Works of the late Doctor Benjamin Franklin/Neceſſary Hints to thoſe that would be rich
NECESSARY HINTS TO THOSE THAT WOULD BE RICH.
WRITTEN ANNO 1736.
THE uſe of money is all the advantage there is in having money.
For ſix pounds a year you may have the life of one hundred pounds, provided you are a man of known prudence and honeſty.
He that ſpends a groat a day idly, ſpends idly above ſix pounds a year, which is the price for the uſe of one hundred pounds.
He that waſtes idly a groat's worth of his time per day, one day with another, waſtes the privilege of uſing one hundred pounds each day.
He that idly loſes five ſhillings worth of time, loſes five ſhillings, and might as prudently throw five ſhillings into the ſea.
He that loſes five ſhillings, not only loſes that ſum, but all the advantage that might be made by turning it in dealing, which, by the time that a young man becomes old, will amount to a conſiderable ſum of money.
Again: he that ſells upon credit, aſks a price for what he ſells equivalent to the principal and intereſt of his money for the time he is to be kept out of it; therefore, he that buys upon credit, pays intereſt for what he buys; and he that pays ready money, might let that money out to uſe: ſo that he that poſſeſſes any thing he has bought, pays intereſt for the uſe of it.
Yet, in buying goods, it is beſt to pay ready money, becauſe, he that ſells upon credit, expects to loſe five per cent. by bad debts; therefore he charges, on all he ſells upon credit, an advance that ſhall make up that deficiency.
Thoſe who pay for what they buy upon credit, pay their ſhare of this advance.
He that pays ready money, eſcapes, or may eſcape, that charge.
A penny ſav'd is two-pence clear;
A pin a day's a groat a year.