Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, January 17, 1994 TAG: 9401140381
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Conservative depositors who like that their bank deposits are federally insured should be aware that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has changed the rules.
Under the old rules, retirement money in IRAs, self-directed Keoghs, employee benefit plans with state and local government and nonprofit groups, and self-directed defined-contribution plans (such as 401(k) plans), was insured up to $400,000 for the four types of plans.
But earlier this month, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. reduced its coverage in all four types of retirement accounts to a maximum of $100,000 per customer at a single institution.
The new FDIC insurance limits apply only to retirement accounts in one bank. You could stretch the insurance, so to speak, by spreading your accounts among several FDIC-insured institutions.
Perhaps you would have an IRA at one bank, a Keogh at another (for retirement money earned from self-employed income) and a 401(k) at yet another bank.
- Knight-Ridder Newspapers
Tough times insurance
A disaster aid fund is one of the fringe benefits of buying insurance through United Commercial, of Columbus, Ohio. Unlike commercial insurers, United Commercial and the approximately 200 other fraternal benefit societies that are exempt from taxes serve up a mix of financial products, good works, member services and sometimes social activities.
Generally founded at the turn of the century by immigrants to provide for each other in tough times, the groups were among the first to offer insurance to working-class people. Although the societies account for less than 2 percent of the new life insurance policies written each year, about 10 million Americans buy life insurance and annuities - and sometimes health insurance, disability insurance and mutual funds - from them.
How do their products stack up? For life insurance and fixed-rate annuities, not bad. "You have to shop around, but fraternals do offer fair to good values for these products," said Keith J. Maurer, the president of Fee for Service, an insurance marketer in Tampa, Fla.
Mutual funds are another matter. The groups' bond, equity and money market funds tend to be lackluster, said Jeff Kelley, an analyst at Morningstar Inc., the mutual fund rating service in Chicago. Because salespeople handle the funds, consumers will also have to pay sales charges.
- The New York Times
by CNB