I own savings, stocks, and a Roth IRA all set up using ETrade. Lately with eTrade Financial's stock price circling the bowl near ~$1.90 I'm wondering what happens to my stocks, savings and Roth IRA if Etrade goes belly up or is purchased by another company. The website says SIPC at the bottom, does this cover me?

You are covered with respect to the individual stocks and funds you have in your account. Any cash in your account is covered by SIPC insurance up to $250K (the limit may actually be higher - not sure). Of course there's nothing to prevent losses if you actually invested in E-Trade company stock, but other than that there should be no problem. If E-trade is bought by someone else your account would eventually move over to that new company, so you would end up with a new web site and account number. But other than that it would be painless.

Hello Foil:

Emaines is correct... Of course, one would have to assume that the US would never default on its debt. I don't make that assumption.

excon