Book Review: The Richest Man in Babylon
I read a lot of books. My a hour and a half commute on public transportation every day definetly helps. Besides books for school, I tend to read a lot of personal finance and real estate books. I usually check out books from the New York Public Library, which has a very large collection. Even if the book isn't in my local branch, I can reserve it and they'll send it to my local branch. If I come across a book that I like, and I know I am going to refer to it on a regular basis, I will buy it.
After reviewing The Automatic Millionaire last month, I made a few referencecs to George Classon's classic book The Richest Man in Babylon. I realized if I was going to be reviewing personal finance books, I better start from the beginning then work forward.
As you may have guessed, my all-time favorite personal finance book is The Richest Man in Babylon. The first time I read it, I was 17 and I immediately loved the ideas pratical ideas presented. It's written in an old style using "thy purse" and "thou wilt not", but as soon as I got used to that, it was a pretty easy read. The main thing I learned (and later implemented) was "a part of all I earn is mine to keep", when Classon suggests to readers to save 10% of their income. Later in the book, there are "Seven Cures for a Lean Purse", and Michael at It's Your Money has a good description of the "Seven Cures for a Lean Purse" presented in The Richest Man.
The Richest Man in Babylon is definetly not a blueprint. If you're looking for exact places to stash your money or how to buy a house, or which credit cards to pay off first, this is not your type of book. More than than anything, this book is inspiration to break the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle.
I rate it a 5.
5-must buy
4-worth it, good reference guide
3-get it from the library or buy it used
2-okay, but nothing original
1-pass
This is also posted at Financial Freedom Trek.
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