To earn interest, you took your money to a bank and opened a passbook savings account.

Of particular interest to him is whether small savers will continue to increase their bank passbook savings accounts in 1987, as they did last year.

"In terms of what Americans are getting at banks, rates by midwinter should be at levels not seen since 1966, when passbook savings were 4 percent," he said.

The low interest rates, while not generating much activity in traditional passbook savings, did have a salutary effect on the real estate market.

In 1973, a tighter monetary policy made this arrangement less profitable, but Wells Fargo saw an opportunity in the new interest limits on passbook savings.

In 1975, the rest of the California banks instituted a 5% passbook savings rate, but they failed to recapture their market share.

Even its advertised passbook savings accounts earned 1.49 percent.

If you just go with a passbook savings account, the sure thing is that you are going to lose money because of inflation.

Hers is the gentle - some might say fusty - world of teller windows, withdrawal slips and passbook savings accounts.

One person even said I must be "on drugs" to pass up the easy cash of the stock market for a restricted-access passbook savings account.