Summary Of The Richest Man in Babylon by George Clason; #freesummary

The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason covers the basic universal laws of money that are unchanging. Thus, it is as useful and viable today as it was in the 1920's when it was written. Clason’s goal was to write a book to teach others who do not have any money how they can use a simple formula for acquiring wealth.  

Clason used Babylon as the setting for his parables because it was known as the richest city in the world during its time. The people of ancient Babylon valued money and practiced sound financial principles in acquiring, saving, and investing money. In doing so, they secured a healthy financial future for themselves and their loved ones.

The Richest Man in Babylon contains a series of parables. The first parable is about Bansir, a chariot builder and his friend Kobbi, a musician, who have worked for many years yet do not have wealth and so they go to Arkad, the richest man in Babylon, to learn how to become wealthy. Within this story are other stories which explain the basic principles of money and wealth.

The Seven Cures for a Lean Purse and 5 Laws of Gold

(1) Save at least ten percent of all your earnings.

(2) Control your expenses so that you are living below your means and can save at least ten percent of your earnings.

(3) Invest your savings so that it earns more money. 

(4) Guard your investment from loss. Before you invest in your own business or invest in someone else’s business, make certain that you or they know what they are doing.  Consult with those more skilled in handling money than you are to determine if you are making a wise investment.

(5) Buy a home if you can do so using the 90 percent of earnings set aside for living expenses. 

(6) Insure a future income for yourself and your family by investing in assets that will increase in value to prepare for retirement and by having life insurance for those who are dependent on you. 

(7) Increase your ability to earn by becoming better at what you do or learning new skills. 



The first five on this list are the Five Laws of Gold.  All seven combined are considered the seven cures for a lean purse. 

10 Financial Principles

(1) Learn to love work if you want to have a lot of money.

(2) Have insurance to protect your wealth, such as car insurance, house insurance, etc.

(3) Your home [or real estate] can be a profitable investment.

(4) Save for your retirement.

(5) Those who are in debt are enslaved.

(6) Increase your ability to earn by learning new information/skills.

(7) Track your financial progress at regular intervals.

(8) Money is the medium upon which earthly success is measured.

(9) Money makes it possible to enjoy the best that this earth offers.

(10) Money is plentiful to those who understand the simple laws that govern its acquisition.

A Plan Anyone Can  Use to Get Out of Debt

(1) Place 10 percent of all your earnings into savings.

(2) Use 70 percent of earnings to cover all living expenses.

(3) Use 20 percent of earnings to pay off all old debts.  Apportion the amount you pay each creditor from this twenty percent.  For example, if your 20 percent to pay debts is $600 total. but the total amount of debt you owe is $3,000 and you owe one creditor $1500, that creditor would receive fifty percent of the 20 percent you have to pay debts, or $300 until the debt is paid in full.  When the old debts are paid, convert this amount to savings/investment as well.

(4) Do not incur any new debts.


Rating: $$$$$ out of five.  This book, written as a parable, covers all the basic principles essential to financial health that remain as true today as they did in ancient Babylon.  But for some people in some areas of the country, investing in a single -family home might not be a wise investment. For some people, a multi-family unit might be a better first investment in real estate. 

Copyright @ 2016 Christine Esser

This book was purchased, not a gift.   

This book can be purchased on Amazon by clicking the first link below. Disclosure: We may receive a small commission from your purchase, but this will not raise the amount you pay. Thank you for reading this review. Comments are welcome.  We have not received anything from the author or publisher in exchange for this review. The second book listed is audio. The third book is a full summary by Money Book Millionaire. .