Keeping My Money with E-Trade (For Now)

Filed in archive Investing on November 12, 2007

Woke up today to find a note from E-Trade telling me that they can weather the financial storm even though they warned of disastrous sub-prime writedowns and Citi said the company could potentially go bankrupt (although Citi's barely one to talk given their recent buffoonery). E-Trade's stock went straight down the S-hole, losing almost 60% of it's value. That's crazy.

Part of Citi's statement on a possible bankruptcy has to do with the possibility of individual investors pulling their money from E-Trade in fear that they could lose that money-the old "run on the bank" scenario, with no money left for whoever doesn't get to the bank on time.

For now I'm not running to get my money out. It is supposedly well insured, even if E-Trade were to go belly up, so I'd get my money back.

On the other hand, I was reading somewhere today that even though it's insured and I'd get it all back, it could be a few months, which I don't like the sound of. I put that money in to invest, not to have it sit captive as a bankruptcy proceeding slogs on endlessly.

For now I'm believing that E-Trade will be OK. I won't be buying any of their stock, but I'm not going to pull my money and put it into another brokerage. Mostly because I'm cheap and they give me the best prices on trades. But if real signs of trouble continue, I could see myself grabbing my money before it goes to investment jail for an extended stay. (Although with the recent market, maybe I'd be better off if my money was out of it altogether.)