The Richest Man In Babylon is one of my favorite finance books because it teaches basic finance principles within a very interesting and fun story taking place in Babylon. Babylon was at one time the wealthiest place in the world where the economy boomed and yet many people were very poor despite the fact that money and business were all around them. They had opportunity to earn, save and invest like few have, but only certain people seemed to live by the rules of money that create wealth.

If you're not the type who enjoys reading self-help books but you want to make a change in your financial world this is an excellent book for you. It's quite short and entertaining. The principles are taught through story telling and conversation  between characters. The book outlines 7 principles that were inscribed on clay tablets. The 7 principles are the wisdom and experience from the life of an individual who was at one point a slave and became one of the wealthiest men in all the land. Also outlined is a simple system to pay off debt using 20% of your income, save and invest 10% of your income and to live off the other 70% of all you earn.

You'll discover the reasons why some people stay poor while others become wealthy. There is a part in the book when the Richest Man in Babylon is asking a group of people why each of them have the same amount of money in their purse when at the same time each of them earns a different amount of money and has different family dynamics.