Why Personal Finance Matters To Investors

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Why Personal Finance Matters To Investors by Chris Gilbert

Personal finance and investing are not mutually exclusive. If you want to invest, then make sure you have your personal finances in order first. I know, I know… it’s boring. But I have just the cure. This post is designed to teach you the important principles in a fun and different way, using simple parables that never seem to lose relevance.

Talking Points

  • How investing and personal finance go hand in hand
  • The Richest Man in Babylon
  • The only 7 lessons you’ll need to tackle your personal finances

Investing And Personal Finance Go Hand In Hand

It’s important to be financially stable before we begin investing. Mathematics will back me up on this. If you have $10,000 of credit card debt and the interest is 18.99%, you’re paying at least $1,899 a year on that principal just in interest. Let me repeat, just in interest. That’s not including the principal. You would have to generate a 20% return on investment with that same $10,000 to barely break even. And even then, it would take years to pay off the principal.

But it’s important for everyone, not just investors, to take their personal finances seriously. My goal, on this website, is to increase your probability AND reduce the amount of time it takes to become financially independent.

“Financial peace isn’t the acquisition of stuff. It’s learning to live on less than you make, so you can give money back and have money to invest. You can’t win until you do this.” — Dave Ramsey

So what’s my point? It’s crucial that we cover our debts first and foremost. It’s vital to save more than we spend. And it’s of utmost importance that we pay ourselves first. This means paying down as much debt as possible while still saving some money to invest with.

The Richest Man In Babylon

Personal Finance

This post will be designed almost entirely off the incredibly clear and concise teachings of George S. Clason’s The Richest Man in Babylon. There’s a reason for this. My parents always tried to teach me the importance of personal finance. From Suze Orman to Dave Ramsey, I tried to take in as much as I could. It was just hard, tiresome, and not very exciting… especially for a young kid. However, I can’t thank my parents enough because most of it stuck (at least the basics) and I knew more about finances before college than most adults ever will.

That said, I really wish I would’ve discovered this book a long time ago. Through ancient parables detailed in an extremely clear manner, Clason explains the tenets of personal finance better than anyone who has ever attempted to do so, and there have been many. You could spend months pouring over dozens of finance books and you still wouldn’t have a better understanding than if you read this bite-sized book (100 pages total).

“It’s not how much money you make, but how much money you keep, how hard it works for you, and how many generations you keep it for.” — Robert Kiyosaki

The story follows Bansir, a chariot maker, and Kobbi, a musician, in ancient Babylon. These two men were the best at their respective crafts, yet were poor and barely made ends meet. In contrast, Arkad, whom the men knew since childhood, had amassed great wealth. So the two men set out to seek advice from Arkad, and the lessons he shares are a majority of the book. These lessons are essentially personal finance tutorials that remain relevant to us even today.

7 Steps To Tackle Your Personal Finances

The 7 lessons of personal finance are adapted from the “seven cures for a lean purse”, which Clason describes throughout the book.

  • “Start thy purse to fattening” (Pay yourself first) — Arkad’s first remedy for a lean purse is a lesson on paying yourself first. He explains by telling them if you have 10 coins in your purse, only spend 9. Overtime the purse will fatten and you’ll see your wealth increase. He’s essentially saying you should always save some of your earnings, in his example 10%, so you can begin to build your financial independence. This is a great example because it works at every income level if you just save 10%. Arkad also explains that he managed to live just as well only using 90% of his earnings.
  • “Control thy expenditures”(Save more than you spend) — Arkad’s second remedy begins with a cautionary tale of how even the richest among us are often just as broke. He explains that your “necessary expenses” will always grow to equal your income, unless you contest. This means living below your means, never touching the 10% you’ve set aside, unless used for investment, and apply limits for non-necessary expenses. The first two lessons are the most crucial aspects to personal finance, yet so many people refuse to take them serious.
  • “Make thy gold multiply”(Put your money to work for you) — The third lesson is summed up with a quote straight from the book, “The gold we may retain from our earnings is but the start. The earnings it will make shall build our fortunes.” Arkad states gold should not just sit around and stare back at you. Rather, put it to work by investing. Not speculating, fruitful investing. By using a value investing philosophy that utilizes compound interest, your money can work for you and multiply. Remember, time and consistent payments to yourself are your greatest allies.
  • “Guard thy treasures from loss”(Protect your wealth) — The fourth remedy can be viewed as the next step. For instance, once you have started investing and have built up a small amount of wealth, it’s important to protect this wealth. Or as Arkad states, “prevent thy purse from being emptied once it has become well filled.” In the investing world, I believe we do this by making smart investments in solid companies while utilizing a healthy margin of safety. As Mohnish Pabrai once said, “Heads I win; Tails I don’t lose much.”
  • “Make of thy dwelling a profitable investment”(Make your home a worthwhile investment) — The fifth lesson covers home ownership. While many people choose to rent (perfectly fine), the main point is to manage this expense/investment in a smart manner. Make sure you can cover the costs, buy/rent at a good price, and take care of your investment in a way it can become profitable for you. If you can do this, your dwelling will not be a burden on you, but rather a fruitful endeavor.
  • “Insure a future income” (Have a retirement plan) — Once you have saved, invested, and generated a healthy, growing sum of wealth, the next step is to provide a secure future for both you and your family. There may be a time when you can no longer physically, or mentally, provide for yourself and your family. Arkad’s point was to be prepared and have already established a sustainable source of income for these times. Compound interest is an amazing tool, and the quicker you start to utilize it, the better.
  • “Increase thy ability to earn” (Invest in yourself) — Arkad states the seventh remedy is “to cultivate thy own powers, to study and become wiser, to become more skillful, to so act as to respect thyself.” In order to be successful, and stay successful, never stop learning. He reminds the men that before accomplishment must come desire. A simple, but important step to overcoming personal financial difficulties.

Summary

  • In order to begin investing you need to have your personal finances in check — this includes budgets, paying down debt, and allocating your money wisely
  • The Richest Man in Babylon is the single best book out there on personal finance
  • 7 common sense and practical steps can be taken to tackle your personal finances and gain financial independence

About Chris Gilbert

I am a full-time pharmacist as well as an avid investor. I discovered the art of value investing by reading the works of Benjamin Graham. After that I began to drift towards Peter Lynch, Warren Buffett, and Charlie Munger. My investing philosophy now is simply to find great companies at a discount while using a common sense, value oriented strategy, and maintaining a long-term outlook. I am determined to educate the individual investor that investing is not hard, not time consuming, and not expensive. Through the use of value investing and the (Y)OURPORTFOLIO Spreadsheet, my goal is to help you obtain better results in a fraction of the time.

Website and Blog – yourportfoliospreadsheet.com

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