401k Brokerage Trust Fund

[vwood]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
California


This question is still somewhat theoretical, but as more and more financial institutions fail, I'm trying to get some assurances that my assets are safe.

Right now, I'm looking at my 401k, and researching it, I find that my 401k is held in a "segregated trust fund", and am assured that that means that I have complete ownership of all assets therein, and if the brokerage at which the 401k is held goes bankrupt, no creditor has any legal right to any of it.

I don't mean to be dense, but I think that's sort of the opposite of what it says at [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trust_fund]Trust law - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/url], which is that "The trustees are the legal owners of the trust's property." If the trustee is a bankrupt brokerage, and the bankrupt brokerage owns all the assets, how is that safe?

Our brokerage is NOT bankrupt, and my opinion is that it is sound. But I'm the sort of guy who double checks things and makes contingency plans. How secure is a 401k held in a trust fund at a bankrupt brokerage?


As a follow up, I'll add that SIPC protection is up to 500k, and contributing the old maximum, you'd have to work 40 years to deposit more than 500k. So it would be the rare individual who wasn't fully covered by SIPC.What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

[anteater]

It is secure. Period.