A century ago, the American businessman G.S. Clason published: The Richest Man in Babylon, arguably the most successful (and imitated) personal finance book ever written. That classic is a collection of common-sense pamphlets, most notably: Seven Cures for a Lean Purse, and revolves around fictitious Babylonian tablets discovered by a non-existent professor of archeology, telling the story of an entirely conjured yet very successful Arkad, the wealthiest man between the Tigris and Euphrates.
Unbeknownst to C.S. Clason, and well after his book was published, genuine cuneiform tablets were uncovered and deciphered by archeologists in the mid-20th century and they have changed Assyriologists’ views of the economy in historical Babylon. In particular, a handful of these tablets shine a new light on something not noted in The Richest Man in Babylon, namely financial longevity risk.
In contrast to a “fake” rich man, this essay tells the remarkable story of a very real and fortunate Babylonian woman named Adad-guppi. She was queen mother, the paternal grandmother of famed Babylonian Prince Belshazzar, and lived to the astonishing age of 104; dying peacefully with her full faculties in the year 547 BCE. The story of her longevity is linked to the saga of an exiled Judean King Jeconiah, who was the beneficiary of a life annuity granted over a decade earlier by the son of the infamous King Nebuchadnezzar II. The intertwined financial stories of these two Babylonian protagonists, Adad-guppi the centenarian and Jeconiah the annuitant, are based almost entirely on ancient near eastern texts translated in the last few decades. Interestingly — and most relevant to the fears of retirees in 21st century — the income from Jeconiah’s Biblical annuity was paid not in fickle or nominal cash, but in real goods and services. It was: Daily Bread for Life.
To paraphrase G.S. Clason’s cure six for a lean purse, one should provide in advance for the needs of “thy growing age” by insuring a future income. After all, one never knows if they too will become a centenarian like the Grande Dame of 6th century BCE Babylon, Adad-guppi.
For more, see my recently published book: The Religious Roots of Longevity Risk Sharing