For investors, there is no free lunch

— -- You're gonna have to learn your clichés. You're gonna have to study them, you're gonna have to know them. They're your friends. Write this down: "We gotta play it one day at a time."

— Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) in Bull Durham

Like professional baseball players, investors need to know their clichés. So write this down: There is no free lunch.

If you've invested in brokered certificates of deposit, you may think that old chestnut doesn't apply to you. These bank CDs, sold through brokerages, often pay a higher interest rate than you can get buying CDs directly from a bank. And since they're federally insured, you won't lose any money as long as your deposit doesn't exceed federal insurance limits ($100,000 for most accounts).

But as several recent bank failures have demonstrated, there are drawbacks to brokered CDs. And with analysts predicting a rise in bank failures in the months to come, it's important to understand what you're giving up in exchange for a higher interest rate.

When the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. closes a bank, most customers with federally insured deposits have access to their money by the next business day. Customers with brokered deposits, though, may have to wait days or even weeks to get their money.

In May, for example, Pulaski Bank & Trust of Little Rock acquired ANB Financial of Bentonville, Ark., but left about $1.6 billion in brokered deposits with the FDIC. Some customers had to wait up to four weeks to get their money from the FDIC. In the interim, their deposits didn't earn any interest.

When the FDIC closes a bank and sells its deposits to another institution, it gives the acquirer the option of excluding brokered deposits, says David Barr, spokesman for the FDIC. Banks are often unwilling to buy a large amount of brokered deposits, he says, because the investors who hold them will probably take their money somewhere else once their CDs mature.

When the acquiring bank leaves brokered deposits with the FDIC, the agency needs to review brokers' records to determine how much of the money is insured before it returns the money to investors. This process can last a few days to several weeks, depending on how long it takes the brokers to get the necessary paperwork to the FDIC.