More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
‘I found the road to wealth when I decided that a part of all I earned was mine to keep. And so will you.’
If you did keep for yourself one-tenth of all you earn, how much would you have in ten years?’ “My knowledge of the numbers did not forsake me, and I answered, ‘As much as I earn in one year.’
‘Every gold piece you save is a slave to work for you. Every copper it earns is its child that also can earn for you.
If you would become wealthy, then what you save must earn, and its children must earn, that all may help to give to you the abundance you crave.
‘A part of all you earn is yours to keep. It should be not less than a tenth no matter how little you earn. It can be as much more as you can afford. Pay yourself first.
‘Wealth, like a tree, grows from a tiny seed. The first copper you save is the seed from which your tree of wealth shall grow.
So I decided that I would try it. Each time I was paid I took one from each ten pieces of copper and hid it away.
‘Son, have you paid to yourself not less than one-tenth of all you have earned for the past year?’
why trust the knowledge of a brickmaker about jewels?
But as Algamish had bid me, I again saved each tenth copper, for I now had formed the habit and it was no longer difficult.
“To which Algamish laughed, ‘You do eat the children of your savings.
First get thee an army of golden slaves and then many a rich banquet may you enjoy
“And I answered, ‘Not yet all that I desire, but some I have and it earns more, and its earnings earn more.’
“‘Arkad,’ he continued, ‘you have learned your lessons well. You first learned to live upon less than you could earn. Next you learned to seek advice from those who were competent through their own experiences to give it. And, lastly, you have learned to make gold work for you.
because I had mastered the three laws of successfully handling wealth,
For four years did I not prove my definiteness of purpose by keeping one-tenth of all earned?
Opportunity is a haughty goddess who wastes no time with those who are unprepared.”
“If a rich man builds him a new palace, is the gold he pays out gone? No, the brickmaker has part of it and the laborer has part of it, and the artist has part of it. And everyone who labors upon the house has part of it Yet when the palace is completed, is it not worth all it cost? And is the ground upon which it stands not worth more because it is there? And is the ground that adjoins it not worth more because it is there? Wealth grows in magic ways. No man can prophesy the limit of it. Have not the Phoenicians built great cities on barren coasts with
“I advise that you take the wisdom of Algamish and say to yourselves, ‘A part of all I earn is mine to keep.’ Say it in the morning when you first arise. Say it at noon. Say it at night. Say it each hour of every day.
“Then learn to make your treasure work for you. Make it your slave. Make its children and its children’s children work for you.
invest thy treasure with greatest caution that
Seek the advice of men whose daily work is handling money.
A small return and a safe one is far more desirable than risk.
Do not overstrain or try to save too much. If one-tenth of all you earn is as much as you can comfortably keep, be content to keep this portion.
A Part of All You Earn is Yours to Keep
Then he asked, “Why should so few men be able to acquire all the gold?” “Because they know how,” replied the Chancellor.
“Who knows best in all our city how to become wealthy, Chancellor?” asked the king. “Thy question answers itself, your majesty. Who has amassed the greatest wealth, in Babylon?”
“How becamest thou so wealthy?” “By taking advantage of opportunities available to all citizens of our good city.”
THE FIRST CURE Start Thy Purse to Fattening
“if each of you desireth to build for himself a fortune, is it not wise to start by utilizing that source of wealth which he already has established?”
For every ten coins thou placest within thy purse take out for use but nine.
“Now I will tell a strange truth, the reason for which I know not. When I ceased to pay out more than nine-tenths of my earnings, I managed to get along just as well. I was not shorter than before. Also, ere long, did coins come to me more easily than before.
‘For each ten coins I put in, to spend but nine.’
How can a man keep one-tenth of all he earns in his purse when all the coins he earns are not enough for his necessary expenses?”
“Yet, thou do not all earn the same. Some earn much more than others. Some have much larger families to support. Yet, all purses were equally lean. Now I will tell thee an unusual truth about men and sons of men. It is this; That what each of us calls our ‘necessary expenses’ will always grow to equal our incomes unless we protest to the contrary.
“Therefore, engrave upon the clay each thing for which thou desireth to spend. Select those that are necessary and others that are possible through the expenditure of nine-tenths of thy income. Cross out the rest and consider them but a part of that great multitude of desires that must go unsatisfied and regret them not.
THE THIRD CURE Make Thy Gold Multiply
“Behold thy lean purse is fattening. Thou hast disciplined thyself to leave therein one-tenth of all thou earneth. Thou hast controlled thy expenditures to protect thy growing treasure. Next, we will consider means to put thy treasure to labor and to increase. Gold in a purse is gratifying to own and satisfieth a miserly soul but earns nothing. The gold we may retain from our earnings is but the start. The earnings it will make shall build our fortunes.” So spoke Arkad upon the third day to his class.
a man’s wealth is not in the coins he carries in his purse; it is the income he buildeth, the golden stream that continually floweth into his purse and keepeth it always bulging.
“Behold, from my humble earnings I had begotten a hoard of golden slaves, each laboring and earning more gold. As they labored for me, so their children also labored and their children’s children until great was the income from their combined efforts.
“This, then, is the third cure for a lean purse: to put each coin to laboring that it may reproduce its kind even as the flocks of the field and help bring to thee income, a stream of wealth that shall flow constantly into thy purse.”
THE FOURTH CURE Guard Thy Treasures from Loss
“Misfortune loves a shining mark. Gold in a man’s purse must be guarded with firmness, else it be lost. Thus it is wise that we must first secure small amounts and learn to protect them before the gods entrust us with larger.” So spoke Arkad upon the fourth day to his class.
The first sound principle of investment is security for thy principal. Is it wise to be intrigued by larger earnings when thy principal may be lost?
“Before thou loan it to any man, assure thyself of his ability to repay and his reputation for doing so, that thou mayest not unwittingly be making him a present of thy hard-earned treasure.
Better by far to consult the wisdom of those experienced in handling money for profit.
Guard thy treasure from loss by investing only where thy principal is safe, where it may be reclaimed if desirable, and where thou will not fail to collect a fair rental. Consult with wise men. Secure the advice of those experienced in the profitable handling of gold. Let their wisdom protect thy treasure from unsafe investments.”
“If a man setteth aside nine parts of his earnings upon which to live and enjoy life, and if any part of these nine parts he can turn into a profitable investment without detriment to his well-being, then so much faster will his treasures grow.”
“To a man’s heart it brings gladness to eat the figs from his own trees and the grapes of his own vines. To own his own domicile and to have it a place he is proud to care for, putteth confidence in his heart and greater effort behind all his endeavors. Therefore, do I recommend that every man own the roof that sheltereth him and his.
This, then, is the fifth cure for a lean purse: Own thy own home.”
