Ted Allrich is the founder of The Online Investor and author of the just released book: Comfort Zone Investing: Build Wealth And Sleep Well At Night. In this weekly column, he'll offer advice to investors who are just getting started.

Banks are suffering some tough headlines. Citicorp (NYSE:C) is leading the way with its recently announced $11 billion write off from bad loans on sub-prime mortgages (is there no end to these things?). The week before, Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) told of its $8 billion write-off, up from $5 billion the previous weeks. Both chairmen lost their jobs. (Don't feel too bad. The head of Merrill walked away with a $160 million deal to salve his wounds.) Is the worst over or is there more trouble for banks and other financial institutions?

It can get worse, especially when it comes to sub-prime mortgage loans. The problem most investors have is finding out which institutions have these loans and which don't, as well as how deep the problem is for any individual bank. No management is going to admit to the worst case unless it has to. It will give ball park figures until earnings are released. Then the real numbers are told. Lately there have been many surprises, but not the kind that are good.