Wiener said he would rather exceed the SIPC limit at Vanguard than exceed the FDIC limit at one bank (250,000 per person for each account type).

Madoff was expected to plead guilty to all 11 felony charges brought by prosecutors on financial misdoings, and could end up with a sentence of 150 years in prison.

Photo by Chris HondrosGetty Images) Chris Hondros Getty Images 2009.

These days it is easy to exceed the amount especially in retirement vehicles, wrote Jerry Fisher of Menlo Park.

When I inquire about the safety of balances in excess of these amounts, I always receive the same answer, which is not to worry.

Fidelity and Vanguard, for example, each said that they purchase additional insurance to cover any contingency.

Is there actually nothing to worry about Should we limit our investments to less than 500,000 per firm.

Most brokerage firms are members of the Securities Investor Protection Corp., which was set up by a federal statute but is not a government agency nor backed by one.

If it cant recover the assets, it will replace up to 500,000 worth of missing securities and cash, which includes a limit of 250,000 on cash.

Money market funds and Treasury securities, often described as cash, are treated as securities.

By Kathleen Pender Biz Tech Opendoor buys and sells homes fast - now it has another.

For example, an individual account, joint account, individual retirement account and Roth IRA each gets up to 500,000 worth of protection.

If you buy stock in a company that collapses because of fraud, like Enron did, you get nothing.

It also does not cover most commodity futures contracts, foreign exchange, fixed annuities and unregistered limited partnerships.

It does not cover mutual funds held outside a brokerage account.

There is usually a limit per customer, and an aggregate for the company, for this excess insurance.

There is a 1 billion aggregate limit for all of Fidelitys retail brokerage accounts combined, a spokesman said.

If you give your log-in credentials to an adult child, estranged spouse or any third party including a financial-account aggregator and lose money as a result, youre out of luck.

Madoff victims with net losses up to roughly 1.3 million were made whole, Harbeck said, thanks to SIPC coverage, recoveries from the firm and from customers who took out more than they put into the Ponzi scheme.

Those with larger losses got back 64 cents on the dollar, Harbeck said, although that is expected to increase to 74 cents on the dollar.

There is a big difference between owning stocks, bonds and mutual funds through a brokerage account at Vanguard and having a deposit of cash at a bank.

Vanguard is taking money under your direction and putting it in stocks and bonds.

The bank is taking your money and, with no direction from you, lending it out to all manner of borrowers, he said.

It would be complicated as hell (to get them back), but the money doesnt disappear.

Excess Sipc Coverage