Hello and welcome to Moneygirls Quick and Dirty Tips for a richer life.

I'm your host Laura Adams. With the recent shake-up in the financial markets, we've been hearing

more about the SIPC or Securities Investor Protection Corporation.

In today's episode, I'm going to discuss this system that helps protect United States

investors.

The SIPC is a nonprofit corporation that was created by Congress in 1970.

The SIPC works to return cash, stocks, bonds, and other securities to investors within limits when their brokerage firm closes and still owes them money.

Some investments are not eligible for SIPC protection.

These include investments such as commodity futures and fixed annuity contracts

because they're not registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission or SEC.

It's important to understand that the SIPC does not work like the FDIC or Federal Deposit

Insurance Corporation.

If you're unfamiliar with FDIC Insurance, it's a topic that I recently discussed.

Please go back and listen to shows 85 and 86 if you want more details.

The SIPC is very different from the FDIC because it does not ensure invested funds.

The SIPC helps investors when their money is stolen or put at risk if their brokerage goes out

of business.

They don't bail out investors from bad investments.

There simply is no guarantee against losses or fraud

in the investment marketplace.

However, since its creation to December of 2000, the SIPC has helped an estimated

the SIPC has helped an estimated 625,000 investors recover 15.7 billion dollars in assets.

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