Successful Stock Speculation. English-only reading by default; switch among English, Chinese, and Spanish, or compare languages side by side.
This chapter examines What Stocks Not to Buy, using the author’s early-twentieth-century investment framework to explain how investors were expected to judge security quality, income, risk, and market conditions. It opens from the chapter’s own discussion: A great deal more can be said about stocks you should not buy than about stocks you should buy, because the list is very much larger. Stocks not listed on the New York Stock Exchange, as a rule, should not be bought by a careful speculator, but as stated in the previous chapter, there are exceptions to that rule.
Readers studying financial history, investment education, and the chapter’s specific subject—promotion stocks, defunct securities, publicity—will get the most from this section. It is not suitable as a modern trading or investment checklist.
Read this chapter as historical investment education. The market rules, disclosure practices, securities, commissions, interest-rate conditions, and investor protections around promotion stocks, defunct securities, publicity may differ sharply from modern markets.