If nothing else good comes from this SVB debacle, I think a lot of people will at least start asking questions and thinking about the safety of their savings and maybe develop a strategy to protect it.
I know very little about banking, etc. but I damn sure started asking questions & I would encourage everyone else to do the same.
A few things I learned over the past few days:
Credit unions are a little different (obviously) than banks because they are owned by the members. They don't fall under the FDIC umbrella but instead NCUA, which is still backed by the US government up to $250k.
Every bank / CU will tell you up front "Oh you have nothing to worry about because we blah, blah blah" I'm sure that's what everyone thinks right before they collapse in less than 48 hours.
Confirm how much of your money is guaranteed & is it limited by account, by SSN, by entity, by title, etc.? How are trusts treated specifically? Look on the gov't websites & confirm.
It's amazing how few people you call can give you a direct, absolute honest straight forward answer.
I was told by the banks & CU that you are only covered up to $250k total for ALL of your accounts, not each one individually.
Joint accounts are treated separately & fall under another $250k umbrella. For example, if you have 3 kids you can open 3 joint accounts with each child & they would have $250k coverage also.
Brokerage accounts are different also because they fall under SPIC, not FDIC & was told they're guaranteed between $500k & $1.1 million.
Don't listen to me cause I don't know the answers but find out for yourself & do what you think is right for you.
www.zerohedge.com
