Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-05-02
WIDOWS AND INVESTMENTS
TOLD OF BY HASkIN
Daily Letter BY Frederic j.. Haskio

WASHINGTON, May 2.-The
Widows All, or What Happened to
the Insurance Money, might appro-
priately be the subject of an up-to-
date novel or drama, and not a dime
thriller either, but rather one OF
those pieces of stark, uncompromis-
ing realism that reflect American
life as it really is.
That this story has not been writ
ten by one of our great American
realists is no doubt due to the fact
that the theme of the widow and her
money was so exclusively exploited
in the melodrama of a few decades
ago. Now, however, there are new
twists to the situation. And what
is a more compelling fact the num-
Der of widows being separated from
their money is so large that the con-
| scientious novelist who aims to por-
tray modern life can not continue in
definitely to overlook so significant a
phase as this. At any rate, the sug-
| gestion is offered to the fiction trade
| and here are the facts to fill out the
piece:
The average life of an estate of
$4,000 Or more, after it is settled
is seven to nine years.
Another statement along the same
line is hat 80 per cent of the money,
paid in lump sum settlements to
| women is lost within seven years by
unwise spending and investment.
In other words the money saved
and amassed by the husband is more
| than likely to slip like sand through
the fingers of the one who inherits it.
Strange fates befall money left in
1 life insurance and other lump sums.
Women who have never handled
more than a hundred dollars or so
at a time seem to become b~ewildered
by larger amounts. A few thou
sands look like a fortune to such a
widow and she proceeds to spend 1t
guilelessly without m thought of
providing for a rainy day. When
one widow in a southern city receiv-
ed $4,000 in life insurance, her first
step was to buy a piano as a gift to a
friend. In a year she had disposed
of the entire $4,000.
Not Content With Small Returns
Another type of widow, a more
modern type, sees the money left her
with q. more correct impression of its
spending possibilities. She knows
Just about how far it a be stretch
ed. But she goes TO another extreme
and undertakes her inheritance.
The money must be invested, but
three or four per cent on a few thou
sands is too little to be of n use
at all, she reasons. She reflects
that a great many people get much
higher returns on money than that
So she is ready prey for the sales
man of fake or risky stock, and this
a{IIafa 90 Tho drama 10 mot slow IN
making his entrance at the strategic
instant.
Where spectators get their list!
of insurance beneficiaries is not al
ways clear. Many insurance com
panies now refuse to print names
and addresses of persons to whom
insurance Is paid. But death notices
and notices of Wills always give pro
motors a lead to possible investors
| and by observation and deduction tn
skiIlful Spectator can often figur'
about how much money the widow
, has when he calls to interest her il
his remarkable opportunity"
. II the person interviewed doe
have money to invest the chances ar
that she has been thinking aD5ut ii
and that the caller will be given
hearing. When the salesman tell
her that she has a keen bushes
sense and that he doesn't know Q
any other woman who would appre
ciate his remarkable proposition a
she does, the Widows mons is prac
> tically in the visitors pocket.
, The third type of widow who
; doomed to bad luck takes inexper
o advice. Her financial adviser ma
carelessly permit her to take risk
he would not take himself. Nor
often, however, he counsels her sir
cerely, but without taking into az
count differences between her situa
ton and his own.
This last possibility involves
: point which financial experts en-
phatically stress, but which is rare
D ly given any thought by the averag
small investor. This point Is tina
the same investment may be a harm
less enough adventure for n pei
son and a tragic gamble for anothei
l. One poker player can afford to los
$500 in the course of an evening
d fun, while to another a $500 los
would NEAR nothing less than goin
h seriously in debt. So it is with II
vestments.
A venture that is legitimate bl
distinctly uncertain of success ma
attract a few PROMINENT ~1nancier