We live in an age of impatience, and when it comes to money we want more now, today, not tomorrow. Be it a deposit for a mortgage or the compensation of those credit cards that drain our energy long after we stop enjoying what we buy with them, the sooner the better. When it comes to investing, we want easy returns and quick returns. Hence the current mania for cryptocurrencies. Why invest in nanotechnology or machine learning when Ethereum is caught in an endless upward spiral and Bitcoin is the gift it keeps giving?

A century ago, the American writer George S Clason took a different approach. In The Richest Man in Babylon, he gave the world a treasure, literally, of financial principles based on things that may seem outdated today: caution, prudence, and wisdom. Clason used the sages of the ancient city of Babylon as spokesmen for his financial council, but that advice is as relevant today as it was a century ago, when the Wall Street crash and Great Depression loomed.

Take, for example, the five laws of gold. If you are looking to put your personal finances on a solid footing, wherever you are in life, these are for you:

Law No1: Gold comes with pleasure and in increasing quantity to all those who allocate at least one tenth of their earnings to create a heritage for their future and that of their family. In other words, save 10% of your income. Minimum. Save more than that if you can. And that 10% is not for next year’s vacation or a new car. It is long term. Your 10% may include your contributions to the pension, ISA, premium bonds, or any type of high interest / restricted access savings account. Okay, interest rates for savers are now at record lows, but who knows where they will be in five or ten years? And compound interest means your savings will grow faster than you think.

Law # 2: Gold works diligently and satisfyingly for the wise owner who finds profitable employment for him. So if you are looking to invest rather than save, do so wisely. No cryptocurrencies or pyramid schemes. We focus on the words “profitable” and “employment”. Make your money work for you, but remember that the best you can hope for on this side of the rainbow is consistent long-term winnings, not lottery winnings. In practice, this is likely to mean stocks in established companies offering a regular dividend and a steady upward trend in the stock price. You can invest directly or through a fund manager in the form of participation trusts, but before parting with a single penny, check out Laws 3, 4 and 5 …

Law No3: Gold clings to the protection of the cautious owner who invests it under the advice of the wise in its management. Before doing anything, speak with a qualified and experienced financial advisor. If you don’t know of any, do some research. Check them out on the internet. What experience do they have? What kind of clients? Read the reviews. Call them first and feel what they can offer you, then decide if a face-to-face meeting will work. Check your commission arrangements. Are they independent or tied to a particular company, under contract to power that company’s financial products? A decent financial advisor will encourage you to establish the basics – pension, life insurance, a place to live – before guiding you toward investing in emerging markets and space travel. When you are satisfied that you have found an advisor you can count on, listen to them. Trust their advice. But check back on your relationship with them at regular intervals, say annually, and if you’re unhappy, look elsewhere. Chances are, if your judgment was sound in the first place, you will be staying with the same advisor for many years.

Law No4: Gold escapes to those who invest it in businesses or purposes with which they are not familiar or that are not approved by the experts in their possession. If you have a deep understanding of food retail, invest in the supermarket chain that is increasing its market share. Similarly, if you work for a company that has an employee stock ownership scheme, it makes sense to take advantage of it, if you are confident that your company has good prospects. But, you should never invest in any market or financial product that you do not understand (remember the Crash!) Or that you cannot fully investigate. If you are tempted to try your hand at forex or options trading and you have a financial advisor, talk to him first. If they are not up to date, ask them to refer you to someone who is. Best of all, stay away from anything you are unsure of, no matter how great the potential benefits are.

Law No5: Gold flees from the one who seeks impossible profits or who follows the seductive advice of tricksters and schemers or who trusts his own inexperience. Again, the fifth law follows in the footsteps of the fourth. If you start searching the internet for financial advice and wealth building ideas, your inbox will soon be full of “scammers and conspirators” promising you land if you invest £ 999 in their “system” to turn £ 1 into £ 1XXXXXX on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Remember, the only one who makes money from the gold rush is the one who sells shovels. Buy the wrong shovel and you’ll quickly get into debt. Not only will you pay too much for a system that has no proven value; If you follow it, you will probably lose a lot more than the price you paid for it. At a minimum, you should check for genuine product reviews. And never buy any system, investment vehicle or financial product from any company that is not registered by a national watchdog, such as the UK Financial Conduct Authority.

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