Auction rate securities (ARS) were never "as good as cash"

My sincere condolences to anybody who was gullible enough to buy into the Wall Street "story" that auction rate securities (ARS) were ever "as good as cash." In addition to being quite complex (big red flag there), ARS are really long-term bonds with a bunch of twists that sometimes mimic the liquidity of cash and money market funds.

The good news is that retail money market funds were never permitted to buy into ARS since their true maturity is greater that the 397-day regulatory limit for holdings in money market funds.

I had to personally update the Wikipedia to add Auction Rate Security to the ARS "disambiguation" page. To be honest, two months ago I had never heard of ARS. Lucky me. Ignorance can sometimes be bliss.

-- Jack Krupansky