With all the news about banks starting to fail people should be concerned whether or not your bank is safe from failure. I am far from wealthy, LOL but I feel slightly better that my bank has a superior rating, but things could change. I am not in a panic but I wonder if I should keep some cash hidden in my home in case of emergency/disaster. Do any of you keep cash at home?

www.bankrate.com/brm/safesound/search.asp

We bank with Suntrust, and so far haven't heard anything too bad. I guess it is possible for any bank to fail under the right (or should I say Wrong?) conditions. We aren't in a panic over it, but yessssssss....we do have some stashed cash. Enough for six to 12 months depending on inflation and energy prices. It is in a very safe place, not the mattress, of course! Thieves could dismantle our house and not get to it...safe from fire too. Unfortunately, there has been a rash of break-in with people stealing electronics, computers, firearms, and whatever cash they can get their hands on.

I'm in favor of keeping 6-12 months ( or whatever you can/ or feel good about )...safely stored. I wouldn't tell ANYONE where its located either. I have friends and family I don't trust...and for good reason.

 Does anyone know if you keep cash stored in a safe-deposit box ( mine isn't there ), if you can still get to it if a bank "fails"?

All banks are insured with federal gov they did that after the banks failed during the great depression. In the eighties the Saving and Loans failed they were not insured and people lost thier money. I believe the Credit Unions are also insured. To answer your question I do keep a little cash hidden away just for emergencies, we have hurricaines here on the gulf so I stay prepared.

In the case of some of the recent bank failures, they seem to have happened quite suddenly, even though they were supposed to all be doing well. I don't think the public is being told full details because they are afraid of a run on the banks. The FDIC is a somewhat empty promise - if they run out of money - someone, or hundreds of someone's, are going to lose. What do they say about investing? Diversify? That would probably be a good idea as far as available cash resources go.

On the Indymac failure, one man was interviewed that had $200,000. in an account, he shouldn't have but did, he'll get his $100K from the FDIC but only about $50,000. for the rest. OUCH! Edey

Back in February while we were checking on an accelerated mortgage payments that we have through a local hometown bank, I asked the manager what he thought about all these foreclosures and mortgage companies. He shook his head and said in the next few months we were going to see some big shake ups. Then he said the one good thing is that people are going to think twice about dealing with these Mega and sub-prime companies. His reason was that small banks get to know their customers who want to live and invest in their community, they aren't just an account number. Its in everyone's best interest for customers to succeed, so the bank succeeds. I thought this was a thoughtful answer.

spoke to our Bank president on Friday when we deposited some of an inheritance .. he is a personal friend he and my husband were college roomates . 

my DH , Brother and BIL are monitoring this series of events closely .

I don't know about my banks, but we keep cash in a cash jar at home.

No, not much cash at home. We have relatives nearby (within a radius of two hours) that we can "crash" with if needed and enough savings that when the dust settles all can be repaid.

I'd trust my cash jar before I would my savings account at a bank to bail me out of a crashing economy. Cash is king. At least until we're forced into the Euro.