The Richest Man In Babylon Chapter Summary

Mario Washington
Personal Finance
Instructor- Kevin Mulligan The Richest Man in Babylon is a book written by George Samuel Clason that offers financial advice through the use of fables and stories set in ancient Babylon. Originally released in a series of pamphlets, banks and insurance companies showed enough interest, that it compiled the best of these and put them in a book that was published in 1928. Each story has a financial moral. The book was set in ancient times to give it a timeless quality. The principles expressed in the book through the characters, have as much relevance today as they would have when Clason wrote the book, as well as back then in the stories setting. In chapter one, the author sets the table by first
Arkad, who was famous throughout Babylon for his wealth, was asked by the king to teach the knowledge of being wealthy to the king and one hundred of his friends. Excited to help his King and fellow man, Arkad agrees. His first cure is to save one coin out of ten earned. That one coin will be added to each subsequent coin added and will continue to grow. The second cure is to control what you spend. You have to distinguish between what you need and what you want. It does not matter what you earn if you are constantly spending on what you can do without. The third cure is to make your money multiply with wise investments. Arkad says it’s not the coin on you, but the coin you invest that yields an income. The fourth cure is to guard your money from loss. Make sure your investment is secure and if it is loaned out, it can be repaid. The fifth cure is to make a dwelling a profitable investment, or owning you own home. This is because as long as you rent, whether you stay or not, you are not getting any money back on your investment. The sixth cure is to insure a future income. Making sure you have money to take care of you and your family in your old age. The seventh cure is to increase the ability to earn. If you are better at what you do than anyone else at something, you are going to make more money, which allows you to save more money. Chapter four discusses luck. Arkad explains that luck is made out of our
He is basically saying that it is cool to help a friend, but do not let this end up being a burden on you as well. Make sure your attempt to help does not turn into your own misery. It also speaks of the lender using trinkets as collateral. If the collateral is worth more than the money borrowed, it can be resold to at least recoup the principle. Finally, that loaning someone money for a business that they know nothing about is bad business. Chapter seven is short and to the point. Just like the walls of the city were strong and able to repel attacks on the city, so should the care we take in protecting our investments. Make sure you at least protect your principle. Chapter eight speaks of Dabasir who made money, but his appetite for nice clothes and jewels led to him being in debt with his creditors because he would borrow on a lot of his purchases and owed more than he could repay. This in turn left him into servitude because of the debts he left unpaid. But once he decided to repay these debts, he found a way to do