54

which  yield  a  larger  income  than  he  can  hope  to
receive  from  an  Investment  List  which  disregards
the  important  point  of  GeographicalDistribution.
Before  proceeding  further  with  the  question
of  how  far  it  is  prudent  to  attempt  to  employ
Geographical  Distribution  as  a  means  of  enhancing ­
  income,  let  us  re-affirm  our  opinion  that
capital  safety  should  always  be  an  investor’s
first  consideration.  But,  unfortunately,  this
life  is  prolific  of  circumstances  under  which
counsels  of  perfection  are  of  no  practical  utility.
For  example,  let  us  suppose  the  case  of
a  professional  man  with  rapidly  increasing
family  responsibilities,  and  a  slowly  growing
professional  income  which  is  supplemented
by  the  interest  yielded  by  his  private  fortune
of  £4,000.  To  a  man  so  placed,  who  roundly
asserts  that  £240  per  annum  is  the  minimum
income  from  his  private  means  upon  which
he  can  make  both  ends  meet,  it  is  useless  to
advance  the  perfect  theory  of  investment.
Circumstances  compel  him  to  seek  a  yield  of
6  per  cent.,  and,  under  the  circumstances,  his
financial  adviser  can  only  put  him  in  the  way
of  securing  this  income  with  safety.
In  cases  of  this  description  a  most  carefully
prepared  International  Investment  List  will
prove  the  greatest  of  boons  ;  for  the  stocks,
displayed  on  a  chart  given  in  Chapter  V.,