Our prosperity as a nation depends upon the personal financial prosperity of each of us as
individuals.

This book deals with the personal successes of each of us. Success means accomplishments as the
result of our own efforts and abilities. Proper preparation is the key to our success. Our acts
can be no wiser than our thoughts. Our thinking can be no wiser than our understanding.

This book of cures for lean purses has been termed a guide to financial understanding. That, indeed, is
its purpose: to offer those who are ambitious for financial success an insight which will aid
them to acquire money, to keep money and to make their surpluses earn more money.

In the pages which follow, we are taken back to Babylon, the cradle in which was nurtured the
basic principles of finance now recognized and used the world over.