Enduring Investments

NOTE: This book is a new edition of the original classic. It has not been scanned from a library book, so it does not contain jumbled, weird characters. It contains new, original commentary. Despite the mainstream media's frantic emphasis on the daily ups and downs of the stock market, the desperate attempts by many investors to time the market, buying and selling stocks based on guru advice or their own research, and emphasis by mutual funds on quarterly results, true wealth in permanent. It's enduring. If we lived entirely for the present day we'd never go to work and we'd spend any money we could get hold of as soon as we received. I myself have met many people who live exactly that way and get by with it thanks to the overall prosperity of the United States economy and the generosity politicians have with taxpayer money. But it's deadly to your self-esteem. The rest of us have to make and build our own fortunes. Despite -- or because of -- the fast pace of daily life, we want to build enduring wealth. Wealth that will last at least as long as we do, so it will always be there when we need it. Wealth that won't decay or run out or go out of business or declare bankrupty and that can't be stolen from us. That's the theme of Enduring Investments. Roger Ward Babson was about just around forty when he wrote this book, but he proved he knew what he was talking about by living another 52 years. One of the businesses he founded is still operating, and still has his name on it. Not many businesses started over one hundred years ago can say the same. One of the schools he founded, Babson College, also still exists. He pioneered the field of economic analysis and forecasting. The statistical organization he founded still exists. He also founded one of the longest running investments newsletters. It stopped publication only a few years ago, and only because the company decided to keep all their information private.