(To be continued.)
EVERY GIRL A BUSINESS WOMAN.
A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO THE WORLD OF INDUSTRY AND THRIFT.
By JAMES MASON.
Part III.
e are going now to speak about money: not, however, about how to get it, but about what to do with it after it is got. About the occupations by which money is made, we shall not at present say anything. Many of them have already been treated of in The Girl’s Own Paper.
When people have money there are three things they can do with it; they can spend it, or place it out at interest, or tie it up in a parcel and hide it away. Perhaps they do not need at the moment to spend it; in that case of the two ways that are left the only wise one is to place it out at interest.
And what is interest? Interest is the sum paid by anyone who gets the loan of money, for the use of it. Selina, say, gets the loan of £50 for a year—not for nothing—oh, no, she pays £2 for the twelve months. This £2 is the interest. At the end of the year the lender receives back her £50 and £2 added to it, so, you see, it is for a good reason that we recommend lending in preference to unfruitful hoarding. Money—and this is a wise rule—should never be allowed to lie idle.
The sum lent is known as the principal, and on the principal the interest is calculated at so much per cent. (by the hundred); that is to say, at so much for every £100. For instance, 5 per cent. means £5 for the use of every £100; 2½ per cent., £2 10s. for the use of every £100; and 3¾ per cent., £3 15s. for the use of every £100. Selina’s loan, in the preceding paragraph, is at 4 per cent., in other words, £4 for £100; so, of course, for £50 she just pays £2.