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The Richest Man in Babylon Part 1: Why Timeless Wealth Principles Still Work Today
Today we're covering a book I've read multiple times and recommend to almost every client I work with: The Richest Man in Babylon. My agency has been doing a book study on it, and this episode covers the first half.
We start with an uncomfortable question: of everything you've earned over the last ten years, how much do you actually still control? The honest answer, across hundreds of conversations, keeps landing around five percent. High income does not correlate to wealth, and this book explains why.
Ready to take control of your financial future? Using properly structured whole life insurance, Wade Borth is dedicated to teaching how to establish the right strategy to create generational wealth. In this podcast, Wade shares the tools for understanding and the clarity of how to to do this for your family. This show is all about sharing that sage wisdom to help others build strong financial futures.
Wade opens a book study on The Richest Man in Babylon, a nearly hundred-year-old book his agency is reading together, and walks through the first half’s core lessons on saving, protecting capital, and controlling your own banking function. He explains why high income rarely equals real financial control, why guarding against loss matters more than chasing returns, and how the ancient walls of Babylon still describe what it takes to build wealth that lasts.
Key Takeaways
Most people retain only about 5% of what they’ve earned over the last ten years, proof that high income alone doesn’t build wealth.
Pay yourself first and build your pool of capital before chasing investments. Savings is what creates liquidity and control.
Guard your money from loss. Avoiding big losses matters more than chasing a high average rate of return.
Someone is always the banker in your life. Ask who owns the capital, who controls the terms, and who receives the interest.
Liquidity turns life’s inevitable events into opportunities instead of disasters, and wealth that lasts requires passing down wisdom, not just dollars.
Links and Resources
Sage Wealth Strategy: sagewealthstrategy.com
Contact Wade: wade@sagewealthstrategy.com
Keywords
The Richest Man in Babylon, infinite banking concept, be your own banker, pay yourself first, liquidity, dry powder, guaranteed asset, whole life insurance, cash value, family bank, family banking, generational wealth, financial liquidity, wealth building principles, Wade Borth, Sage Wealth Strategy, saving money, capital protection, financial discipline, book study
Episode Highlights
[00:02:00 – 00:03:00] Wade reveals that people control only about 5% of what they’ve earned over the last decade.
[00:03:00 – 00:04:00] Wade unpacks “part of all you earn is yours to keep” and why income isn’t really yours until it stops moving.
[00:06:00 – 00:07:00] Wade compares becoming a capital provider, like Warren Buffett and major insurers, to becoming your own source of liquidity.
[00:09:00 – 00:10:00] Wade breaks down the math showing how a 50 percent loss requires a 100 percent gain just to break even.
[00:12:00 – 00:13:00] Wade tells the story of Babylon’s walls and how the city grew rich by protecting what it had built.
[00:14:00 – 00:15:00] Wade introduces Mathon the gold lender and asks who owns the capital, controls the terms, and receives the interest in your life.
[00:17:00 – 00:18:00] Wade explains why the goddess of good luck favors those who prepared with liquidity long before opportunity showed up.
[00:19:00 – 00:20:00] Wade recalls his father’s life insurance being canceled six months before he died, and what that meant for the family.
[00:20:00 – 00:22:00] Wade contrasts the Rockefellers and the Vanderbilts to show why transferring wisdom matters as much as transferring dollars.
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