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http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2002883178_fdic23.html
Thursday, March 23, 2006 - Page updated at 12:00 AM
FDIC to raise insurance limits
By Katherine R. Lewis
Newhouse News Service
On April 1, nest eggs in the bank will get a little safer.
For the first time in a quarter-century, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) will boost its insurance limit for certain retirement accounts, to $250,000 from $100,000.
If a bank fails, Uncle Sam will pay the principal and interest on your retirement account. Such accounts typically contain certificates of deposit.
"It's about time," said Ted Feight, a financial planner in Lansing, Mich. The limit was last raised in 1980, from $40,000.
Several of Feight's clients split their retirement CD holdings among different banks to ensure that no account surpasses the $100,000 FDIC limit.
"It's pretty hard to have money in three different banks, especially as people get older," he said. "Their heirs could actually start to lose track of where the assets are."
The new limit will encourage people to consolidate accounts, Feight and others said.
As of the end of 2005, U.S. banks held about $226 billion in retirement accounts, FDIC spokesman David Barr said.
The insurance does not cover stock, bond or insurance products, even though these may be sold in the bank lobby or by a division of an FDIC-insured bank.
The Securities Investor Protection Corp. protects investors against the collapse of a brokerage, if the institution is an SIPC member.
Congress passed a law last month directing the FDIC to raise the limit, as well as to redesign the FDIC logo that appears on every insured bank and beside each teller's window. The design dates to the 1960s, Barr said.
CDs appeal to people who need a guaranteed stream of income, such as retirees or those about to retire. They lately have been paying more than some bond funds.
"Most investment advisers have a predisposition to steer their clients away from CDs because they get paid for assets under management," said Frank Jaffe, a financial planner in Roseland, N.J. "Clients have to be aware that the world constantly changes. At some points in the cycle a CD is a smart place to put some money."
Keeping CDs in individual retirement accounts also makes sense from a tax perspective, because IRA earnings are tax-deferred, said Rick Rodgers, a financial planner in Lancaster, Pa.
Normally, CD interest is taxed as ordinary income, while stocks benefit from the lower tax rates for capital gains and dividends.
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