Filip Filatov's Blog - Posts Tagged "saving-habits"

“The first coin you keep is the first moment you are free.”
— The Law of the First Hand, Ten Sacred Rules of Wealth

Most people think freedom begins when they earn more.
In truth, it begins when they keep more — even a single coin.

The Babylonian scribe who carved those words wasn’t teaching greed.
He was teaching ownership of time.
To “pay yourself first” is not a trick of budgeting — it is an act of respect.
Each coin you keep before the world takes its share
is a piece of your future rescued from noise.

Modern life reverses the order:
bills first, taxes next, pleasure after,
and if anything remains, we call it “savings.”
But that order ensures dependence.
You become last in line for your own work.

The ancients knew better.
They built bowls beside their benches — small vessels of intention.
Every tenth coin went into the bowl before the market, before the king, before desire.
Not because it was much, but because it was theirs.

Freedom doesn’t require fortune.
It requires distance — the space between effort and desperation.
That distance begins with one coin, kept on purpose.
From that moment forward, you are no longer only working for others.
You are building a quiet foundation that will one day buy you time, calm, and choice.

So the next time you receive your earnings,
pause before they scatter.
Let the first coin stay.
Because that coin is more than metal — it’s your first declaration of independence.

— Filip Filatov

(From Ten Sacred Rules of Wealth — reflections on ancient Babylonian wisdom for modern financial peace.)