Banks are in the business of fraud. Their assets and liabilities are fundamentally mismatched in time horizon. You can't fund a 30 year loan with a deposit that can be withdrawn in 5 minutes.
We as a society have decided that banks are the only people in society that are allowed to engage in fraud like this, and we setup deposit insurance, federal oversight, etc. to make people believe it is "safe", and as long as the money keeps flowing and people don't get spooked, they can keep it up for a long time.
But at the end of the day, the books aren't balanced, no amount of political protection, bailouts, money printing, or halting withdrawals, etc. can protect you from the fact that your access to that value has been given to someone else for a very long time, and the moment you most need it is going to be the exact moment when they decide you can't access it anymore (1901, 1907, 1929, 1933, 1980s, 2008, 2023, etc.)
Don't be tempted by the (hopefully) shiny interest rates paid to you or the "security" of having someone else keep an eye on your money. Hold your value in real assets under your custody (real estate, shares outside brokerage accounts, precious metals, self-custodied crypto, cash).
Treat bank accounts as merely payment rails, a way to move money into/out of the credit/debit card, ACH, wire, etc. network(s), but not as a safe, secure or stable store of your life savings.
#banking #selfcustody #fraud #finance #fdic #fed