Hundreds of South Floridians, concerned about preserving their savings and investments, flooded the Sun Sentinel’s Your Money Helpline Tuesday with questions for a team of certified financial planners.

The planners, volunteers from the Financial Planning Association of Broward County, spent three hours answering questions online in a live, mid-day chat. One over-riding concern behind many callers’ questions: Fear for the safety of their money and investments.

The most common questions involved near record-low interest rates, and where to invest in the current market.

To the question of where to get a decent return, Ronald L. Myers of Associated Investor Services in Fort Lauderdale said he asked people who wanted to know what to do now with their money, “Is this your reserve funds or your scared money” that was yanked out of stocks in a panic.

Reserve funds, he said, should be in a bank certificate of deposit or a money market fund. If it was money that used to be invested, he suggested callers take a bit more risk in order to get a better return, such as in high-grade corporate bond funds.

“Is it a good time to buy I-bonds and TIPs?” one person asked online.

Inflation-indexed bonds and Treasury Inflation Protected Securities are investments designed to outpace inflation, Matt Saneholtz of Tobias Financial Advisors in Plantation, responded. “Many experts debate whether the current economic environment will create inflationary pressure. I would suggest that these inflation-protected securities should be a part of your diversified portfolio.”

The planners noted that lots of Helpline callers pulled their money out of the stock market when it was declining and haven’t returned.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 47 percent from September last year until March 9. Since then, it shot up 56 percent through the end of September.

“Compared to last year’s Helpline, when all everyone wanted was safety, now people want a return on their money along with safety,” said Blair C. Shein of Compass Financial Group in Deerfield Beach.

Mike Lynch of Money Matters of America in Plantation said investors are having to re-assess their appetite for risk, which was much higher before the stock market’s downturn.

Another hot topic was equity-indexed annuities, which many callers said they were considering buying. Examine these carefully, the planners advised. These complex contracts with insurance companies are “anything but easy to understand,” according to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

Although equity-index annuities may offer a good return and a limit on losses, planners pointed out that it’s not always easy to get our money back. Some have 15-year surrender periods in which investors would have to pay penalties to cash out and other features designed to keep the money invested.

“Some even take five years to pay out to your heirs after you die,” said Steven. L. Rowe of Wells Fargo Advisors in Fort Lauderdale.

Other investors “just wanted to know are they going to be okay,” said John Carrig of Gold Coast Financial Planning in Boca Raton.

“What’s the expression? Trust but verify,” said Mari Adam of Adam Financial Associates in Boca Raton. She said it was just as important that the investor understand the nvestment as well as understand himself, to know what level of risk would make him uncomfortable.

For more questions, answers and advice from the Sun Sentinel’s Your Money Helpline, check online at Personal Finance Columnist Harriet Johnson Brackey’s blog at www.sunsentinel.coom/itsyourmoney. It's the next entry, just below this one.

Brackey will also write about the hotline in her column this Sunday.