The FDIC seized two more banks on Friday.
If you must [have money in a bank above the FDIC limit] for some reason (corporate payroll for example), at least pick a bank the Fed and the FDIC will defend at any and all costs. Right now that means Bank of America, JPMorgan, or Citigroup.
This is the point I want to stress: Every regional bank is suspect and can fail at any time.
Is he being alarmist? Maybe. Maybe not. But it is certainly easy enough, if you are fortunate to have over $100,000 in a bank, to transfer some of it elsewhere, to another bank or maybe a brokerage. While brokerage accounts are not federally insured, enormous and stable brokers like Fidelity have private insurance on accounts and are also, in my estimation, too large to fail. (Not that there is the slightest reason to worry about the conservatively-run Fidelity.)
The FDIC has a wealth of information about bank failures and insurance online, all logically and clearly arranged. Kudos. They’ve done a fine job of presenting vital information.
From the FDIC
Deposits up to $100,000 per institution are insured, period.
A depositor can have more than $100,000 at one insured bank or savings association and still be fully insured provided the accounts meet certain requirements. In addition, federal law provides for insurance coverage of up to $250,000 for certain retirement accounts.
Calculate your insurance coverage if your accounts are above $100,000.
When a bank fails – facts for depositors, creditors, and borrowers
In the FDIC’s 75-year history, no customer has ever lost a single penny of insured deposits.
Emphasis added.
Failed bank list (might want to bookmark this…)
Is my account in a seized bank fully insured?
Select your failed bank off the drop down menu, enter your account number, and it’ll tell you if it’s fully insured.
I am starting to think that it would be safer to put money in a shoe box under my bed.
Wow, I wish I had 100,000 dollars right now…
Our cats like to lurk under the bed. They’d probably eat it or shred it.
Deposits up to $100,000 are insured, period, period, period, until the FDIC goes broke. Each new Friday-night bank failure takes a double-digit percentage chunk out FDIC’s rescue funds. So you would be a sap to keep more than a transaction balance in your bank, period.
Where to put your money? A friend of mine has a bumper sticker that says, “Ammo: The currency for the new millenium.” I don’t have as much invested in ammo as I do in stocks, but…