Page 370 - One Thousand Ways to Make $1000

“Now that I have the secret of making money, nothing can stop me.” There is
danger in that philosophy, for you are now in a position where you are more
likely to attract the attention of men who are looking for “suckers” with a
thousand dollars in the bank. Soon it will be noised about town that you are
making money, that you are prosperous, that you are even wealthy. Men will
begin to “proposition” you. One of these men will have a sure-fire way of
making money without working. All you have to do is to buy some stock in a
company that is being formed. Another has inside information about an oil
lease and there is a million dollars waiting for those who are smart enough to
get in on the ground floor.

Make no mistake, for every person who has made a thousand dollars
speculating, a thousand have lost. If there is a substitute for patient
application and hard work, so far as making a permanent place for yourself in
this world is concerned, no one has yet found it.

Generally speaking, you cannot make money playing the other fellow’s
game. However plausible his reasons may be for putting money into his
business, remember that nine out of ten new ventures fail. There is only one
chance in ten of your getting your money back. There are many successful
business men who have an ironclad rule never to put money into any kind of
business enterprise that they do not control. That does not mean that they
would not invest in the common stocks of established companies with a long
earning record, which is more in the nature of an investment than a
speculation, but they will not put money in any new enterprise unless they
control it.

Good Advice from a Veteran Financier

Former Secretary of the Treasury, Andrew Mellon, in a notable interview to
the press just before the 1929 crash, pointed out that most common stocks
were overpriced and by implication advised people who were “in the market”
to put their money into bonds. He laid down eleven principles on handling
money, which are well worth keeping in mind when that first thousand
dollars begins to burn a hole in your pocket and you are considering how you
can pyramid it into a fortune without work! Mr. Mellon’s eleven points