False economy What’s in it for me? Understand what makes the

The richest man in Babylon
What’s in it for me? Learn how you can become 
lucky.
Once upon a time in ancient Babylon there was 
a very rich man named Arkad. In fact, he was 
the richest man in the land.
Seeing this, two of his childhood friends 
approached him to ask how he had become so 
wealthy while they had worked very hard and yet 
could barely feed their families.
Arkad smiled and told them that in exchange for 
his services as a scribe he had once been told 
the secret to wealth by another rich man.
The secret was: “A part of all you earn is yours 
to keep.”
In other words, you must not spend all you earn, 
but rather invest it, and invest it wisely.
This is what Arkad had done to get started: he 
saved up enough money to lend to a shield 
maker, who then paid interest on the loan, thus 
growing Arkad’s wealth.
The Richest Man In Babylon consists of 
parables like this one, and in these blinks you 
will find the advice that can be distilled from 
them translated into a modern day setting.
You’ll also read about why you should never 
lend money to a lumberjack, unless it’s for a tree 
felling business.
Finally, you’ll discover why good luck is just a 
matter of working hard.
The secret to building wealth is to save and 
invest wisely.
Have you ever wondered why some people are 
better at acquiring wealth than others? Is it 
because they are thrifty and stuff every penny 
they save into their mattress, while others 
squander what they earn on all kinds of trinkets?
In fact, the secret of becoming wealthy lies 
somewhere in between these two extremes: to 
become wealthy, you must not just hoard 
money, but also know how to use it wisely.
Of course, the first thing you must do is save up 
money.

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Obviously this means you can’t spend 
everything you earn, and must therefore live 
slightly below your means. Perhaps you can, for 
example, cut back on those little luxuries in life, 
like the city-weekend in Paris you had planned, 
or the quilted luxury toilet paper you buy – the 
regular stuff will get the job done just as well!
But saving up money in this way is not sufficient 
for you to become wealthy. You must also seek 
investment opportunities.
This is because the money in your mattress 
won’t increase in value. Even putting it into a 
bank will only generate a measly interest.
Instead, you have to invest your savings in 
something that will generate more wealth, like 
stocks, government bonds, or funding start-ups. 
If you do this right, your savings will increase in 
value with no extra effort on your part.
Whenever you do make an investment though, 
be sure to do so wisely: only entrust your 
savings to people who know how to use them.
For example, you shouldn’t give a lumberjack 
your money because he says he’s going to set 
up a business buying and selling diamonds. On 
the other hand, giving your money to a hedge 
fund to invest wisely can make sense; they 
probably know the market better than you.