1Part I — The Money Warehouse: Foundations from Babylon
Chapter 1
The first coin stays in your pocket
The Babylonian principle of “pay yourself first”, applied to a Belgian pay packet. How to find the quiet leaks and hold on to that first 10%.
Arkad, the richest man in Babylon in George Clason's parables, repeated one rule: of every ten coins that go into your purse, one stays for ever. Not for a holiday. Not for a new phone. For ever — as the seed of your capital.
It sounds obvious until you try it. There was nothing left of my first Belgian pay packet. Not because I earned too little, but because money was escaping through gaps I couldn't see.
Bartnarrator
I don't know where it all went. I didn't buy anything big.
Marioshift mate
Because you notice the big things. The little things eat away at you. Coffee, apps, food deliveries after a night shift.
Bartnarrator
It's only a few euros each time.
Marioshift mate
Multiply it by thirty days. Then by twelve months. Then cry.
Quiet leaks
Quiet leaks are expenses that don't hurt individually. Subscriptions you've forgotten about, currency conversion fees, bank charges, things you buy “while you're at it”. Each one is small. Together they add up to an amount that could be your first coin.
Worked example
The first coin in figures
- Take-home pay
- 2,400 €
- 10% set aside on day one
- 240 € / month
- Paid in after 5 years
- 14,400 €
- Value after 5 years at 5% a year
- approx. 16,320 €
The difference of around 1,900 € is compound interest at work. Over a longer time horizon, that difference stops being an extra and becomes the main driving force.
The key words are “on day one”. If you save whatever is left at the end of the month, there is usually nothing left. Set up an automatic transfer on payday — then you make the decision once, rather than all over again every month.
3 / 14 · Educational content, not investment advice.