A book worth every peso

"Our prosperity as a nation depends upon the personal financial prosperity of each of us as individuals.”

“This book deals with the personal successes of each of us. Success means accomplishments as the result of our own abilities. Proper preparation is the key to our success. Our acts can be no wiser than our thoughts. Our thinking can be no wiser than our understanding” – George S. Clason

For quite a number of years, many accomplished authors; businessmen and corporate gurus have included in their list of suggested readings the book “The Richest Man in Babylon” written by George S. Clason. The popular endorsement was enough for me to buy a copy but not enough to actually read the book until after several years and I mean several because what used to be white pages are now aged pages. I confess to being a slow and unmotivated reader unless I come across a book such as the one written by Clason. His foreword alone convinced me that his book was not some self-help self centered modern day finance 101 that needed an accompanying workbook to sort out or apply the lessons in real life. In fact the first copyright on the book was in 1926 approximately 93 years ago. But don’t let it fool you. True wisdom not only withstands the test of truth, it also withstands the test of time. More importantly, the approach of Clason is not limited to mentoring individuals but for those of us who will learn the lessons, to share and teach them to others in order for our kababayans and ultimately the nation to prosper as his opening statement points out.

Is it possible for Filipinos to have financial prosperity? Yes. All you have to do is compare Pinoys with a similarly situated group or community that lives in the same environment, faces the same challenges but turns out to be financially prosperous: TSINOYS or our fellow Chinese Filipinos. Go to the next neighborhood and the same would be for the India-Pinoys. What makes them different is that from childhood they are raised to have real work ethics, how to handle money, a mind for business much more than for leisure, a family or communal spirit for shared responsibility, sharing opportunities, and a mindset where business is business. It is as they say a way of life. I will not make negative comparisons or state the obvious as to why Filipinos are not as prosperous as Tsinoys or Indian-pinoys, suffice it to say that the biggest sin would be not teaching or raising each generation with the fundamentals of financial know how; savings, basic accounting, communal partnerships or investment, delayed gratification and raising Filipino children to be creative, innovative and be businesslike in their affairs.

If you decide to purchase “The Richest Man In Babylon” at the book store or as an E-book and read it immediately, you will be confronted with the lamentations of persons who want more for their labors, who find themselves always short or borrowing money and a situation where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Initially the mindset is also to accuse or suspect the rich of manipulation or monopolies. Sounds familiar right? But as you read further, the game changer between the rich and the broke is “Knowledge” which I consider true wisdom. Clason wrote the 194-page book almost like a proverb /fairytale that you could probably read in two or three days. It begins with The Man Who desired Gold or people who want more but don’t know how. The next Chapter is about The Richest Man in Babylon whose name was Arkad, how his friends either envied him or were spiteful and how he became rich by trading his labors for knowledge from Algamish the Moneylender:

“When youth comes to age for advice he receives the wisdom of years. But too often does youth think that age knows only the wisdom of days that are gone and therefore profits not. …The wisdom of age is like the fixed stars that shine so unchanged that the sailor may depend upon them to steer his course.”

True wisdom therefore is unchanging; it worked then, and still applies today until tomorrow. The lesson from Algamish was to pay yourself a salary. Don’t spend everything paying for everything but yourself. “If you keep for yourself one-tenth of all you earn how much would you have in ten years? then make every bit of what you set aside to also earn a profit for yourself.” Don’t just put it in the bank. “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.” Arkad saved money for a year and “invested” it with a friend and promptly blew it all. “Every fool must learn” Algamish stated. “He who takes advice about savings from someone who is inexperienced in such matters, shall pay with his savings for proving the falsity of their opinions.”

The good news is that 12 months of saving 1/10th of your earnings teaches you to develop the habit and the incentive comes from counting your growing wealth or savings. First time blunders or bad investment is tolerable as your “enrollment to the school of the wise” but to repeat such a mistake or to blow your money a second time is unacceptable. Next up the seven cures for a lean purse: 1) Fatten your purse 2) Control your expenditures 3) Make your gold multiply 4) Guard your treasures from loss 5) Make of thy dwelling a profitable investment 6) Insure a future income and 7) Increase your ability to earn.

If we taught the lessons written by Clason in The Richest Man in Babylon starting in elementary for which I am told there is a children’s book version, I am almost certain that many Filipinos will be wiser and more prosperous not just based on ethnicity or skin color but based on God’s wisdom. Enjoy your reading.

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