How to Insure Your Money When You're Banking Over $250K - NerdWallet (2024)

FAQs

How to Insure Your Money When You're Banking Over $250K - NerdWallet? ›

Perhaps the most straightforward way to get another $250,000 insured is to open an account at a second FDIC member bank. If you're using accounts that earn interest at a bank with only FDIC insurance, be sure your deposits are low enough that your balance with interest will be within the $250,000 limit.

Millionaires can insure their money by depositing funds in FDIC-insured accounts, NCUA-insured accounts, through IntraFi Network Deposits, or through cash management accounts. They may also allocate some of their cash to low-risk investments, such as Treasury securities or government bonds.

For example, if the same two co-owners jointly own both a $350,000 CD and a $150,000 savings account at the same insured bank, the two accounts would be added together and insured up to $500,000, providing up to $250,000 in insurance coverage for each co-owner.

1. Federal Bonds. The U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve (Fed) would be more than happy to take your funds and issue you securities in return. A U.S. government bond still qualifies in most textbooks as a risk-free security.

Where Is the Safest Place To Keep Cash? Deposit accounts—like savings accounts, CDs, MMAs, and checking accounts—are a safe place to keep money because consumer deposits are insured for up to $250,000, either by the FDIC or NCUA.

To safely deposit a large amount of cash, visit a brick-and-mortar branch operated by your financial institution. Contact your financial institution if you plan to make a sizable deposit, said Christopher Naghibi, executive vice president and chief operating officer at First Foundation Bank.

Bottom line. Any individual or entity that has more than $250,000 in deposits at an FDIC-insured bank should see to it that all monies are federally insured. It's not only diligent savers and high-net-worth individuals who might need extra FDIC coverage.

The standard maximum deposit insurance amount is $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, for each account ownership category. The FDIC insures deposits that a person holds in one insured bank separately from any deposits that the person owns in another separately chartered insured bank.

Millionaires also have zero-balance accounts with private banks. They leave their money in cash and cash equivalents and they write checks on their zero-balance account. At the end of the business day, the private bank, as custodian of their various accounts, sells off enough liquid assets to settle up for that day.

How to maximize FDIC insurance at one bank? ›

The standard insurance amount is $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, for each ownership category. This means that by having accounts in different ownership categories, like single accounts and joint accounts, you can get more than $250,000 in coverage.

NOTE ON BENEFICIARIES: WHILE SOME SELF-DIRECTED RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS, LIKE IRAS, PERMIT THE OWNER TO NAME ONE OR MORE BENEFICIARIES, THE EXISTENCE OF BENEFICIARIES DOES NOT INCREASE THE AVAILABLE INSURANCE COVERAGE.

You and your spouse each can open individual accounts at a single bank, resulting in each of you having up to $250,000 FDIC-insured. You can then also open a joint account and each has $250,000 insured in that account. Between those three accounts, you could have up to $1 million FDIC-insured at one bank.

For the most part, if you keep your money at an institution that's FDIC-insured, your money is safe — at least up to $250,000 in accounts at the failing institution. You're guaranteed that $250,000, and if the bank is acquired, even amounts over the limit may be smoothly transferred to the new bank.

The government has no regulations on the amount of money you can legally keep in your house or even the amount of money you can legally own overall. Just, the problem with keeping so much money in one place (likely in the form of cash) — it's very vulnerable to being lost.

Banks during recessions FAQs

Your money is safe in a bank, even during an economic decline like a recession. Up to $250,000 per depositor, per account ownership category, is protected by the FDIC or NCUA at a federally insured financial institution.

The FDIC provides deposit insurance to protect your money in the event of a bank failure. Your deposits are automatically insured to at least $250,000 at each FDIC-insured bank.

NOTE ON BENEFICIARIES: WHILE SOME SELF-DIRECTED RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS, LIKE IRAS, PERMIT THE OWNER TO NAME ONE OR MORE BENEFICIARIES, THE EXISTENCE OF BENEFICIARIES DOES NOT INCREASE THE AVAILABLE INSURANCE COVERAGE.