WASHINGTON (AP) -- Big Wall Street investment companies are taking advantage of the Federal Reserve's unprecedented offer to secure emergency loans, the central bank reported Thursday.

The lending is part of a major effort by the Fed to help a financial system in danger of freezing.

Those large firms averaged $13.4 billion in daily borrowing over the past week from the new lending facility. The report does not identify the borrowers.

The Fed, in a bold move Sunday, agreed for the first time to let big investment houses get emergency loans directly from the central bank. This mechanism, similar to one available for commercial banks for years, got under way Monday and will continue for at least six months. It was the broadest use of the Fed's lending authority since the 1930s.

Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers and Morgan Stanley said Wednesday they had begun to test the new lending mechanism.

On Wednesday alone, lending reached $28.8 billion, according to the Fed report.

The Fed created a way for financially strapped investment firms to have regular access to a source of short-term cash. This lending facility is seen as similar to the Fed's "discount window" for banks

How much of a nest egg do you need to join the true elite?

The tool-and-die man figured he was retiring rich. After selling an Arizona business that he'd built up over 30 years, he retreated to a 30-acre spread on the coast of Oregon and handed a $10 million investment portfolio to a big, New York-based private-banking outfit. The bank, however, seemed less than impressed. Over three years, he says, he received nary a phone call from the reps in the local office. "There was no 'How are you doing?' or 'Maybe you should buy this' or 'How about some concert tickets in Portland?' There was nothing at all." The retiree eventually reached an inescapable conclusion: "I was considered insignificant."

Yes, it takes more than $10 million to be seen as rich these days. It takes more like $25 million. Not only is that the minimum for the red-carpet treatment at a growing number of banks, it is also, in the view of many experts, the sum needed for a truly cushy retirement, one free of financial worry.

"With $25 million, you can fund college and grad school for the kids, take care of your own parents, travel, start a backyard vineyard and, well, "do whatever you want," says Maria Elena Lagomasino, of GenSpring, which helps some 600 wealthy families manage their money. After all, if you simply stashed

NEW YORK (AP) -- JPMorgan Chase & Co. is making it pretty tough for anyone else to launch a bids for Bear Stearns Cos., according to a regulatory filing Thursday.

The agreement between the banks allows JPMorgan to acquire nearly 20 percent of Bear Stearns' stock for $2 a share if the deal does not go through, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This would make JPMorgan the biggest shareholder in the ailing investment bank and essentially block any third-party offers.

In addition, JPMorgan also has the right to acquire a 20 percent stake if anybody else acquires more than 20 percent of Bear Stearns while the deal is pending.

There has been speculation in recent days that billionaire financier Joe Lewis, who is already Bear Stearns' largest stockholder, has been buying up more shares. Lewis spent nearly $1.3 billion to acquire an 8.4 percent stake last year, and his investment is worth about $30 million under JPMorgan's offer.

Lewis will take "whatever action" necessary to protect his investment, according to a filing with the SEC on Wednesday. He said he may "encourage" third parties to consider other strategic transactions.

However, those third parties better have someplace for Bear Stearns to call home. The deal gives JPMorgan the right to buy Bear Stearns' 47-story Madison Avenue headquarters within a 30-day period,