George Samuel Clason’s book, The Richest Man In Babylon is just as relevant today as it was in 1926 when it was published. It is undeniably a personal finance classic.
The book chronicles how practical money management and wealth-building lessons were used by Arkad, who had a humble background as a son of a merchant but grew to become the richest man in the ancient city of Babylon. Arkad achieved this feat by riding on the wisdom he gathered from the rich money lender called Algamish.
In this short article, we explore 7 simple steps identified in this 97-year-old book and how you can employ these steps in diligently building your wealth. These 7 financial lessons are compiled from what Arkad called “seven cures for a lean purse” which he presented to a group of 100 men over seven days in a bid to transform Babylon into the wealthiest city in the world.
Here are the nuggets:
1. Start thy purse to fattening
“For every ten coins, thou placest within thy purse take out for use but nine. Thy purse will start to fatten at once and its increasing weight will feel good in thy hand and bring satisfaction to their soul”.
Interpretation: Save 10% of your income.
Well, say no more. Cowrywise has made this super easy. We automate your savings and you can even save more than 10%.
2. Control thy expenditures
“What each of us calls our ‘necessary expenses’ will always grow to equal our incomes unless we protest to the contrary. Confuse not the necessary expenses with thy desires”.
Interpretation: Live below your means
3. Make thy gold multiply
“The gold we may retain from our earnings is but the start. The earnings it will make shall build our fortunes. Learn to make your treasure work for you. Make it your slave. Make its children and its children’s children work for you”.
Interpretation: Make your money work for you
And this, on Cowrywise you earn returns on your periodic savings. We do not stop at helping you save money, we take a step further by making that saving work for you i.e investing.
4. Guard thy treasures against loss
“The first sound principle of investment is security for thy principal. Is it wise to be intrigued by larger earnings when thy principal may be lost? I say not. The penalty of risk is a probable loss. Study carefully, before parting with thy treasure, each assurance that it may be safely reclaimed. Be not misled by thine own romantic desires to make wealth rapidly”.
Interpretation: Protect your wealth
Security is important. Hence our proactive approach to the security of savings through our Trust structure that allows all assets to be held by our custodian on behalf of savers.
5. Make of thy dwelling a profitable investment
“I recommend that every man own the roof that sheltered him and his. Nor is it beyond the ability of any well-intentioned man to own his home. To own his own domicile and to have it a place he is proud to care for, putteth confidence in his heart and greater effort behind all his endeavours”
Interpretation: Build or rent a home you can comfortably afford.
You can easily create a house rent plan on Cowrywise and save towards that financial goal much quicker.
6. Ensure a future income
“The life of every man proceedeth from his childhood to his old age. Therefore do I say that it behoves a man to make preparations for a suitable income in the days to come, when he is no longer young, and to make preparations for his family should he be no longer with them to comfort and support them.”
Interpretation: Plan for retirement
It is not early to start saving for that retirement life you dream of.
7. Increase thy ability to earn
“That man who seeks to learn more of his craft shall be richly rewarded. The more wisdom we know, the more we may earn. Cultivate thy own powers, to study and become wiser, to become more skilful, to so act as to respect thyself. Thereby shalt thou acquire confidence in thyself to achieve thy carefully considered desires”
Interpretation: Invest in yourself
We cannot overemphasize this nugget, probably the most important in The Richest Man in Babylon, as it provides the capacity for you to earn more.
Conclusion
Our attraction to this book is its simplicity, relevance and potency. Those nuggets work like magic every day once they are implemented. The beauty is we have made the implementation of these nuggets much easier to achieve in today’s world. We recommend to everyone in a heartbeat to read the full version of the book for your pleasure and nugget 7 above.
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I’ll like to know if funds in a money market or saving plan can be moved into the emergency fund. Please clarify.
Hello Adebanjo,
You can always move the money from your money market fund anytime. All you need to do is to sell the units you are holding, the proceeds will be credited to your Stash. From your Stash, you can move it to Emergency Fund.
For your savings plan, you can only move money from here after the plan matures.
Hello are you there please
I’m here ??
Hi i dont have understand why i didnt see the withdrawal part on my app.. iphone
Why is there extra charges on emergency funds?I’m saving #500 weekly to meet a target of 50k but I’m been debited #507.50…and #500 will reflect on my cowry wise..pls where does the remaining money going and why can’t u make it zero charges just like savings plan to help us
Hello Osungunna, the extra charge is for payment processing fee. We could not make it zero because you can make withdrawals from the fund anytime. For regular savings, there is a minimum lock-in period. Hence, no charges. So, you can choose which of the 2 options works for you best.
Welcome back. Ọpẹ is back
Ope please I need your help here
Mine has not reflected
Please my plan is completely paid up now but I need money ? for emergency purpose please… can you help me cancel my plan I have no where to get money ?.
Hello Alexander, regular saving plans can not have the funds accessed until the maturity date that you set. However, if the funds are in an emergency plan, then you can access them at any time.
Hello, Good morning ope. I’ve been unable to top up to my emergency funds since last week and I’ve also been unable to switch off my automated status on my regular savings. Kindly treat as urgent.
I just signed up today. I wanted to ask if the regular savings is automatically deducted from the payment card or I have to remember to login daily/weekly/monthly to deposit the savings amount. Also, Does the “Next Saving Date” refers to the nest time one can start another savings plan or when the next daily/weekly/monthly savings will be made into my savings portfolio?
Hello Akintayo, you can set up your plan to automatically debit the amount from your bank account. The next saving date refers to the next date that your bank account will be debited with the amount you set to be debited.
I joined today and I want to start investing…. Is it true DAT I will av 10% of my savings everyday??
Really nice feature, well done to the team.
Thank you!
Starting emergency funds when I already locked up my funds for 5 years, to be matured in 2024.
I almost cried when I realised I could not access until 2024.
Starting an emergency plan was a smart move. Kudos! And on the plus side, I’m so excited for how much you would have accumulated in your saving plan by 2024 ???? Major boss moves ?
Mehn hv been broke badly but me see my fund lock giving me small joy?
Please I haven’t been debited automatically in the last three days from my bank account and I have money in there. I tried topping it up as usual still the same thing. I’m a bit worried to what could be happening.
Please how can I remove my money from
The emergency plan. I actually need the money urgently to top up my rent
Hi Priscilla, you can make withdrawals from your emergency fund anytime an emergency happens.
To withdraw, navigate to your plans.
Click your Emergency Fund.
Click the three dots by the top right corner.
Click Withdraw.
Please what are the available options for Halal savings? Is the emergency fund applicable for halal savings too?
I want to ask one question,what of if someone is trying to refund is account and the network is bad,do you have any account details which we can pay into
I’m sorry I’m not sure I understand your question.
Hello,I remember registering for cowrywise last year but it has really been a while that I created a plan and my account that was link have not been funded for a while now.until yesterday I left some money in the account and 3500 was deducted on the term emergency plan.why and how can I access this money?
Hi Raymond, yes you can withdraw from your emergency plan.
To withdraw, navigate to your plans.
Click your Emergency Fund.
Click the three dots by the top right corner.
Click Withdraw.
I cannot see the money paid into the emergency fund after been Debited
Hi Moh, please let me know if you still have this challenge and I’d be happy to help.
That exactly what I thought
I am experiencing the same issue. Admin pls attend to this.
For some days now, you guys have refused to debit my account automatically into my lime plan.. should I be worried?
Not at all, Samuel. Please send me a mail at support@cowrywise.com and I’d be happy to rectify this for you.
I am saving 5000 for my emergency funds but you deducted 5075, and the total money is not showing in my emergency funds. Please why is it not showing? I really don’t want to lose money for charges.
I’m trying to withdraw money from my emergency plan but I discovered it went to the stash.
Trying to send the money from stash to my GTB account had been unsuccessful for the past 15 hours and I urgently need money.
I made a withdrawal from my emergency funds yesterday and was debited on my account immediately, I’m yet to see it in my bank account. Pls help
Hello I referred someone and all authentications where made but didn’t receive my Bonus
Hello Ope, a nice idea from the team.
My question is do I the monthly interest stated there on my monthly savings as at when I access my funds if the funds are not saved up to a year?
Unlike the normal savings where it is clearly stated how much I would get at the end of the savings period, that is not clear for the emergency funds, do I just get the amount of money I saved or with interest based on how long I have saved and at the interest rate I see as at when I start saving?
Please I want a detailed answer to each of my concerns and questions and if there is more information needed, please do include them to inform us all.
Thanks, Ope.
Pls how can I change my 2FA security account cuz I’ve forgotten my secret answer of it
Hello pleasedi need your help. My maturity date was today but it seems I made a mistake cause instead of withdrawing I locked it again. It was a homest mistake and if you check your system you will see I’m saying the truth. I really need this cash urgently
I want to delete my account on cowrywise.
Hello,
I’d like to know how frequently the interest on the emergency fund is paid, is it compounded monthly or daily?
Hi Ope,
When do we receive our earnings on the emergency fund, do we get receive it monthly? And if so, is it automatically added to our balance or can we withdraw just the earnings?
Will my emergency plan debit me autimotically?
How can I disable the emergency plan?
How can I change my maturity date
I want to withdraw my 5yrs plan I dont mind giving the app 15k out of it I cant be suffering and smiling I need my money to work for me afterall piggy vest they collect charges if you want want to withdraw when it’s not the maturity date at least it’s my money help me
How do I move my savings to an emergency plan please. This is really an emergency
Pls I need my money how can I withdraw my money from stash cash
Hello pleased I need your help. My maturity date was today but it seems I made a mistake cause instead of withdrawing I locked it again. It was a homest mistake and if you check your system you will see I’m saying the truth. I really need this cash urgently pls cowrywise helpout
Pls I need my money urgently today pls cowrywise company
i usually see something on my cowrywise portal that says “lifetime returns”
Can you please explain what it means
Please can I change the date of my locked fun?
I think emergency fund is a smart move by cowrywise to create a leverage for those who wants to save without locking and invest at the same time in mutual funds while reaping interest rate greater than the savings plan.
Also, one can access the emergency fund anytime there is urgent need unlike locked savings plan.
The way you guys create different plans for investors is simply ‘Above Par’.
Thanks for all you do at Cowrywise.
Good day please I need my locked fund urgently
Good afternoon.
Please I need my locked funds urgently. Thank you
Please am dying I need my locked funds for my treatment have been sending emails to you since on Monday but no reply am running for a surgery and I don’t have money and I can’t have saving and die for nothing please I need to pay for the surgery I have only today left I don’t have another alternative I need to save my life with that money my life comes first I might not be able to write to you after this message but please unblock the fund so that my family can take out the surgery amount thanks my life is in your hands please don’t let me die I don’t want to be blamed for my own death
When i terminate my emergency savings plan before my target is reached, will i forfeit the interest accrued on it within the time i started the saving till the date i withdraw the funds?
If I close my account,what will happen to my savings