Page 109 - Benjamin Franklin\'s The Way to Wealth: A 52 brilliant ideas interpretation - PDFDrive.com

50 BE CAREFUL OUT THERE

A firm opponent of dogma, Franklin nonetheless firmly believed that
faith in (a) God should accompany every aspect of life. It is telling,
therefore, that in The Way to Wealth he specifically says that ‘In the
affairs of this world men are saved not by faith, but by the want of it’.

An extraordinarily capable man, Franklin (inventor, physicist, musician,
writer, politician) clearly believed that we are responsible for our own
endeavours and encouraged those around him to organise themselves to
make their lives better. That’s as clear from his actions as from his words,
since he is seen as the founding father of both the first fire-fighting
organisation and the first hospital in the US.

DEFINING IDEA…
Every business and every product has risks. You can’t get around it.
~ LEIACOCCA, AMERICAN INDUSTRIALIST

By urging us to rely on a lack of faith he is highlighting the risks involved
in trusting your health and wealth to heaven, fate or blind optimism. It’s a
risk that particularlyaffects entrepreneurs who tend to be notably dynamic
and (over) optimistic. In your excitement about your own business and
wealth creation, then, you can be saved by not trusting to fate. Here are
some things I bet you haven’t taken into account…

Death marks the end of your own personal way to wealth, but if you’re the
principal breadwinner have you got life insurance in place for your
dependants? Even if you have, the chances are that you haven’t invested in
disability insurance because a) you’re too busy trying to make money to
spend it on insurance, and b) you just don’t want to think about it. Do
consider it. You don’t have to work with industrial machinery or have a
risky occupation to wind up disabled; a stroke or heart attack will do just
as good a job of incapacitating you.

Death and disability