Thursday, February 1, 2018

The Richest Man in Babylon

Book:The Richest Man in Babylon
Basic Information : Synopsis : Characters : Thoughts : Evaluation  Good Quotes : Table of Contents : References

Basic Information:
Author: George S Clason
Edition: Paperback Loan from my brother
Publisher: Signet Book
ISBN: 0-451-16520-9
Read: February 1, 2018
144 pages
Genre: Financial Advice, Personal Growth
Language Warning: None
Rated Overall: 3 out of 5


Synopsis (Caution: Spoiler Alert-Jump to Thoughts):
As series of parables showcasing points of having financial order in your life. Originally written as a series of pamphlets, the author combined them and published the around 1926.




Cast of Characters:
Bansar: Chariot builder. A poor man. Friend of Kobbi and Arkad
Kobbi: Musician. A poor man. Friend of Bansar and Arkad
Arkad: Richest man in Babylon. Boyhood friend of Bansar and Kobbi. Principal in a lot of the stories. Once was a poor man.
Nomasir: Arkad’s son
Rodan: A spear maker who comes into a fortune of 50 pieces of gold
Mathon: Leander of gold and silver, friend of Rodan
Banzar: An old warrior, defender of the walls of Babylon
Tarkad: poor man who had nothing to eat, in debt
Dabasir: Rich man who is owed money by Tarkad. He iterates his story of going from being a slave to a rich man
Sharru Nada: merchant prince of Babylon
Hadan Gula: young son of a friend of Sharru Nada



Thoughts:
Clason sets his story in ancient Babylon. To help convey a sense of ancientness to this wisdom, he uses a psuedo-Old English. Like using thy, thee and the like. I do not think it particularly adds to the story. But evidently to some people it is effective.

There are seven rules which Clason reiterates in the book:
  1. Start thy purse fattening - he emphasizes saving 10% of what you earn
  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

In reading about Clason, he had his own company called the Clason Map Company. It was the first company to publish a road atlas of the United States. Even with all the financial wisdom which Clason had, the Great Depression destroyed his company. Some of his maps can be seen at the David Rumsey map collection.

Forward
Clason states that Babylon became the wealthiest city of the ancient world because its citizens were the richest people of their time. Is this true? There are at least two statements I wonder able.
  1. Did Babylon become wealthy due to its citizens?
  2. Were it’s citizens wealthy?
I thought they became wealthy through conquest rather than being productive. Also was the wealth spread across its citizens? Or was it concentrated among the rulers? I do not know.

The assumptions Clason works off of are:
  1. Money is the medium by which earthly success is measured.
  2. Money makes possible the enjoyment of the best the earth affords
  3. Money is plentiful for those who understand the simple laws which govern its acquisition
  4. Money is governed today by the same laws which controlled it when prosperous men thronged the streets of Babylon, six thousand years ago.
I do not think these are true. First, how about the person is content with what they have? Not so much laziness, but says I would rather enjoy my life rather than strive for the things money can buy me? Also are there things money cannot buy? Is the beauty of a flower something money can buy? Or can I get that same beauty without money? Then the last thing which I will say right now is, this book was written in 1926. Two years before the Great Depression. I wonder what he would have written after going through the Great Depression. Would he have written something else? The company he founded, the Clason Map Company of Denver did not survive the Great Depression, even though it was a leader in map making before it.


0 The Man Who Desired Gold
Two friends who are poor are comisorating decide to ask their rich friend Arkad the secret to becoming wealthy.

1 The Richest Man in Babylon
The two friends go and see Arkad and question him about how he got rich from such a poor beginning. He started to turn when he decided to claim his share of the good things wealth could get for him. The essence is that he would not be satisfied with anything less than the best. How he found out how to become rich was when work came his way from a rich person, he asked him the question, how may I become rich? The answer to the question:
a part of all I earned was mine to keep.
The idea is that the money you recieve, you give to others for their goods and services. But it should also be a priority for you to keep some of it back for yourself. The next piece of advice was:
seek advice from those who are competent through their own experience
Then lastly:
learn how to let the money work for you.

One of the key things Clason says is the wealth grows wherever men exert energy.


2 Seven Cures for a Lean Purse
     2.1 Start thy purse to fattening
     2.2 Control thy expenditures
     2.3 Make thy gold multiply
     2.4 Guard thy treasures from loss
     2.5 Make of thy dwelling a profitable investment
     2.6 Insure a future income
     2.7 Increase thy ability to earn


3 Meet the Goddess of Good Luck
Can one be wealthy by relying on luck? While there is some money to be made in games of chance, is that how wealthy people get their wealth? More times than not winners at gambling do not know how to keep their winnings, so they loose it rather than multiply it.

While it is true that money won in this way does not have staying power, there is also the thought that you need to be awake and alert to opportunity. Procrastination can be one of our own worst enemies.

So the moral of this section: Men of action are favored by the goddess of good luck.


4 The Five Laws of Gold
Sort of taken from the story of Solomon-which would you choose-gold or wisdom? who can measure in bags of gold, the value of wisdom? Without wisdom, gold is quickly lost...but with wisdom, gold can be secured by those who have it not.

  1. Gold comes 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 labors diligently and contently for the wise owner who finds for it profitable employment, multiplying even as the flocks of the field.
  3. Gold clings to the protection of the cautious owner who invests it under the advice of men wise in its handling.
  4. Gold slips 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 follows the alluring advice of tricksters and schemers or who trusts it to his own inexperience and romantic desires in investment.


5 The Gold Lender of Babylon
  1. If you desire to help thy friend, do so in a way that will not bring thy friend's burdens upon thyself.
  2. Better a little caution than a great regret
Humans in the throes of great emotions are not safe risks.
Mathon goes through and tells stories about each piece of security he holds. Some are poor risks, which he will never get repaid. others have repaid, and he continues to lend to them and is confident he will be repaid handsomely. Look at honorable behaviour.
Better a little caution than great regret.


6 The Walls of Babylon
       6.1 We cannot afford to be without adequate protection
Parable talking about how the walls of Babylon protected its occupants from being overrun


7 The Camel Trader of Babylon
       7.1 Where the determination is, the way can be found
The hungrier one becomes, the clearer one’s mind works...
This parable concerns the difference between being a man and a slave. It is not so much the bonds which holds a person back, but the attitude. Do you make amends, or try to scheme your way out of things. By having the integrity to correct a situation, then you are a man’s mentality.
My debts were my enemies… the men I owed were my friends for they had trusted me and believed in me.

But do the people who hold papers today look at people and work with them to become free? Or to continue to enslave them?

the soul of a free man looks at life as a series of problems to be solved and solves them, while the soul of a slave whimes, ‘What can I do who am but a slave?’

Where the determination is, the way can be found.


8 The Clay Tablets from Babylon
Fictional professor learns the lessons of Mathon about financial integrity. This is done by interpreting the clay tablets found around the Babylon site. A synopsis of the rest of the book.


9 The Luckiest Man in Babylon
        9.1 Work is the key to golden shekels
The young son of a friend of the merchant prince is coming into Babylon. The son feels the best thing in life is to acquire money so that he can acquire as much stuff as possible, living the life of ease. The prince shows him how his grandfather and himself went from being a slave to being rich through hard work.

Being faithful in your work acquires friends. Also life is rich with many pleasures. The reward for good work is not just monetary, but also a deep sense of pleasure and value.


10 A Historical Sketch of Babylon
Clason ends the book with a sketch of Babylon. Its immenseness. Its grander. Its strength. But then he says there is nothing left of it. Clason does not ask this question, but it would seem like this summary is leading to why bother? We live, drink and die. Fading away, even the best of us, to oblivion. Is that all there is? I would say if you are concentrating on acquiring wealth yes. But there are things beyond that which will establish you forever. That is being known by God.



Evaluation:

This is one of those books which if you already are pretty good with your personal finances, you sort of read it as a checklist of things which you are doing already or maybe you catch a point or two. If your finances need help, this is a good, easy way to start by getting perspective on yourself and how you deal with money. So The Richest Man in Babylon can either be a real eye-opening and change one’s life, or a ho-hum book of things you already know.

The book started as a series of pamphlets which financial companies used to enlighten their customers on how their personal finances should be managed, They later got combined into a book. Consequently, there is a lot of overlap in subjects.

Clason tells a series of stories set in ancient Babylon who are all trying to figure out how to be rich. He shys away from the get rich schemes and gives down to earth advice such as “pay yourself” 10% of what you make during a year. Invest in only things you understand. But Clason presents it in a story form so you have a better understanding of how you should organize your finances-organize not in the sense of budgeting and record keeping, but in the sense of ordering your finances.


 


Good Quotes:
    • First Line: Our prosperity as a nation depends upon the personal financial prosperity of each of us as individuals.
    • Last Line:The eons of time have crumbled to dust the proud walls of its temples, but the wisdom of Babylon endures.
    • the soul of a free man looks at life as a series of problems to be solved and solves them, while the soul of a slave whimes, ‘What can I do who am but a slave?’ Chp The Camel Trader of Babylon
      Table of Contents:
      • 1 The Richest Man in Babylon
        • 1.1 A part of all you earn is yours to keep
      • 2 Seven Cures for a Lean Purse
        • 2.1 Start thy purse to fattening
        • 2.2 Control thy expenditures
        • 2.3 Make thy gold multiply
        • 2.4 Guard thy treasures from loss
        • 2.5 Make of thy dwelling a profitable investment
        • 2.6 Insure a future income
        • 2.7 Increase thy ability to earn
      • 3 Meet the Goddess of Good Luck
      • 4 The Five Laws of Gold
      • 5 The Gold Lender of Babylon
        • 5.1 If you desire to help thy friend, do so in a way that will not bring thy friend's burdens upon thyself.
        • 5.2 Better a little caution than a great regret
      • 6 The Walls of Babylon
        • 6.1 We cannot afford to be without adequate protection
      • 7 The Camel Trader of Babylon
        • 7.1 Where the determination is, the way can be found
      • 8 The Clay Tablets from Babylon
      • 9 The Luckiest Man in Babylon
        • 9.1 Work is the key to golden shekels
      • 10 A Historical Sketch of Babylon

      References:
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