Benjamin Franklin' s "The Way to Wealth"

Benjamin Franklin was born in 1706 as the tenth son out of a total of fifteen children and he lead quite a life. As a child, Franklin attended Grammar School but was shortly put out and forced to work with his father. His father was a soap boiler which really was not much of Franklin’s interest. He eventually moved on and started working alongside his brother at his publishing company. Franklin had a natural knack for writing and science. One of his published works that really influenced me and was also very relatable is his “The Way to Wealth” because it contained various proverbs I found to be interesting. He writes it under the pen name Richard Saunders. The message Franklin tries to send through this essay is to basically work hard for your wealth, save your money, and be wise with the decisions you make in life, not only just financially but with everything. There were two proverbs that particularly caught my eye.

        “Fond pride of dress is sure a very curse;

      E’er fancy you consult, consult your purse.”

This quote was very applicable to me in that I am the typical woman and I love to shop. There was one time where my mom gave me a set budget for the week. I found myself in the shopping mall wanting this really pretty dress, problem was that the dress cost nearly my set budget for the week. So guess what I did? Yep! I bought the dress anyway; I just had to have it. When my mom found out though she really ripped me a new one. I definitely learned my lesson though and I understand that Franklin is saying that whatever luxury item you may want to purchase, consult your funds and make sure you make a wise financial decision. Some things you just have to wait to have.

    “God gives all things to industry,

Then plow deep while the sluggards   sleep, and you shall have corn to sell and to keep.”

What I got from this proverb is that working hard for the wealth you want, pays off and you have to. Every morning you may not feel like getting up going to work, but you have to do what you have to do. Let those that sleep in sleep on and you go make your money.