With all the attention on Citi and all the speculation about the possibility that it will go down, where is the discussion of Smith Barney and the many people who have accounts with them. Does a crash of Citi mean a crash of Smith Barney and the loss of some or all of the positions in one's accounts?
Submitted: Nov 22, 2008
Views: 446
Comments: 5
Likes: 1
With all the attention on Citi and all the speculation about the possibility that it will go down, where is the attention to Smith Barney and to the many people who have accounts with them. Does a crash of Citi mean a crash of Smith Barney and the loss of some or all of the positions in one's accounts?
Smith Barney does not carry insurance on its accounts over the $500,000 limit. For those of us with more, we are at real risks -- risks of loosing millions in bonds, stocks, munis, cds, etc. There is talk about Citi selling Smith Barney, but to whom? Who has the cash to buy the brokerage? No one. And, if Smith Barney goes down, so too will Merrill Lynch in not too long a time. BAC is likely to crash itself, and even if it doesn't, the chances of completing their purchase of Merrill in the midst of all this looks less and less likely. From where I sit, it appears that we are about to see the demise of this set of institutions and huge personal losses of wealth.
Again, why is there not attention to this? Does anyone have any advice. I have no idea where to transfer accounts.
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Comments Received:
I guess that I am not the only one losing sleep on this one. I have accounts with both Merrill and Smith Barney that are over SIPC limits, and I am scared shirtless. The only solution that I see before Monday is to go buy a big safe and make several trips to the ATM machine. If these banks open for business on Monday, transferring everything out to Fidelity or Vanguard may be a solution. This entire thing is staggering and unimaginable. I thought that these kinds of dilemmas were only faced by the near-wealthy in Argentina or Russia.
Posted: Nov 22, 2008
Jeff
(Unregistered)
Smith Barney brokers have always claimed that their deposits are covered by three different charter licenses. While that won't be too much comfort to those with well in excess of $1.5 million, it should provide covr to that amount (if true, of course).
Posted: Nov 22, 2008
THenry
(Unregistered)
Nobody lost deposits with Lehman, with Bear, with WaMu or with IndyMac. Now, Citibank and Merrill are unlikely to be going concerns in a couple of weeks, but you stand a better chance of getting killed in a car accident between now and then, than you do of losing your money in these cases.
Posted: Nov 22, 2008
schles
(Unregistered)
CALL YOUR BROKER FIRST THING ON MONDAY MORNING AND TELL HIM TO PUT ALL OF YOUR SECURITIES IN YOUR OWN NAME, NOT IN STREET NAME.
Posted: Nov 22, 2008
PaulY
(Unregistered)
I spoke to my broker at Smith Barney and he told me if Citi went under it wouldn't impact my stocks at all. He can go anywhere. They just hold the investments in your name and don't have a claim on them at all. Getting them transferred may be a hassle but I don't think there is any loss be beyond that.
Posted: Nov 22, 2008
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