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Inspired to save more by the men of Babylon
By DaveM | March 27, 2006
A part of all you earn is yours to keep. That’s one of the first wealth lessons Arkad taught to the less fortunate men of Babylon. Of couse, I’m referring to the book, The Richest Man In Babylon
Of all the inspirational books I’ve read on the topic of personal wealth, I’d have to say this one is the best by far. The age old financial wisdom has been distilled into a fairly short, enjoyable collection of parables. It’s written in language very similar to the Bible, but much easier to read.
Reading the book again actually inspired me this past weekend to raise my 401K contribution at work. I was putting in 6% and, as I mentioned in previous posts, we have stopped all other investments as part of our debt reduction plan.
That first law of money taught to the poor men of Babylon says it all. A part of all you earn is yours to keep. By reading the story, you’ll learn that this really means to set aside 1/10th, or 10%, of everything you earn and put it to work multiplying.
I’ve been writing about this important rule of wealth building for many years, and then I realized I wasn’t even living by my own advice. After figuring out the minimal impact raising my contribution from 6% to 10% would have on my net paycheck, I went ahead and made the change.
We’ll be able to easily adjust our budget to the minor income reduction, and we’ll be far better off in the long run for doing it. Of course, once all the debt is paid off at the end of this year, the 401K contribution goes to the max and we’ll start up our other investments again too.
Paying yourself first is just one of the many laws of money taught in the book. Believe it or not, it also teaches about controlling your spending, protecting your money from loss, preparing for your future (retirement), avoid scams and to-good-to-be-true investment opportunities, and even how “good luck” comes easily to men (and women) of action.
So, if you haven’t yet read The Richest Man In Babylon, I strongly urge you to grab a copy and start applying the timeless laws of wealth building to your life as soon as possible.