Further, in case of severe hacking or of either local or national disasters that shut down the internet and/or one's bank operations for an extended period, do not expect to pull dollars out of an account till after the problems have been corrected. Under certain circumstances, that money under the mattress idea may not look so bad.

I recently was required to notify one of our mutual fund account companies more or less that I was still alive and kicking or else, they said, the value of my investments with them, over $5000, would be turned over to the State of Texas in accordance with an "account inactivity" law. Presumably if I had been on extended vacation and/or had required sustained care and did not receive the company's mailing till returning or getting better a few months later, or if I had assumed the envelope contained junk (which is what it looked like) and had ignored or thrown it away, I would before long be several thousand dollars poorer and the state that much more affluent.

Losses due to fraud or withdrawal using stolen identity are apparently not protected in this way but may be covered by provisions involved in credit or debit card abuse. If in doubt, check with your bank or card companies. It may be a mistake to assume that, just because one has money in the bank, it is safe. What is more, online checking is usually not as secure as regular, old fashioned bank or credit union checking, and even if the banks make good on thefts accomplished through the internet, there may be nuisance complications which could tie up one's funds for awhile.

Moreover, if a terrorist act shuts down the exchanges on which our shares are traded, it may be quite awhile before buying and selling, and hence accesses to those assets' redemption values, are restored. However, if we own pieces (shares) of strong businesses, chances are good that eventually they will regain the pre-terrorism values and prove to have been worthwhile investments, despite such contingencies as limited wars, hurricanes, earthquakes, or the destruction of Wall Street. (If the Big Apple, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and San Francisco are nuked at essentially the same time, all bets are off.)

Considering that neither the FDIC nor SIPC are likely to cover losses due to most account circumstances other than failure of the institution holding one's assets, it seems wise to check with the particular bank, credit union, mutual fund company, brokerage, or other financial entity to learn in advance of an adverse incident exactly how one is or is not protected and what steps he or she can take to minimize theft, losses from incompetent handling of our records or resources, and so forth.

For more information about what is and is not covered, the reader may find of interest the Q & A pages on FDIC - Your Insured Deposits and SIPC - Investor Protection.