How to get an extra $935 each year towards your first home

Do you know about the government’s First Home Saver Accounts?

First home saver accounts are designed to assist Australians 18 years and older to save for their first home. The accounts are offered by a range of banks and credit unions. The first home saver account is a government initiative designed to compliment the existing First Home Owners Grant scheme.

Features of First Home Saver Accounts:

• The Australian Government contributes 17 per cent on the first $5,500 (indexed) of individual contributions made every year. For example, if you contribute $5,500, the government will contribute $935.
• A minimum of $1,000 per year over four separate financial years must be deposited before funds can be withdrawn for the purpose of buying a property
• Interest earned is taxed at the low rate of 15 per cent
• Withdrawals from the account are tax free when they are used to purchase a first home to live in
• No minimum annual deposit is required to keep the account open
• First Home Saver accounts can remain open until you are 65 at which point they must be closed
• Withdrawals are not allowed from the account except for the purpose of buying a first home.
• Make personal contributions of at least $1,000 for each of four financial years (not necessarily consecutive years) before you can withdraw your money.
• An account balance cap of $85,000 exists (indexed annually), after which interest is still paid to increase the balance but further contributions by the account holder are not accepted

First Home Saver Account Restrictions

In May 2010 the government announced amendments to some of the restrictions on the account. Borrowers who open a FHSA but purchase a property within the first four years will now have their funds credited to their home loan account tax free rather than their super at the end of the four year minimum period. Savings will still be credited to the account holders superannuation account should a property not be purchased for owner-occupation, such as an investment property. These changes have been legislated and were introduced recently.

Compare First Home Saver Accounts

If you are considering opening a FHSA, it pays to do your research beforehand. There are currently 19 institutions in Australia offering FHSAs and their offerings will vary. The main differential is the interest which they apply to the account above the government contribution. At the time of writing the range of interest was 0-5%, which can equate to a difference of $1250 worth of interest earnings on a $25,000 deposit.

Source:  CANSTAR

Your experience with the First Home Saver Account

• What has been your experience with the First Home Saver Account?
• Did you know about it before reading this blog?
• Are you using it?
• Did you know about the different interest rates available?

7 Steps to Incredible Personal Productivity

Here is some practical advice to turn an average workday into an incredibly productive day.

Occasionally you need to go the extra mile. Sometimes you need to complete a major project, tackle a task you’ve put off, or just knock out a ton of work in one day.

Here’s the best way to turn a normal workday into an incredibly productive workday: And then you can apply the successful tricks to your normal day and get more from it every time.

1. Let everyone know. Interruptions destroy focus and kill productivity. So are the guilt trips your family "sometimes unintentionally" lay on you. Let coworkers and family know you’re planning a “project day.” Tell key customers too. Announce you will be tied up on, say, Tuesday, and that you will respond to calls and emails on Thursday. Let people know who to contact in an emergency. Some will get with you before Tuesday, and the rest will make a mental note you’re not available. In either case, you’re covered.

Plus you get the “peer pressure” benefit: When you tell people you plan to finish a project you will be more likely to see the job through. Peer pressure can be positive motivation harness it.

2. Set a target. Don’t plan your project day based on fuzzy parameters like, “I will stay at it as long as possible,” or, “I won’t leave until I no longer feel productive.” Those approaches give you an easy out. Commit to working for as long as you estimate it will take. Pick a number.

There’s a cool benefit to this approach too: The longer the time frame you set the quicker the early hours seem to go by. Something about knowing you will be working for a long time allows you to stop checking the clock. When you know you’re in for a long haul your mind automatically adapts. Try it, it works.

3. Start unusually early or unusually late. When you step outside your norm, your perspective of time shifts as well. Start at 5 a.m. or revisit your student days and start at 6 p.m. and work through the night. Set the stage for an unusually productive day by dramatically changing your normal routine.

4. Delay gratification. Say you like to listen to music while you work. Don’t, at least for the first couple of hours. That way, when your enthusiasm really starts to wane, turning on the music will perk you back up. Hold off on whatever things you use to brighten up your workday, at least for a while. Delayed gratification is always better gratification, and in this case can provide just the spark you need to keep going.

5. Refuel and recharge before you need to. When endurance athletes wait until they are thirsty to drink they’ve waited too long. The same premise applies at work. Have a snack a little earlier than normal. Start drinking water right away. If you normally sit, stand up before you start to feel stiff or cramped. If you normally stand, sit before your back stiffens or your legs ache. Be proactive so discomfort can’t dampen your motivation or weaken your resolve.

And make sure you plan meals wisely. Don’t take an hour for lunch. Plan food ahead of time that you can prepare and eat quickly. The goal is to refuel, re-hydrate, and keep on rolling. Remember, this is an unusual day treat it that way.

6. Don’t take rest breaks. Take productivity breaks. Newton’s Law of Productivity states that a productive person in motion tends to stay in motion. Maintaining momentum is everything. Don’t take a TV or Internet break. Take breaks that reinforce your sense of activity and accomplishment. Take a quick walk and think about what you’re tackling next. Then jump back in. Even a few minutes spent in the land of inactivity make it hard to regain momentum.

7. Don’t stop until it’s done. Stopping simply because you’re tired or bored is habit-forming. (Plus you’re always capable of doing more than you think.) If the only barrier to completion is effort or motivation, stay at it and break through that barrier.

Think about your normal workday; at some point you typically think, “That’s it. That’s all I have in me today.” That limit was set long ago, but it’s an artificial limit based on habit. Pushing through the “pain” is a habit anyone can develop, and when you do, you automatically set your effort limit a little higher making you capable of even more on a regular basis.

 Author Jeff Haden 

Self-employed - can you get a loan?

It doesn’t matter how much you earn or how regular your income is: if you’re self-employed, that’s one more hoop you’ll need to jump through when applying for a home loan.

That’s not to say all self-employed borrowers will struggle getting finance. It just means you might need to work a little bit harder and pay close attention to the details.

No matter what else, to boost your chances of getting an approval, you’ve got to make sure you know your numbers.

Sit down with your broker or lender and establish what taxable income level you need to apply for credit, otherwise you’re flying in the dark and destined to be disappointed.

Once you’ve established your borrowing power and determined eligibility for finance, you’ll need to prove that your income is what you say it is.

Information is king. When assessing a self-employed applicant’s eligibility for a home loan, lenders looks for consistency of income. They want to see that business has been ticking along steadily and maintaining a level of income that is suitable to meet their minimum servicing requirements.

To confirm this, the lender will request the most recent two years’ worth of personal tax returns. If there is a large fluctuation between taxable income for the two financial years, the lender will generally utilise the figures that relate to the lower of the two, even if that is the older statement.

This can often leave the applicant falling short and failing the banks initial servicing check. Not all hope is lost, though. By working closely with your broker and your accountant, you can often unearth pertinent information about your business that can mitigate large deviations.

For example, a start-up business may have a lot of one-off expenses in the early days, which a lender might take as being ongoing or recurring expenses account.

Also, if you renew a certain piece of equipment or attend courses or training one financial year, you won’t necessarily have this same expense every year, so future year’s will see this expense show up in net profits.

Self-employed applicants must tell their broker or lender what’s been going on in the business, as a solution may not be obvious to the applicant, but will be to a trained eye.

Finally, the most common issue for self-employed applicants is that their accountants are too good at reducing their taxable income, which can come back to bite you when it comes to applying for credit.

Without adequate taxable income, most lenders will shy away from doing business with you. In this new age of regulation and responsible lending, there is increased pressure on lenders and indeed brokers to confirm an applicant’s ability to meet minimal servicing requirements.

Ask yourself this – if I am not able to borrow money, how is this going to impact on my ability to make the financial decisions I have planned? Am I saving more by not paying tax, or am I losing more by not being able to invest in a new home or investment property? And go from there.

Make sure you don't leave empty handed

If, after inspecting a house during open house or a private inspection you decide you are no longer interested in that property, make sure you at least leave with something of value. That doesn’t mean the flat screen TV but take the details on another deal the agent may have in the area. 
If you just walk out, which is what most people actually do, it is a wasted opportunity. You have had some face-to-face time with the agent, which is rarer than it has ever been with the internet now playing a huge role in selling property. You need to ask the agent questions which will help you find the deal you are after

• Have you got any other properties you can tell me about?
• Have you listed anything in the last 3 days? (it takes about 5 to 7 days from the day an agent lists a property before it gets advertised or hits the net)
• Do you have any listings coming up?
• Tell them specifically what you are after and ask if they have any of those available
• Have you got any old listings that you can’t sell? (these are often cold and now forgotten about).

It is amazing how often you can salvage a poor inspection by coming away with new information and a new deal to explore.

One last tip

If you did like the property you just inspected but there are one or two things that are letting it down or preventing you from making an offer, express those concerns with the agent. It might be something like the price... tell them the price you think it is worth (and if possible provide comparables properties to support your claim) and who knows, they may tell you something interesting like “I agree, but the owner has requested we advertise at this price for a week and see how we go”, or “since placing the ad the owner has become more realistic and your price isn’t too far off the money”.

The main thing is to ensure you never leave an inspection empty handed because if you do you have wasted a very valuable opportunity.

THE SEVENTH CURE - Increase thy ability to earn

"This day do I speak to thee, my students, of one of the most vital remedies for a lean purse. Yet, I will talk not of gold but of yourselves, of the men beneath the robes of many colors who do sit before me. I will talk to you of those things within the minds and lives of men which do work for or against their success." So did Arkad address his class upon the seventh day. 

"Not long ago came to me a young man seeking to borrow. When I questioned him the cause of his necessity, he complained that his earnings were insufficient to pay his expenses. Thereupon I explained to him, this being the case, he was a poor customer for the money lender, as he possessed no surplus earning capacity to repay the loan. 

" 'What you need, young man,' I told him, 'is to earn more coins. What dost thou to increase thy capacity to earn?' 

" 'All that I can do' he replied. 'Six times within two moons have I approached my master to  request my pay be increased, but without success. No man can go oftener than that.' 

"We may smile at his simplicity, yet he did possess one of the vital requirements to increase his earnings. Within him was a strong desire to earn more, a proper and commendable desire. 

"Preceding accomplishment must be desire. Thy desires must be strong and definite. General desires are but weak longings. For a man to wish to be rich is of little purpose. For a man to desire five pieces of gold is a tangible desire which he can 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 to obtain ten pieces and then twenty pieces and later a thousand pieces 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 as a man learns and

becomes more capable. 

"Desires must be simple and definite. They defeat their own purpose should they be too many, too confusing, or beyond a man's training to accomplish. "

As a man perfecteth himself in his calling even so doth his ability to earn increase. In those days when I was a humble scribe carving upon the clay for a few coppers each day, I observed that other workers did more than I and were paid more. Therefore, did I determine that I would be exceeded by none. Nor did it take long for me to discover the reason for their greater success. More interest in my work, more concentration upon my task, more persistence in my effort, and, behold, few men could carve more tablets in a day than I. With reasonable promptness my increased skill was rewarded, nor was it necessary for me to go six times to my master to request recognition. 

"The more of wisdom we know, the more we may earn. That man who seeks to learn more of his craft shall be richly rewarded. If he is an artisan, he may seek to learn the methods and the tools of those most skillful in the same line. If he laboreth at the law or at healing, he may consult and exchange knowledge with others of his calling. If he be a merchant, he may continually seek better goods that can be purchased at lower prices. 

"Always do the affairs of man change and improve because keen-minded men seek greater skill that they may better serve those upon whose patronage they depend. Therefore, I urge all men to be in the front rank of progress and not to stand still, lest they be left behind. 

"Many things come to make a man's life rich with gainful experiences. Such things as the following, a man must do if he respect himself: 

"He must pay his debts with all the promptness within his power, not purchasing that for which he is unable to pay. 

"He must take care of his family that they may think and speak well of him. 

"He must make a will of record that, in case the Gods call him, proper and honorable division of his property be accomplished. 

"He must have compassion upon those who are injured and smitten by misfortune and aid them within reasonable limits. He must do deeds of thoughtfulness to those dear to him. 

"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 thy self to achieve thy carefully considered desires. 

"These then are the seven cures for a lean purse, which, out of the experience of a long and successful life, I do urge for all men who desire wealth. "There is more gold in Babylon, my students, than thou dreamest of. There is abundance for all. 

"Go thou forth and practice these truths that thou mayest prosper and grow wealthy, as is thy right. 

"Go thou forth and teach these truths that every honorable subject of his majesty may also share liberally in the ample wealth of our beloved city." 

From The Richest Man In Babylon by George S. Clayson

THE SIXTH CURE - Insure a future income

"The life of every man proceedeth from his childhood to his old age. This is the path of life and no man may deviate from it unless the Gods call him prematurely to the world beyond. Therefore do I say that it behooves 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 lesson shall instruct thee in providing a full purse when time has made thee less able to learn." So Arkad addressed his class upon the sixth day. 

"The man who, because of his understanding of the laws of wealth, acquireth a growing surplus, should give thought to those future days. He should plan certain investments or provision that may endure safely for many years, yet will be available when the time arrives which he has so wisely anticipated. 

"There are diverse ways by which a man may provide with safety for his future. He may provide a hiding place and there bury a secret treasure. Yet, no matter with what skill it be hidden, it may nevertheless become the loot of thieves. For this reason I recommend not this plan. 

"A man may buy houses or lands for this purpose. If wisely chosen as to their usefulness and value in the future, they are permanent in their value and their earnings or their sale will provide well for his purpose. 

"A man may loan a small sum to the money lender and increase it at regular periods. The rental which the money lender adds to this will largely add to its increase. I do know a sandal maker, named Ansan, who explained to me not long ago that each week for eight years he had deposited with his money lender two pieces of silver. The money lender had but recently given him an accounting over which he greatly rejoiced. The total of his small deposits with their rental at the customary rate of onefourth their value for each four years, had now become a thousand and forty pieces of silver. 

"I did gladly encourage him further by demonstrating to him with my knowledge of the numbers that in twelve years more, if he would keep his regular deposits of but two pieces of silver each week, the money lender would then owe him four thousand pieces of silver, a worthy competence for the rest of his life. 

"Surely, when such a small payment made with regularity doth produce such profitable results, no man can afford not to insure a treasure for his old age and the protection of his family, no matter how prosperous his business and his investments may be. 

"I would that I might say more about this. In my mind rests a belief that some day wisethinking men will devise a plan to insure against death whereby many men pay in but a trifling sum regularly, the aggregate making a handsome sum for the family of each member who passeth to the beyond. This do I see as something desirable and which I could highly recommend. But today it is not possible because it must reach beyond the life of any man or any partnership

to operate. It must be as stable as the King's throne. Some day do I feel that such a plan shall come to pass and be a great blessing to many men, because even the first small payment will make available a snug fortune for the family of a member should he pass on. 

"But because we live in our own day and not in the days which are to come, must we take advantage of those means and ways of accomplishing our purposes. Therefore do I recommend to all men, that they, by wise and well thought out methods, do provide against a lean purse in their mature years. For a lean purse to a man no longer able to earn or to a family without its head is a sore tragedy.

"This, then, is the sixth cure for a lean purse. Provide in advance for the needs of thy growing age and the protection of thy family."

From "The Richest Man In Babylon" by George S. Clayson ....to be continued

THE FIFTH CURE - Make of thy dwelling a profitable investment

"If a man setteth aside nine parts of his earnings upon which to live and enjoy life, and if any part of this nine parts he can turn into a profitable investment without detriment to his wellbeing, then so much faster will his treasures grow." So spake Arkad to his class at their fifth lesson. 

"All too many of our men of Babylon do raise their families in unseemly quarters. They do pay to exacting landlords liberal rentals for rooms where their wives have not a spot to raise the blooms that gladden a woman's heart and their children have no place to play their games except in the unclean alleys. 

"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. 

"To a man's heart it brings gladness to eat the figs from his own trees and the grapes of his own vines. 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 endeavors. Therefore, do I recommend that every man own the roof that sheltereth him and his. 

"Nor is it beyond the ability of any well intentioned man to own his home. Hath not our great king so widely extended the walls of Babylon that within them much land is now unused and may be purchased at sums most reasonable? 

"Also I say to you, my students, that the money lenders gladly consider the desires of men who seek homes and land for their families. Readily may thou borrow to pay the brickmaker and the builder for such commendable purposes, if thou can show a reasonable portion of the necessary sum which thou thyself hath provided for the purpose. 

"Then when the house be built, thou canst pay the money lender with the same regularity as thou didst pay the landlord. Because each payment will reduce thy indebtedness to the money lender, a few years will satisfy his loan. 

"Then will thy heart be glad because thou wilt own in thy own right a valuable property and thy only cost will be the king's taxes. 

"Also wilt thy good wife go more often to the river to wash thy robes, that each time returning she may bring a goatskin of water to pour upon the growing things. 

"Thus come many blessings to the man who owneth his own house. And greatly will it reduce his cost of living, making available more of his earnings for pleasures and the gratification of his desires. This, then, is the fifth cure for a lean purse: Own thy own home.

From The Richest Man In Babylon by George S. Clayson ...........to be continued

THE FOURTH CURE - Guard thy treasures from loss

"Misfortune loves a shining mark. Gold in a man's purse must be guarded with firmness, else it be lost. Thus it is wise that we must first secure small amounts and learn to protect them before the Gods entrust us with larger." So spoke Arkad upon the fourth day to his class. 


"Every owner of gold is tempted by opportunities whereby it would seem that he could make large sums by its investment in most plausible projects. Often friends and relatives are eagerly entering such investment and urge him to follow. 


"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 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. 


"Before thou loan it to any man assure thyself of his ability to repay and his reputation for doing so, that thou mayest not unwittingly be making him a present of thy hard-earned treasure. 


"Before thou entrust it as an investment in any field acquaint thyself with the dangers which may beset it. 


"My own first investment was a tragedy to me at the time. The guarded savings of a year I did entrust to a brickmaker, named Azmur, who was traveling over the far seas and in Tyre agreed to buy for me the rare jewels of the Phoenicians. These we would sell upon his return and divide the profits. The Phoenicians were scoundrels and sold him bits of glass. My treasure was lost. Today, my training would show to me at once the folly of entrusting a brickmaker to buy jewels. 


"Therefore, do I advise thee from the wisdom of my experiences: be not too confident of thine own wisdom in entrusting thy treasures to the possible pitfalls of investments. Better by far to consult the wisdom of those experienced in handling money for profit. Such advice is freely given for the asking and may readily possess a value equal in gold to the sum thou considerest investing. In truth, such is its actual value if it save thee from loss. 


"This, then, is the fourth cure for a lean purse, and of great importance if it prevent thy purse from being emptied once it has become well filled. 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. Consult with wise men. Secure the advice of those experienced in the profitable handling of gold. Let their wisdom protect thy reasure from unsafe 47investments." 


From The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clayson ..... to be continued

THE THIRD CURE - Make thy gold multiply

"Behold thy lean purse is fattening. Thou hast disciplined thyself to leave therein one-tenth of all thou earneth. Thou hast controlled thy expenditures to protect thy growing treasure. Next, we will consider means to put thy treasure to labor and to increase. Gold in a purse is gratifying to own and satisfieth a miserly soul but earns nothing. The gold we may retain from our earnings is but the start. The earnings it will make shall build our fortunes." So spoke Arkad upon the third day to his class. 

"How therefore may we put our gold to work? My first investment was unfortunate, for I lost all. Its tale I will relate later. My first profitable investment was a loan I made to a man named Aggar, a shield maker. Once each year did he buy large shipments of bronze brought from across the sea to use in his trade. Lacking sufficient capital to pay the merchants, he would borrow from those who had extra coins. He was an honorable man. His borrowing he would repay, together with a liberal rental, as he sold his shields. 

"Each time I loaned to him I loaned back also the rental he had paid to me. Therefore not only did my capital increase, but its earnings likewise increased. Most gratifying was it to have these sums return to my purse. 

"I tell you, my students, a man's wealth is not in the coins he carries in his purse; it is the income he buildeth, the golden stream that continually floweth into his purse and keepeth it always bulging. That is what every man desireth. That is what thou, each one of thee desireth; an income that continueth to come whether thou work or travel. 

"Great income I have acquired. So great that I am called a very rich man. My loans to Aggar were my first training in profitable investment. Gaining wisdom from this experience, I extended my loans and investments as my capital increased. From a few sources at first, from many sources later, flowed into my purse a golden stream of wealth available for such wise uses as I should decide.  

"Behold, from my humble earnings I had begotten a hoard of golden slaves, each laboring and earning more gold. As they labored for me, so their children also labored and their children's children until great was the income from their combined efforts. 

"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 the money lender did, and agreed the rental should be one-fourth of its value each four years. The farmer asked, because this sum he had set aside as belonging to his son, that the rental be add 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 silver had now grown to thirty and one-half pieces. 

"The farmer was well pleased and because the son did not need the coins, he left them with the money lender. When the son became fifty years of age, the father meantime having passed to the other world, the money lender paid the son in settlement one hundred and sixty-seven pieces of silver. 

"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 laboring 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." 

From The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clayson ............... to be continued

The Second Cure - Control thy expenditures

"Some of your members, my students, have asked me this: 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?" So did Arkad address his students upon the second day.

"Yesterday how many of thee carried lean purses?"

"All of us," answered the class.

"Yet, thou do not all earn the same. Some earn much more than others. Some have much larger families to support. Yet, all purses were equally lean. Now I will tell thee an unusual truth about men and sons of men. It is this; That what each of us calls our 'necessary expenses' will always grow to equal our incomes unless we protest to the contrary. 

From the "Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clayson............ to be continued

"Confuse not the necessary expenses with thy desires. Each of you, together with your good families, have more desires than your earnings can gratify. Therefore are thy earnings spent to gratify these desires insofar as they will go. Still thou retainest many ungratified desires.

"All men are burdened with more desires than they can gratify. Because of my wealth thinkest thou I may gratify every desire? 'Tis a false idea. There are limits to my time. There are limits to my strength. There are limits to the distance I may travel. There are limits to what I may eat. There are limits to the zest with which I may enjoy. 

"I say to you that just as weeds grow in a field wherever the farmer leaves space for their roots, even so freely do desires grow in men whenever there is a possibility of their being gratified. Thy desires are a multitude and those that thou mayest gratify are but few.

"Study thoughtfully thy accustomed habits of living. Herein may be most often found certain accepted expenses that may wisely be reduced or eliminated. Let thy motto be one hundred percent of appreciated value demanded for each coin spent.

"Therefore, engrave upon the clay each thing for which thou desireth to spend. Select those that are necessary and others that are possible through the expenditure of nine- tenths of thy income. Cross out the rest and consider them but a part of that great multitude of desires that must go unsatisfied and regret them not.

"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 it to help thee. Make it thy first assistant in defending thy fattening purse."

Hereupon one of the students, wearing a robe of red and gold, arose and said, "I am a free man. I believe that it is my right to enjoy the good things of life. Therefore do I rebel against the slavery of a budget which determines just how much I may spend and for what. I feel it would take much pleasure from my life and make me little more than a pack-ass to carry a burden."

To him Arkad replied, "Who, my friend, would determine thy budget?"

"I would make it for myself," responded the protesting one.

"In that case were a pack-ass to budget his burden would he include therein jewels and rugs and heavy bars of gold? Not so. He would include hay and grain and a bag of water for the desert trail.

"The purpose of a budget is to help thy purse to fatten. It is to assist thee to have thy necessities and, insofar as attainable, thy other desires. It is to enable thee to realize thy most cherished desires by defending them from thy casual wishes. Like a bright light in a dark cave thy budget shows up the leaks from thy purse and enables thee to stop them and control thy expenditures for definite and gratifying purposes.

"This, then, is the second cure for a lean purse. Budget thy expenses that thou mayest have coins to pay for thy necessities, to pay for thy enjoyments and to gratify thy worthwhile desires without spending more than nine-tenths of thy earnings."


From the "Richest Man in Babylon" by George S. Clayson ............to be continued

THE FIRST CURE - Start thy purse to fattening

Arkad addressed a thoughtful man in the second row. "My good friend, at what craft workest thou?"

"I," replied the man, "am a scribe and carve records upon the clay tablets." "Even at such labor did I myself earn my first coppers. Therefore, thou hast the same opportunity to build a fortune."

He spoke to a florid-faced man, farther back. "Pray tell also what dost thou to earn thy bread?"

"I," responded this man, "am a meat butcher. I do buy the goats the farmers raise and kill them and sell the meat to the housewives and the hides to the sandal makers."

"Because thou dost also labor and earn, thou hast every advantage to succeed that I did possess."

In this way did Arkad proceed to find out how each man labored to earn his living. When he had done questioning them, he said:

"Now, my students, ye can see that there are many trades and labors at which men may earn coins. Each of the ways of earning is a stream of gold from which the worker doth divert by his labors a portion to his own purse. Therefore into the purse of each of you flows a stream of coins large or small according to his ability. Is it not so?"

Thereupon they agreed that it was so. "Then," continued Arkad, "if each of you desireth to build for himself a fortune, is it not wise to start by utilizing that source of wealth which he already has established?"

To this they agreed.

Then Arkad turned to a humble man who had declared himself an egg merchant. "If thou select one of thy baskets and put into it each morning ten eggs and take out from it each evening nine eggs, what will eventually happen?"

"It will become in time overflowing."

"Why?"

"Because each day I put in one more egg than I take out."

Arkad turned to the class with a smile. "Does any man here have a lean purse?"

First they looked amused. Then they laughed. Lastly they waved their purses in jest.

"All right," he continued, "Now I shall tell thee the first remedy I learned to cure a lean purse. Do exactly as I have suggested to the egg merchant. 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 thy soul.

"Deride not what I say because of its simplicity. Truth is always simple. I told thee I would tell how built my fortune. This was my beginning. I, too, carried a lean purse and cursed it because there was naught within to satisfy my desires. But when I began to take out from my purse but nine parts of ten I put in, it began to fatten. So will thine.

"Now I will tell a strange truth, the reason for which I know not. When I ceased to pay out more than nine-tenths of my earnings, I managed to get along just as well. I was not shorter than before. Also, ere long, did coins come to me more easily than before. Surely it is a law of the Gods that unto him who keepeth and spendeth not a certain part of all his earnings, shall gold come more easily. Likewise, him whose purse is empty does gold avoid.

"Which desirest thou the most? Is it the gratification of thy desires of each day, a jewel, a bit of finery, better raiment, more food; things quickly gone and forgotten? Or is it substantial belongings, gold, lands, herds, merchandise, income-bringing investments? The coins thou takest from thy purse bring the first. The coins thou leavest within it will bring the latter.

"This, my students, was the first cure I did discover for my lean purse: 'For each ten coins I put in, to spend but nine.' Debate this amongst yourselves. If any man proves it untrue, tell me upon the morrow when we shall meet again."

From The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clayson……………………… to be continued