If you have $100,000 and you put that money in the market, now there's a risk that the market can go down. So if you don't want to save it in the bank, then the next alternative could be maybe buy some physical gold. Gold is a store of value but prices aren't stable either. There's a purpose for investing. You're never going to lose your $ 100,000 if it's sitting in your savings account. It's just potentially lose value. What does FDIC ensure really mean? I mean, you're backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government. The U.S. government doesn't have a stockpile of cash