I came across a beautiful English classic that will help to talk and teach Savings for your kids about money and finance. The book was written by George S Clason, “The Richest Man in Babylon” is one such book. This book is a mix of reality and fantasy. This teaches why & how one should earn money in righteous, save, and Invest for the future. There is the main narration and multiple sub-stories to inspire the readers in this book. I will quote one of the stories from the book, Arkad is the wealthiest man in the wealthiest city of the world, Babylon in the 6th century. His friends were living a meager life and they become jealous of him having acquired wealth. Some of the friends being pushed by poverty plan to rob money from him. But they are also worried about what they were thinking is immoral. They get an idea why not ask their friend Arkad, how he was able to build his wealth. Arkad being a good man he welcomed and started telling his life journey. He started his career and worked hard as a scribe of clay tablets. During one of the tough assignments by then a wealthy man, a moneylender called Algamish, he dedicated and puts in a lot of hard work to meet the commitment. By seeing his dedication Algamish grants a wish Arkad asked for. He wanted to know the secret to becoming wealthy. The answer he got was, “Keep a part of what you earn for yourself”. Arkad followed it diligently until Algamish came back after a year to check on him. Algamish asked what have you done with your savings ?. Arkad said, “I followed as you told the master. When I had saved enough I gave it to Azmur the brick maker to buy me some jewels during his travel”. When I grew up in the 1990s there was not much consumerism, I had ample time to learn from my father the habits of money and personal finance. And that shaped my initial relationship with money, a relationship of frugality and saving it in my piggy bank. There was no schooling or education related to learning about money, but just because I had fewer distractions and more time to walk and shop with my father, I picked up certain financial literacy. After 20 years if I have got to become a child of this generation taking a walk, I don’t think my father would put up with me. Every father of this generation living in an urban area (should I say the smartphone is the new urban shopping place) would get what I was trying to convey. Don’t ask me how, still I am a bachelor but I’m sure of this. There is zero chance a teenager would learn about money and financial literacy unless you teach personal finance to your kids.I came across a beautiful English classic that will help to talk and teach kids about money and finance. The book was written by George S Clason, “The Richest Man in Babylon” is one such book. This book is a mix of reality and fantasy. This teaches why & how one should earn money in righteous, save, and Invest for the future. There is the main narration and multiple sub-stories to inspire the readers in this book. I will quote one of the stories from the book, Arkad is the wealthiest man in the wealthiest city of the world, Babylon in the 6th century. His friends were living a meager life and they become jealous of him having acquired wealth. Some of the friends being pushed by poverty plan to rob money from him. But they are also worried about what they were thinking is immoral. They get an idea why not ask their friend Arkad, how he was able to build his wealth. Arkad being a good man he welcomed and started telling his life journey. He started his career and worked hard as a scribe of clay tablets. During one of the tough assignments by then a wealthy man, a moneylender called Algamish, he dedicated and puts in a lot of hard work to meet the commitment. By seeing his dedication Algamish grants a wish Arkad asked for. He wanted to know the secret to becoming wealthy. The answer he got was, “Keep a part of what you earn for yourself”. Arkad followed it diligently until Algamish came back after a year to check on him. Algamish asked what have you done with your savings ?. Arkad said, “I followed as you told the master. When I had saved enough I gave it to Azmur the brick maker to buy me some jewels during his travel”.
Algamish said, “gold is like your loyal slaves, they work for you. They earn children of copper and they also earn you. When you have to buy jewels go to the jewel maker next time. Forget your savings you will not get it again”. As Algamish said Arkad did not get his gold back. All the jewel bought lacked quality and he couldn’t trade them for a profit. He started all over again and when he had saved enough he gave it to Aggar, the shield maker to buy bronze, and Arkad received rent for the gold he spent regularly. Algamish came after many months and checked on Arkad how he is doing with his savings. Algamish asked, “what did you do with the rent received”. Arkad said he had treated himself with a feast, bought clothes, and someday he will buy a horse to ride. Algamish started saying, “you killed your children. Gold is your faithful servant who earns children and they again should earn. Create an army of servants and then you shall treat.” Arkad found it easy to save one-tenth of what he earned. He did it again and realised what his master taught. he started investing in many trade and businesses. He now has an army earning him. Now Arkad has learned 3 important things how to acquire money (through employment or business), how to keep it (saving one-tenth of earned money), and how to use it (investing with prudence and knowledge). Arkad shared this story with his friends. And when there were no gold coins in the city which has got accumulated only with a few wealthy people, the king of Babylon invited Arkad for advice. Arkad selected 100 people from the city and taught them whatever he learned from Algamish.
This is not only Algamish or Arkad could do. This is for every person who lives in this world has to do for a happy and peaceful life. Baranikumar is the Technical Head and Executive Director of YMM Financial Services. Through his company, he helps individuals to save, invest and protect money.
This article was originally published in the Sunthesis 2.0 newsletter from Wakeup Chennai Toastmasters club.