Jon Markman
Editor's Note: Jon D. Markman writes a weekly column for CNBC on MSN Money that is republished here on TheStreet.com.
It seems like just about every morning these days, you switch on your radio and hear about another gigantic payday for corporate fat cats. On the Monday of Thanksgiving week alone came word of $50 billion worth of deals to buy a big Arizona copper miner, a Chicago skyscraper developer, an Oregon steelmaker and a New York bank. That was a lot of loot for someone to be thankful about, but what about us little guys? The people who actually do the work around here, with mortgage payments in the low four digits, 401(k) plans that seem stuck in neutral, two jobs and three tuitions? The Dow Jones Industrial Average may be at a new high and merger mania at a fever pitch, but it sure doesn't feel like the good fortune is being spread around. It's nothing like the late 1990s, when every waiter, grandma and karate teacher was watching CNBC, swapping stock tips and checking their online brokerage accounts every five minutes to see if they were millionaires yet. If you're among those who are feeling left out of the market's 15% surge this year -- with more of your savings in cash than in stocks -- it has nothing to do with your brains, luck or discipline. It has more to do with your willingness to stomach new risks and the fact that it can take a long time for your aggressive, money-hungry inner shark to reawaken and wipe out your fearful, money-protecting inner pussycat. I urge you to get reacquainted with your shark as soon as practical, even though it's uncomfortable.
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