TALKS TO INVESTORS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23384, 28 June 1939, Page 9

TALKS TO INVESTORS

Speculative shares in companies or concerns with no tangible assets and with no real business or undertaking other than the exploitation of an idea such as shares for the development of mines and patents are often very attractive because they hold out ' such alluring promises. They are nearly always to be found in the bag of the übiquitous share salesman and company promoter. They should never be bought under any circumstances unless you are prepared to lose the whole of the amount involved if the venture fails and as in the best circumstances they are purely and solely a gamble they should be regarded with the greatest suspicion and always avoided by the small investor who cannot afford to lose any part of his hard earned capital. It was pointed out bv Mr. (J. J. Green, stock and sharebroker. in one of his early talks that if you do decide to risk your money in a speculative share and are prepared to lose such money you should observe two other rules:— (1) Never buy such shares unless you have a chance of winning for in many speculative propositions the dice are loaded against the investor from the commencement and lie never has a gambler's chance. (2) Ahvnvs take your profit if the shares do rise in value after you have bought. Don't wait, be satisfied with a small profit and your capital back and the profit while it is there to bo got. The greedy man nearly always loses. Long experience has shown conclusively. however, that the small investor should absolutely resist the temptation to speculate no matter how good the proposition looks. The main rule is easy therefore t<> remember it is simply ''Don't." —P.13.A.