How Safe Is Your Money?

While bank failures are rare, with the recent headlines about the failure of IndyMac, you may be wondering how safe your money is.

First, remember that the FDIC insures your deposits at banks up to $100,000 for individual accounts and up to $250,000 for most types of retirement accounts.

These limits are applied per owner, not per account.  So you can have up to $100,000 at a bank - even if it’s in multiple accounts - and still be insured.  But if you have a $75,000 CD, a $25,000 individual savings account, and a $50,000 joint savings account, you are still only insured up to $100,000, even though it is spread out over several accounts.

If you have less than $100,000 in your account, at a bank that is FDIC insured, then you have nothing to worry about.  If you have more than $100,000 in savings, you may want to spread your savings out over two or more banks to make sure your savings are insured.

The FDIC does not insure money invested in stocks, mutual funds, or other investments.

For more information please see How safe is your money, and how to protect it.