Santa Fe, NM -- (SBWIRE) -- 08/10/2011 -- Pamela Yellen, a New York Times bestselling author, financial investigator and savings security expert, says Thursday's 500-point crash is a sign of a continuing weak economy that's pushing more Americans to seek safe havens for their savings outside of stocks and other traditional investments.

“The Dow was down more than 1,300 points in just the last two weeks, plunging more than 500 points today alone,” Yellen said Thursday. “The risk has been increasing daily that we will fall into another recession (if we aren't already there), making it likely that the volatility in the markets will only continue, and maybe get worse.”

Thursday's crash was largest one-day stock decline in three years. Americans who are sick and tired of such volatility and what Yellen calls the “hope and pray” method of building wealth are increasingly discovering that they can have a nest egg that grows by a guaranteed and predictable amount every year, Yellen says.

Yellen is the author of the New York Times bestseller BANK ON YOURSELF: The Life-Changing Secret to Growing and Protecting Your Financial Future. As a consultant to financial advisors, she investigated more than 450 savings and retirement planning strategies seeking an alternative to the risk and volatility of stocks and other investments. Yellen's research led her to a time-tested, predictable method of growing and protecting savings now used by more than 400,000 Americans. People who want to learn more about this method can visit http://www.BankOnYourself.com.

With stocks crashing and economic uncertainty growing, more and more people are turning to the Bank On Yourself method as a safe and predictable way to grow and protect their hard-earned savings, Yellen says.

“More than $4 trillion of wealth has been wiped out in the past two weeks, but no one lost a single penny in their Bank On Yourself plan,” she says. “It’s an asset that has increased in value every year for more than 160 years and remains the ultimate financial security blanket in both good times and bad.”

For more information on ways Americans can safely grow and protect their savings to achieve financial independence, visit Yellen's website http://www.BankOnYourself.com. In an Aug. 1 blog post on the website, she offers five steps Americans can take to create a self-sufficient financial future for themselves.