Will Rogers? Eddie Cantor? Benjamin Franklin? Anonymous?

Question for Quote Investigator: Risky investments offer high returns, but the money invested may be completely lost. A family of statements uses wordplay to express a memorable warning. Here are three instances:
(1) I learned to worry about the return of my money instead of the return on my money
(2) I’m not so much interested in the return on my principal as I am in the return of my principal.
(3) I am not as concerned about the return on my investment as about the return of my investment.
The wordplay consists of repeating a template phrase while swapping the prepositions “of” and “on”. This quip has been attributed to U.S. humorist Will Rogers, U.S. comedian Eddie Cantor, and U.S. statesman Benjamin Franklin. Would you please explore the origin of this family of statements?
Reply from Quote Investigator: The phrasing of these statements is highly variable; hence, this family is difficult to trace. The earliest instance of this wordplay found by QI appeared in April 1920 in “The New York Times” within an advertisement for Prudence Bonds from Realty Associates Investment Corporation. The bonds offered 6 percent interest, which was not the highest rate available, but the advertisement emphasized the safety of the bonds. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:1
Of course, you can get a bigger return on your money, provided you accept a reduction in security.
But please bear this in mind: When we talk of the 100% soundness of Prudence-Bonds, we have in mind, not only the return on your money, but the return of your money.
In April 1920, the same advertisement for Prudence Bonds appeared in other newspapers such as the “Brooklyn Daily Eagle” of Brooklyn, New York.2
QI hypothesizes that an anonymous copywriter crafted this wordplay. Citations presented further below indicate that the popular entertainer Eddie Cantor used the same wordplay in 1933 and 1934. Cantor’s formulation placed more emphasis on wistful humor.
Will Rogers died in 1935. He posthumously received credit for a version of this quip by 1938 within a real estate advertisement. Overall, QI believes that the evidence linking Rogers to the quip is very weak.
Benjamin Franklin died in 1790. He implausibly received credit for a version of this quip by 1966 within a financial advertisement.
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
In June 1920, this wordplay appeared within an advertisement published in “The Ottawa Evening Citizen” of Ontario, Canada:3
Choose Wisely
See that you get not only a good return ON your money, but the return OF your money eventually.
You can buy First Mortgage Serial Gold Bonds of the Ontario Smelters and Refiners, Limited, which will return over 7 1/2 % – with Bonus of 25 % of Common Stock.
During the 1920s other financial organizations employed this wordplay. For example, in 1926 “The Columbus Sunday Dispatch” printed an advertisement from the Buckeye State Building and Loan of Columbus, Ohio which included this statement:4
Be satisfied with a safe return ON your money and thus be sure and have safe return OF your money.
In October 1933, a journalist interviewed Eddie Cantor who experienced massive financial losses during the 1929 U.S. stock market crash:5
“I lost $2,000,000 in 20 stock market days—$100,000 a day—and everything I had was in hock,” he reminisced painfully.
This terrible experience led Cantor to offer advice which was quite similar to the advice given in the advertisements:
The Cantor idea on investments since 1929?
“It’s to look not so much for a return on your money as for a return of your money!”
In January 1934, “The Courier-Journal”6 of Louisville, Kentucky and “The Sun”7 of Baltimore, Maryland printed the following remarks from Eddie Cantor:
“In California, we live like human beings. We get up, we go to work, we come home and eat and sleep. Actors stop being long-haired artists. They get comparatively sensible. They learn to have money. I did.”
“The first thing I learned was to worry about the return of my money instead of the return on my money.”
Cantor used the phrase “my money” instead of “your money”. The humor was highlighted because the comedian was presenting a painful personal experience.
In 1935 a newspaper in Bradenton, Florida printed an advertisement for annuities which contained another statement attributed to Cantor:8
“Never again will I look for the return on my money. From now on I am only concerned with the return of my money. That is why I am definitely sold on annuities as a medium of safe savings.”
—Eddie Cantor.
In May 1938, “The Philadelphia Inquirer” of Pennsylvania printed an article advocating the purchase of life insurance. The article contained an anonymous instance of the saying:9
Life insurance makes savings possible by providing an immediate hedge against the possibility of the saving period being cut short by death or disability. It furnishes a safe and profitable investment to the person who is as much interested in the return of his money as the return on his money, because laws do not permit life insurance companies to gamble or speculate with the funds received from policy holders.
In August 1938 the “Oregon Daily Journal” of Portland, Oregon printed an advertisement for a real estate company which credited Will Rogers with a version of the saying. This was the earliest linkage to Rogers found by QI:10
WILL ROGERS
hit the nail squarely on the head when he said, “It is not only the return on your money, but the return of your money, that is of first importance.”We are offering several investment properties which fulfill both qualifications.
In February 1948 “The Kilgore News Herald” of Texas published an advertisement from State Reserve Life of Fort Worth, Texas which credited Rogers with a folksy instance of the quip:11
WILL ROGERS SAID:
“I’m not so much worried about the return ON my money … what bothers me is the return OF my money.”
In March 1948, the “Los Angeles Times” of California published an advertisement from the First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Beverly Hills which included the following:12
WILL ROGERS SAID: “I’m not so much worried about the return ON my money … what bothers me is the return OF my money.”
With First Federal ALL INVESTORS Have Federal Insurance Up to $5000 for Each Account.
In 1953 an advertisement from the First National Bank in Menomonie, Wisconsin contained the following:13
DID YOU SEE …
Will Rogers, Jr., portray his father in that picture at the Stout Theatre? If not, you missed something!One of Will, Sr.’s favorite remarks was: “After a few unwise investments, I am more interested in the return OF my money than in the return ON it.”
In 1959 an article in the “Baltimore Afro-American” newspaper of Maryland credited Will Rogers with a variant using the word “principal” instead of “money”:14
Will Rogers once said, “I’m not so much interested in the return on my principal as I am in the return of my principal.”
In 1966 “The Houston Post” of Texas printed an advertisement praising credit unions which attributed an instance to U.S. founding father Benjamin Franklin:15
Benjamin Franklin is quoted as having said, “I’m not so much interested in the return on my money as the return of my money.” The legislators who wrote the Federal Credit Union Act and the various State Credit Union Acts took that into consideration.
In 1968 “20,000 Quips and Quotes” compiled by Evan Esar included an anonymous instance:16
An investor should be more interested in the return of his money than in the return on his money.
In 1975 “The Washington Post” printed a letter to the editor which recalled the linkage of the saying to Eddie Cantor:17
Eddie Cantor said in 1929 after the market crash that he “wasn’t worried about the return on my money but the return of my money.”
In 1980 the trade journal “Trusts & Estates” published a piece which credited Will Rogers with a variant using the word “investment” instead of “money”:18
When Will Rogers said that he was not as concerned about return on investment as about return of investment (a maxim that ought to be a legally required legend, in large type, on every page of every investment manager’s merchandising materials), old Will didn’t mean what the advocates mean.
In 1986 “The New York Times” quoted a San Francisco financial planner who attributed an instance to Rogers:19
Mr. Krause added. “The maxim has it that the fear of loss is greater than the hope of gain; people are innately cautious. Will Rogers said it best: ‘It’s not a return on my money I want; it’s a return OF my money.’ “
In 2008 an edition of “Will Rogers, Performer: An Illustrated Biography with a Filmography” by Richard J. Maturi appeared. A page near the end of the book listed statements attributed to Rogers including these three items:20
—Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects.
—I’m more concerned with the return of my money than the return on my money.
—Don’t gamble; take all your savings and buy some good stock, and hold it till it goes up, then sell it. If it don’t go up, don’t buy it.
In conclusion, this article presents a snapshot of current research. The earliest citations suggest that an anonymous copywriter crafted this wordplay by 1920. The phrasing has evolved over time.
Eddie Cantor used a version by 1933. Cantor suffered during the 1929 crash, and the comedian was speaking from personal experience.
Will Rogers died in 1935, and a newspaper advertisement credited him with an instance in 1938. This delay reduced the credibility of the attribution. Overall, the evidence supporting the ascription to Rogers was not substantive.
Image Notes: Illustration of stacks of coins growing in height from PublicDomainPictures at Pixabay. Image has been retouched and resized.
Acknowledgements: Great thanks to John Henderson, Peter McCallum, and Jason Zweig whose inquiries led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration. Zweig pointed out that matches existed in the 1930s. Thanks also to the volunteer Wikiquote editors focused on Will Rogers who found a 1941 citation crediting Eddie Cantor. In addition, thanks to researcher Barry Popik who examined the variant using the word “principal”. Popik found citations beginning in 1997.
- 1920 April 27, The New York Times, 6% Interest and 100% Sound! (Advertisement for Prudence Bonds from Realty Associates Investment Corporation), Quote Page 20, Column 7, New York. (Newspapers_com) link ↩︎
- 1920 April 27, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 6% Interest and 100% Sound! (Advertisement for Prudence Bonds from Realty Associates Investment Corporation), Quote Page 18, Column 4, Brooklyn, New York. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1920 June 3, The Ottawa Evening Citizen, Choose Wisely (Advertisement for Tanner, Gates & Company, Bond Department, 301 Dominion Bank Building, Toronto), Quote Page 8, Column 5, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Newspapers_com) link ↩︎
- 1926 August 8, The Columbus Sunday Dispatch, The Giddying Poison of Quick Gain (Advertisement for The Buckeye State Building and Loan, Columbus, Ohio), Quote Page 2, Column 1, Columbus, Ohio. (GenealogyBank) ↩︎
- 1933 October 6, Sarasota Herald, An Actor and No Fur Coat? Sure — Cantor by Robbin Coons, Quote Page 6, Column 2, Sarasota, Florida. (GenealogyBank) ↩︎
- 1934 January 7, The Courier-Journal, Early January Drama of Stage and Screen: Loew’s “Roman Scandals”, Section 2, Quote Page 7, Column 3, Louisville, Kentucky. (Newspapers_com) link ↩︎
- 1934 January 7, The Baltimore Sun, Paul Lukas Now Thinks in English: Family Man Again, Section 1, Quote Page 7, Column 1, Baltimore, Maryland. (Newspapers_com) link ↩︎
- 1935 January 18, Bradenton Herald, (Advertisement for Annuities from Knight-Earnshaw Inc.), Quote Page 4, Column 6, Bradenton, Florida. (Newspapers_com) link ↩︎
- 1938 May 9, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Insurance Policy Gives Security, Quote Page 12, Column 4, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1938 August 22, Oregon Daily Journal, Will Rogers (Advertisement for Property Company Norris, Beggs & Simpson), Quote Page 17, Column 7, Portland, Oregon. (GenealogyBank) ↩︎
- 1948 February 1, The Kilgore News Herald, “The Company of Character” (Advertisement for State Reserve Life, Home Office Fort Worth), Quote Page 8, Column 7, Kilgore, Texas. (Newspapers_com) link ↩︎
- 1948 March 1, Los Angeles Times, Will Rogers Said (Advertisement for First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Beverly Hills), Quote Page 12, Column 1, Los Angeles, California. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1953 February 11, The Dunn County News, Did You See (Advertisement for The First National Bank in Menomonie), Quote Page 11, Column 6, Menomonie, Wisconsin. (Newspapers_com) link ↩︎
- 1959 August 1, Baltimore Afro-American, News & Notes by R. Delacy Peters, Quote Page 2, Column 8, Baltimore, Maryland. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1966 March 20, The Houston Post, Section: Texas Magazine, Why a Credit Union Is Safe (Advertisement), Quote Page 25 (Unnumbered), Column 1, Houston, Texas. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1968, 20,000 Quips and Quotes, Compiled by Evan Esar, Subject: Investment, Quote Page 441, Doubleday, Garden City, New York. (Verified on paper) ↩︎
- 1975 January 11, The Washington Post, Letters to the Editor, Letter from: Harold Harwood, (Resident Insurance Broker, State of Maryland, Bethesda, Maryland), Quote Page A13, Column 5, Washington, D.C. (ProQuest) ↩︎
- 1980 September, Trusts & Estates, Volume 119, Number 9, Should Pension Funds Be Used to Achieve “Social” Goals? by Roy A. Schotland (Employee Benefit Research Institute), Start Page 10, Quote Page 16, Communication Channels Inc., Atlanta, Georgia. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1986 November 16, The New York Times, Section: Financial Planning Guide, Tailoring the Plan to the Person: Psychology of Taking Risks by Daniel Goleman, Start Page 37, Quote Page 38, Column 4, New York. (ProQuest) ↩︎
- 2008, Will Rogers, Performer: An Illustrated Biography with a Filmography by Richard J. Maturi and Mary Buckingham Maturi, New Section: Will Rogers, Aviation Enthusiast, Quote Page 292, 21st Century Publishers, Cheyenne, Wyoming. (Verified with scans) ↩︎