May Your Purse be Heavy, and Your Heart, Light

Written in the 1920s this is a classic story about how to be financially successful.  In order to make the author's points more appealing and inspirational, the tale is set in ancient Babylon where money was invented.  Artfully written as "a book of cures for lean purses," it weaves together a set of sound financial principles.

Money follows simple rules of its acquisition: Start thy purse to fattening, Control thy expenditures, Make thy gold multiply, Guard thy treasures from loss, Make of thy dwelling a profitable investment, Insure a future income, Increase thy ability to earn.  Despite the archaic language, things haven't changed much!

We get to meet some interesting characters to enliven the story.  There's Bansir the spendthrift, Algamish the money-lender, Mathon the gold-dealer, Ashtar the goddess of good luck, Tarkar the camel trader, Arkad the richest man in Babylon, plus many hapless souls who serve as examples of how to mishandle money.  At the end of each chapter is its moral, in case you missed it.

This is an engaging yarn, full of cautionary tales and commonsense.  Like a spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down, it's an enjoyable way to take in timeless advice.