What in the world is going on in the financial services industry? Seeing the pictures of people lined up to withdraw their money reminded me of a scene out of "It's a Wonderful Life" starring Jimmy Stewart. The past several weekends has brought bad news in banking as rumors swirled about now failed Washington Mutual and the most recent Office of Thrift and Supervision and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) gunshot marriage of Citigroup to troubled Wachovia Bank. Financial analysts attribute the failures to the flight of depositors as the main reason. Hmm! Welcome to "It's A Wonderful Life Reality Show".
But what if your money is not in a bank but in a mutual fund or credit union?
If you bank at a credit union The National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF), which was established by Congress and is backed by the U.S. government, insures individual accounts up to $100,000. As with FDIC insurance, a two-person joint account is insured up to $200,000.
As with credit-unions your retirement accounts are covered by the NCUSIF. The funds in traditional and Roth IRAs are added together and insured up to $250,000; Keogh accounts are insured separately up to $250,000. If you have both IRAs and a Keogh at your credit union, you can have a total of $500,000 in insured retirement assets.
Money Market Mutual Funds
Don't be fooled! A money market mutual fund is not the same as a money market account at a bank. The Treasury Department recently announced it is establishing a one-year temporary guarantee program for both taxable and tax-free money market funds using a fund that was created during the Depression. Money funds will have to pay a fee to participate. This will guarantee that the share price will remain a constant $1. The Treasury Department acted after the Reserve Primary Fund, which holds securities issued by bankrupt Lehman Brothers, announced the week of September 15 that its share price would fall below $1.
Folks it's time to buckle your seatbelts and delve deeper into the financial strength of the company where your savings are held. Ultimately you have the responsibility for insuring your savings will be there when you need it.
Deborah Owens is host of Real Money which airs on WEAA.org the NPR affiliate in Baltimore, Md. She is author of "Nickel and Dime Your Way To Wealth". Read an excerpt at www.deborahowens.com.
