There is another kind of insurance worth knowing about: Fidelity Guarantee Insurance, it is called. By means of it employers are guaranteed against the dishonesty or insolvency of their servants. Previously, people in positions of trust often got others to be surety for them, but the system of private suretyship led to many hardships. Solomon was right, and let all wise girls take note of it: “He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it; and _he that hateth suretyship is sure_.” The guarantee of a company, given as a pure matter of business, and for an annual payment, is now generally preferred. Of course, before giving a guarantee the company makes very particular inquiry regarding the character of the person and the checks to be used by the employer. Some companies insure only against embezzlement, whilst others protect the employer against any failure to make good the sums entrusted to the _employé_. The premiums to be paid annually range from 10s. to 60s. per cent. of the sum guaranteed. _Annuities_ are our next subject. An annuity is a periodical payment made either for a fixed number of years or whilst a given life lasts. It may be paid yearly, quarterly, weekly, or otherwise. It may come to one as a gift, or be left as a legacy, but it can also be purchased through an insurance company by the payment of a certain sum of money supposed to be its equivalent in value. Annuities bought in this way may be either _immediate_—that is to say, the payment of them beginning at once—or _deferred_; in other words, the enjoyment of them postponed till after a certain number of years have elapsed. If, say, £100 is to be received each year by anyone, he or she is said to have “an annuity of £100.” For young people, with all the chances of life before them, the purchase of an annuity is seldom wise. The sum, observe, sunk in this way can never be had back again, even though an opportunity should occur for making a much more profitable use of it. But when people grow up, it is often the best way to make the most of a small capital, and to prevent their becoming, perhaps, a little later in life, a burden on their friends. The great thing, in settling whether to invest money thus, is to discuss the matter with common sense, and to ask, “What should I do, so as to be most useful to myself and to others?” Annuities, both immediate and deferred, are granted by the Post Office for any amount not less than £1 or more than £100 to any person not under the age of five years. Forms of proposal for purchasing them are to be had at any Post Office Savings Bank. The sum charged varies with the age and sex of the person on whose life the annuity is to depend, and, in the case of deferred annuities, with the number of years which are to elapse before the commencement of the annuity.