Which financial instruments are safe in the event of financial crisis and which products get toasted

[Caveat Emptor]

Any finance people here? Does anyone know which financial investment products / derivatives are safe in the event of financial crisis? Are all investments risk-exposed or some minimizing risk exposure?

[Óttar]

Bonds. I hear they are inverse to stocks.

You could always just find a good e-Broker. Interactive Brokers, I hear, is the best for shorting stocks, but their charting is awful. Also, E-Trade might have a lot of shortable securities available. TD Ameritrade is awful for shorting. I'm stuck having to take positions in inverse ETFs. I also hear Put options are really effective, but I have no idea how to do options.

[Caveat Emptor]

Bonds. I hear they are inverse to stocks.

You could always just find a good e-Broker. Interactive Brokers, I hear, is the best for shorting stocks, but their charting is awful. Also, E-Trade might have a lot of shortable securities available. TD Ameritrade is awful for shorting. I'm stuck having to take positions in inverse ETFs. I also hear Put options are really effective, but I have no idea how to do options.

Nice, do you know what kind of impact financial crisis has on the yield of the bonds? I suppose it depends on what bonds we are talking about but some treasury bonds in some currencies may be devalued to junk right? I've heard ETF financial markets are most risk exposed aren't they? Although you can maximize returns on ETFs

[catgeorge]

Any finance people here? Does anyone know which financial investment products / derivatives are safe in the event of financial crisis? Are all investments risk-exposed or some minimizing risk exposure?

Depends on the crisis, they're not all the same.

[DalliantThoughts]

For the most part, diversify as much as possible. Sovereign bonds (well, most of them) are risk free but this also means marginal return. I gather that you want to be exposed to as little risk as possible. So that would be an option if you simply want to store your money in a place that isn't a bank account due to the deposit guarantee limits. But if you are actually thinking of investing, it's not particular instruments, but diversification in different instruments and markets that will make your portfolio more secure. There is no financial instrument that is completely fool proof. Investors and markets thought repos and Derivatives were safe and they weren't. Most financial instruments are contingent on the performance of others at this point. So simply diversify your portfolio to limit your losses in cases of crises or hire someone good to do that for you.