7 cures to a lean purse was written in 1926 by George S Clason in his book, “Richest Man in Babylon”. The laws of finance practiced in the ancient days are still being practised in present times and will be forever relevant in today’s financial world.
Some of these laws were written in an all-time classical book. To get rid of a lean purse i.e. being broke, Clason wrote about the 7 cures/remedies in his book. The people of Babylon wanted to know how Arkad, the richest man in Babylon, acquired so much wealth. He revealed to them these 7 cures to a lean purse.
1. Start thy purse to fattening
The richest man in Babylon Arkad asked a simple question to his students: What will happen If thou select one of thy baskets and put into it each morning ten eggs and take out from it each evening nine eggs? They said it will be overflowing.
He then said: This, my student was the first cure I did discover for my lean purse:
“For every ten coins I put in, to spend but nine”
This is the first cure
Meaning wealth would increase by one coin each day.
This means the first step to acquiring wealth was to save one-tenth of your earnings regularly it could be monthly, weekly or daily and watch them grow in due time.
2. Control thy expenditures
His students had come again to complain saying: “How can a man keep one-tenth of all he earns in his purse when all the coins he earns are not enough for his necessary expenses?” He then said:
“Confuse not unnecessary expenses with thy desires. Each of you together with your families, have more desires than your earnings can gratify”.
He further went to explain to them:
“Budget then, thy necessary expenses. Touch, not the one-tenth that is fattening thy purse. Let this be thy great desire that is being fulfilled. Keep working with thy budget, keep adjusting to it to help thee. Make it thy first assistance in defending thy fattening purse.”
This is the second cure
The second step to acquiring wealth is to budget all your expenses and cut down on unnecessary spending. However, spend less than you make and watch your savings continue to grow. Its also necessary to grow daily habits that will help you achieve your goals.
3. Make thy gold multiply
The third cure Arkad had told them was:
“To put each coin to labouring that it may reproduce its kind even as the flocks of the field and help bring to thee income, a stream of wealth that shall flow constantly into thy purse”.
This is the third cure
This next step is making your savings work for you and earn your money. There are seven streams of income billionaires use. Investments like stocks, real estate, gold, and so on, could lead to a increase in wealth.
4. Guard thy treasure from loss
As much as earning money from your savings is uplifting and rewarding one must also know how to protect their earnings. This means staying away from unforeseeable investments or bad investments that can run your money down the drain.
As Arkad has told his students,
“Guard thy treasure from loss by investing only where thy principal is safe, where it may be reclaimed if desirable and where thou will not fail to collect a fair rental”.
This is the fourth cure
Let thy wisdom protect thy treasure from unsafe investments.
5. Make of thy dwelling a profitable investment
Real estate has proven to be an area of interest to most investors. Venturing into real estate could be lucrative if knowledge and good strategy is utilized.
Although it is possible to lose money from real estate as the real estate market goes up and down. Inflation, however, favours the real estate market as it always climbs higher and higher generating more income for you and reduces your cost of living.
“Thus come many blessings to the man who owneth his house. And greatly will it reduce his cost of living, making available more of his earnings for pleasures and gratification of his desires: Own thy home”.
This is the fifth cure
6. Ensure a future income
This sixth cure is for long term investment such as retirement income. As Arkad had told his students:
“Therefore do I say that it behoves a man to make preparation 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”.
This is the sixth cure
Death and old age are inevitable in the life of every human, you must be prepared and make a suitable income that would pay you once you’re old, grey and unable to work. You must plan towards what may happen in the future to protect yourself and your family. Although the tragedy of your passing would affect your family at least they would be comforted knowing you left something behind.
As a student, you can start a business while studying. Checkout a list of 26 business ideas you can start while at university.
7. Increase thy ability to earn
The last and final cure for a lean purse. According to Arkad,
“Thus the seventh and last remedy for a lean purse is to cultivate thy own powers, to study and become wiser, to become more skillful, to so act as to respect thyself. Thereby shalt thou acquire confidence in thyself to achieve thy carefully considered desires”.
This is the seventh cure
This final lesson is the most important lesson for entrepreneurs today, you have to be willing to increase your ability to earn regardless of the kind of business you’re in.
To increase your income, you must learn how to earn more by increasing your knowledge, investing in yourself, increase your value to society, focus on the important things.
Uphold your values, say yes to the right things and no to the wrong things, have compassion for those who aren’t as fortunate as you are.
