The house and its furnishings indicated a degree of poverty. The nice lady and gentleman who lived there were seeking my advice. It seemed that he couldn’t work because of a crippling illness. She held a modest position. What did I think of them putting as much as they could, perhaps twenty dollars a month into stamps so that when she goes on social security in fifteen years, they would have a nest egg of considerable value?

I hesitate to give advice that should be sought from other professions. In this case, a banker or a broker was needed. I hope that I was able to persuade these misguided folks to seek out a good bank and be happy with its savings plans.

There is a cost level at which everyone can afford stamp collecting. It may be even as low as one dollar a month. However, there has never been a time when small money is likely to be the entry way to philatelic riches. The pleasures of stamp collecting are for everyone. Its financial returns are for the few with the knowledge and capital required for what is perhaps the trickiest of investments.

People with only five dollars a week and the need of future savings had better put at least four dollars in a bank and collect stamps modestly for the remaining dollar. We hope they will expect their return to be entirely in pleasure.