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The Art of 
 Saving 
 
 BY 
 
 Harvey A. Blodgett 
 
 ST. PAUL 
 
 The Harvey Blodgett Company 
 1918 
 
 L^U Zr 
 
 *n- 
 
— ->5 5^ 
 
 
 
 Second Edition 
 
 JUL 30 I9i8 v 
 
 COPYRIGHT 1918, HARVEY A. BLODGKTT 
 
Introductory 
 
 f T has become a trite saying that 
 ■*■ ours has been a most extravagant 
 nation. It required the grim neces- 
 sities of war to arouse us to the 
 extent of our failings and to cause 
 us, each in his own life, to apply the 
 remedy. 
 
 Our people committed themselves 
 to a vast undertaking when they 
 essayed to change about in a moment 
 from habits of extravagance to habits 
 of thrift. While it cannot be said 
 that we mastered overnight the art 
 of saving, yet we have shown our 
 ability and willingness to rise quickly 
 to a most pressing occasion. 
 
 As I conceive it, the national neces- 
 sity for thrift will not end when our 
 government ceases to need the 
 people's savings for its war chest. 
 
 A great new industrial era will 
 follow immediately upon peace. In- 
 dustrial competition will be keener 
 than ever in the world's history. 
 There will be vast demands for new 
 
saved capital to repair the waste 
 of war and to capitalize industry. 
 
 There will be new opportunities for 
 the thrifty, ambitious individual. 
 
 I believe therefore, that much re- 
 mains to be done to inculcate thrift, 
 not as a temporary war measure, but 
 as a permanent peace measure also. 
 
 With a view to offering practical 
 help toward mastering the art of 
 saving I have prepared this little 
 book. 
 
 It is one result of many years' 
 study of the savings proposition. 
 Some of the phrases in it I have 
 previously used elsewhere and for 
 this reason a few readers may come 
 occasionally upon a familiar note. 
 
 Harvey A. Blodgett. 
 
 St. Paul, Minnesota, 
 June, 1918. 
 
Summary of Contents 
 
 I. THE ART OF SAVING. Definition 
 of an "art" — The prizes that await those 
 who master this art — Practice makes per- 
 fect — Why is it worth while? 
 
 II. A MATTER OF HABIT. How 
 
 habits are formed — The habit of thinking 
 success thoughts — Successful saving a matter 
 of habit — Where habit is leading you — 
 Your money habits and their effect on your 
 future — The results of the saving habit. 
 
 III. THE SAVINGS BANK WAY. 
 
 Why it offers the surest and safest medium 
 for building permanent capital — Its advan- 
 tages over every other method — Difference 
 between simple and compound interest — A 
 notable exception: Liberty Bonds. 
 
 IV. CASH AND CREDIT. The neces- 
 sity of having both when opportunity pre- 
 sents itself — How credit is built — The im- 
 portant part it will play in your business 
 career — Necessity of maintaining your credit 
 under all circumstances. 
 
 V. DECISION. Reaching a decision to 
 save nozv instead of putting it off — Having 
 
a goal — Having a plan to reach it — Making 
 the goal. 
 
 VI. LOOKING FORWARD. The won- 
 derful opportunities which the future holds 
 for the money saver — The world's need of 
 new capital — Its need for people qualified 
 to become captains of industry. 
 
 VII. COMPOUND INTEREST. How 
 
 it differs in results from simple interest — 
 Some examples of the marvels of compound 
 interest — The momentum which compound 
 interest adds to one's savings — The grand 
 results of saving at compound interest. 
 
 VIII. CAPITALIZING WASTE. Des- 
 troying things of which riches are made — 
 Casting coin after baubles — Redeeming 
 waste in every walk of life — Money waste 
 and its consequences — The waste of hoarded 
 money. 
 
 IX. SAVING AND INVESTING. How 
 
 the speed craze causes financial wrecks — 
 Taking counsel of your banker — Danger 
 signals — Safe investment methods. 
 
 X. THE ART OF SPENDING. Get- 
 ting spending habits under control — Learn- 
 ing the value of money — The "charge it" 
 evil — The instalment plan — Spending by 
 plan. 
 
XI. YOUR BANK. The aids a bank 
 gives its depositors — The importance of be- 
 coming identified with a good bank — About 
 a savings account — About a checking ac- 
 count — The privileges that come with bank- 
 ing acquaintance. 
 
 XII. YOUR LIBERTY BONDS. The 
 
 importance of holding them — Owners of 
 Liberty Bonds are partners in democracy — 
 A sound investment — The wiles of the 
 promoter who seeks to trade questionable 
 securities for them. 
 
I. The Art of Saving 
 
The Art of Saving 
 
 CAVING, with some people, is a 
 knack; but with most of those 
 who succeed it is an art acquired 
 through practice. 
 
 "Art," says the dictionary, "is 
 the practical application of knowl- 
 edge; the exercise of skill; a system 
 of principles and rules for attaining a 
 desired end." 
 
 To become skillful in the art of 
 saving, as in playing a musical in- 
 strument, painting a picture or fash- 
 ioning with tools things of beauty 
 and utility, requires practice, and a 
 WILL to succeed. 
 
 There are grand prizes in store for 
 those who master the art of saving; 
 indeed, there are so many rewards it 
 is a wonder that any of us lack the 
 will to claim them. 
 
 Any one who follows the simple 
 rules can master this art and hokl 
 the key to the door of Opportunity. 
 
 11 
 
Prizes 
 
 WE often think of prizes as some- 
 thing we get through luck or 
 little effort. 
 
 Some of the grand prizes of life 
 are the home building fund, the 
 business capital or the fortune which 
 we build by putting common sense 
 first in handling our money. 
 
 You have a big ambition. If 
 you haven't, get one right away. 
 
 Hang up a prize before your 
 mind's eye. 
 
 You will have to master the art 
 of saving before you can win it. 
 
 Don't think that because you may 
 have "opened" a savings account 
 you are a real saver. That is only the 
 beginning. 
 
 You have made the right start 
 but are you keeping on? Is your 
 prize drawing nearer as the weeks 
 go by? 
 
 It is said that those who look 
 ahead farthest get ahead fastest. 
 You must set a goal if you want to 
 reach one. Today's decision may 
 determine your destiny. 
 
 12 
 
Practice 
 
 A GREAT many people begin to 
 save and fail to get anywhere. 
 
 Many fail because they haven't 
 any definite plan. They save "once 
 in a while" or at those rare times 
 when they have money and no 
 pressing wants. 
 
 It would be as sensible to expect 
 to learn to play an instrument well 
 by practising "once in a while," 
 when one has nothing else to do. 
 
 The person who ties his Big Ambi- 
 tion to that method of saving has a 
 long and weary wait for fortune. 
 
 Saving isn't easy; not at all. One 
 who is determined to succeed must 
 make up his mind to take the daily 
 drill — to practise the simple exercise 
 of saving trifles. 
 
 Practice is doing, not dreaming. 
 It consists in deciding to save when 
 tempted to spend. It is hourly 
 exercise in determination, self-re- 
 straint, perseverance and economy. 
 It results in mastery of the art of 
 saving. 
 
 13 
 
Worth While? 
 
 TV/TUCH has been said about what 
 -*■*-*• saving will do to make old age 
 — life's evening — happy and com- 
 fortable. That alone makes saving 
 worth while. 
 
 But what will you gain now 
 while mastering the art of saving? 
 
 You will gain mental poise; your 
 money senses will become sharpened; 
 you will be able to get more out of 
 life, to do better with your money, 
 to choose paths of w r isdom. 
 
 You will find yourself, after per- 
 sistent practice, traveling swiftly to- 
 ward the goal of your Ambition, and 
 you'll be glad you're on the way. 
 
 14 
 
II. A Matter of Habit 
 
A Matter of Habit 
 
 SUCCESSFUL saving is a matter 
 of habit. 
 
 A habit is formed by repeating an 
 action until it becomes automatic — 
 until it repeats itself without effort. 
 
 Habits of mind are formed by 
 thinking a certain kind of thoughts 
 until it becomes second nature to 
 think that particular kind of 
 thoughts. 
 
 Thinking a great deal about a- 
 chievement helps people achieve. 
 Consciously or unconsciously their 
 energies are directed where their 
 thoughts lead them. 
 
 - But dreams of success come true 
 only when backed by actions which 
 give those dreams a practical turn 
 — actions that curb spending and 
 compel saving, actions that are re- 
 peated again and again until they 
 form habit. 
 
 "Ability" to save is, first, wanting 
 to, and then saving constantly until 
 the habit is formed. Successful sav- 
 ing is a matter of habit. 
 
 n 
 
Money Habits 
 
 "\ID you do this yesterday: 
 
 Did you spend a little here 
 and there, just to gratify fleeting 
 desires? 
 
 Did you blithely go into debt for 
 something you cannot afford? 
 
 Did you "put off" the conquest 
 of your nickels, dimes and dollars 
 — the mastery of your will? Did you 
 contribute your small coin to some 
 one else's fortune? 
 
 Will today be a repetition of yes- 
 terday? Habit is made of repetitions. 
 
 Do you ever wonder what kind of 
 an old person you will be? 
 
 Just multiply your little, insig- 
 nificant, incipient money habits — 
 and other habits — by days and days 
 like your yesterdays, and you have 
 your answer. If that is unpleasant 
 to contemplate, change your habits. 
 
 The money habits that rule you 
 now, magnified, emphasized, firmly 
 fixed, "grown up," will be the foun- 
 dation, rock or sand, of your success, 
 small or great, plus or minus. 
 
 Which shall it be? 
 
 18 
 
Your Habits 
 
 WHAT you are in the habit of 
 doing is making you what 
 you are going to be. 
 
 Think a moment. Wasn't just 
 about everything you did yesterday, 
 from the time you arose, things which 
 you are in the habit of doing? 
 
 Suppose you attempt to go through 
 a single day changing every act 
 which has become a fixed habit. 
 You would not eat your breakfast, 
 do your usual work, walk over cus- 
 tomary routes, meet familiar faces 
 or develop plans on which your mind 
 has been intent. The novelty of 
 your actions would tire you out before 
 noon. You are in the grip of habit, 
 
 You are rushing onward where 
 habits are leading you. If they are 
 leading you in the wrong direction, 
 change them quickly. 
 
 Your habits are taking a firm 
 hold on you. Ten years from now 
 it will be an enormous task to free 
 yourself from them and to establish 
 new ones. 
 
 19 
 
The Saving Habit 
 
 /CULTIVATING the saving habit, 
 ^* which is a way of saying 
 "mastering the art of saving" has 
 two distinct advantages. 
 
 It constantly increases one's world- 
 ly possessions and provides his work- 
 ing capital. 
 
 Also, it sobers his mind, sharpens 
 his wits, steadies his aims and pre- 
 pares him for his place in the world. 
 
 Saving is a means to ten thousand 
 ends. The realization of almost 
 every personal ambition depends up- 
 on the amount of money one has 
 saved and upon the habits which con- 
 trol his actions. 
 
 Why not then, form the HABIT 
 of Saving? 
 
 20 
 
III. The Savings Bank Way 
 
The Savings Bank Way 
 
 TP\URING the hundred years that 
 *-^ savings banks have flourished 
 in this country, there never has been 
 devised a better permanent method 
 for saving money and making it 
 work for its owner than the good old 
 savings bank way. 
 
 If the owner of a deposit is a 
 thousand miles away, his interest 
 earnings will be added at regular 
 periods to his account and will con- 
 tinue to earn more interest, without 
 attention on his part, 
 
 No one need worry about getting 
 his interest the day it is due. Nor 
 need he worry for the safety of his 
 funds. Money deposited in savings 
 banks is very rarely lost. 
 
 A savings deposit is always worth 
 one hundred cents on the dollar, 
 and always is earning more in interest. 
 
 One does not have to find a way of 
 turning one's savings deposit into 
 cash, if necessary. It is cash, earning 
 interest. 
 
 23 
 
Adding More 
 
 I F YOU owned a bond, or a mort- 
 A gage on some land, or shares of 
 stock you would receive "interest" 
 or "dividends" once or twice a year. 
 
 But you couldn't add your interest 
 or dividends to the face of your bond 
 or mortgage or stock. Their principal 
 would be a fixed sum to which it 
 would be impossible to add small 
 amounts. 
 
 You thus would be compelled to 
 look for some other method of in- 
 vesting your interest or dividends; 
 and the temptation to spend them 
 always would be present. 
 
 Few can buy stock, a bond or a 
 mortgage once a week but anyone 
 with a savings account can deposit 
 as little as a dollar once a week, 
 or oftener if he cares to do so. 
 
 A savings account is ready always 
 to take care of any odd sum you want 
 to invest. A dollar or two goes in 
 this week; then perhaps you get an 
 odd amount — some extra money. 
 That, too, you can add to your 
 permanent capital. 
 
 24 
 
Simple or Compound 
 
 A T ordinary rates, it takes money 
 -**■ at simple interest five to eight 
 years longer to double itself than at 
 compound interest. 
 
 A bond or mortgage or stock pays 
 simple interest. 
 
 A savings account pays compound 
 interest. 
 
 Unless you took care to re-invest 
 your earnings or dividends promptly 
 and safely, and were able to do so, 
 your investment at simple interest 
 would be no larger at the end of a 
 dozen years than at the start. 
 
 It is better, therefore, to have an 
 investment which grows through the 
 workings of compound interest, than 
 one which earns only simple interest. 
 
 A savings account at a good, strong 
 bank can be easily and frequently 
 added to and results, in the long 
 run, in more profit and in larger 
 fortune. 
 
 25 
 
An Exception 
 
 \I7HILE our country is at war 
 * * and the Government needs the 
 help of every individual, rich or poor, 
 in filling the war chest, the one best 
 investment in the world is Liberty 
 Bonds ; or if one can invest only small 
 amounts, War Savings Stamps, 
 
 Here again the savings bank proves 
 its worth, not only to the individual 
 but to the government. 
 
 For it enables everyone to save 
 regularly from his earnings and to 
 accumulate sums with which to buy 
 Government Bonds as long as money 
 is needed for war purposes. 
 
 The savings banks of the nation 
 are the thrift stations at which vast 
 sums of money are being gathered 
 for winning the wan 
 
 26 
 
IV. Cash and Credit 
 
Cash and Credit 
 
 COMEWHERE in the future your 
 ^ opportunity awaits. It may re- 
 veal itself at any moment. 
 
 When it comes to a show-down — 
 when Opportunity enters your life, 
 and the price tag on it names a figure 
 that one of your capacity ought to 
 have in cash and credit, Will You Be 
 Ready? 
 
 Money begets money. It is the 
 people with cash and credit who 
 embark in successful enterprises, 
 who combine savings, interest and 
 profit into growing fortune. 
 
 A man without cash and credit 
 must stand aside and see others press 
 forward to grasp the prizes of life — 
 people who, perhaps, have money 
 in their hands w r hich he lightly 
 passed to them. 
 
 A great many people are looking 
 backward, wondering why oppor- 
 tunity has passed them by. In most 
 cases it was because they failed to 
 look forward, save their money and 
 provide for the call of Opportunity. 
 
 29 
 
Credit 
 
 /CREDIT is borrowing power. It 
 V^ takes the place of cash in many 
 transactions. With cash, it increases 
 one's ability to make profits. 
 
 Credit is more than borrowing 
 power. It stands also for integrity 
 and ability. 
 
 Credit is based upon the posses- 
 sion of money and property, integrity 
 and ability. 
 
 A person without money or prop- 
 erty usually has little credit, even 
 if his integrity is well known. He is 
 thus denied opportunities for lack of 
 money with w^hich to grasp them. 
 
 Business is based largely on credit. 
 Responsible concerns do not pay cash 
 for purchases, but receive credit, and 
 settle in due time. 
 
 They are known however, to have 
 cash and property, on which to base 
 credit, as well as integrity. This in- 
 spires confidence in them, and in their 
 ability to meet their obligations. 
 
 Credit is based on capital and 
 capital is the result of saving. Sav- 
 ing is the first step to good credit. 
 
 30 
 
Your Credit 
 
 COME day you will need credit. 
 You may want to buy or 
 build a home, or become a partner 
 in a profitable business. 
 
 If your Big Ambition requires a 
 sum of cash you can, through the use 
 of credit, realize it before you have 
 saved all the cash required. 
 
 Perhaps you can realize it when 
 you have a little more than half 
 the cash necessary. With every dol- 
 lar of cash in hand you have also a 
 credit, dependent upon your ability, 
 integrity and other conditions. 
 
 Credit is not a gift. It is a growth. 
 It comes through earnest effort, long 
 continued. It can, through some 
 lapse of judgment or conscience, be 
 lost in an instant. It should be cher- 
 ished as a great treasure. He who 
 cultivates ability to save and heeds 
 the voice of conscience in all his deal- 
 ings acquires cash and credit. 
 
 The amount of cash and credit 
 you will command years hence will 
 depend, not on what you do then, 
 but in all the preceding years. 
 
 31 
 
Get It First! 
 
 /^\NE may easily abuse his credit. 
 
 ^*^ Money should not be bor- 
 rowed for luxuries. What you can't 
 afford to own today you can't afford 
 to buy. 
 
 Buying luxuries on credit is in- 
 creasing the obligations of the future. 
 What reason have you to expect 
 that you can pay ill-considered debts 
 and, at the same time, take care of 
 all the needs the future will bring? 
 
 Receiving credit — borrowing mon- 
 ey — implies that one knows just 
 where the money is coming from to 
 meet the debt promptly when due. 
 
 Those who do not pay debts when 
 due lose their credit. 
 
 For luxuries — get the money first! 
 
 32 
 
V. Decision 
 
Decision 
 
 ALMOST everyone who is not 
 saving now expects to do it 
 sometime — when it is "easier." 
 
 But with non-savers it becomes 
 harder to save as time goes on; 
 habits become more deeply rooted 
 in the character, and wants grow 
 faster than the income. 
 
 It will never he easier to save than 
 right now. 
 
 To be sure, the high cost of living 
 is with us. One of the greatest causes 
 of high prices is the eagerness of the 
 unthrifty to get rid of their money. 
 Times are always getting better for 
 money savers. 
 
 Down in the depths of your heart 
 you know you ought to be a saver, 
 — not a spasmodic one, for that 
 won't get you anywhere, but a 
 consistent money saver. 
 
 You know that your decision to 
 be one stands between you and the 
 goal of your ambition. 
 
 Decide now* 
 
 35 
 
Your Objective 
 
 HpHAT Big Ambition of yours — 
 whatever it may be, even if 
 so broad that it takes the big word 
 "Success" to cover it — set it up as 
 your goal, and begin at once to work 
 toward it. 
 
 You have noticed that it is always 
 the ambitious people who get on in 
 the world — people who know what 
 they want, have a plan for getting it, 
 work out their plan, and have enough 
 determination to suppress little wants 
 in order to provide for a big future. 
 
 Set a goal. Resolve that a year 
 from now will find you possessed of 
 a certain sum. 
 
 Place the figure so high as to make 
 you work hard, but do not place it 
 out of reach. 
 
 Test yourself. Find out whether 
 you have it in you to set a goal 
 and to persist long enough to reach 
 it — to get the saving habit. 
 
 36 
 
Your Plan 
 
 'TPHE success of your plan depends 
 not so much on how much you 
 have in your pay envelope as on what 
 you do with your money. 
 
 Make a budget — so much for liv- 
 ing, so much for recreation and so 
 much for the savings account. 
 
 Divide the amount you would save 
 in a year by the number of pay days. 
 
 Then make good. 
 
 Don't feel discouraged if your 
 first year's goal is a small amount 
 compared with the fortune you hope 
 to win. 
 
 Saving little amounts, despite diffi- 
 culties, and doing it regularly, will 
 produce a wonderful effect upon 
 your character in a year. It will give 
 your better nature the upper hand, 
 and make it easier to set higher goals. 
 
 Every year you follow this plan 
 makes you more efficient and adds 
 momentum to your progress. 
 
 37 
 
Making The Goal 
 
 TT ISN'T the start that makes 
 T the goal. 
 
 Many think the victory won when 
 they begin to save. 
 
 To be sure one victory is won — 
 the victory over the habit of pro- 
 crastination which deferred the start. 
 
 But success is made of ten thou- 
 sand victories over self. 
 
 If, perchance, you already have 
 made your start, but have lagged, 
 take a fresh start now. If you have 
 a savings account anywhere make it 
 a live one. 
 
 Make your goal! 
 
 38 
 
VI. Looking Forward 
 
Looking Forward 
 
 /^VUIT looking back. Look forward. 
 
 ^ The failures you have made, 
 the losses and disappointments you 
 have endured, have prepared you 
 for the successes you are going to 
 make. 
 
 In the great new era this nation 
 faces, a place awaits you. 
 
 It is as large as the personality, de- 
 termination, ability, capital and credit 
 you can bring to it. 
 
 Don't fear that the higher places 
 will be overcrowded. On the con- 
 trary, there will not be enough people 
 qualified to fill them. 
 
 You have no time to lose. The 
 better your preparation the higher 
 the place you will fill. 
 
 The money savers and character 
 builders of today will be in great 
 demand in the great new era that is 
 dawning. 
 
 Look forward. The days for prep- 
 aration are slipping by. 
 
 41 
 
Wanted: Capital 
 
 TT WILL require vast sums of 
 -^ newly saved capital to repair the 
 waste of war. 
 
 America, when the war is over will 
 send to the far corners of the earth 
 her great new merchant ships laden 
 with goods made in America. It will 
 require vast sums to provide machin- 
 ery to make the goods, and men to 
 sail the ships. 
 
 New railroads, new cars and new 
 engines will be needed to carry on 
 the nation's trade. 
 
 New factories, stores and homes, 
 the building of which has been sus- 
 pended during the war, will spring 
 up, evidences of people's thrift. 
 
 The arts of peace resumed, in- 
 dustry will need fresh capital with 
 which to meet the enormous de- 
 mands which will be placed upon it. 
 
 Where will all this capital come 
 from? Savings. Capital is money 
 saved, nothing more. It is not the 
 money of the rich. It is the savings 
 of the rich and poor, and all 
 between. 
 
 42 
 
Wanted: Captains 
 
 TT IS the law of life that captains 
 -* of industry drop out or pass on 
 and that their burdens and responsi- 
 bilities fall upon younger shoulders. 
 
 Keen sighted employers appreciate 
 the fact that those who have master- 
 ed the art of saving have, as well as 
 ready cash, much to show for their 
 effort in character and ability, the 
 things of which big men are made. 
 
 Promotion comes most rapidly to 
 those who capitalize their abilities 
 in cash and character. 
 
 One who will not save has little 
 prospect of being an employer. 
 
 Those who dwarf their talents, 
 whose daily choices are for having 
 a "good time" rather than a cash 
 capital, usually find their prospects 
 diminishing as long as the good-time 
 idea remains uppermost in their 
 minds. 
 
 Industry will need not only more 
 capital, but also more captains. 
 
 43 
 
Carrying On 
 
 HpHE more you think about the 
 *- future, and about Opportunity 
 and about Success, the more en- 
 thusiastic you become about being 
 a money saver. 
 
 It would be as sensible to say that 
 two and two make five as to say that 
 one can go right on spending money 
 heedlessly and expect Opportunity 
 to halt before him. 
 
 It doesn't require higher mathe- 
 matics to figure out where your 
 present course is leading you. 
 
 If you have mastered the art of 
 saving, you can forecast with reason- 
 able accuracy how much of a factor 
 you will be in the great days of 
 opportunity which are drawing near. 
 
 44 
 
VII. Compound Interest 
 
Compound Interest 
 
 \I7"HAT a simple thing is com- 
 pound interest: 
 
 When you receive interest, instead 
 of spending it you promptly add it 
 to your principal, when it also begins 
 to earn more interest. 
 
 As you add more interest to your 
 principal, you increase the earnings 
 from your investment. 
 
 If you have five hundred dollars at 
 interest, and spend the interest as 
 you get it, your investment always 
 stands at five hundred dollars. 
 
 But if you let compound interest 
 do its work, your five hundred dollars 
 will grow until it doubles itself. 
 The longer it grows the larger it 
 grows and the faster it grows. 
 
 If you deposit five dollars a week 
 at four per cent compound interest, 
 you can, after a time, draw out five 
 dollars a week and still have all 
 the money you deposited, and more. 
 
 47 
 
Some Examples 
 
 TT DOESN'T seem so very long 
 A ago since Benjamin Harrison was 
 President. During that time, in 
 1891, a woman deposited $2,850 in a 
 certain savings institution. Recently 
 she presented her bank book with 
 that single entry in it and was 
 handed $7,349.16, or $4,499.16 more 
 than she put in. 
 
 A man saved a nickel a day at 
 compound interest. In ten years he 
 had $222.56 of which $182.50 was 
 money deposited and $40.06 was 
 interest. Thus about twenty-two 
 cents was added to every dollar he 
 saved. 
 
 Suppose a boy of 17 determines to 
 save six dollars a week. If only at 
 three per cent compound interest 
 he will have in his twenty-fourth 
 year $1,675, of which $110 will be 
 interest. 
 
 Now figure out how much you 
 can save, if you try, and how much it 
 will amount to at compound interest, 
 in five or ten years. 
 
 48 
 
Momentum 
 
 lV/TONEY growing at compound in- 
 ^ A terest gathers momentum as 
 time passes. 
 
 We have seen how a sum left 
 undisturbed for a period of years 
 doubles itself, and how fast money 
 grows, when you keep on adding 
 principal, while interest is compound- 
 ed on the growing amounts. 
 
 But there's another thing that 
 gains momentum in this interesting 
 process. 
 
 You become encouraged by the 
 growth of your savings through com- 
 pound interest, and economies be- 
 come much easier as you practise 
 the art of saving; with the 
 natural increase in your personal 
 earnings as the years go by, you 
 find it possible to increase the a- 
 mounts of your stated deposits, add- 
 ing new momentum and still greater 
 results to your effort. 
 
 Your purposes as well as your 
 savings gain momentum. 
 
 49 
 
Grand Results 
 
 TOOK about you and see the 
 -" grand results of saving money 
 at compound interest. 
 
 Many comfortable homes which 
 you pass daily were made possible 
 because their owners deposited small 
 sums at compound interest, secured 
 thus enough for a first payment, and 
 then kept right on saving and deposit- 
 ing more at compound interest, in- 
 cluding the rent they would have paid. 
 
 People who have capital invested 
 in prosperous business enterprises, 
 in buildings and in lands, got their 
 first start, perhaps in most cases, by 
 putting savings out at compound 
 interest. 
 
 Is compound interest helping to 
 make you independent? 
 
 50 
 
VIII. Capitalizing Waste 
 
Capitalizing Waste 
 
 TXT'HAT the average American 
 * * wastes in his productive years, 
 were it saved and the cash equivalent 
 invested at compound interest, would 
 create a fund sufficient to maintain 
 him in ease during his declining 
 years. 
 
 And yet the great majority of old 
 people are dependent upon others 
 for their support; and too many are 
 obliged to spend their ripe old age 
 in hard toil, and die penniless. 
 
 While yearning for riches, millions 
 of people wantonly destroy the things 
 of which riches are made. 
 
 They cast glittering coins after 
 baubles; they throw treasure into 
 scrap heaps — things which have per- 
 formed but half their destined service 
 for mankind. 
 
 There is no one who could not 
 create capital by setting a watch 
 over waste. 
 
 S3 
 
Redeeming Waste 
 
 TTOW much money can you redeem 
 -■•■*■ from waste in a year? More 
 than you think. Waste is about you 
 in many a guise. Put a keen watch 
 upon it — capitalize it. 
 
 War-time food conservation has 
 demonstrated the possibility of re- 
 ducing waste in the kitchen and on 
 the dining table; this, too, with 
 actual betterment of the health of 
 individuals. 
 
 Fuel completely burned; furnaces 
 and stoves kept free from soot; lights 
 turned off when not in use; old news- 
 papers, rags and junk gathered and 
 sold — preventing common waste 
 causes less drain upon national re- 
 sources and adds to money at interest. 
 
 Half worn clothing and discarded 
 shoes; hats which could be renovat- 
 ed, thrown away; unused apparel 
 hanging in closets — these utilized or 
 sold would add still more to national 
 wealth and to your cash capital. 
 
 By becoming a vigilant monitor 
 of waste could you not build a snug 
 sum in cash saved? 
 
 54 
 
Money Waste 
 
 / TPHE difference between the dol- 
 ■*■ lar you save and the dollar you 
 fritter away is, that the dollar you 
 spend gives satisfaction but once and 
 the dollar saved gives satisfaction 
 all the time. 
 
 You can't save enough this week, 
 or next, to cut much figure in a 
 fortune. But if you save a little 
 each week, your savings w r ill combine 
 into figures that will look good in 
 your bank book. 
 
 The middle-aged man, mindful of 
 his past, will urge you not to waste 
 small sums. He will tell you, too, 
 with a sigh of regret, what he might 
 have accomplished had he, years 
 ago, realized the multiplying power 
 of trifling sums. 
 
 Only a nickel! But it is a good 
 year's earnings on an invested dollar. 
 When you thoughtlessly part with 
 a nickel do you think how few 
 nickels it takes to earn a like amount 
 — not once but every year? 
 
 55 
 
Hoarded Capital 
 
 TTOARDED money is another 
 ■*■ ■*■ form of waste. 
 
 The country needs every dollar 
 of its working capital. To keep 
 money out of circulation by hoarding 
 is unwarranted selfishness. If all did 
 that, business would stagnate for 
 want of funds. Money deposited in 
 banks ministers to public need. 
 
 Frequently we hear of the losses of 
 savings by people who attempt to 
 be their own banker. More money 
 is lost from pockets and hiding places, 
 many times over, than from savings 
 depositories. 
 
 Capitalize all the waste you can 
 and keep your money in a strong 
 bank. Thus your fortune will grow 
 while you serve the public good. 
 
 56 
 
IX. Saving and Investing 
 
Saving and Investing 
 
 THE speed craze has caused 
 many a wreck on the road to 
 fortune. Trying to go too fast has 
 dashed many hopes to ruin. 
 
 When one withdraws his money 
 from the savings bank to "invest" 
 it, he takes, indeed, a serious step. 
 
 For he knows, at least, that in 
 bank his money is in the safest place 
 he can find; he knows also that he 
 will never miss a dividend day, and 
 that his savings will not go below par. 
 
 But he wants more interest than 
 the bank pays; or he is tempted by 
 promise of great profit. Perhaps he 
 expects to save anew in bank, 
 forthwith, for re-investment in a per- 
 manent way. 
 
 Let him take counsel with his bank- 
 er. He is a rare banker indeed who 
 will not give it unselfishly. 
 
 It is a safe rule never to invest in 
 securities in which a banker will not 
 invest the bank's funds, or in any- 
 thing which a bank will not take as 
 collateral for a loan. 
 
 59 
 
Danger Signals 
 
 WHEN anyone wants to sell you 
 a "gold brick" he will tell you 
 how much more interest it will earn 
 for you than the bank will pay. 
 
 If an opportunity to invest must 
 be grasped instantly, beware of it. 
 The quicker an opportunity must be 
 taken, the more closely, usually, it 
 should be scrutinized. 
 
 If a stock is sure to "pay big 
 dividends" its promoter needn't seek 
 your little savings. With merit, he 
 can sell it readily to experienced 
 capitalists. 
 
 When the promoter baits you by 
 telling about the success of million- 
 aires like Rockefeller, Henry Ford 
 and Du Pont, take time to consider 
 and ask your banker's advice. Using 
 the names of successful men is an 
 old trick and does not add to the 
 soundness of the promoter's project. 
 
 Ascertain before buying how easy 
 or how difficult it will be to sell se- 
 curities offered you and don't take 
 the promoter's word for it without 
 investigating. 
 
 60 
 
More Signals 
 
 CTOCKS and securities that are 
 advertised in big type and flam- 
 boyant circulars are designed usually 
 for the inexperienced investor. Bank- 
 ers and capitalists require exhaustive, 
 indisputable proof of merit before 
 they buy. 
 
 The higher the interest return 
 claimed for investments offered you 
 the more advisable to go slowly and 
 seek advice. When a stock is going 
 to "advance in price on a certain 
 day," shun it. 
 
 Lending money to relatives and 
 friends is good sentiment but often 
 poor business. Always get security. 
 
 When you buy minority shares in 
 a corporation you are placing your 
 funds absolutely in the hands of its 
 management and betting high on its 
 ability and honesty, the sufficiency 
 of the concern's capital, the demand 
 for its product and the certainty of 
 dividends. 
 
 61 
 
Safe Ways 
 
 HTHERE are, of course, safe and 
 •*■ profitable ways to invest your 
 money- Much depends, too, upon 
 how soon you will need your 
 principal again in cash. 
 
 The wisdom with which you make 
 investments will determine how soon 
 you become independent. 
 
 Making mistakes incurs set-backs 
 and often compels a fresh start. 
 
 Think twice and ask advice be- 
 fore investing. Be guided by ex- 
 perience—preferably someone else's. 
 
 When experience has made you a 
 successful investor you will doubt- 
 less always continue to save funds 
 in your bank account for investment. 
 
 62 
 
X. The Art of Spending 
 
The Art of Spending 
 
 OUYING everything you want now 
 *J will prevent you from having, 
 presently, things you will enjoy more. 
 
 It is a strong person, indeed, 
 who has the power to forego little 
 wants in order to gratify larger ones 
 later on. 
 
 The portion of the income which 
 is spent plays no part in the spend- 
 er's fortune. 
 
 Getting the most for your money, 
 and conquering the tendency to 
 spend for trifles' is possible only 
 through long practice and self dis- 
 cipline. 
 
 Those who, between the ages of 
 six and twenty, are thoroughly 
 schooled in the art of spending, come 
 to the serious part of their life work 
 splendidly equipped. 
 
 But those who grow to maturity 
 in thoughtless disregard of the value 
 of money start to work their way in 
 the world chained to a heavy hind- 
 rance — a habit which will be a 
 drag on their progress. 
 
 65 
 
"Charge It" 
 
 /^OUNTLESS influences are con- 
 ^^ stantly at work tempting people 
 to spend. The advertising columns 
 of the daily papers and of the 
 magazines are creating new wants 
 on a vast scale. To withstand them 
 and keep within the bounds of frugal 
 living, demands great strength of 
 purpose. 
 
 The ease with which one can say 
 "charge it" increases the difficulty of 
 wise spending. 
 
 The "dollar-down-dollar-a-week" 
 plan of buying, tempts many with 
 slim purses to buy what they cannot 
 afford. 
 
 The habit of buying on credit piles 
 up debt. No one dependent on his 
 income should, except in emergen- 
 cy, incur debts that cannot be met, 
 of a certainty, promptly, 
 
 A good rule is "Pay as you go." 
 
 Governing one's spending by that 
 rule will ward off anxious days of 
 debt and worry. 
 
 66 
 
Spending by Plan 
 
 TT IS a mystery why people strive 
 * so hard to learn to earn and give 
 so little thought to learning to spend; 
 and why people will strain every 
 nerve to make money and then spend 
 it as if they have a written guarantee 
 that there will never be an interrup- 
 tion of the income. 
 
 We are too much absorbed in 
 money-getting plans to give thought 
 to spending by plan. 
 
 Children are given a wrong start 
 when money is bestowed on them 
 lavishly; they miss the great lesson 
 of self restraint. 
 
 Many failures would be avoided 
 if the faculty for spending wisely 
 were cultivated earnestly early in 
 life. 
 
 Buying with money you have 
 instead of with money you hope to 
 get, is a long step toward maintaining 
 financial and moral solvency. 
 
 Think twice and challenge the 
 necessity of every expenditure. 
 
 67 
 
A Simple Plan 
 
 T3Y THE simple plan of spending 
 *J less than the income and saving 
 regularly, it is possible to create a 
 fund which will yield a steady in- 
 come. 
 
 Thus, careful spending adds to 
 buying power. 
 
 The "pay as you go" plan is 
 better than the instalment plan 
 because one with cash in hand can 
 buy for less, and he pays no in- 
 terest on the purchase price. Under 
 the instalment plan every cent of 
 interest paid adds just so much to the 
 cost of the purchase. It is a costly 
 plan to follow. 
 
 A good way to learn to spend 
 is to adopt the "budget system/' 
 that is to lay plans for spending and 
 to include a savings fund in the plan. 
 
 68 
 
XL Your Bank 
 
Your Bank 
 
 / T S HE seeker for success who tries 
 ■** to be his own banker makes 
 slow progress and encounters many 
 pitfalls. 
 
 Banks have helped more people 
 succeed than any other single agency. 
 
 Stand in any busy banking room 
 and watch the people come and go. 
 You will be impressed with the fact 
 that they are bent upon errands 
 which have to do with building their 
 success. 
 
 Among them you will always fincf 
 the successful and the prudent. 
 
 Everyone, as early as possible in 
 his career, should choose a bank in 
 which to build his fortune. 
 
 Those who are too young to make 
 a choice of a bank should have it 
 made for them. 
 
 The first step in banking, and 
 usually the first step toward the goal 
 of one's ambition, is the important 
 one taken when a bank account 
 is opened. 
 
 71 
 
A Savings Account 
 
 A SAVINGS account with a good 
 -*-*■ bank is a safe medium through 
 which to gather funds with which to 
 earn profit. 
 
 It is a sort of yardstick by which 
 one may measure the results of his 
 prudence, economy and thrift. 
 
 It is possible, of course, to save 
 money without a bank account. A 
 growing fortune, however, kept in 
 concealment, is in constant danger 
 and must run the gauntlet of attacks 
 of many enemies. The additions of 
 compound interest are also lacking. 
 
 As anyone's bank account grows, 
 evidence piles up that his plans are 
 working out the right way. 
 
 Savings accounts have brought 
 blessings into numberless lives. They 
 have laid the foundation for many a 
 home and for many a successful 
 career. 
 
 The chances are as good today, if 
 not better than they ever were, for 
 starting a fortune in a savings ac- 
 count. 
 
 11 
 
A Checking Account 
 
 TI7*HEN one reaches the point 
 * * where he can profitably main- 
 tain a checking account as well as a 
 savings account, he has indeed made 
 progress. 
 
 A checking account is a medium 
 for keeping in safety personal and 
 business funds not yet in use, and 
 for transferring them to others with- 
 out danger of loss by means of the 
 bank check. 
 
 Anyone can maintain a checking 
 account when his income is large 
 enough and his business transactions 
 are numerous enough to permit him 
 to meet his obligations and maintain 
 a fair balance in the bank after 
 doing so. 
 
 If funds are drawn upon as fast as 
 they are deposited and the balance 
 retained is very small a burden 
 which is not justified is imposed 
 upon the bank. 
 
 A checking account is, in a word, in- 
 tended for the care and safe trans- 
 mission of active funds. 
 
 73 
 
Banking Acquaintance 
 
 TT IS a great help to be favorably 
 ■*• known at a bank. One whom a 
 bank knows to be honest, industrious 
 and capable has a valuable reference. 
 
 A bank, because of the precision, 
 accuracy and integrity with which 
 it handles transactions is an excellent 
 model. One who tries to square his 
 own actions with those of a good 
 bank will keep within the bounds of 
 safety and prudence. 
 
 Therefore, it is well to cultivate 
 an understanding with one's banker. 
 He can help the depositor along in 
 his career with sound advice, with 
 light on investment and business 
 problems and with credit when it is 
 deserved. 
 
 74 
 
XII. Your Liberty Bonds 
 
Your Liberty Bonds 
 
 TN THE years following the con- 
 A elusion of the Great War those 
 who will look back with the greatest 
 satisfaction upon their part in the 
 terrible conflict will be the flower of 
 the nation's manhood who put aside 
 their personal plans and took up 
 arms in defense of human liberty. 
 
 A grateful nation can never repay 
 its debt to them. 
 
 Those who at home, in defense 
 of their country, brought self-denial 
 into their lives and spared from 
 their pleasures, conveniences and 
 necessities that they might invest 
 their savings in Liberty Bonds — 
 they, too, have put the nation under 
 obligation to them. 
 
 But that obligation is one that 
 the nation can and will repay, and 
 with profit to the lenders. While 
 doing their duty they created new 
 wealth for themselves. 
 
 77 
 
Partners in Democracy 
 
 T\/f ILLIONS of people, unaccus- 
 ***- tomed to saving money and 
 unconscious of their ability to do 
 so, responded to their country's call 
 and economized, and then invested 
 the cash results of their economies 
 in Liberty Bonds. 
 
 The most honorable "war fortune" 
 is one, large or small, represented 
 by the ownership of Liberty Bonds. 
 
 The ends of democracy can best be 
 served when the people continue to 
 hold until their maturity, the bonds 
 so aptly called "Liberty" Bonds. 
 
 One who has bought them through 
 self-denial and who foregoes tempta- 
 tion to sell them is a worthy partner 
 in his Government. 
 
 Anyone who parts with them, ex- 
 cept in case of dire necessity or in 
 order to divert the cash equivalent 
 to worthy uses must, indeed, feel a 
 keen sense of disappointment in him- 
 self or in the circumstances which led 
 him to yield them up. 
 
 78 
 
A Sound Investment 
 
 T7R0M the standpoint of self in- 
 -** terest one should hold, tena- 
 ciously, his Liberty Bonds. They 
 are the soundest investment in the 
 world. The bonds of our Govern- 
 ment have, in times of peace, gone 
 above par. Some of them have gone 
 as high as 139. 
 
 When quoted under par it may 
 be taken as a temporary condition 
 and should not in the least disturb 
 one who has invested in this prime 
 security. . 
 
 Liberty Bonds will bring the owner 
 a fair return on his money, without 
 fail. 
 
 They can be used as security for 
 loans and will always be a reserve 
 against adversity. 
 
 One cannot dispose of his Liberty 
 Bonds to buy a safer investment, 
 for there is none. 
 
 Why then should one risk a cer- 
 tainty? 
 
 79 
 
The Promoter 
 
 npHE promoter who offers invest- 
 -*• ments in exchange for Liberty 
 Bonds pays a tribute to their worth; 
 his offer proves which he thinks is 
 the better security. 
 
 Everyone must always be on his 
 guard against the schemes which 
 will be devised by promoters to get 
 his bonds from him. 
 
 There will be floods of "oppor- 
 tunities" to trade one's bonds for 
 luxuries and for "sure things" offer- 
 ing higher rates of interest. 
 
 Let your "Liberty Bonds," bought 
 perhaps with grim self-denial backed 
 by patriotism, remain one of your 
 solid assets and cherished possessions 
 and keep you in the discreet in- 
 vestor class. 
 
 80 
 
oct ; 18 ij