Page:Hints About Investments (1926).pdf/265

 be somewhat over-valued as compared with ordinary shares.

But between the monotonous safety of the best Government securities and the venturous possibilities of industrial ordinary shares we found a class of ordinary shares in what may be called financing companies, whose assets consist almost entirely of cash, quoted securities and debts, and are thus much more easily and accurately valued than those of industrial concerns; these widespread securities and debts provide for any investor, who has a holding of their shares, a diversification of risk such as he could never hope to acquire, unless he were many times a millionaire, by making investments for himself in different climes and different industries. These companies depend for success on unceasing prudence and energy in management; but the service which is supplied by banks, discount companies and insurance companies is so constantly needed, in good times and bad, that they are much less affected by turns in the wheel of industrial fortune than companies which are engaged in manufacture, production and commerce. Trust companies, the other class of venture which provides diversification for investors in their shares, are purely holding companies which carry out for their share-