Why you are not needed

By the big banks anyway. This is why 5 November for the big boys was simply an opportunity to shed a lot of individual little customers who are more of a nuisance than a revenue source. It is the big bucks that count, not your little piddly accounts. So get thee to a Credit Union! Unless, of course, you are someone I am not aware of personally knowing.

Someone who is ready to invest in the new Wells Fargo bank. Unless you have $50 million or more you aren't wanted. What do they focus on for the folks who pass the entrance exam?

Abbott Downing is named after a 19th century custom carriage builder who catered to the wealthy, according to UPI. The firm has $27.5 billion in client assets and about 300 people on staff -- including psychologists and staff dedicated to building family genealogies, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

"Abbot Downing goes beyond traditional wealth planning analysis by focusing on clients' values, goals and vision," James Steiner, who will run Abbot Downing, said in a statement. "Our advisors and Family Dynamics consultants focus not only on traditional wealth planning, such as cash flow, investments and wealth transfer, but also on human dimensions, such as family legacy, governance, leadership transition, family education and risk management."

Sounds good. Values beyond traditional wealth planning. Human dimensions. Good. Let's see, family legacy, governance, leadership transition, family education and risk management.

In other words, for the truly rich, "values, goals and vision" are all about ... "Me, myself, and my family." Hence the family genealogies, which at first I thought were strange in this context. Charity, community, giving, the public weal, none of that is on the list. I am not sure but I think that 'governance' here means lobbying and rent taking rather than public service.

Even the notoriously socially inept, long suspected aspergers child Bill Gates learned to do better than this. Much better. No sarcasm intended on that - Gates deserves great respect for his public giving. These Abbot Downing folks and their ilk, not so much.

the me generation with money. great.