Business Women, Take Your Time!

Now the difference between really great men and just great men is that the former are never in a hurry.

HENDRICK VAN LOON, in America

And the difference between successful and nonsuccessful investors is often just that—’the former are never in a hurry,’ for they have learned the actual, countable value of Time as a factor in the building of a sound, steadily accumulative investment reserve.

Why do we hurry? Have we forgotten that few, if any, of the greatest fortunes have been made overnight? Are not most of them the cumulative reward of long, hard, studious, and persistent effort to give usable and salable form to an idea?

Whether the margin of our creative compensation be measured by a portion of our salaries or by a portion of the profits in the businesses in which we share, that margin can be conserved most profitably through an investment that gives Time its chance. But, you query, how can Time be used?

First of all take time to decide upon an investment house whose reputation you know is good and upon which you yourself want to rely. Take time to discover in that organization the one person who will devote his energy to your investment education, and with whom you will enjoy playing your investment game. Take time to sit down and talk it over. What, really, have you in mind as the goal for your independent income? How much should you invest annually? Does it become available regularly or spasmodically? Have you any dependents? Is yours to be a personal or business reserve, or a combination of both? How much time have you left in which to accomplish your purpose?

Then go into an analysis of the concrete and accepted rules of the investment game. For investing is a game like all others in which the returns in fun and profit are in direct ratio to one’s knowledge of the rules.

If, perchance, you should find, upon an initial conference, that the person you have tentatively selected asks no questions, — makes no diagnosis, as it were, but instead reaches immediately to the prescription shelf and offers a handy bottle in the shape of the latest ‘new issue,’— this is your time to hurry—away. For that person is not an investment counselor, but only a vendor of securities. Try again until Time has helped you to find in some organization of known reputation the individual who will take an interest in your ’case’ and lake the time to do his or her job thoroughly.

Now take time to plan your investment programme, to decide upon the investment unit of the size right for you, to determine the ratio of your foundation securities to the balance of your investment structure, and so on.

At this point it is time to select your first investment and to learn something about it. Here you must to a large degree, of course, depend upon the recommendation of your guide. Take an interest, nevertheless, in the explanations given you. Gradually expend more time upon your personal investment education. You’ll find it great fun, and oh, how it pays!

So far you have managed Time. Now, without any effort on your part, Time will proceed to take the lead and work for your interests. Money soundly invested and income promptly reinvested doubles at 6 per cent in twelve years. For the last twelve years—1916 to 1928 — the return on quality goods has averaged in excess of 6 per cent. The next twelve will undoubtedly show a lesser average. How many of us, looking back twelve years, but could be financially better off to-day if we had allowed these twelve years to work for us? The initial sum is of much less importance than the additions which Time will make to that sum. Most of us can count on twenty-four years of active effort, which means that our initial sum, invested and left for Time to work upon, will have quadrupled in that period. Not so bad! How many speculators do you think can show as consistent results? Yes, there may be slight losses, but there are also compensating profits. When the rules of the game are followed, losses are really much less than investors give credit for. Have you ever noticed that, while the investor often makes much of even one loss, the speculator mentions only his profits? Too many of us are inclined to groan about our troubles. Too few of us are given to comment upon our good fortune. Indeed, the losses might often be much less if, when the applecart of some business upsets, the investor would use his time to have a frank discussion with his investment counselor rather than with his neighbor.

Time, too, has been creative in the wealth which has been brought about through investment and speculation in our industrial development. The wealth created through the growth of the railroad, the telephone, the automobile, and many other forms of public utility and service is well realized.

The business woman has in this connection one investment advantage over her home sister. She should be able, because of her nearness to industrial development, her experience in reading balance sheets, in judging merchandising methods, and in checking up on management, to couple her own good judgment with that of her investment counselor, and, provided she has vision and patience, to invest early in sound development programmes.

Great care, however, must be exercised, for although the promise of a new development may look ‘rosy,’ the success of the individual enterprise in that industrial development depends upon the ability of the management. For every automobile concern that has made money for its stockholders there are literally hundreds whose certificates are resting peacefully in the financial graveyard. The same is true of practically every industry that has shown development. With success goes failure, and all too often does the investor follow the herd and, with little regard for the facts and figures pertaining to the particular business, buy Radio, for example, because ‘stocks are going up,’or ‘money is going to be made.’ Strictly speaking, a venture in any industrial development, when it is young, can hardly be called an ‘investment,’ for investment presupposes history of achievement. Unless the business is reasonably well along in growth and the facts of its growth are carefully studied, it is full of risk for the investor.

Let Time, as it brings the changes in market trends, give you the opportunity to purchase advantageously; to redeem losses; to cash profits. Let Time show you the enormous power in steady reinvestment and the magic possibilities of compound interest. Let Time teach you to make prompt decisions, but never ‘hurried’ ones. Let Time convince you that Time rightly used prevents or lessens losses, conserves capital, creates income, piles up profits.

The application of Time to successful investment calls for an element of skill seldom mentioned and too often neglected. To know the rules of the game is not enough, for the final and successful return is essentially dependent on the skillful and conscientious application of these rules.

ETHEL B. SCULLY