Recently the FDIC, in conjunction with marketing-maven Suze Orman, launched a PR website to help bank depositors understand what accounts and amounts are covered by the FDIC and what aren't.

The case studies on the website are a little absurd considering the fact that the families profiled all have more than a million dollars in assets (less than 1% of the U.S. population fits that demographic) but it raises some good questions:

• Are investors covered in similar ways?
• Is it important to be covered as an investor?

Being an investor in any market comes with risk. Most of the risk you sustain on a daily basis is market related. Maybe the market will move in your favor and maybe it won't.

That seems relatively straightforward, but have you considered some of the systemic risks not associated with market movement?

If your broker or dealer fails, it could destroy all, most or some of the profits and deposits you have made over many years. If this only happened once in your lifetime, it would be enough to change your financial status forever.

Investors in CDs or bank deposits have some coverage (usually up to $100,000 per account holder per FDIC covered bank), but do trading account holders have similar coverage benefits?

Yes and no. Finding out whether or not you are covered is important and definitely relevant in today's unstable economic environment.

Stocks and Options Accounts

Traditional brokerage accounts are usually covered in two ways. First, your broker may offer a sweep account that will qualify for coverage by the FDIC (like Suze Orman's examples) and your positions and remaining balances are usually covered by the SIPC (another Federal insurance agency) up to $500K.

If your broker were to fail…

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