SAVING MONEY

How much do we know about money, banks, and savings? And, above all, are our savings safe? Judging by recent news events that have involved and overwhelmed major credit institutions and, with them, thousands of savers, perhaps very little. Acquisitions, mergers, bail-ins, and bail-outs. The fact is that the world of banking in Italy is rapidly changing its appearance and, in parallel with these conspicuous upheavals in the corporate structure of credit institutions, the relationship between banks and savers is also changing—with less clamor but equal speed. Thanks to personal computers and smartphones, many teller operations can now be performed from home or the office. Banking products have also undergone a profound evolutionary process, aimed at satisfying the multitude of needs of both economic operators and families. However, the recent series of failures of major companies or the case of an entire country in default due to its public debt make it increasingly difficult for a saver to choose where and how to place their money safely. Economicando aims to be a first-aid manual, a handbook to provide an initial response to the need for knowledge, a valid aid for explaining concisely, clearly, and comprehensively many of those terms that often recur in the daily practice of banking or that, unfortunately, have recently found wide space in the pages of newspapers. The work, however, does not shy away from discussing such important topics with a bit of polite irony, and it does so by accompanying the entries of this agile economic-financial dictionary with the author's humorous cartoons. Supporting everything are the pleasant and biting thematic aphoristic incursions by Sergio Angeli (already author of the volume Varie ed eventuali), which appear repeatedly throughout the book. Finally, the preface to the volume is entrusted to Roberto Romiti, a well-known trainer who works with the major national banking groups.