Seven Cures For A Lean Purse

1. Start Thy Purse To Fattening; For every ten coins that thou placest within thy purse take out for use but nine. Thy purse will start to fatten at once and it's increasing weight will feel good in thy hand and bring satisfaction to thy soul.
2. Control Thy Expenditures; Confuse not thy necessary expenses with thy desires...All men are burdened with more desires than they can gratify...as weeds grow in a field wherever the farmer leaves space for there roots, even so freely do desires grow in men whenever there is a possibility of their being gratified.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.
3. Make Thy Gold Multiply; How therefore may we put our gold to work?Gold increaseth rapidly when making reasonable earnings as thou wilt see from the following: A farmer, when his first son was born , took ten pieces of silver to a money lender and asked him to keep it on rental for his son until he became twenty years of age. This money lender did, and agreed the rental should be one-fourth of it's value each four years. The farmer asked, because this sum he had set aside as belonging to his son, that the rent be added to the principal. When the boy had reached the age of twenty years, the farmer again went to the money lender to inquire about the silver. The money lender explained that because this sum had been increased by compound interest, the original ten pieces of half silver had grown to thirty and one-half pieces.The farmer was well pleased...thus in fifty years had the investment multiplied itself at rental almost seventeen times. This then is the third cure for a lean purse: to put each coin to labouring that it may reproduce it's 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.
4. Guard Thy Treasure From Loss; Every owner of gold is tempted by opportunities whereby it would seem that he could make large sums by it's investment in most plausible project.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?The penalty of risk is probable loss.
5. Make of Thy Dwelling A Profitable Investment; No man's family can fully enjoy life unless they do have a plot of ground wherein children can play in the clean earth and where the wife may raise not only blossoms but good rich herbs to feed her family. Therefore, do I recommend that every man own the roof that sheltereth him and his family.
   
6. Insure A Future Income; Provide in advance for the needs of thy old age and the protection of thy family.
7. Increaseth Thy Ability to Earn; General desires are but weak longings. For a man to wish to be rich is a little purpose. For a man to desire five pieces of gold is a tangible desire which press to fulfillment. After he has backed his desire for five pieces of gold with strength of purpose to secure it, next he can find similar ways of obtaining to obtain ten pieces and then twenty pieces and later a thousand and, behold, he has become wealthy. In learning to secure his one definite small desire, he hath trained himself to secure a larger one. This is the process by which wealth is accumulated: first in small sums, then in larger ones.

George S.Clason
(The Richest Man In Babylon)