Check That Money Fund

$3.5 trillion or so dollars are in a money fund and recently are a source of  increased scrutiny.

Although considered "safe and dependable,” these money funds have been exposed to risk during the credit crunch. They are not insured by the government.

Money market funds usually are composed of a a mix of short-term corporate bonds, Treasury bills, and other high-quality debt. But they recently also bought into more unusual types of investments such as  paper issued by structured investment vehicles.

These SIV’s are problematic since selling some of them is an issue.

In fact, "last August, over half of money fund managers were buying SIV-related debt, which amounted to about 5 percent of money market fund holdings,” says money fund expert Peter Crane, president and CEO of Crane Data, which tracks money market funds.

So what can you do? First, you can check and make sure you are invested personally invested in a true money market mutual fund and not some hybrid that you do not understand.