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Oct 22, 2008 -- Money-market funds still a safe option

CLARKONOMICS: In past weeks, Clark told you how the world of money-market funds was rocked to its core when the Reserve Fund "broke the buck" by devaluing shares below $1. It was the first time ever in 28 years that a money-market fund made that misstep.

Great panic ensued among investors. After all, money-market funds have long been considered just about the safest place to stash cash. The Reserve Fund's blunder was tied up with the collapse of Lehman Brothers, which had been funneling the Fund's money-market dollars into some very goofy investments.

When investors got wind of what was going on, they tried to pull billions out all at once. That move effectively froze everything. To this date, customers have still only gotten back 97 cents on every dollar.

As the panic spread, people started pulling money out from other money-market funds like mad to the tune of one-half trillion dollars. So the feds initially put in place some temporary protection for money-market funds through September. That coverage has now been replaced with a new program to federally guarantee the funds through April.

Clark wants you to know that he has several money-market funds and did not make a single change through all the turmoil. The reality is that it was a fluke and he doesn't believe it's a signal that the very structure of money-market funds is unsound. So rest easy, America. You can feel OK putting your money back in.


Unfortunately, Clark won't be able to answer any questions submitted via commenting. If you have a question, please try posting it to our message boards.

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What others are saying

  • BANKS
    where is a safe place to put your money. with all the banks failing, i am worried
  • savings
    I figure if i put in say $100 in stock market and gain money great but if i lose some and still have my $100 i figure i lost their money not mine cause i didn't have but a $100 to start with so why not keep in there so it might grow, any by the way everyone is just playing the game to see if they can get more money than anybody else.
  • For some reason unknown to fund holders like myself, the prime reserve has frozen all of my shares in my TD Ameritrade account. So, Clark, don't show so much confidence in money market accounts that you really don't know what it is underlying it.
  • Reserve Fund
    No one has gotten paid out on the primary reserve fund .97 or otherwise
    The funds are frozen by SEC order
  • IRA mutual funds
    What is your opinion about Flexiable life time income Ira's? Pacific Life has a program for 6 yrs @ 6% guaranteed yield but gives you the advantage of the markets up swing percent when it is higher than 6%. Not sure what to do we have to ira about 40K that were with out employers and they need to be rolled over - not sure what path to take as we are 54 and 56 yrs of age? Please help - dellaschwartz@sbcglobal.net
  • Money rates
    My example is with Fidelity, but I think it is common to other brokerage houses. If you have a "retirement" brokerage account, when you buy/sell stock the money goes into a cash account called "cash reserves" which is basically a money market. It has a symbol, FDRXX, and currently pays around 2.4% interest. However, if you have a "taxable" brokerage account, when you buy/sell stock the money goes into a cash account which pays almost nothing. Not necessarily a big deal if you keep a very big cash balance, but if you have sold out a stocks and have the money sitting there, then the difference could be significant. If so, you may want to purchase the money market.
  • Money Market Funds
    Why even bother with Money Market Mutual funds now, just get an online direct account, they pay better interest anyway, and they link to your checking account. I think money Market mutual funds are a thing of the past
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