George Samuel Clason
Personal finance pioneer who taught timeless wealth principles through ancient Babylonian parables
George Samuel Clason (1874-1957) was an American businessman and writer, best known for The Richest Man in Babylon. In 1926, he compiled a series of financial parables set in ancient Babylon into a book, creating one of the most enduring classics in personal finance. Through the fictional story of Babylonian merchant Arkad, Clason articulated seven wealth principles, the most central being the one-tenth savings rule — for every ten coins earned, keep at least one. These principles, presented as parables, transcend culture and time, and the book remains one of the world's best-selling personal finance titles with over 2 million copies sold.
Methodologies
- Pay Yourself First: One-Tenth Savings Rule in Practice - Every time you receive income, immediately transfer one-tenth to a dedicated savings account, before all other spending
- Systematic Application of Seven Cures for a Lean Purse - Build a complete personal financial system following Arkad's seven wealth principles
Key decisions and timeline
- Born in Louisiana, Missouri - The growth environment has a profound impact on the formation of financial values
- Founded Clason Map Company - Identifying market needs and providing practical solutions is the foundation of business success
- Conceived Financial Parables Set in Ancient Babylon - Embedding abstract principles in concrete stories greatly enhances dissemination effectiveness
Beliefs and mental models
- Pay Yourself First: The One-Tenth Savings Rule - Every time you receive income, first save at least one-tenth, then pay other expenses. This is not frugality but an investment in your future self. The root cause of most financial failure is placing savings after spending, not before.
- Make Money Work for You: Savings Must Earn Returns - Saving is only the first step; accumulated wealth must be put to work — generating interest and returns through lending, investing, or operating. Idle money is a waste of wealth. Every coin should beget more coins; this is the core mechanism of wealth accumulation.
- Protect Your Principal: Do Not Entrust Wealth to Those Without Expertise - Wealth accumulates over years but can be lost overnight. Investing money in areas you don't understand, or entrusting it to people without relevant expertise, is the most common cause of wealth disappearing. Conservatively protecting principal beats chasing high returns.
- Seven Cures for a Lean Purse - Seven foundational wealth accumulation principles articulated through Arkad in Clason's parables
- Five Laws of Gold - Gold obeys five laws; those who understand them accumulate wealth, those who violate them inevitably lose it
- Pay Yourself First Principle - Before paying any bills, save one-tenth of your income — this is the first step to wealth accumulation