The Way to Wealth

washingtonpost.com Pearls From Poor Richard By Michelle Singletary Sunday, January 4, 2004; Page F01 Since I suspected some of you would be recovering from a stress- and debt-filled holiday, I decided to make the Color of Money Book Club choice for January an oldie but a goodie penned by Benjamin Franklin. This month I'm recommending Franklin's The Way to Wealth (Applewood Books, $9.95). At just 30 pages, this pocket-size book takes less than a half-hour to read but will give you a lifetime of financial wisdom -- that is, if you're wise enough to follow the advice. The Way to Wealth is an essay first published in 1758 as a preface to Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanack. The essay begins with Franklin's fictitious Father Abraham being asked to talk about taxes by a crowd waiting for an auction to start. Father Abraham, who quotes Poor Richard, lectures the consumers on topics ranging from the perils of idleness to business ownership to frugality to the dangers of debt. Franklin's most well-known quotes can be found in this essay. Here are just a few: Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise. Never leave that till tomorrow, which you can do today. God helps those who help themselves. It is in The Way to Wealth that you will find Franklin's most famous maxims about money. In fact, Arthur Levitt, former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, gave out copies of The Way to Wealth at his final investor town-hall meeting. Here's what Franklin's Father Abraham said: On the importance of saving: If you would be wealthy, think of saving, as well as of getting. Away, then, with your expensive follies, and you will not have then so much reason to complain of hard times. These words ring so true today. In fact, if current savings patterns continue, there will be an annual shortfall of at least $45 billion by 2030 between the amount retirees need to cover basic expenses and what they have accumulated, accordin