Investor money flying “under the mattress”

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Investors have been running from stocks and even bonds as fast as their feet can take them, putting their cash instead in accounts that earn practically nothing but provide shelter from turbulent times.

Over the first 11 months of 2011, plain-vanilla savings and checking accounts attracted eight times the money as stock and bond mutual and exchange-traded funds, according to data from market research firm TrimTabs.

The pace accelerated to nearly 13 times from September to November, the most recent month for which data is available.

After contending with factors as ominous as the European debt crisis and as frustrating as Washington gridlock, investors have decided that the world looks best from the sidelines, despite historic efforts from the Federal Reserve to entice risk-taking.

“The real money these days is going straight under the mattress,” said TrimTabs CEO Charles Biderman. “The Fed is doing almost everything in its power to entice investors to speculate in overpriced asset markets. Yet investors – particularly on the retail side – are mostly refusing to take the bait.”