How to Protect Your Money
BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE") TINA FEY, COMEDIENNE, PLAYING GOV. SARAH PALIN: You know, Hillary and I don't agree on everything.</s>AMY POEHLER, COMEDIENNE, PLAYING HILLARY CLINTON: Anything. I believe that diplomacy should be the cornerstone of any foreign policy.</s>FEY: And I can see Russia from my house.</s>ROBERTS: Top videos right now at CNN.com. Still number one, Tina Fey returning to NBC's "Saturday Night Live," absolutely nailing the role of Governor Palin. Fey was joined by Amy Poehler impersonating Senator Hillary Clinton. Also, boycotting Oprah Winfrey. The Florida Federation of Republican Women launches a national boycott of her show, and "O Magazine" for refusing to have Sarah Palin on. Winfrey, who actively campaigns for Senator Obama, said she would not use her show as a platform for either candidate, but will have Palin on after the election. It's a story first brought to you here by CNN's Kareen Wynter. And Wall Street worries. Stocks dive after Lehman Brothers filed the biggest bankruptcy in history, and Bank of America announced it will buy Merrill Lynch in an all-stock transaction worth $50 billion.</s>CHETRY: Well, the market freefall has many of us worrying about our savings, all of that pre-tax cash we've been dumping into our 401(k)s. Is it still safe? We asked our Mary Snow to find out.</s>MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Kiran, the severity of Wall Street's crisis is certainly being felt here in New York. But many people across the country are asking how safe is my money? The FDIC says it's got double its normal call volume from worried consumers.</s>SNOW (voice-over): With Wall Street's seismic jolt, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson tried to reassure a jittery public.</s>HENRY PAULSON, TREASURY SECRETARY: Our banking system is a safe and a sound one.</s>SNOW: Paulson tried to boost confidence as fears escalated far beyond Wall Street.</s>ANDY SERWER, MANAGING EDITOR, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: I think the answer to that question right off the bat is, yes, your money is safe. But I think it's appropriate to sort of re-examine where your money is, how it's allocated.</s>SNOW: For money at banks, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation says 98 percent of banks are well capitalized. Still, after 11 banks failed this year and 117 remain on the list of troubled banks, the FDIC is making a push to educate consumers that FDIC insurance covers deposits up to $100,000 per account.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Those depositors have never lost one penny in the 75 years of the FDIC. Good to know in times like these.</s>SNOW: The FDIC's Sandra Thompson says the agency's consumer hotline has been flooded.</s>SANDRA THOMPSON, FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORP: We try to clarify that most people keep their money at commercial banks and those deposits, if they are in the limits, are insured by the</s>FDIC. SNOW: What about money in brokerage accounts and investment banks like Lehman Brothers? The Security Investor Protection Corporation or SIPC says they're safe because brokerages have to keep customers' assets separate from their own.</s>STEPHEN HARBECK, SECURITIES INVESTOR PROTECTION CORP: That cash and securities that belong to customers cannot be used in Lehman Brothers' business and is segregated from the assets and from the creditors of the brokerage firm itself.</s>SNOW: And for investments in things like retirement accounts, "Fortune" magazine's Andy Serwer says now is a good time to re-examine them.</s>SERWER: Know exactly what you own. Is your cash really cash? Or is it some sort of bond fund that's a hybrid that's actually more troublesome than you think?</s>SNOW: Experts say much of this crisis stems from sophisticated investors getting tangled up in investments without really knowing what was in them. Bottom line, they say, don't make the same mistake with your own account -- John and Kiran.</s>CHETRY: Inheriting a money problem, Senators John McCain and Joe Biden push their plans to save the economy live on the "Most Politics in the Morning."