McClatchy Washington Bureau

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Eileen Selkis had some money left over from selling her house in Connecticut, and she knew she couldn't afford to lose any of it.

She says her broker at Wachovia Securities pointed out that she could get a good return – better than the money market account it was in – by moving it to something called auction-rate securities.

The higher interest rate was appealing, but Selkis wanted to make sure she'd be able to access her money easily.

"They're as good as liquid cash," she recalls her broker telling her, in late 2006. "You can get to your principal any time; you just need to let me know about seven days ahead."

That was before the market for those securities began to dry up in February, another result of the tumultuous state of the financial services industry. That means that many investors can't sell their holdings and get their money out of those securities, and they allege that brokers understated the risks of such investments.

Read the complete story at charlotte.com