Investment and Speculation

Investment and speculation are so closely associated with the well-being of trade that the two are inseparable. Figuratively speaking, they are the propelling forces governing the money market, which, in turn, is the vital lifeblood of business. This is an indisputable fact. It cannot be denied.

Introduction:

Every head of a corporation, every business man, in fact everyone employed in a responsible position and upon whose judgment the success of an enterprise largely depends, should provide himself with a general knowledge of the problem of investments and speculation. Many a merchant and many a manufacturer who has mastered the problem of investment and speculation has been able to put his knowledge to great financial advantage in his ability to foresee a drain upon the money market and its consequent effect upon interest rafes by providing for all his banking ·accommodations long before interest rates have hardened.

So, also, have they been able by anticipating a depression in trade to curtail expenditures and guard their credit accounts from weakness. Such a knowledge prevents them from being caught off their guard by a sudden dropping off in business. And, vice versa, they are.in a position to detect a revival in trade by the same barometer, the money market. As it is also true that business, whatever may be its nature, is a calling, purely confined to the making of profits some time or other, surplus funds are accumulated which are intended for investment. The intelligent and safe investment of such idle funds requires a general knowledge of investment and speculation.

Fortified with such knowledge, the owner of surplus funds guards himself from serious errors. It inculcates in him the absolute importance of being guided by actual facts, and not by hearsay advice of others. It can harm no one to know how to differentiate between investments and speculation; it can only benefit him. The author of Investments and Speculation in this series on Business Administration has undertaken to handle an unusually dry subject in such a way as to make it interesting reading.

While not a text book in any sense of the word, it still exhaustively covers Investments and Speculation and its different phases so that it conveys directly to the reader’s mind a thorough knowledge of the fundamentals of each. Not only will this book prove a great help to all business men, but equally instructive to any who have an ambition to enter the banking or brokerage business. This reference book presents an exhaustive treatment of all phases of Investments and Speculation, furnishing the thoughtful reader with reliable information for guidance in business transactions.

Contents:

• 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
• 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 PDF