Investors are kings – lessons from Egypt (Part 2)

In part one of this discourse, we noted that periods of lack, doom or lean years is a reality that man, despite his advances in the sphere of science and technology has not been able to obliterate. Rather, some fanciful names such as the great depression, austerity measures, melt-down, economic slow-down, etcetera have been conjectured which more or less point to the same thing - famine. We will continue with further lessons that can be learnt from the Ancient Kingdom of Egypt.

Lesson ii - Ugliness of doom (lean) years: Another important lesson to learn from Egypt is that poverty wears a very ugly face. The lean cows representing the years of lack seen by Pharaoh in his dream was described as “so ugly that its type had not been seen in Egypt”. This captures the ugliness and devastating effect of poverty that comes with doom times.

It is a common saying that poverty has only but few friends or relatives, that is, poor people are treated more or less like lepers. The opinion or counsel of a poor man, no matter how laudable is not reckoned with anywhere. The ugliness of poverty does not only manifest physically, but affects the psych to the extent that a poor man’s self esteem is reduced to the lowest point where he begins to see himself as worthless and therefore perceived as such by the society. Poverty however, is a disease that has cure and the cure is in the third lesson that can be learnt from Egypt.

Lesson iii – Saving, the hedge against lean times: The third important lesson to learn from the story of Pharaoh’s dream and Joseph’s counsel is the wisdom of saving. Boom and doom times are cyclical, each preceding the other. On a national level, Nigeria for example, had a boom time during the oil boom, the Iraqi oil wind fall and during the early years of Obasanjo,s administration when the price of oil, the country’s major export product sold for up to $150 per barrel. At the personal levels the boom times could be said to be when one is healthy and earning steady and uninterrupted income.

In other to remain buoyant during the predicted doom times, Joseph counseled the King of Egypt to save twenty percent of all the goods produced during the seven years of the boom times. This teaches that only delayed gratification in the form of savings can mitigate the unpleasantness that comes with lean times. George Clason in his classic book, The Richest Man in Babylon, equally identified savings as the first major step towards achieving financial stability and therefore recommends at least, ten percent savings from every income earned.

Lesson iv – invest your savings: The fourth important lesson to learn from Egypt is the need to invest one’s savings in other to increase one’s stream of incomes. In the dream of Pharaoh, the seven lean cows swallowed the seven fat cows and there were no noticeable improvement in their stature. This shows that persisting lean years are capable of swallowing one’s entire life savings and still leave one impoverished. It is therefore important to invest the savings in other to multiply its value. Clason in The Richest Man in Babylon also said, “a man’s wealth is not in the coins he carries in his purse; it is the income he buildeth, the golden stream that continually floweth into his purse and keepeth it always bulging”.

Through the saving of twenty percent of the harvests in the year of plenty as recommended by Joseph, Egypt became a world power and had to provide succor for many nations, including the children of Israel during the lean years. It is said in the Holy book that the borrower is a slave to the lender.

The children of Israel had to be slaves in Egypt for four hundred years serving the Egyptians because the King then heeded the wise counsel of Joseph. You too can escape the unpleasant consequences of poverty by taking a definite and determined action through saving and investing part of your income from today. Savings could be hard initially but with practice, self discipline and persistence, it would be cultivated as habit which truly is highly rewarding.

EPHRAIM AMA MBANASO