The Secret to Great Wealth
Updated: Nov 20, 2019
The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason
This epic written in 1926 – almost a hundred years old book on wealth – is a masterpiece. The lessons on financial wellbeing and accumulation of great wealth are dealt in the form of a parable, set in the ancient Babylon. The story keeps the reader entertained and at the same time, delivering the secrets to obtain great wealth which is very easy to understand and most importantly, easy to implement.
The fact of the matter for wealth accumulation is so simple that most people tend to overlook it. It is not how much you earn that makes you rich, but how much you save (and invest) from what you earn. Yet, for most people, saving is the last thing that they keep for the month, by which, their monthly earning is depleted. As Clason has highlighted in the book, ‘our necessary expenses will always grow to equal our income’. That’s truly amazing.
Another troubling aspect of our monthly expenses is the love for credit (like credit card, EMIs, etc.). The root cause of financial trouble is the spending of money before we even earn it. When we go into such habits, we hardly get to save money (for future investments) because we have already spent it before earning it!
These are all about the problems of why we don’t tend to accumulate wealth, but what is the way to great wealth?
Well, as Clason remarked, ‘a man’s wealth is not in the coins he carries; it is the income he buildeth, the golden stream that continually floweth into his purse and keepeth it bulging’. What he meant is that regular flow of money into the pocket is more important than the money you carry in your pocket; because if you lose your wallet, the money is gone forever, but if you have avenues to get regular income of money, then even if you lose your wallet, new money will keep coming to you.
Well, how to have multiple avenues of income? For that, reading this book is so much essential. Read it, earn your financial freedom and thank George S. Clason for the wisdom. You can buy the book here.