The Richest Man In Babylon

Title : The Richest Man In Babylon

Author: George S. Clason

Year: 1926

Cost: Kshs 690 at Text Book Centre Sarit.

Are you fresh out of school and are looking to start earning an income?

Have you been earning money for a long time but wonder why you don’t have savings?

Did you read this book once, but haven’t read it in 2010?

Then you need to read this book.

A good number of people shy away from reading finance books because they feel they know all there is to know about personal finance, but the largest number do because most of the books in the market are too complicated and full of Jargon.

The Richest Man In Babylon isn’t full of jargon, and after reading it, you get the feeling that you knew very little about personal finance to start.

This book is based on a fable about a man called Arkad,  the richest man in ancient Babylon, who  teaches the people how he grew from abject poverty. His teachings can be summarised into the following headers:

• Seven cures for a lean purse
• The Five Laws of gold
• The Clay Tablets

Overall it’s a very interesting story to read, but even more amazing is that  it demonstrates that certain principles don’t change over time. A book that was written in 1926 makes  more sense than most of the more recent ‘How To Be Rich’ guides. I wasn’t suprised to find in there the 10% rule we spoke about a couple of months back.

Why should you re- read the book?

Because we forget. I read it about 4 years ago, and I was suprised when I read it yet again for our book club last month. I still had things to learn afresh (despite having a finance background).

The Richest Man In Babylon covers basic principles around earning, saving, investing, dealing with debt (both borrowing and lending), and takes it a step further and talks about purpose and planning.

To throw a question to you, from the book:

A bag heavy with gold or a clay tablet carved with words of wisdom; if thou hadst they choice, which wouldst thou choose?