How to be Mindful While Investing – 8 Lessons from King Solomon

Too often, you meet people with investing ideas and offers that sound too good, and lucrative to be true. Well, more often, they are. Every year, thousands of people lose millions in bad investments and scams.

Of course, if you engage in any activity, you are bound to invariably make a bad decision. Investing is no different. When it comes to making investment decisions, people sometimes let their emotions take over for common sense.

It is true, that while we usually rely on our knowledge and experience to point us in the right direction, in the world of investing, it doesn’t work that way.

Throughout history, there have been richer men. Men who made their wealth from making sound decisions. One such individual is King Solomon – the best investor the world has ever known.

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He supposedly made his riches through commerce, trading, gifts he received, tribute money paid to him, and taxation. His gold earnings alone, which raked in 25 tons a year, in present-day figures, would amount to a ton of gold valued at 64.3 million dollars, using $2,000/oz.

All his assets combined, by some estimates, converted using present-day currency values, equals a whopping $2.1 Trillion – a figure nobody else has attained.

Another ruler who is widely regarded as one of the wealthiest people to ever live was Mansa Musa, the tenth Mansa, or conqueror, of the Mali Empire who reigned from 1312 to 1337.

He is wealth is largely attributed to the amount of gold that Mali produced during his reign. At the peak of the Mali Empire, Mansa Musa had a net worth that was worth the same as the modern equivalent of $400 billion.

His wealth is notable from writings alluding to his pilgrimage to Mecca between 1324 and 1325. The journey spanned 2,700 miles with a procession of 60,000 men and slaves carrying gold, bags, and dressed in silk.

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Along his way, Musa gave gold to the many impoverished citizens he met and traded gold in various cities, in addition to building mosques along the route.

His generosity was counterproductive, as the massive influx of gold in cities like Cairo and Medina caused a significant devaluation of the metal and Musa tried to rectify the problem on his journey home by borrowing gold from money lenders in these cities at high-interest rates.

This time in history is significant as it marks the only time the entire gold industry and pricing were controlled by one man.

Musa invested most of his wealth in education and building projects. He built mosques and universities all across the Mali Empire with his project being the great mosque of Timbuktu, the Djinguereber Mosque. Today, the mosque is a world heritage site.

Drawing from these two examples, one can conclude that both King Solomon and Mansa Musa I made wise investments and knew exactly where to put their money. They both knew that wealth actually comes from wisdom, and they were right. Using wisdom as a foundation to build your wealth, allows you to gain an understanding of how to continue the need to grow your wealth.

Eventually, you will reach a level of knowledge that will reward you with true prosperity, and you will enjoy the benefits and rewards of budgeting, money management, saving, and basic investing.

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That said, here are the lessons we can learn from these two rulers, particularly King Solomon. You may have heard some of these tips, but others are not taught in any business school.

1. Seek Financial Wisdom

With respect to financial matters, one must educate himself/herself to acquire the much-needed wisdom for making a sound investment.

As king Solomon noted, money without wisdom will not last long in the hands of a fool. This means that if one doesn’t fully understand the rules of wealth preservation, their decisions or investments will likely be ephemeral.

A perfect example illustrating this thought is that of a lottery winner. Their lives after they become super rich become miserable. They lose it all quickly.

2. Be Diligent and Scrupulous in All Your Investments

There is no easy way to get rich, as such, please avoid “get rich quick” schemes that will likely leave you broke and frustrated. Even King Solomon wrote that “Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathered by labor shall increase” in Proverbs 13:11.

A look at the number of people making losses due to bad investments and scams makes you realize the truth of these words.

In a nutshell, diligence is highly important if you are looking to become successful. It gives you enough to eat and create wealth over and above your needs. Ponzi schemes won’t get you rich.

3. Live by Your Budget

This is common knowledge that many people can’t seem to fathom. If you want to create wealth, always spend less than you earn. Discipline yourself to live by a budget. It will help you stay free of debt.

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If you are a spendthrift, you cannot prosper. Remember, it is not the high cost of living hurting you, but rather the cost of high living. And if you are wise, you won’t spend all you make and die poor like a fool.

4. Pay on Time

Everyone has bills, and as such, they should remain a financial priority. Never make a purchase when you got bills to settle with that money. Plan your purchases. Until you have built up some savings on made a plan on how to pay for everything, don’t make major purchases.

5. Avoid Debts

Despite hearing this countless times, many people still use debt to fund their lives. Many of those who are employed are living paycheck to paycheck because of debt. The same goes for investing.

One can sink too deep in debts and by the time they end up settling it (if at all they can) their business will barely remain afloat.

If you want to make the right decision in investing, don’t anchor your basis on debts. It will limit how you operate not to mention the way you live. As long as you have a debt, you are bound to spend most of your time and energy toward paying it off.

Just think how your life would be different if you had the freedom and choices that come with having no debt. Therefore, commit yourself to get out of debt first before anything else.

6. Wealth is Built Over Time

Good things take time. Even King Solomon and Mansa Musa spent years investing and accumulating their riches. In whatever you choose to invest in, bear in mind that the returns are not instantaneous.

Be diligent and invest your money consistently and patiently over your lifetime. Eventually, you will build more wealth than you ever imagined you could have.

Lasting wealth is built little by little over a long period of time.  When you are diligent to invest your money consistently and patiently over your lifetime, you will build more wealth than you ever imagined you could have.

Trying to make a big score in a short time will never lead to wealth that lasts.

7. Hard Work is Profitable and Laziness Breeds Poverty

Hard work builds your character, your bank account, and your reputation. If you are one of those people who plans but don’t do anything to achieve a set goal, you will never succeed.

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So, be a doer, and not a talker. And while at it, remember that there is nothing wrong with getting a little rest when you need it.  But laziness will get you nowhere in life.  Work hard toward your goals, be an achiever, and you will never go hungry.

8. Diversify Your Investments

Diversify your investments. If there is a lucrative idea and you’ve conducted the due diligence and deemed it profitable, investing in it may be a good idea. Have your money in several investments at the same time. That way, if you had like seven investments and any one of them performed well, it would have a decent impact on the portfolio as a whole. One investment that performs wells makes a negligible impact on your portfolio.

All in all, please remember that money does not satisfy, and there is never a perfect time to invest. What matters is how wise you are in your decisions and implementing your strategies. So, work smarter, and who knows, maybe you will be the next King Solomon of Mansa Musa!