Some examples of how to react to the crisis

BY KARIN PRICE MUELLER

PROFILE No. 4
Married couple, both 70, both retired. Income of $25,000 a year from Social Security and $80,000 a year from a pension. They have no primary mortgage, but owe $50,000 in home equity and $12,000 in credit cards. They have $500,000 in retirement accounts and $300,000 in three savings accounts, but only one is FDIC-insured. They have two grown kids with three grandchildren.

What they should do: "If their IRAs are invested in bank accounts, the FDIC coverage is only for $250,000 per IRA, so they may want to review that," Fraasa says. "If the IRA is mostly in bonds, which are up now, they may want to consider reallocating into some equities over the next 6 months to take advantage of the lower prices."

What they shouldn't do: Leave their cash accounts as is. "They should put the savings into three accounts: one in his name, one in her name and one joint," Lynch says. "This will allow the accounts to be insured up to $300,000 if the bank is FDIC insured."

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