  Make thyself a guest at the banquet of good things.  Act like a free man and succeed like one.  This requires time and study.  Each of us have time in abundance.  As for study, there are two kinds of learning:  the one kind being the things we learn and know, and the other being the training that teaches us how to find out what we do not know.  Decide what thou desirest to accomplish and then work will aid thee to achieve it.

I don't shirk.  I like to work and I like to do good work, for work is the best friend I've ever known.  It has brought me all the good things I've had... everything.  Work well-done does good to the man who does it.  It makes him a better man.

Life is rich with many pleasure for men to enjoy, each has its place.  Work bring my greatest pleasure.  Many things I do enjoy but nothing takes the place of work.

1.  START THY PURSE TO FATTENING.

"Surely it is a LAW of the Gods that unto him who keepeth 
and spendeth not a certain part of all his earnings, 
shall gold come more easily.  
Likewise, him whose purse is empty does gold avoid."

How to earn money:  Part of all I earn is mine to keep.  You pay to everyone but yourself... Pay yourself first at least one-tenth of all you earn.  Impress yourself with the idea... fill yourself with the thought "A part of all I earn is mine to keep."  Then lay it by first.  This prepares one to be ready for opportunity.

How to keep your money:  "Wealth, like a tree, grows from a tiny seed.  The first copper you save is the seed from which your tree of wealth shall grow.  The sooner you plant that seed the sooner shall the tree grow.  And the more faithfully you nourish and water the tree with consistent savings, the sooner may you bask in contentment beneath its shade."   Keept it growing until "thee get an army of gold slaves."

"There is more pleasure in running up such a surplus than there could be in spending it."

How to use your money:  Seek advice from those who were competent through their own experiences to give it.  See counsel with wise men, whose daily work is handling money.

One must have a desire to prosper and keep a definite unflinching of purpose.  Be careful not to start difficult and impractical tasks.

"Wealth grows wherever men exert energy." pg. 24

Ponder:  Which desirest thou the most?  Is it gratification of thy desires of each day, a jewel, a bit of finery, better raiment, more food; things quickly gone and forgotten?  Or is it substantial belongings, gold, lands, herds, merchandise, income-bringing investments?  The coins thou takest from thy purse bring the first.  The coins thou leavest within it will bring the latter.

2.  CONTROL THY EXPENDITURES

"Our 'necessary expenses' will always grow to equal our incomes unless we protest to the contrary.  Confuse not the necessary expenses with thy desires."

Everyone has a multitude of desires and those thou mayest gratify are but few.

1.  Study thoughtfully thy accustomed habits of living.  Herein may be most often found certain accepted expenses that may wisely be reduced or eliminated.  

2.  Let thy motto be 100% of appreciated value demanded for each coin spent.  

3.  Write down each thing thou desireth to spend.  Select those that are necessary and others that are possible through the expenditures of seven-tenths of thy income.  Cross out the rest and consider them but part of that great multitude of desires that must go unsatisfied and regret them not.  

4.  Budget then thy necessary expenses.  Touch not the one-tenth that is fattening thy purse and the two-tenths paying off they debts.  Let this be thy great desire that is being fulfilled.  Keep working with thy budget, keep adjusting it to help thee.  Make it thy first assistant in defending thy fattening purse.

"The purpose of a budget is to enable thee to realize thy most cherished desires 

by defending them from thy casual wishes."

3.  MAKE THY GOLD MULTIPLY

"The gold we may retain from our earnings is but the start.  

The earnings it will make shall build our fortunes."

Learn to make your treasure work for you.  Make it your slave.  Make its children and its children's children work for you.

Every gold piece you save is a slave to work for you.  Every copper it earns is its child that also can earn for you.  If you would become wealthy, then what you save must earn, and its children must earn, that all may help to give to you the abundance you crave.

A man's wealth is not in the coins he carries in his purse; it is the income he buildeth, the golden stream that continually floweth into his purse and keepeth it always bulging.

"Put each coin to laboring that it may reproduce its kind 

even as the flocks of the field and help bring to thee income, 

a stream of wealth that shall flow constantly into thy purse.

4.  GUARD THY TREASURES FROM LOSS

"A small return and a safe one is far more desirable than risk."

Gold in a man's purse must be guarded with firmness, else it be lost.  We must first secure small amounts and learn to protect them before the Gods entrust us with larger.  Guard thy treasure from loss by investing only where thy principal is safe, where it may be reclaimed if desirable and where thou will not fail to collect a fair rental.  Consult with wise men.  Secure the advice of those experienced in the profitable handling of gold.  Let their wisdom protect thy treasure from unsafe investments.

Guide thyself by the wisdom of age and not by the inexperience of youth.

If thou desirest to help thy friend, it must be done wisely; do so in a way that will not bring thy friend's burdens upon thyself.  Be not swayed by foolish sentiments of obligation to trust thy treasure to any person.


Gold is the merchandise of the lender of money.  The wise lender wishes not the risk of the undertaking but the guarantee of safe repayment.

Be conservative in what thou expect it to earn that thou mayest keep and enjoy thy treasure.

5.  MAKE OF THY DWELLING A PROFITABLE INVESTMENT

"If any part of the nine-parts of ones earnings can be turned into a profitable investment without detriment to his well-being, then so much faster will his treasures grow."

Owning the roof that sheltereth him and his family putteth confidence in his heart and greater effort behind all his endeavors.  It greatly reduces his cost of living, making available more of his earnings for pleasures and the gratification of his desires.

6.  INSURE A FUTURE INCOME & PROTECTION FOR THY FAMILY

Thy debts are thy enemies.  Fight them like a man.  Pay thy debts, two-tenths from thy earnings.  It is easier to pay thy debts than to avoid them.

"Where the determination is, the way can be found."

7.  INCREASE THY ABILITY TO EARN

First one must have a strong and definite desire goal.  Back your desire/goal with the strength of purpose to secure it.  Next one can find similar ways to obtain more.  In learning to secure a definite small desire, one trains himself to secure a larger one.  This is the process by which wealth is accumulated:  first in small sums, then in larger ones as a man learns and becomes more capable.

Desires MUST be simple and definite.  Take interest in your work.  Concentrate upon thy task.  Be persistent in they effort.  Thy skills will increase and be rewarded.

Take advantage of opportunities quickly.  Do not procrastinate.  Men of ACTION are favored by the Goddess of Good Luck.

"The more of wisdom we know, the more we may earn.  

Be in the front rank of progress and not to stand still, lest ye be left behind.

Cultivate thy own powers, to study and become wiser, to become more skillful, 

to so act as to respect thyself."

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GO FORTH AND PRACTICE THESE TRUTHS THAT THOU MAYEST PROSPER AND GROW WEALTHY, AS IS THY RIGHT.

THERE IS ABUNDANCE FOR ALL.

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