The Secret Of Wealth
132 total pages.
Perhaps you have not been a reckless lender of money, but it is probable that you have loaned a good many dollars which you never again expect to see. Shakespeare lived before the days of banks, but not before the days of friendly borrowing. You will remember he said: "Neither a borrower, nor a lender be; for loan oft loses both itself and friend; and borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry."
CHAPTER XIII "And all may do what has by man been done."-- Young. IT IS sometimes interesting to check up on the other fellow and see what he has done which we have not done and then to decide whether it was worth doing. One thing that is surely worth doing is acquire a competence and develop an independence so that it will be easier to live comfortably tomorrow than it is today. Too many people make the mistake of believing that earnings in the form of salary or wages are net profits, with the result that they never enjoy any real net profits. The earnings of the individual like the receipts of a corporation are simply receipts; in the case of commissions, they are receipts only, while in the case of salary and wages, they are really gross profits. Out of the salary and wages of the individual, which are the gross profits, must first come the expenses of living just the same as the corporation must deduct from its gross earnings the expenses of operating the business. What is left is net profit or actual net earnings which, in the case of most of us, is a very small part of our gross receipts.
The real wages a man gets is what he has left after he has paid '' the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker" and out of these real wages or net earnings, he must provide for his present pleasures and for his future comforts. In recent years, the people of the United States have become great savers in spite of all the accusations of extravagant living.
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The Secret Of Wealth