I'll tell you the trouble with banks - they give you an umbrella when it's sunny and take it off you when it rains! Fact.
If people are really pulling out cash and stuffing it in their mattresses or wherever, how will this affect brokerage firms? Is money safer in a bank or in a brokerage account? I know there is SIPC insurance and all, but I've heard it's a more difficult and time-consuming process to get money back from the SIPC than the FDIC. A guy at TradeStation told me "We have no problems because we have no mortgage loan exposure." But I'm thinking, if people get to where they want to stuff cash under the floorboards at home, there could be repercussions for brokers -- a domino effect. Anyone else concerned about this?
about 2-3 weeks ago, I wanted to take out some money of my wachovia account (this was a few days before the whole mess), it wasn't much: 35k, and I was offered a check...no cash. there was a guy standing next to me, and he was there for the same reason...
JUST SOME THOUGHTS! What the two of you state brings up the question of say someone protecting their principal with the use of options and the counter party not being able to cover for lack of funds, then does the OCC become the counterparty and do they have enough money to cover? All of this activity from CBs, etc tells me that they are trying to keep this house of cards up. They are no longer in damage control mode, but are in survival mode. I personally doubt their success and i believe they will take the rest of us with them thru their current actions and policies. There is just far too many derivatives and no one knows how truly large it is. about 15 years ago i receieved a cassette tape from someone saying that this derivatives market was a bomb of unprecedented porportions that would totally alter our lives if left unchecked...looks like he was right. Any constructive ideas of how all of us can protect ourselves when everything in our world is based on fiat currencies? those of you that suggest gold, silver, etc...do you really believe that those items will work?
I went through this very same process! DIfferent state, assumed different bank and I pulled out much less. I was there an hour even after closing hours. The branch manager wanted to know why I was taking out the money. Wanted to know if I owned a house, tried getting me to get their credit cards, even pointed out that I'm pulling money from their branch from an account opened from another branch. Ultimately, the manager said it's just their policies and I said the policies are making me nervous. It was pretty erie. I told the mananger that I'f they don't give me MY OWN money, I can come back every day and pull out small amounts until I'm satisfied and even more than what I was asking. THe manager backed right off! I had to assure them, I'd be back in a couple weeks to put it back and open an account at their branch and depost the money in this acocunt. Real wierd. I'm now worried about my online brokerage accounts and one in particular that wouldn't say what banks they keep the money in. I'm thinking about pulling all money out of borkerage and most of my bank accounts and putting it under the mattress. Any thoughts?
I've said it for a while now. Investors that got burned holding back in 2000-2002 will not hang around this time. Everyone I know has moved out of stocks in their retirement accounts. They held for 2 1/2 years the last time and it made them sick. This time they aren't waiting around. Buy and hold is how your grandpoppy made his retirement money. Knowing when to step aside is how to hold onto a few bucks for retirement these days.