If your money market fund didn't give you your money back

. . . because the fund manager invested in a bunch of SIVs that in turn invested in subprime debt through a series of opaque transactions that would be bad, right?

It's like subprime redux: Some money market fund investors are again wondering if their investments are at risk because another complex investment product has fallen out of favor and become difficult to unload.

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The uncertainty among money market fund investors centers on what would happen if the SIVs couldn't repay their debts because their assets lost value. Some money market fund investors are, in turn, worried about losing money.

But, don't worry, because that's almost totally not going to happen:

But that's unlikely, says Bruce Bent, who invented the money market fund in 1970. His firm, The Reserve, has about $83 billion in assets and doesn't hold investments in SIVs.

"In the history of the money funds, you've had a number of situations where the management companies have bailed out the funds," he said.

He thinks it's unlikely the companies running money market funds would allow them to "break the buck," as it's known in Wall Street parlance even if the funds lost money on SIV-related investments. The draw of money market funds, of course, is that an investor putting in $1 get $1 back plus interest. If a fund were to, say, give back only 90 cents for every dollar, investors would be outraged.

Still, it's important to remember that money market funds, though considered safe investments, aren't FDIC insured.

Gee, ya think? [h/t Atrios]