Money market funds are still a safe option

I was listening to the Clark Howard show yesterday and he had mentioned about how the world of money-market funds was rocked to its core when the Reserve Fund “broke the buck” by devaluing shares below $1. It was the first time ever in 28 years that a money-market fund made that misstep.

Great panic ensued among investors. After all, money-market funds have long been considered just about the safest place to stash cash. The Reserve Fund’s blunder was tied up with the collapse of Lehman Brothers, which had been funneling the Fund’s money-market dollars into some very goofy investments.

When investors got wind of what was going on, they tried to pull billions out all at once. That move effectively froze everything. To this date, customers have still only gotten back 97 cents on every dollar.

As the panic spread, people started pulling money out from other money-market funds like mad to the tune of one-half trillion dollars. So the feds initially put in place some temporary protection for money-market funds through September. That coverage has now been replaced with a new program to federally guarantee the funds through April.

Clark wants you to know that he has several money-market funds and did not make a single change through all the turmoil. The reality is that it was a fluke and he doesn’t believe it’s a signal that the very structure of money-market funds is unsound. So rest easy, America. You can feel OK putting your money back in.

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