"Just to add for clarity, once in 'certificate' form you are responsible for those 'certificates' just as cash, scotrr. If they are lost or stolen you are out of luck (just as cash). People will often buy insurance if they keep a high value sum of certificates in their home, or payment to a bank for a safety deposit box.

Selling them is not so easy once in this form and may take a few days to complete, I believe"

First and foremost..... Will I ever be able to make even a single post on this board where you don't come and " lift your leg on it."

Second you are not entirely correct. It is not like cash. The transfer agent has your name on their books and lost or stolen certificates can be replaced. It is however a hassle to do so.

Third and most important. If the clearing house for your broker goes belly up (and three of them have) your segregated funds are meaningless. In the two most recent cases of clearing house failure customers with segregated funds lost a substantial portion of their holdings. Clients of firms using MFGlobal got hurt. Peregrine (if I have the name correct...I will not bother to look it up) has also caused losses. Jim Sinclair who has owned brokerages and clearing houses is warning people for their own sake to get their shares out of the system.

Now stop posting garbage on top of every post I make.

P.