The Automatic Millionaire says many of the same things.
Seven Cures For a Lean Purse
1. The First Cure: Start thy purse to fattening.[15]
- Save 10% of your paycheck. Arkad advises on saving 10% of your annual income to start building up your wealth (or purse): “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 they soul”.[3][15]
2. The Second Cure: Control thy expenditures.[15]
- Avoid luxury items. Arkad advises against luxury expenditures that ultimately become confused as necessities: “The gold we may retain from our earnings is but the start”, and, “What each of us calls our ‘necessary expenses’ will always grow to equal our incomes unless we protest to the contrary”, and, “Confuse not the necessary expenses with thy desires”.[3][15]
3. The Third Cure: Make thy gold multiply.[15]
- Invest in mutual funds and compound interest (CDs and high-interest savings accounts). Arkad advises to invest and to compound the investment return from these savings: “The earnings it will make shall build our fortunes … Learn to make your treasure work for you. Make it your slave. Make its children and its children’s children work for you”.[3][15]
4. The Fourth Cure: Guard thy treasures from loss.[15]
- Avoid big pay raises before the time: be consistent with saving little by little. Arkad advises against taking a risk of loss and investing get-rich-quick schemes: “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”.[3][15]
5. The Fifth Cure: Make of thy dwelling a profitable investment.[15]
- Pay off your mortgage quickly: and start an at-home business. Arkad advises buying versus renting your principal residence, and using your residence to establish a business: “I recommend that every man own the roof that sheltereth him and his”, and, “Nor is it beyond the ability of any well-intentioned man to own his home”.[3][15]
6. The Sixth Cure: Insure a future income.[15]
- Save for retirement. Arkad advises on having a pension and future retirement income: “Therefore do I say that it behooves a man to make preparations 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”.[3][15]
7. The Seventh Cure: Increase thy ability to earn.[15]
The Five Laws of Gold
1. The First Law of Gold. Gold cometh gladly and in increasing quantity to any man who will put by not less than one-tenth of his earnings to create an estate for his future and that of his family.[15]
- Save 10% of your paycheck. Arkad’s advice here is very similar to the First Cure, which is that saving is the start to building wealth.[2][15]
2. The Second Law of Gold. Gold laboreth diligently and contentedly for the wise owner who finds for it profitable employment, multiplying even as the flocks of the field.[15]
- Mutual funds, CDs, and high-interest savings accounts. Arkad’s advice here is very similar to the Third Cure, which is that these savings can themselves grow and compound your wealth.[2][15]
3. The Third Law of Gold. Gold clingeth to the protection of the cautious owner who invests it under the advice of men wise in its handling.[15]
- Certified Financial Planners (CFPs) are good to use. Arkad’s advice here is similar to the Fourth Cure, which is about being patient and having a long-term view.[2][15]
4. The Fourth Law of Gold. Gold slippeth away from the man who invests it in businesses or purposes with which he is not familiar or which are not approved by those skilled in its keep.[15]
- Don’t invest in stocks you don’t understand. Arkad’s advice here is about investing in what you know about and understand.[2][15]
5. The Fifth Law of Gold. Gold flees the man who would force it to impossible earnings or who followeth the alluring advice of tricksters and schemers or who trusts it to his own inexperience and romantic desires in investment.[15]