Thomas Ajamie
48, a Houston-based attorney who has won a number of large arbitration awards against Wall Street brokerage firms
I began taking money out of the stock market in January after reading about the auction rate securities debacle. I'm keeping my money in certificates of deposit and other bank accounts paying 2% to 3% interest. I sometimes make the bank accounts payable on death to family members. That way I have FDIC insurance, even if I have more than $100,000 with one bank. It's quite defensive; if there's a huge runup, I'm not going to make much. I own a gold and energy mutual fund. I don't have high regard for many of the investment banks. When they can't manage their own money, how can they manage other people's?
