Wall Street in Review: Insider Tips to Make You Rich

For many of us, the movements of the stock and bond markets on Wall Street are, at best, a matter of academic interest. My parents and grandparents were Italian immigrants. Their idea of finance and banking consisted of money hidden under the mattress or in the cookie jar we kept on the kitchen counter. Ultimately, my parents' financial acumen evolved to a passbook savings account, but that was only after they realized that American banks truly didn't steal your money.

Having learned from a neighbor about passbook savings, my parents struggled to balance their one statement savings account, an activity frequently accompanied by heated discussion. Going to the bank to cash and deposit paychecks was an involved procedure which required considerable planning and creative arithmetic. My parents' financial evolution took a new turn late in their marriage when my father sold two acres of non-contiguous land which he'd bought for $300 dollars. That two acre parcel fetched the astounding sum of $40,000. When someone at the local S&L suggested a CD account, their education as fiduciaries was complete. They were suddenly money market investors. Receiving interest on CDs made them feel guilty, but proud, too.

As the result of my atavistic upbringing, I've been somewhat impaired in the area of financial management. I've inherited a healthy measure of mistrust toward banking authorities felt by many immigrant families, particularly those from Sicily. In the Sicily of my parents and grandparents, mistrust began where blood ties ended. After all, many had immigrated to the United States from countries where banks did very often steal their money. Whether that happened through outright thievery or the instability of government institutions made no difference to my parents-the outcome was the same.