A FOOL AND HIS MONEY The Odyssey...

A FOOL AND HIS MONEY The Odyssey of an Average Investor by John Rothchild (Penguin Books: $7.95)

John Rothchild, a journalist and self-confessed amateur investor, spends a year in the financial markets trying to parlay a stake of $16,500 into a king’s ransom.

The result is the loss of most of the $16,500 and this book: a blow-by-blow account of how Rothchild was fleeced, hustled, lied to and conspired against at every turn by bankers, brokers, investment gurus and others from Miami Beach to New York and Chicago. “In all, the $10,920 I’d invested through Prudential-Bache had a current value of $9,399,” Rothchild reports after six months. “Meanwhile, the market as a whole had gone up more than 35 percent.” Somebody was getting rich, but not Rothchild.

His experience at the Chicago Commodities Exchange was no more fruitful. After dropping a significant bundle, he learns a valuable piece of information: that 85-95% of average investors lose money in futures issues. The problem for savvy commodities bankers? “Finding new losers,” Rothchild is told.

In the end, Rothchild manages to hold on to $800 of his original $16,500. His advice? Put your money in the bank.