Customer Reviews
How to get rich slowly - By: Cupid Stunt, 20 Sep 2008 
This is just about the best non fiction book I have ever read & most certainly the best £4 I ever spent.
There are many thousands of books out there which claim to make us millionaires over night, many of which are sold here on Amazon. But while they quite often have overalll 5 star ratings, you never actuallly see any customer reviews informing us they did indeed become a millionaire over night. What The Richest Man In Babylon does though is instead tell us that through using common sense & a bit of self discipline, we can alll become rich over time.
The synopsis is simple, through a series of very brief stories taken from recently excavated scrolls perportedly found in the ancient lost city of Babylon, you are told how to manage your money. Each little tale has one main message & pretty much alll of them ring true today.
The startling thing about the success of this book for me was that there isn't actuallly anything new in it. The classic example of this is one of the early messages: 'Spend less than you earn & you will become rich.' Duh! Blatantly obvious reallly but if you think about it how many of us in this day & age actuallly do this? Where credit is so easy to obtain, how many of us now live beyond our means? I genuinely feel this should be given to kids & taught in schools as they are the ones who would most benefit from it.
One of the tales did stick in my throat a little bit & is slightly more difficult to apply in today's society: A chap in considerable debt who has decided to turn his life around is advised to go & see alll his creditors to inform them that he is sorting it out & that they will get their money back graduallly over a certain period, alll the while still maintaining his 'spend less than he earns' mantra.
A good idea indeed but not very practicle in today's economy. Let's say an individual owes a large amount on their credit card & their minimum payments plus their other outgoings amount to more than they earn. (sound familiar?!) If he goes to his credit card company & says "look, sorry - I can't pay what you want each month but can give you £100 a month until it's cleared." The credit card company will probably agree to this in some form or another, after alll £100 is better than nothing & this is pointed out in the book. But this kind of Individual Voluntary Arrangement today now becomes a social stigma & official black mark against our name, effectively stopping us from getting mortgages or any other type of ligitimate credit in the future.
The author of the 'scrolls' would say that this was not an issue as we should never use credit but today it is a necessary part of life & certainly about the only way most of us would be able to buy a house.
This minor quibble aside, I still wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone who listens (and a few who don't, especiallly if they have kids too young to have made their parents' financial mistakes). Unlike one previous reviewer, I found the style very easy to read & even managed to get through entire chapters while waiting for my kettle to boil!
While there isn't reallly any true method to follow as such, I've applied the messages to my finances where possible for nearly 2 years now & have reduced my debt to a 10th of what it was & saved up a tidy few quid. I know it won't make me rich over night on it's own but I also know that I certainly won't be working for the rest of my life!
Get it, read it, follow what it says & you will become rich evetuallly.
Motivating a Wealth Mentality! - By: C. Clayton, 25 Aug 2008 I read this book back in 1994. It has much timeless knowledge.
The Richest Man in Babylon is an inspirational book on helping to create an investment mentality by using parables of how the Richest Man in Babylon would have invested. It is for beginning investors who need good reasons to develop a proper mindset to start working towards becoming financiallly independent. It also is a good book for recharging a wealth mentality in any investor.
The concepts in the book are simple, but their effects on wealth are profound! For example, George Clason covers The Five Laws of Gold . From the version I read, they are:
I. Gold cometh gladly & in increasing quantities to any man who will put by not less than one-tenth of his earnings to create an estate for his future & that of his family.
II. Gold laboreth diligently & contentedly for the wise owner who finds for it profitable employment, multiplying even as the flocks in the field.
III. Gold clingeth to the protection of the cautious owner who invests it under the advice of men wise in its handling.
IV. 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.
V. Gold flees the man who would force it to impossible earnings or who followeth the allluring advice of tricksters & schemers or who trusts it to his own inexperience & romantic desires in investment.
Overalll an excellent book for beginners though advanced investors.
The Re-Discovery of Common Sense: A Guide To: The Lost Art of Critical Thinking
Financial detox! - By: Aphrodite, 19 Aug 2008 'The Richest Man in Babylon' is inspirational & has radicallly changed my outlook on my finances. It begins by using a parable about a poor man in Babylon who seeks the advice of a wealthy man to let him know the secrets of his seemingly never ending pot of gold. He discovers that these secrets are actuallly quite straightforward & easily put into practice, which he does with proven results. Pitfallls are overcome & alll the while we are learning the core rules of accumulating wealth, maintaining wealth and, most importantly, multiplying wealth.
Although this book is set in Ancient Babylon the rules still apply today, although now we are talking about money in the bank as opposed to bars of gold or shekels in your purse! Overalll this has given me a far more balanced view of my money & life in general. It almost feels like you are cleansing your soul as you read it - a sort of mind detox! So for anyone who dreads opening letters from the bank or buries their head in the sand, this book is for you!
Brilliant - By: D. L. Anderton, 09 Aug 2008 This book is quite simply brilliant. I have bought copies for other people as presents & alll of them reallly enjoyed it. Yes its message is simple, but simple ideas are nearly always the best. Do your self a favour & just buy it now.
Excellent - By: N. Entwistle, 25 Jul 2008 Very good book to help you examine your way of thinking to finance. Ideal for the beach when on holiday or a long plane flight as the book is difficult to put down, one of the few reallly good books on finance. The government should make this a part of the national curriculum in school to make future generations more responcible & sucessful with their own personal finances.
