“Man was born to be rich, or inevitably grows rich by the use of his faculties, by the union of thought with nature. Property is an intellectual production. The game requires coolness, right reasoning, promptness, and patience in the players.” –Emerson.

MONEY in hand is a responsibility and put?ting it where it will do the most good calls for real judgment. It is indeed unfor?tunate that many men work and plan and save during the early years of their business lives until, at forty or fifty, they are either rich or reasonably well-to-do and then, at the age of sixty or seventy, they find themselves all but paupers.

Most of us can call to mind some one among our acquaintances who was rich a few years ago and who is now working hard each day for the wherewithal to provide the necessities of life. There are instances, but they are very few, where ill-luck in the form of sickness or disaster, which could not be avoided, has wiped out the already accumulated fortunes. More commonly the for?tune has been squandered through high and reckless living or through injudicious investments and the latter is the commonest cause of old age penury, following youthful affluence.

Many men who are rich at forty are poor at sixty and the answer is almost without exception –bad investments. Some people seem to take a peculiar pride in the fact that they are the posses?sors of a lot of worthless although beautifully engraved stock certificates and others weep over the fact that a presumably good friend sold them a bond of doubtful value. In each case, the un?fortunate investor is entitled to a very small degree of sympathy, because he failed to apply to the matter of the investment of his hard earned dollars the common-sense and judgment which is given to every man and is possessed by every man, even though he lack the gumption to use it.

Thousands of people who had never before invested money in a security of any kind bought Government bonds during the World War, and almost as soon as the war was over traded those bonds to get-rich-quick sharpers for stocks on which they were promised dividends of anywhere from twenty-five per cent to one thousand per cent a year.

The streets of the financial district of every city are lined with substantial banks or dependable investment houses, through which securities of real value and stability may be purchased by any one, while the majority of people when they have a few dollars to invest seek out some chance ac?quaintance who is fathering a promotion of some project which “is going to make millions” for everybody who invests in it.

There are hundreds of ways in which money may be safely invested, where the element of risk is almost eliminated, and where the only possibility of loss would be through unexpected competition or sudden and revolutionary changes in methods, through new inventions or discoveries. Invest?ment without risk is impossible, but in substantial enterprises the possibility of loss is so small as to be almost inconsiderable.

It is not the purpose of this work to point out definite investments for funds, but the uninitiated would do well when investing a surplus to consult with and follow the suggestions of reputable bankers and brokers. Many of the leading maga?zines, periodicals and newspapers conduct invest?ment departments, through which the stability of certain investments may be investigated, and this service to the prospective investor is rendered without charge and without bias, in most cases. Losses through bad investments would be few if reputable bankers, brokers and publications were consulted, and when this comes to be the common practice the blue-sky operator will disappear because he will be unable to make a living in his present crooked occupation.

Should occasion arise when it would seem de?sirable to purchase an investment from a relative or friend, there is still no harm in taking the matter up with one’s banker and getting the benefit of his judgment. Those men, who buy millions upon millions of dollars’ worth of bonds, stocks and mortgages, notes and securities of all kinds, are likely to form reasonably correct opinions on any investment offering, just as a trained diamond expert could instantly detect the flaw in the stone which was offered to you as a perfectly-cut gem.

Even though it might be necessary to spend a little money to make sure of the real value of the thing you are considering as an investment, such expenditure is not lost, and the added security and safety of your money gives you peace of mind.

There is no such thing as an investment bargain, because real estate, bonds, stocks, notes, diamonds, oriental rugs, pictures and all things which are proper investments have real values, which may be determined so accurately that the danger of making a wrong purchase is almost eliminated.

It is not difficult to find a proper place to invest any sum of money, whether it be ten dollars or as many millions. The most substantial investments are now available to the person with a few dollars and he may even buy a Government security direct from the United States Treasury with his little fund. A certificate of deposit or a savings pass?book in a national or state bank, a trust company or a savings bank may be had for five dollars and sometimes even for one dollar. Bonds of the most substantial kinds are to be had nowadays in denominations as low as one hundred and even fifty dollars.

The way to wealth has been laid open to the person of the most modest means and never again can it be said in America that only the wealthy have easy access to the good investment opportunities.

Earning money is our first business and spend?ing it calls for keen minds and good judgment, but investing what is left is the grand opportunity for the ultimate accumulation of wealth, and to this matter we must all hereafter give greater and more serious attention. It is a man’s bounden duty to become rich and acquire power if he can do so honestly and with fairness to his fellows, because wealth is necessary to civilization and civilization cannot exist without it.

“The pulpit and the press have many common?places denouncing the thirst for wealth; but if men should take these moralists at their word, and leave off aiming to be rich, the moralists would rush to rekindle at all hazards the love of power in the people, lest civilization should be undone.”– Emerson.

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Tags: The Secret of Wealth