In case your financial institution goes belly-up, it's important to make sure that all the deposits you have there are federally insured against bank failure. Generally, deposit-account balances receive Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. coverage of $250,000 per depositor, per bank. That includes your combined balances in checking accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts and certificates of deposit. (For more information on FDIC coverage, go to the FDIC site )

If the amount of savings that you'd like to park in a safe place exceeds FDIC limits, one solution is to use a service known as CDARS.…