Mugged on Wall Street: An Insider Shows You How to Protect Yourself and Your Money from the Financial Pros

Stockbroker Chase, a vice-president at E. F. Hutton, offers a chilling inside account of Wall Street brokerage firms, and how they often lose money for investors ""through well-hidden fees, incompetence and greed.'' He explains that in the unregulated 1980s, banks, insurance companies, lawyers and accountants now compete for ``planning'' fees and commissions on the sale of stocks, bonds, realty trusts, annuities and other financial instruments. Economists, investment letters and Wall Street prophets have been consistently wrong, argues the author, but there are ways that investors can knowledgeably set financial goals and judge specific investment choices. Chase recommends skeptical inquiry in many directions (``Don't trust anybody anymore'') in order to find an honest and competent broker with whom both parties can make money. An appendix of interest rates and investment results shows what's happened to date of an encouraging naturenot much. Author tour. (July 10)