CHAPTER I.
ON INVESTMENT RISKS.
Investment is the act of laying out money with
a view to keeping it safely, and at the same
time securing an income from it. Two distinct
objects being aimed at by the act of invest
ment, there are naturally also two separate and
distil] ct risks attached to it, namely, the risk
attendant upon Capital and the risk attendant
upon Income.
All investments fluctuate in value, and
there is hardly an investment in existence
which may be relied upon with mathematical
certainty to realise without any diminution the
exact sum originally laid out in its purchase.
There is, however, a large number of invest
ments which may be absolutely relied upon as
regular and uniform income-producers, so that
the main difficulty of investment lies in keeping
the original capital sum intact.
Not only is the safety of capital attended
by the greater risks, but, in addition, it con
stitutes the cardinal question in the considera
tion of the safety of an investment ; because,
so long as capital remains intact, any diminu-
B 2