The Discovery
For the past two years of my life, I have faced economic challenges that have forced me to make adjustments. To cope with the financial stresses and plan on how to handle my limited resources, I have turned to podcasts and social media pages about financial literacy.
One day, a social media page posted about "The Richest Man in Babylon" by George Clason, and I became intrigued by it because of its historical background. As a history enthusiast and social studies teacher, currently teaching grade 9 economics, I found the book fascinating and decided to explore it further.
Macro-perspective
As I started to
explore the book, I realized the importance of wealth as I read thru the lines.
“Babylon became the wealthiest city of the ancient
world because its citizens were the richest people of their time. They
appreciated the value of money. They practiced sound financial principles in
acquiring money, keeping money, and making their money earn more money. They
provided for themselves what we all desire . . . incomes for the future.”
The line above made
me think about the social implications of wealth. Wealth is a collective skill
that the citizens of a given area work on acquiring and managing. This line also
made me think that our
prosperity as a nation depends upon the personal financial prosperity of each
of us. A nation becomes wealthy when its citizens are wealthy. A wealthy
citizen is a good wealth manager. Citizens that know how to handle their
resources can contribute to the wealth of the nation.
Ambitions
The book emphasizes the importance of ambitions and personal desires. Although desires can be problematic and lead to problems, this book tells us that ambitions drive wealth. People with plans, dreams, and goals in life become ambitious and are willing to work their way toward attaining their objectives. Having ambition is good because it allows us to have a sense of social awareness. What I mean is that we understand our position in the society we live in by comparing ourselves to others. The story also highlights the desire to improve one's financial status by learning new skills or acquiring knowledge.
Learning From the Best
The book teaches that attaining wealth requires knowledge.
Knowledge of how to acquire and manage wealth is one of the key skills that the
book emphasizes.
"As for the study, did not our wise teacher teach
us that learning was of two kinds: the one kind being the things we learned and
knew, and the other being the training that taught us how to find out what we
did not know? "Therefore did I decide to find out how one might accumulate
wealth, and when I had found out, to make this my task and do it well.”
Understanding that wealth is like a flow of a river.
It has to be manipulated and controlled to reap its benefits.
"a man's wealth is not in the purse he carries. A
fat purse quickly empties if there be no golden stream to refill it.”
Focus
The book has also highlighted the importance of focus in acquiring wealth. Ambition may initiate the pursuit of wealth, but knowledge and skills are necessary, which can be acquired by learning from the best. Moreover, sustaining the motivation to chase wealth requires a deep focus on financial goals.
Reflecting on the book, I have come to realize the significance of focus in achieving personal financial goals. To achieve such goals, it is crucial to remain focused on what I want to achieve. Focus can be achieved through taking small steps, such as acquiring new skills and knowledge, that can help me reach my financial goals. Through working hard and staying focused, I have learned that being prepared is essential because opportunities arise for those who are prepared to embrace them.
Saving
One of the common
factors in financial literacy is savings. In economics, saving is an essential
part of the circular flow of the economy. Savings is an unselfish act where one
allows others to have the opportunity to grow and prosper while at the same
time preparing the saver to adapt to future challenges.
"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.
The sooner you plant that seed the sooner shall the tree grows. And the more
faithfully you nourish and water that tree with consistent savings, the sooner
may you bask in contentment beneath its shade.”
The line above highlights
how savings can help our future selves. Savings no matter if it is big or small
are an important act in financial life. The flow that the author wants us to
understand is that invest our money in endeavors that can multiply money and
save a part of it so we can be prepared for whatever challenges that future
has.
Wealth Farming
This enables me to
reflect that wealth is like farming, you are the farmer who possesses the knowledge
and skills then you put in the labor to plant the seeds. The line below
significantly made me think that whatever skills and passions we have in life,
we can acquire wealth by putting the time and energy into it.
"Wealth grows wherever men exert energy,“
Wealth is like an NFT
it only has value because you put in the value of it by investing your time,
money, and energy. Wealth becomes more valuable when others understand how you put
value in your time, money, and energy.
Taming Wealth
Enjoy wealth by being a master of it. Don’t be
enslaved by the desire to acquire wealth. Let wealth work for you to acquire
wealth.
"Enjoy life while you are here. 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. Live otherwise according to
your income and let not yourself get niggardly and afraid to spend. Life is
good and life is rich with things worthwhile and things to enjoy."
We must always keep in mind the reason why we work so hard to acquire wealth, and that is to have a good life. In this material world, our desires are often materialistic, and wealth can help satisfy them. However, we must not just work hard and labor all day, but also find ways to make our wealth work for us by investing in it. Investments can help others acquire a part of our wealth by rendering their time, energy, and skills to us. To ensure that our wealth is maintained, we need to save, so we can continue to provide opportunities for others to take part in the wealth we have acquired.
The Problem of Wealth
The book also
highlights the problem of wealth from a socio-political perspective. The lines
below give us a glimpse of the problems of wealth.
“our city is in a very unhappy state because a few men
know how to acquire wealth and therefore monopolize it, while the mass of our
citizens lack the knowledge of how to keep any part of the gold they receive.
"
The line above tells
us that not everybody has access to wealth and few men are willing to share it.
The lines below continue and tell us that greed is the problem of wealth.
"into the possession of a few very rich men of
our city. It filtered through the fingers of most of our people as quickly as
the goat's milk goes through the strainer. Now that the stream of gold has
ceased to flow, most of our people have nothing to do with their earnings."
The King was thoughtful for some time. Then he asked, "Why should so few
men be able to acquire all the gold?" "Because they are know-how,"
replied the Chancellor. "One may not condemn a man for succeeding because
he knows how. Neither may one with justice take away from a man what he has
fairly earned, to give to men of less ability."
The line above tells
that societies have unequal means of accessing wealth. While there are people
who acquired skills and knowledge in wealth seeking, some do not. The line also
tells us that it is unfair if those who labored and worked their way to attain wealth
be stripped of their wealth to make it equal to those who have difficulties acquiring
wealth. This is capitalism in its truest form. Capitalism is about respecting
self-endeavor and aligning this self-endeavor to societal growth. When citizens
have a sense of responsibility towards their resources then wealth can be
accessible. When citizens worked hard to enhance their knowledge and skills
then making business with those who have wealth will be easy.
Budget and Self
Control
The book emphasizes the value of self-control in the form of budgeting. In the earlier part of this article, we focused on the importance of savings as a way to protect ourselves from financial challenges. Budgeting makes savings possible by giving us control over the flow of finances. It teaches us that with discipline, we can achieve our financial goals.
A budget is like a shield that guards our life goals. Through budgeting, we can protect our financial goals and savings. Budgeting changes our behavior towards our surroundings and ourselves, helping us stay on track with our goals and maintain focus.
“Casual wishes are the enemy of our goals”
The line above
reveals the problems we have in budgeting our financial resources. Casual
wishes are our impulsive behavior in spending and wasting resources. As humans as
we are we have unlimited wants and needs but these unlimited wants and needs
must be narrowed to provide others with the opportunity to access resources. Our
casual wishes are signs of greed when we forget to be rational with how we
handle our finances. When spending without thinking we are ruining our budget
and this prevents us from attaining our financial goals. When we spend without
thinking our savings will be affected and leave us vulnerable to future
challenges. When we are unprepared for future challenges then chaos can happen
in our life. From a Macro-social perspective when everybody does not have a
good budget then their savings will be affected and when people do not have
good savings people will be vulnerable to future financial challenges and when
people cannot cope with the challenges society will be in chaos.
Family First
The book highlights
the very reason why we seek more wealth, that is because we want to satisfy not
just our wants and needs but also what our family wants and needs. The line
below gives us a glimpse of the reason why family is one of the motivators of
wealth seeking.
"No man's family can fully enjoy life unless they
do have a plot of ground wherein children can play in the clean earth and where
the wife may raise not only blossoms but good rich herbs to feed her family.”
The book tells us not
just to invest in wealth-generating investments but also invest in the
happiness and satisfaction of the family. Wealth is something that we cannot bring
with us to the afterlife, but wealth can make the inheritors start life on fertile
grounds.
A home protects you from casual desire and you can
budget if you have a home. Investing in the improvement of your home can help
in maintaining our budget. Having a home will give value to what we have worked
so hard on.
"To a man's heart, it brings gladness to eat the
figs from his trees and the grapes of his vines.”
The line above tells
us that we can feel the value of wealth when we worked hard in acquiring it and
reap the fruits of our labor.
Invest For The Future
Investing our
resources in something that can generate wealth is a method to maintain a
steady supply of wealth. We invest because we want to save and for us to be
able to adapt to future financial challenges. Investment requires knowledge and
skills and when citizens are into investing then citizens are working on
acquiring knowledge and skills in managing their resources. From a macro
perspective, when citizens are managing their resources rationally then
resources are not wasted. When resources are not wasted they it can be
allocated efficiently.
"But because we live in our day and not in the
days which are to come, must we take advantage of those means and ways of
accomplishing our purposes. Therefore I recommend to all men, that they, by
wise and well-thought-out methods, do provide against a lean purse in their
mature years. For a lean purse to a man no longer able to earn or to a family
without its head is a sore tragedy. "This, then, is the sixth cure for a
lean purse. Provide in advance for the needs of thy growing age and the
protection of thy family."
The line above gives
value to the importance of investment. The investment made in our younger years
will be valuable as we age. Let us be reminded that we don’t live young forever
and the ability to seek wealth is difficult as we reach the age of physical and
mental weakness. Let us embrace the idea that we get old and weak and
vulnerable. Our future selves will be vulnerable to financial and health
challenges, this is the very reason why we invest and save for us to lessen the
impact of financial and health challenges when we get old.
Surplus is Wealth
Investment can only
be appreciated when what we invested creates a surplus. Surplus is the true
definition of wealth, when we have spare financial resources to use in other endeavors
it gives us the space to grow and enhance.
"Desires must be simple and definite. They defeat
their purpose should they be too many, too confusing, or beyond a man's
training to accomplish.”
The surplus of
financial resources allows us to work on our desires, the line above tells us
that when we desire it must be easy to start and can achieve multiple feats. Desires
keep us growing and reaching new investment destinations. Desires can only grow
and reach other investment destinations if we have a surplus of financial
resources.
Start Young and Start
Early
“Opportunity, she will not wait for such slow fellow”
The line above
informs us that opportunity is not easy to catch. The book highlights the
importance of starting early and starting young. While we are young we start
our financial journey by saving and budgeting. The book shows us that it is in
our younger days that we have enough energy to work hard and plan for our
future. It is by starting early that we give space for ourselves to be prepared
for future challenges. Opportunity comes to those who are prepared and when we
start early we can be prepared to ride on that hasty opportunity.
Conquer Laziness
The greatest
challenge in maintaining discipline is when we get lazy or uninspired to do the
things we have to do. The states that laziness can be conquered by being
mindful of the effects of being lazy.
“Tis not difficult to conquer, once understood. No man
willingly permits the thief to rob his bins of grain. Nor does any man
willingly permit an enemy to drive away his customers and rob him of his
profits. When once I did recognize that such acts as these my enemy was
committing, with determination I conquered him. So must every man master his spirit
of procrastination before he can expect to share in the rich treasures of
Babylon.”
The line above states
that being lazy is like allowing a thief to rob you of what you could have been
in the future. It is by knowing the dangers of laziness that we can awaken our
inner motivation to make progress. Financial planning requires an awakened soul
because it is a form of preparation for the different challenges and opportunities
that may arise in the future.
Gambling Is Not
Wealth
This reveals that
wealth acquired by luck is not wealth at all. The value of wealth can only be
understood when there is knowledge, skills, and energy made to acquire it.
Gambling is a form of luck-generating wealth. Gambling is a game by chance,
meaning people only generate wealth when they are favored by chance. When
chance is the basis of wealth accumulation then it is easy to wealth for those who
are favored. Easy wealth means less valued wealth. When wealth is not/less valuable
then it can disappear like a bubble because the possessor of it does not give the
value of keeping it.
True wealth is not luck
and is earned by gambling. True wealth is not given by favor. True wealth is knowledge
being sought. True wealth is skills being learned by experience. True wealth is
energy invested to become the best version of yourself.
Closing
The book reveals the
social implications of our individual financial life. It made me realize the
importance of collective financial awareness. As a social studies teacher, it
has expanded my view of how society works. For the readers, I advised you to
reflect while reading to have a personal connection to the values that the
author wants us to understand.
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