Why pick the stock market? Is everyone’s memory so short that 1929 has been forgotten? Do these innocents want to get taken to the cleaners, playing an expert’s game?
No. Times have changed here and the word is getting around. Millions of people had their first investment experience with war bonds, and found it good. The bonds were issued in denominations small enough for people to handle easily. There was no fluctuation in their price, so you could put them away and forget them. They grew in value steadily, and could be cashed without fuss or trouble. If these conditions could be duplicated in the stock market, investment might make very good sense.
Of course, in the market, price fluctuation was inevitable. Common stock could never have the stability of a Government obligation like the E-bond. Still, it had become a very respectable piece of merchandise. Workers learned that their union pension funds included large blocks of sound common stocks. And frequently the company they worked for offered them an opportunity to acquire its stock through one sort of monthly purchase plan or another. Various state commissions took a fresh look and decided that common stocks were safe enough to be incorporated in widows’ and orphans’ trust funds, traditionally the most conservative type of portfolio.
And, on top of everything else, common stocks in the rising post war market were paying off well. Interest on savings accounts was no more than 3