Is Your Money Safer Under the Mattress?

Bank failures, ponzi schemes, market crashes.... what's next?

With all that's going on these days you might wonder if your money is safer "under the mattress". For some people, they literally wonder if they should stash cash under the mattress (or bury it in the yard).

Personally, I'm not a fan of that technique because you risk

• Losing it in a fire
• Getting it stolen
• Forgetting where you put it
• Having it eaten or used by pests
• Any other unfortunate scenario

In my mind, an FDIC insured bank account is safe enough. If the FDIC cannot guarantee your funds, I think you'll have bigger problems to worry about.

Now, there's nothing wrong with keeping a few bucks handy in case of a brief emergency, but I don't think it's a good idea to keep large sums of cash sitting around.

Our finance special recently featured a discussion on the topic and you may enjoy reading some of the views. Check out the discussion on keeping money under the mattress.

Further reading:

• What Happens in a Bank Failure?
• How FDIC Insurance Works
• Maximize FDIC Coverage With CDARS