Investment News articles from March 2003

Investment News archives from March 2003

At Issue - Brokers' contention: FPA pays them less attention.(Opinion)
March 3, 2003... I very much appreciated your [Feb. 17] article "FPA rift spreads to broker-dealers." My firm has been a member of the broker-dealer division [of first the International Association for Financial Planning and then the FPA] for seven years,...

CFP discipline may rely more on lawyers; Board of Standards set to vote on overhaul of its procedures.(News)
March 3, 2003... Byline: Rick Miller Justice at the hands of the board that certifies financial planners might never be denied, but far too often it's being deferred. That conclusion, reached by a task force studying disciplinary rulings by the...

Brokers on the bubble in Pru-Wachovia deal; Only top producers to be offered incentives to stay.(News)
March 3, 2003... Byline: Jeff Benjamin For more than 12,000 brokers representing the soon-to-be-combined sales forces of Wachovia Securities Inc. and Prudential Securities Inc., the big question now is: What's next? Only brokers who have generated at...

Academics decry national role for state securities cops; They say federal government should assert control.(News)
March 3, 2003... Byline: Sara Hansard A group of academic experts on securities regulation last week called it regrettable that the states have taken such a prominent lead in nationwide policing of the industry. The group suggested that action be taken...

Vanguard Health Care: Rx for the long-term investor; But short-term slide could hurt standing.(News)
March 3, 2003... Byline: David Hoffman Many financial advisers say investors don't like to stay in a particular mutual fund for more than three years, let alone a decade or more. That is a shame, considering the long-term annualized returns of the $15...

One on One: "We're just looking for great stock pickers".(News)
March 3, 2003... Byline: Brooke Southall For Ken Gregory, the third time is the charm. He began his career years ago as a financial adviser but found he lacked the marketing savvy to cull a huge asset base. So in 1990, Mr. Gregory and Craig Litman,...

Fast Track: Forum aide backs securitization education.(News)
March 3, 2003... Byline: Sara Hansard Laura Strothmann, the first associate director for The American Securitization Forum in New York, wants to educate investors and financial professionals about securitized investments. In her new role, which she...

Merrill urges brokers to go for golden eggs; Retirement assets eyed to offset market fall.(News)
March 3, 2003... Byline: Bruce Kelly In a twofold effort, Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. is pushing its brokers to chase client retirement assets. At the start of the year, the New York-based brokerage giant unveiled a plan for its 14,600 brokers to snag...

Taking Sides: Retirement-saving proposal sacrificed on altar to deficits.(Opinion)
March 3, 2003... President Bush's dramatic retirement-savings proposal appears to be suffering death from a thousand cuts. A little more than a month ago, Mr. Bush unveiled the proposal as part of an ambitious tax-cutting agenda and featured them...

Closing Quote.(Quotes)
March 3, 2003... ``All of the plaintiffs' lawyers and the regulators are hip to the fact that e-mails are the smoking gun because people are relaxed.'' - Jeffrey Plotkin, partner at New York law firm Eiseman Levine Lehrhaupt & Kakoyiannis PC. Page 20

Franklin offers share exchange; Designed to retain or gain investors.(News)
March 3, 2003... Byline: Frederick P. Gabriel Jr. When the going gets tough, the tough get creative. In an apparent bid to deter investors from yanking assets from its strongbox, Franklin Templeton Investments is launching an interval mutual fund that...

Eye on past might be risky for investment portfolios; Top five-year returns for funds can mislead.(News)
March 3, 2003... Byline: David Hoffman With few exceptions, mutual fund investors haven't been able to catch a break. Such frustration could drive investors to look to the past for guidance. And financial advisers have said for years that investors...

To fee (only) or not to fee; Board's advisory opinion rankles some CFPs.(News)
March 3, 2003... Byline: Sara Hansard Uh-oh - now they've done it. The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. in Denver unleashed a firestorm of controversy when it issued an advisory opinion defining the term ``fee only'' to exclude those...

Monday Morning: Companies don't pay taxes, people do.(News)
March 3, 2003... Byline: Mike Clowes Congress made a great deal of fuss last week about Enron Corp.'s use (or abuse) of the tax laws to avoid paying its ``fair share'' of corporate income taxes. Last year, a similar fuss was made about companies' moving...

Moving Up.(News)
March 3, 2003... * PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP of New York has promoted Martin J. Jennings, 43, to managing partner with its investment management industry group, from risk management partner. Mr. Jennings replaces Philip P. Mannino, who will retire in June...

Other Views: Managed accounts bearing up, but there's not as much honey; Program sponsors are cutting payouts and are less likely to take on new managers; as a result, some institutional managers once attracted to separates are looking elsewhere.(Opinion)
March 3, 2003... Byline: Mark Elzweig & Nancy Miller The bear market is taking a swipe at the favored honeycomb of the financial market: managed accounts. Managed accounts are still a sweet spot. And the multiple-style account, the latest twist on the...

OneSource fee hike stirs critics; Schwab move undermines investor choice, they say.(News)
March 3, 2003... Byline: Brooke Southall Charles Schwab & Co. Inc.'s decision to hike the annual fees it charges mutual funds to sell through its OneSource program is drawing heavy criticism. The issue has raised particular concern because critics...

Reverse Spin: Tax-free-account plan may bite dust.(Briefs)
March 3, 2003... Byline: Rick Miller Allowing Americans to save $15,000 a year in tax-free accounts sounded too good to be true. Just as investors were getting excited about President Bush's new tax-free investment accounts, the plan slipped off his...

At the Bell.(Late News)
March 3, 2003... House panel eyes fund fees, soft $$ The House Financial Services capital markets subcommittee will examine mutual fund fees and the use of ``soft dollar'' arrangements at a hearing March 12. The panel's chairman, Rep. Richard Baker,...

Is keyboard kibitizing kaput? Scandals have led to big drop in casual use of e-mail, firms say.(News)
March 3, 2003... Byline: Rick Miller Ever since some of Wall Street's bigwigs were laid low by their own e-mails, clicking the ``send'' button has never been quite the same. E-mail has become the proverbial smoking gun of the digital age - and the...

Street Wise: Home Depot not down for the count versus Lowe's.(The Markets)
March 3, 2003... Byline: Jeff Benjamin The slugfest that pits The Home Depot Inc. (HD) against Lowe's Cos. Inc. (LOW) could still be in the early rounds despite what many believe. While Wall Street has spent much of the past two years chasing Lowe's...

Short Interests: Looking beyond its bread and butter.(Briefs)
March 3, 2003... Byline: David Hoffman, Tessa van Staden and Bruce Kelly Fidelity Investments hopes the grass is truly greener on the other side of the money management fence. The company said last week that its profits slid 39% in 2002, partially the...

Metamorphosis for Caterpillar Investment; Firm makes its move into subadviser biz.(News)
March 3, 2003... Byline: David Hoffman Its parent has the power to move mountains, but does Caterpillar Investment Management Ltd. have the power to beat the stock market as a manager of someone else's mutual funds? Orbitex-Saratoga Capital Management...

The competition ramps up; Amid denials, Waterhouse staffing full-service division.(News)
March 10, 2003... Byline: Brooke Southall Despite heatedly denying that it will compete with its independent advisers, TD Waterhouse Group Inc. is seeking to hire stockbrokers with big books of business to staff a "full-service division." The New...

Closing Quote.(Quotes)
March 10, 2003... ''I'm an aficionado of Bill Clintonisms, so I read through the lines immediately.'' - Gerald B. Levin, president of GBL Asset Management Inc. on TD Waterhouse's plans. Page 28.

Tax Watch: High court hears arguments on state residency.(News)
March 10, 2003... Byline: Mark Battersby The U.S. Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments to decide if a Nevada taxpayer has the right to sue the California Franchise Tax Board for investigating his residency status. In Franchise Tax Board of...

One on One: "Everything we do is going to be formula-based".(News)
March 10, 2003... Byline: Rick Miller In a hypersensitive market, Neil Hennessy's investment strategy takes emotions out of the equation. Stock picking for his four mutual funds is a mechanical process. As Mr. Hennessy puts it, companies come to him,...

Fast Track: Drawn by the allure of managing retail funds.(News)
March 10, 2003... Byline: David Hoffman Peter O. Lopez is looking forward to new challenges with a past employer. Transamerica Investment Management LLC in Los Angeles hired Mr. Lopez, 36, as vice president and director of fixed-income research last...

At Issue; Waterhouse: Didn't announce or confirm a change.(Letters)
March 10, 2003... We are writing in response to the Feb. 24 article headlined ``Waterhouse to compete against its own advisers.'' In our view, the article's headline, introduction and general conclusions were speculative, misleading and factually inaccurate....

ICI caught up in GOP ethics flap; Oxley allegedly leans on group for favors.(News)
March 10, 2003... Byline: Sara Hansard Politics in Washington often can be a bare-knuckle affair. Just ask the trade group that represents the mutual fund industry. The Investment Company Institute is caught in the middle of a dust-up involving the...

Moving Up.(News)
March 10, 2003... * Kanaly Trust Co. in Houston has promoted David Doll, 37, to president and chief operating officer, from senior vice president and trust officer. * The Phoenix Cos. Inc. has appointed chief executive Dona D. Young to the additional role...

Reverse Spin: Flowers gets Green Tree over Buffett.(Briefs)
March 10, 2003... Byline: Frederick P. Gabriel Jr. Going, going, gone! And NOT to the billionaire in the back of the room. Despite being one of the richest men in the world, Warren E. Buffett lost his fight to buy Conseco Inc.'s St. Paul, Minn.-based...

Advisers: IRS scam jammers missing mark; Agency targets promoters of schemes involving `peanuts'.(News)
March 10, 2003... Byline: Liz Skinner With April 15 looming and thousands of investors sweating over their tax returns, Uncle Sam is using the occasion to drum home a warning about tax scams. Some advisers, however, say the government is barking up the...

Street Wise: It's tax management, all the time, at Eaton Vance.(The Markets)
March 10, 2003... Byline: Jeff Benjamin It is all about tax management at Eaton Vance Corp. in Boston. ``The key, as we see it, is to maximize the after-tax return,'' says Duncan Richardson, the firm's chief equity investment officer who manages $16.2...

SEI quietly building unit to seek out, serve rich clients.(News)
March 10, 2003... Byline: Jeff Benjamin SEI Investments Co. is the latest firm to start walking a fine line between supporting its adviser-clients and competing against them. Over the past year, the Oaks, Pa.-based firm, which has relationships with...

Other Views: Capitalizing on the fear factor; Building client relationships by addressing fiduciary 401(k) investment concerns.(Opinion)
March 10, 2003... Byline: Stephen K. Hamilton Financial advisers have an opportunity to help owners of small businesses and gain clients in the process. Many sponsors of small retirement plans - especially 401(k)s - are more than a little nervous these...

Taking Sides: Fee-only feud a time-waster for CFP Board of Standards.(Opinion)
March 10, 2003... Last month, the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. in Denver issued an advisory opinion reminding CFPs that they can't use the term ``fee-only'' if they accept any commissions. CFPs were ordered to bring their advertising...

At the Bell.(Late News)
March 10, 2003... Four Pru managers hit road after deal Four branch managers have left Prudential Securities Inc. of New York since the announcement last month of its merger with Wachovia Securities Inc. All four have followed Jamie Price, the former...

Product Watch: Practice final exams for Series 7 available online.(News)
March 10, 2003... Thirteen Series 7 practice final exams, part of the New York-based Securities Training Corp.'s printed study materials, are now available online and on CD-ROM. The new formats enable users to take exams in timed test mode, or open book,...

Monday Morning: Our role in a rapidly changing industry.(News)
March 10, 2003... Byline: Keith Girard Humpty Dumpty had a special relationship with language. ``When I use a word,'' he scolded, ``it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less.'' Of course as journalists, we take a very different...

Datebook.(Calendar/Datebook)
March 10, 2003... MARCH 16-19 - MMX 2003: Fifth annual Money Market Expo, IBC USA and iMoneyNet Inc. The Peabody Orlando (Fla.) Hotel. (508)616-5550. 27-28 - Hedge Fund Regulation and Compliance, Financial Research Associates LLC. American Conference...

Contributions keeping Vanguard plans afloat; Median balance fell just 2% in last 3 years.(News)
March 10, 2003... Byline: Frederick P. Gabriel Jr. Talk about a retirement riddle. If seven of 10 Vanguard 401(k) participants lost money on their holdings over the past three years - with a whopping 50% of those losing 20% or more - how is it that just...

Short Interests: Dow Jones Indexes gets (more) religion.(Briefs)
March 10, 2003... Byline: Jeff Benjamin and Tessa van Staden Dow Jones Indexes in New York, a unit of Dow Jones & Co., has combined liquidity with Shariah law to expand its line of Islamic indexes. The global provider of investible indexes has...

Wall Streeters slammed for poaching; Raided company gets tough; will others follow its lead?(News)
March 10, 2003... Byline: Bruce Kelly After losing about two dozen brokers to poaching by the big boys on Wall Street, David Lerner had no interest in settling claims. ``I reached a point where I felt I had to protect my business,'' says Mr. Lerner, who...

Blow up's drop tops find favor; Vanguard fund, others buy Tyco convertibles.(News)
March 10, 2003... Byline: David Hoffman Why did the conservative Vanguard Convertible Securities Fund buy a large chunk of Tyco International Ltd.'s convertible bonds issue in January, making Tyco its largest holding? Because Larry Keele, a principal...

Advisers face harder time for frauds; Feds have stiffened guidelines for punishing perpetrators.(News)
March 10, 2003... Byline: Rick Miller Financial adviser Robert Tommassello swindled people out of as much as $1.5 million in a scheme whose targets incuded longtime clients - among them widows and retirees - leaving some victims destitute and in despair....

Turnover follows return at Citizens Advisers; Citizen Sophia remakes firm in her own image.(News)
March 10, 2003... Byline: Frederick P. Gabriel Jr. For a socially conscious fund group, Citizens Advisers Inc. appears to be acting downright anti-social these days. The Portsmouth, N.H., company, whose founder and chairman Sophia Collier returned in...

Bid for tax-exempt annuity dividends.(News)
March 17, 2003... Byline: Sara Hansard The American Council of Life Insurers is submitting legislative language to Rep. William M. Thomas, R-Calif., chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, to seek elimination of income taxes on dividends from stocks...

At Issue; A 'serious' problem with Schwab comment.(Letters)
March 17, 2003... As a fee-only (hourly and retainer) financial planner in independent practice, I am offended by Deborah McWhinney's comment, ``We want people serious about business,'' offering this as the explanation for Schwab's more than threefold increase...

Short Interests: Vanguard hunkers down with bunker.(Briefs)
March 17, 2003... Byline: David Hoffman and Brooke Southall If there is ever an attack on The Vanguard Group Inc.'s sprawling Malvern, Pa., office park, shareholders of the mutual fund giant can rest assured that their investment information will be safe....

When in doubt, shuffle deck chairs; Outflows drive AIM to rejigger managers.(News)
March 17, 2003... Byline: Frederick P. Gabriel Jr. If you're one of those people who fear change, then the management reshuffling at AIM Management Group Inc. might make you cringe. The Houston-based mutual fund company, which got burned a few years...

They protest bill expanding broker info on the web; Dems seek curbs on misdeed downloads.(News)
March 17, 2003... Byline: Sara Hansard Partisan wrangling on Capitol Hill could limit investor access to broker disciplinary data online. In a twist to the usual debate on regulatory issues, Democrats are complaining about a GOP-sponsored bill that...

Street Wise: PHC poised to be the health-services comeback kid.(The Markets)
March 17, 2003... Byline: Jeff Benjamin It looks like a slow but steady return to grace for PHC Inc. (PIHC.OB). The Peabody, Mass.-based provider of behavioral-health services is still flying well below most Wall Street radar screens, which may be a...

NASD looking into why routine agreement was changed, lawyer says; Pru fiasco: Whose fingerprints?(News)
March 17, 2003... Byline: Bruce Kelly Prudential brokers have every reason to feel blindsided and whipsawed, but now they also have to wonder just what the future holds. The merger announced last month between Prudential Securities Inc. of New York and...

Corporate accounting scandals brought issue to forefront; FASB ready to take up options expensing.(News)
March 17, 2003... Byline: Sara Hansard The two sides of the stock options debate may be girding for war. The Financial Accounting Standards Board decided last week to consider whether employee stock options should be treated as an expense. The issue...

A good fella makes planning a `reality'; Uncle Mike's TV debut spotlights profession.(News)
March 17, 2003... Byline: Rick Miller Uncle Mike, as he's known in TV land, has brought financial planning to the pinnacle of American pop culture - the reality television show. He's not the next stud on ``The Bachelor,'' nor is he forced to eat...

Too many investors, too little in assets; Advisers draw line in sand on new clients.(News)
March 17, 2003... Byline: Frederick P. Gabriel Jr. After three years of punishing stock market losses, and more recently fears about war with Iraq, investors are beating at the doors of financial advisers. But increasingly, some advisers aren't...

Investor relief or grief? To fulfill its mandate, SIPC sues fraud targets.(News)
March 17, 2003... Byline: David Hoffman While most state and federal regulators pursue the perpetrators of investment fraud in court, one agency is suing the marks. The Securities Investor Protection Corp. in Washington has sued 17 former clients who...

At the Bell.(Late News)
March 17, 2003... Gartmore acquiring separates manager Gartmore Global Investments Inc. of Conshohocken, Pa., has reached an agreement to acquire Groupama Asset Management North America, a separate-accounts manager with $1.2 billion of assets. The...

One on One: "We did what we said we'd do. We stayed to our benchmarks and ... upped our level of service".(News)
March 17, 2003... Byline: Bruce Kelly Despite recent stock market turbulence, the timing couldn't be better for Robert S. Dow, managing partner and chief investment officer of Lord Abbett & Co. LLC. With the recent collapse of many growth stocks and...

Monday Morning: For higher bond yields, set a compass.(News)
March 17, 2003... Byline: Mike Clowes Stock market returns have been negative for three years now, and the market is showing no sign of a recovery. At the same time, domestic interest rates are exceptionally low. Ten-year Treasuries are yielding only...

Investment firms are moving to embrace new advice trend; Fees for a specific task, not continuing service.(News)
March 17, 2003... Byline: Brooke Southall Brokerage firms and independent advisers alike are implementing a new type of advice to help plug some holes in the financial services industry. For the past few years, consultants and company principals have...

Reverse Spin: Investors hear abbreviated-war drums.(Briefs)
March 17, 2003... Byline: Frederick P. Gabriel Jr. Never let it be said that the folks on Wall Street aren't an optimistic bunch. The market shot up Thursday on speculation that a possible war with Iraq would be short and sweet. The Dow Jones Industrial...

Taking Sides: Congress must pursue probe of funds free of Oxley cloud.(Opinion)
March 17, 2003... For investor advocates who have followed the industry for years, mutual-fund fees have long been a sticking point. At issue are not only how much fund companies charge investors, but also how such fees are levied. Even most experts readily...

Firm's INTECH unit uses mathematical approach; For new Janus fund, it's `look ma, no hands'.(News)
March 17, 2003... Byline: David Hoffman For a long time, investing in a Janus fund meant taking on more risk. After all, Janus is the mutual fund shop where fortunes were made in the late 1990s, only to be lost when the stock market tanked. But...

Ed Jones taking folk act to the big city; St. Louis firm to add one-broker shops across Northeast in urban expansion.(News)
March 17, 2003... Byline: Bruce Kelly Edward Jones sees fertile ground in the metropolitan areas of the Northeast to plant some of its one-broker shops. The move, however, doesn't signal a change in strategy for the St. Louis-based brokerage house,...

Closing Quote.(Quotes)
March 17, 2003... ``This was inept and ill-timed. It's the bonehead play of the year.'' - Lawyer Bill Singer on Prudential Securities' online employment statement. Page 3

Society declares open season on FPA; But CLU/ChFC group has a rift of its own.(News)
March 17, 2003... Byline: Rick Miller The Society of Financial Service Professionals, mounting a campaign to build its flagging membership, believes it can capitalize on dissension within the Financial Planning Association. But the 25,000-member...

Hare gains sway over the tortoise; Rapid-fire market timing breezes past buy-and-hold.(News)
March 17, 2003... Byline: Jeff Benjamin After three years of declining equity markets, the buy-and-hold strategy is getting harder to sell to investors, while the notion of timing the market is gaining steam. But proponents of buy-and-hold show no signs...

Iraq, Next wave ready to roll ... Rebuilding country offers opportunity on two fronts.(News)
March 24, 2003... Byline: Rick Miller Once the shooting stops in Iraq, the second invasion will start. U.S. corporations are expected hit the sands - with investors in tow - ready to reap benefits from rebuilding the war-ravaged country and cashing in...

Top stock picker Bonnel is in and out of market with middling results; Investors love all-cash fund, despite returns.(News)
March 24, 2003... Byline: Brooke Southall It takes a tough man to use Chicken Little tactics in a world where mutual funds typically stay fully invested. But Arthur J. Bonnel thinks the sky is falling these days, and Jan. 24 he took his high-octane...

Datebook.(Calendar/Datebook)
March 24, 2003... MARCH 27 - Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Conference, Securities Industry Association. The Plaza Hotel, New York. sia.com. 27-28 - Hedge Fund Regulation and Compliance, Financial Research Associates LLC. American Conference Center,...

Banks are the latest to focus on financial planning; Employees can study for CFP mark online.(News)
March 24, 2003... Byline: David Hoffman More and more banks are getting serious about financial planning and investment advice services. So much so that the Bank Insurance and Securities Association is offering an online program to help bank employees...

At Issue; FPA accord benefits CFP Board, not the profession.(Letters)
March 24, 2003... I read with interest ``FPA rift spreads to broker-dealers'' [Feb. 17]. The basic point of this article was that many independent broker-dealers are starting to question the validity of their membership in the Financial Planning Association and,...

Street Wise: Bobbing and weaving to take advantage of trends.(The Markets)
March 24, 2003... Byline: Jeff Benjamin Mark E. Donovan, co-manager of the Boston Partners Large Cap Value Fund (BPLIX), has come to understand the importance of timing in the financial markets, and he is adjusting accordingly. The fund's biggest...

At the Bell.(Late News)
March 24, 2003... Quicker SEC hiring gains in House The Securities and Exchange Commission could hire more compliance examiners and accountants more quickly under legislation that cleared its first hurdle in Congress on Thursday. The legislation,...

Reps: AIG cramping our style; Adviser independence respected, firm says.(News)
March 24, 2003... Byline: Bruce Kelly The bear market is causing AIG Advisor Group Inc. to put the bite on its independent brokers. Angry brokers who are part of, or recently left, the broker-dealer network complain that AIG is chipping away at their...

Familiarity and deep pockets provide an edge; Big-name firms thrive in hedge fund arena.(News)
March 24, 2003... Byline: Chris Clair Big, traditional money management firms are offering more hedge-fund-related products, prompting some to ask: Can these firms succeed as the hedge fund world evolves? The answer seems to be a qualified yes. The...

Hedge flops share ties; Funds were leveraged to the hilt, tech-heavy.(News)
March 24, 2003... Byline: Chris Clair Hedge-fund blowups come in all shapes and sizes, but many high-profile failures share a couple of common traits: high leverage and bets on debt, technology stocks, or both. Thousands of hedge funds suffer losses...

Moving Up.(News)
March 24, 2003... * Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc.'s retirement group in Hopewell, N.J., has named Ronald G. Albahary, 34, chief investment officer. Mr. Albahary, who has served as a portfolio manager at Merrill Lynch Investment Managers of Plainsboro, N.J., and...

Morningstar begins courting money managers; Moves to institutional stock-research arena.(News)
March 24, 2003... Byline: Rick Miller After retail investors embraced its stock-research service, Morningstar Inc. has launched a product to court professional money managers, a customer base it's just begun to tap. The move is part of Morningstar's...

Fatty fries and salad whet fund's appetite; McDonald's Jack Sprat menu taps Paul Newman.(News)
March 24, 2003... Byline: David Hoffman You want fries with that? Now that McDonald's Corp. has scuttled a plan to change the cooking oil it uses to make its fries, company officials hope the answer will be yes for many consumers. It was feared that...

Monday Morning: War, it seems, is a very taxing affair.(News)
March 24, 2003... Byline: Mike Clowes During the 1960s, President Lyndon Johnson tried to achieve his vision of ``The Great Society'' and simultaneously fight the Vietnam War without raising taxes. His successor, Richard Nixon, also resisted raising taxes...

Compensation last year off sharply from banner year in 2000; Fund execs making do with less.(News)
March 24, 2003... Byline: Frederick P. Gabriel Jr. If top executives at major asset management companies thought 2001 was bad for their bank accounts, it is fast becoming clear that last year was only slightly better. According to the first wave of...