Book Review: THE RICHEST MAN IN BABYLON by George Clason

I hate rules. I absolutely hate rules. When I was young, I hated rules so much that I would break them passive-aggressively. When there was a family function, I remember I loved to break the rule right in front of a rule giver or the rule enforcer. I was at a family function one time and I was about 17 or 16 years of age and people were having drinks. I snuck some drinks. I loved to have a drink in my hand without the rule giver or rule enforcer knowing I was drinking liquor while underage. In my mind I wanted to break this stupid rule. I can’t be the only one who feels that hatred or disgust toward rules but I do know some people don’t mind rules. Julius Erving, the famous basketball player in the 1970s, said in his autobiography that he liked having rules. He liked to play basketball because the rules gave him structure for being, moving, and living on the court. He liked basketball´s rules. So some people don´t mind the rules. But, come on please be honest, most people don’t like rules. Most of us have disgust, a disdain, a disinterest for rules. Most of us. Do. Not. Like. Rules.

Oddly, I think that’s exactly the contribution this book makes to the world. THE RICHEST MAN IN BABYLON says to everyone, ¨Hate them or love them, rules are good.¨ Rules are essential for us to create our wanted world. They are essential for us to create the world we want. Just any old rule won´t work for Clason; he suggests self imposed rules matter most to making money but the principle of making self imposed rules can apply to anything from how to relate with a spouse to how to eat healthily. 

The author suggest 5 rules we should live by and they include: 

  1. Gold cometh gladly and in increasing quantity to any man who will put by not less than one-tenth of his earnings to create an estate for his future and that of his family.
  2. Gold laboreth diligently and contentedly for the wise owner who finds for it profitable employment, multiplying even as the flocks of the field.
  3. Gold clingeth to the protection of the cautious owner who invests it under the advice of men wise in its handling.
  4. Gold slippeth away from the man who invests it in businesses or purposes with which he is not familiar or which are not approved by those skilled in its keep.
  5. Gold flees the man who would force it to impossible earnings or who followeth the alluring advice of tricksters and schemers or who trusts it to his own inexperience and romantic desires in investment. Taken from Forbes.com at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/rickferri/2013/09/05/the-five-laws-of-gold/?sh=21fd29ca1308

Self imposed rules are the foundation for our wanted world. My 5 self imposed rules are:

  1. Family 1st 
  2. Mind my business 
  3. Think long term 
  4. Move 
  5. Value self

What are your 5?

Impose rules on self, 

@growthucator


For a good book review of PSYCHOLOGY OF MONEY written by Morgan Housel see Bjorn over at Book Lab.

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