I had a financial rebirth after reading it.
I was at the time a struggling business owner, harrowed by a very volatile income and even more volatile bills. I'll be honest money was tight. I was not sure one day to the next if I would still be in business.
One of the guiding principles was to take a percentage and pay yourself, save some, and invest some after you had some thing to invest. This led us to take every receivable and treat it similarly.
So this is what we did.
lets say for example that a check was $100.00 for ease of calculation.
- 10% went to Savings
- 20% went to Advertising
- 25% went to Consumables
- 35% went to Fuel
- 15% went to Taxes
So looking at this I could put all the money in one lump sum and fret about what got paid first or I could break up the bill in to categories that matched my disbursement plan. The result was the difference between night and day.
I now did not have to worry if there was going to be enough fuel money. or money if I needed to purchase Consumables. My Wife and partner (on so many levels) was able to do the advertising with out us fighting about the cost and what bill got priority. It was heaven.
Now this was not set in stone. We would often in the beginning discuss changes to the percentages, some times changing the percentages to add a new category but we were never fighting about money. We eventually settled on a percentage plan as the months went by.
Now, almost 15 years later we still use the principles in our home. The business did not last, due to an injury, but the principles have endured. It has made our life a better one because, even if we have an unexpected bill, like the car needing a repair, it does not send our life into chaos. We have been saving all along a small percentage for just an eventuality.
I have learned a great deal from this book and I encourage you to check it out.
here is a link to the book on amazon (note I receive no compensation for you purchasing here, Just a convenience) The Richest Man in Babylon
From the house, I'm Jason Bailey, Hope to see you soon.
P.S. If you have any suggestions of other books that could be helpful please leave them in the comments
