“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 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.

The average savings account in this Country is now much larger than in any other country and a larger percentage of our people have become savers than has been the case in any other country. Perhaps we should not give ourselves too much credit because we earn so much more than the people of any other country and, therefore, we can save more.

There are twelve times as many savers in the other countries of the world as in the United States, but one-third of all of the savings bank deposits in the world are in this Country.

We are getting away from the old idea of earn all you can, spend what you like and save the rest. A corporation without net earnings is a failure and is soon bankrupt. The same economic law applies to the individual and, if he would save himself from being a failure and from ultimate bank­ruptcy, he must so arrange his affairs as to have some net earnings every month.

The financial problem before each of us is–

How to get money

How to spend it

How to save some of it

How to become independent