IT'S NOT YOUR MONEY

With billion-dollar settlementsfrom brokerage houses in the headlines,investors who got creamed bythe bear market might wonderwhether they'll see any payback. Notvery likely, market watchers say. Eventhough the SEC racked up morethan $1.3 billion in fines in the fiscalyear that ended September 2002, upfrom $530 million the year before,virtually none of it will find its wayinto investors'pockets. Even the SECdoesn't get to keep it; most of thecash goes into the general USTreasury fund, although some mayfind its way into the budgets of agencieslike the IRS or the FBI. For themost part, fines levied by states go tofund state budgets.