Investment and Speculation

Investment and Speculation by Louis Guenther, editor of The Financial World, was written for the LaSalle Extension University’s Business Administration Course to help readers clearly distinguish between safe investment and calculated speculation—two pillars of sound financial judgment.

Guenther’s treatise explains how money moves through the financial system and how investors can safeguard capital while profiting from market opportunities. With practical insight drawn from early-20th-century Wall Street, he analyzes the evolution of bonds, mortgages, and real estate, along with railroads, public-service companies, and mining ventures, to show how credit, loans, and enterprise shape national prosperity.

The book goes further, delving into the psychology of speculation, market manipulation, pools, and the “get-rich-quick” schemes that dominated his era. Guenther presents this complex subject as both a science and an art—one that every businessperson or investor must understand to thrive.

A comprehensive guide to financial mechanics and market behavior, Investment and Speculation remains a key reference for readers who seek to understand how early investors combined discipline, prudence, and foresight to build lasting wealth.

✅ What You’ll Learn:

• How to differentiate true investment from speculation.
• The influence of credit, loans, and the money market on trade cycles.
• Fundamentals of bonds, mortgages, and real-estate securities.
• The role of railroad, municipal, and public-service bonds in stable finance.
• How promotion, pools, and manipulation affect market prices.
• The science of speculation and the psychology behind market movements.
• Warnings against financial fraud and get-rich-quick schemes.

💡 Key Benefits:

• Builds a thorough understanding of the foundations of corporate finance.
• Offers a balanced view of risk, reward, and market psychology.
• Provides historical context for modern trading and investing.
• Strengthens decision-making for investors, traders, and business professionals.
• Serves as a timeless educational reference on how markets evolve.

👤 Who This Book Is For:

• Intermediate students of investing, banking, or economics.
• Readers exploring the historical roots of speculation and finance.
• Traders seeking early insights into market psychology.
• Analysts or educators researching financial systems and credit theory.
• Anyone who values discipline and prudence in capital management.

📚 Table of Contents:

• Introduction
• Defining Investment and Speculation
• The Intelligent Employment of Capital
• The Earliest Investment
• How Farm Mortgages Are Placed
• The Influence of Loans on Money
• City Real Estate Compared with Farm Lands
• Land and Real-Estate Booms
• The Multiplicity and Complexity of Bonds
• Government, State, and Municipal Bonds
• The Amazing Variety of Railroad Bonds
• Public Service Bonds
• Other Bonds
• Irrigation Bonds
• Bonds in Mining Enterprises
• Timber Bonds
• Guaranteed Stocks
• Amortization and Sinking Funds
• Bonds for Women and Estates
• The Market for Bonds
• The Character of an Enterprise
• Science of Speculation
• Efforts to Prevent Speculation
• The Mystery of a Balance Sheet
• The Function of Exchanges
• Methods of Trading in Stocks
• Methods of Trading in Stocks (Continued)
• Operations on Other Exchanges
• Panics
• Pools and Manipulation
• The Promoter’s Place in Finance
• The Get-Rich-Quick Lure

Investment and Speculation By Louis Guenther