Thrift and Prosperity 1930
THE FIVE FAT YEARS
THE subject is thrift. It happens to be a favorite topic with columnist W.G. Sibley of the Chicago Journal of Commerce.
He advances the idea that in almost every normal man’s life there are five years in which it is easy to make money, and those five years, whether they come soon or late, should be taken full advantage of.
A Chicago correspondent, who withholds his name, starts the discussion by writing a letter to Mr. Sibley, in which he says:
It has been my observation, based on what I have seen in the past generation, that between thirty and forty, or fifty, almost any one can make a reasonable amount of money.
And this brings out the “five-fat-years idea” from Mr. Sibley himself. As he puts it:
Our professor in mathematics at college told our class one day that in every normal man’s life there come five years in which he is able to make money easily and rapidly.
Sometimes these years come late; sometimes early.
We are now in a period when they seem to come early. Wo to the young man favored by early prosperity who squanders it! His last days shall not be his best days.
There is but one safe thing to do when the easy-money years come, and that is to save it—to save till it hurts, to the end that accumulation may protect him and his family when earning power declines, as it surely will if he lives.
Thrift is the great provider of future comfort. A young man who scorns it when saving is easy is letting himself in for unhappy years, while those who practise it will have no serious competition from the spenders when they begin to slip.
Source: The Literary Digest May 24, 1930
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