Chapter 1

Introduction

“The Richest Man in Babylon” is written by George Samuel Clason. The writer was a retired soldier who later became a businessman. One of his books is the most famous story on financial advice. The ideas of this book are really effective and are of equal use in today’s present life. It has a story about ancient Babylon. The main theme of the story is to explain the 7 basic principles of money management in such a way that it can be understood by everyone. Like –

• Save at least 10% of your total earnings in an investment fund for a better future.
• If you have 90% left in it, then spend it, and if possible, do some saving in it too.
• Invest all the capital you have in such projects that get compound interest and keep your income safe, steady.
• Invest in the same places that you have good knowledge or in this case take help of those people who have better investment experience.
• Take own house so that rent money can be saved every month.
• Take a realistic insurance program.
• Find more than one way to earn money so that your income can be increased.

Chapter 2

The man who had the desire for gold

This Chapter begins with the story of Bansir, who was a resident of Babylon. One day he was sitting on a wall thinking about his situation. Then his friend Kobbi came to him who wanted to borrow some money from Bansir. Bansir and Kobbi had a friendship with many years, but at that time Bansir did not have money to give to Kobbi, then he refused Kobbi. In fact, he himself was going through a cash crunch. Hearing this, Kobbi was very disappointed and both started discussing the problem of money. Both of them have realized that perhaps their sons will also remain poor for the rest of their lives because they too were following their footsteps.

When their discussion reached an important point, they both felt that they had to find ways to earn more money. Both of them were crying about their situation when they remembered their friend Arkad, who was the richest man in Babylon. Both of them decided to get help from their friend. Both of them went to him and told him their problem, then Arkad told them about the Law of Capital Making.

Although everyone accepts that money is not everything and some things cannot be bought with money, but it is also true that in this world money is considered as another name for success. And with this perspective, people take wealthyness as a scorecard. Success is also represented with money, because a person can do whatever he wants with this money.

If a person has good amount of money, then he can buy all kinds of happiness and enjoyment for himself. The requirements of different people are also different. Due to this, people often have cash problems and sometimes they do not pay their bills on time. Due to such a tightness of money, many times people understand that perhaps money does not want to come to them, but this is not the case. The truth is that there is a lot of money, but for those who know the law of collecting wealth. If you also want to add a lot of money, then it would be better to learn to spend less. Instead of regretting the miseries of the past, spend both money and time thinking wise and at the same time, focusing on the Laws of Acquisition of Money will be a use full mind set for you.

We have seen this for centuries that some people always have more money than others. Many people think it is just their Good luck or they think that they have added so much wealth by conserving money. Well, whatever, but for those who think it is just good luck. There is as much chance of becoming rich in life as there are chances of winning a jackpot ever. And people who depend on hard work and work for hours are more likely to get rich. This is a simple approach that money can be collected by saving and by following some simple rules, you can double your money. We just have to follow these rules and if we try a little, we can definitely earn a lot of money.

Chapter 3

Babylon’s Richest Man

When Bansir and Kobbi met Arakad, they asked him how your luck is so good that you are so rich now, because he was also like them earlier. He had also studied till the same level and was once as poor as them. Both of them have worked harder than Arkad, but even then Arkad was having now more money. In response to this question, Arkad told that once he had worked with a very rich man Alagamish. In return, he asked the rich man the secret of his wealth. So the man told him about the “Laws of Making Capital” which he himself applied in his life. Arkad also started following the same law and soon he became rich. What Arakad had learned about money also told Bansir and Kobbi.

The first and most important basic way of money saving is to set aside 10% of your earnings. And try to meet your expenses in the 90% which is left. And if you can save something from this leftover 90%, then it is even better. If you want to deposit a lot of money, then there are two most important ways that you will have to apply. The first is time and the second study. When we talk about time, it is with everyone. But the problem is that some people use this time to become more poor. They engage themselves in so many activities that they have no time for money making law. When you make yourself busy in so many activities, then your time is passed but it will not collect wealth.

On the other hand, when it comes to study and research, there are two types of lessons that can be useful for those who want to earn money. The first is about a specific subject and the second is how to find it which most people do not know. The both types of learnings are valuable and are also useful. Below are some basic principles that are very useful for making money. Whatever you earn, make a habit of spending at least the minimum amount from it. When people fill all their bills comfortably in the month-end, then they get a feeling of being rich and wealthy. But being rich doesn’t just mean filling bills or buying things. Rather it means that you first pay yourself. Every month when you can fill the other bills, why can’t you pay for yourself first?

Paying yourself ten percent of your earnings will help you a lot in your future. This is a big beneficial way to add and save money. The real change in life will come when at the beginning of every month you will pay for yourself first. If you can do this, then you will learn to survive the entire month from the remaining money, and in return your capital reserve will gradually increase.

Always take their advice, who are the best in this case. Assume that, if you are sick, you have to go to the doctor and not the plumber. Same thing also applies here. If you want advice in something, then people who are experts in it, you should go to them. Lastly, an expert’s advice is always important. When you start building capital for yourself, do the starting with small investment, but also ensure that your money goes to safe place. Do not invest even a single penny without investigation or your money will go waste. Always remember that not every investment is Genuine. Therefore, you need to be very careful in this matter.

Chapter 4

Seven Cures for a lean purse

In this chapter, the writer “George Samuel Clason” has shared the 7 secrets to keep your purse always full. These are the 7 techniques:

1. First of all, you have to learn how to keep your purse always full. All you have to do is follow a simple rule. For example, if you put 10 coins in your purse which you have earned, then only spend 9 of them. Save the remaining 1 coin. After following this rule, your bag will start filling up fast and soon you will learn to manage with your 9 coins.

2. You have to control in your expenses. Normally it is believed that people spend the same amount as income. But this is totally wrong because it is totally against the money making law. So even if your income increases, you still have to reduce your expenses. Do not confuse your desire with the needs. To increase your money regimes, put extra income in an investment tool.

3. Everyone buys a lot of gold, so try that you multiply your gold so that you will have a lot of gold, then you can invest it in loans or other opportunities. Because gold is something that multiplies very quickly.

4. Protect your deposit capital with any kind of unpredictable loss. It is very important to protect gold or other investments carefully. Do not dream of becoming a millionaire overnight, or you may lose your treasure. Think twice before taking any investment and definitely take an expert’s advice.

5. Make your property a profitable investment for yourself. For example, if you have an extra house or land, then rent it. With which every month your extra income will be earned and then you can reserve that money or invest further.

6. Everyone should make a plan and do some work for future income. If you say in the short, then you will have to arrange any kind of future income for your children, parents or your old age. For this, invest your money in a house or land.

7. And the most important points in the last is to improve yourself. Increase your earning ability so that you can earn maximum. The more capable you are, the better opportunities you will get and your earning will continue.

Chapter 5

Meet the goddess of good luck

Those who accept the right opportunity, Good Luck also knocks at their door. Good luck is something that everyone wants for themselves. We need good luck in our life, in business or in any work. But people feel that “good luck” is a God given thing. But in fact, good luck is nothing but the opportunities that we get in our life from which we can change our time and luck or both. Now who will be the one who does not want good luck in his business or career? Unfortunately, many people are unable to take full advantage of the opportunities found in life due to their habit of procrastination.

Whatever opportunity we get, we should take full advantage of it. There is so much ability in a human being that he can understand any kind of business proposal. This is a strong and effective way to attract good luck, which is better than sitting on an empty hand. Some people keep waiting as if everything will come in front of them in the silver plate, but this is not going to happen, because you will have to create your own good luck and it will be done by doing hard work.

Chapter 6

Five Laws of Gold

Here are the five laws of gold which are as follows:

• The person who saves one tenth of his income can accumulate gold for him and his family’s future.
• Those who invest gold productively, it gives them a quick and profitable way of profit.
• Intelligent people who invest gold at the right place, they only have gold.
• Those who wrongly invest gold in a wrong way anywhere, they do not make any profit from gold, but they suffer the opposite.
• Gold runs away from the Greedy people, who uses it to create such profiles which are only impossible.

Chapter 7

The Gold Lender of Babylon

In this chapter, the story moves on a slightly different track. This story is about a Spear Maker who gets a Fifty Peace Gold gift from King. He wanted to make spears of good quality, so Spear Maker Rodan goes to a money lender named Mathon. Rodan wanted to get a monetary advice from Mathon as he had no specific idea about it and also told that his elder sister wanted some money for his husband Aaraman so that he could become a merchant. Hearing Rodan’s talk, Mathon tells him that he will tell him two different stories, which he might take a better decision on hearing.

Helping your friends is a common thing, but if you are helping, then do something in such a way that your friends do not feel any favour. For example, Mathon narrates the story of a farmer who knew the language of animals. One day in the evening the farmer was passing in front of his stable, then he heard the bull talking to the donkey that “My work is more difficult than your work because I have to plow the whole field while you only give the farmer your ride”. Hearing the talk of the bull, the donkey said, “You will pretend to be sick tomorrow and then I will do your work “. According to the plan, the bull became ill the next day, the farmer put the donkey in the work of plowing the field instead. In the evening, the bull thanked the donkey that he helped him so much and gave him a chance to rest.

This was the story of the friendships of bull and donkey which Mathon narrated to Rodan. Now another story like this,

Once Mathon asked Rodan if it would be considered a true loan, if the person taking the loan could not re pay it? Mathon himself answered his question, he said that there are three types of Borrower’s. Those of the first type who take more loans than their capacity. Those of the second type who borrow loans according to their capacity and also make returns easily. And those of the third type are those who do not have any property nor source of any fixed income. These people take loans but are never able to return. So these third type people should never be given loan. There are other short stories related to this, such as a woman who borrowed money to make her son a merchant.

When she gave her jewels for the mortgage, Mathon could not refuse her. Mathon liked the idea that gold can be pledged for real security instead of money so that the lender is not in loss. This was basically a wise purpose. Moral of the story is that you can provide people loan for extra income. But before lending to someone, make sure that the borrower will be able to return your money or not. If your money gets stuck then it will make you lose a lot. Therefore, we should be a little alert so that there is no regret later. Always take care of your security first. The first lesson we learned from these two stories is that you should not carry the burden of others and secondly it is a good idea to pay money on loan to increase your income. But by lending money for pointless Pleasure, meaningless, you can also lose.

Chapter 8

The wall of Babylon

“The Wall of Babylon” is an outstanding example of a man’s needs and desire for protection. In this chapter, there is a story of a soldier who was a guard of the Babylonian gates. It was popular because of its 160 feet height. Once an enemy attacked the Babylonians. The battle went on for four weeks, but due to the height and thickness of the wall, the enemy gave up and retreated. What we can learn from this story is that we can guard ourselves against any unforeseen tragedy. Just need to keep ourselves calm.

Chapter 9

The Camel Trader of Babylon

This chapter is about a hungry man who was hungry for two days, so he stole two figs and ate them and ran away before he was caught. Then the hungry man named Tarakad collided with a man named Dabasir. Dabasir was once a slave in Syria. Once upon a time, he used to support his father in his sandle making business, but due to his extravagant lifestyle he blew all the money. The credit had gone to his head and his wife also left him. Dabasir took Tarakad to a dhaba and fed him a drink. He told Tarakad the tragic story of his life, how he was living the life of Slaves in Syria and somehow escaped from there.

Then he got a new master who gave him the job of guard to look after the harem of his wives. Luckily, his master’s eldest wife said that she already had a lot of guards, so Tarkad was given the job of taking care of Camel. And in this way, a person who was suffering from poverty got the opportunity to live a good life again and he was now free in every way. From this story, we can understand that where there is a determination, there is some way out.

Chapter 10

The Clay Tablets from Babylon

This chapter is divided into five tablets. The story of Dabasir is given in more details in every tablet. It tells how Dabasir took off all his debts and started living a healthy and wealthy life with his wife. In tablet number one, Dabasir followed the capital making law and saved one tenth of his salary every month. When he returned to Babylon, his wife also returned to him and both started living happily. Dabasir used to fill all his bills with the seven tenth of his earning, then he would take out the entire month with the remaining money. He used to repay the debts of the creditors from the rest of the remaining tenth.

In the second tablet, he used to split his two-tenth percent money. Then, by making a list of creditors, he used to see how much he had to pay or how many people had to pay his money. In the third tablet, Dabasir has acknowledged that while he was in Babylon, he had done stupid things. Some of his creditors used to keep cursing him for his acts, some used to threaten him to return the money and some requested him to pay their money. But in this matter Dabasir made a firm intention that he would pay everyone’s money. In the fourth tablet, Dabasir has claimed that he and his wife are now happily living a healthy and wealthy life.

The money making law he has applied in his life, his life’s vehicle was back on track and he was no longer a slave but became a respectable man. In the Fifth Tablet, Dabasir has said that it has been twelve months now and he has taken off all his debts. By dividing the two tenth of his earnings, Dabasir had paid off all the debts by paying equal amount to all his creditors.

Chapter 11

The Luckiest Men in Babylon

A new character has been introduced in this chapter named Sharun Nada who was the Merchant Prince of Babylon. He too used to be a slave. He shared the difficulties of his life and also told how he got rid of all the problems. And now he had so much money that he could buy his freedom. Although he had become a merchant today, there was a day that he was not sure whether he would be able to quit his master’s job or not. The truth is that work is the key to wealth. So he worked very hard and became a successful merchant.

Chapter 12

An Historic Sketch of Babylon

Babylon is an excellent example of how people can become successful and happy in their lives. Babylon City is in a dry and flat valley where there is no rain to cultivate. There is no forest area in this city, yet people live here and they have achieved great success. All of Babylon’s wealth and richness are man-made.

Chapter 13

CONCLUSION

Remember that whatever gold and money you have saved from your saving’s every month, one day it will work for you like someone slaves. And you can earn more money only with money. You have to know how to save your earnings. For this, you have to maintain the law of capital making. Start saving 10 percent of your earnings from the beginning of each month. Always believe in hard work and find different ways to increase your income. He kept on increasing his capability and quality. If short cut is not adopted then it will be better. Remember that a hand that feels comfortable goes away just as easily. So there is no other option for hard work. Try to save as much as possible. Whatever good opportunity you get, grab it. Invest your money in a safe place and never forget to take expert advice.