Any bank who has branches in the US will say the same thing that Citibank said to you. US government really makes it difficult for their citizens. But they don't have a problem with the ease of obtaining credit cards and running up debt... thank god they are getting smart about it and drawing up a bill to deal with it... hopefully the "too little too late saying won't apply here". Well... the US debt situation is already in the shit hole so it probably will.
But I digress.
Check out this site:
www.invested.hk
It's run but the Hong Kong Securities & Futures Commission (equivalent of SEC in the US) and I recommend it to people who are just starting out. It tells you about what the types of investments are, what the investment industry and enviroment is like and advice advisors and what you should ask them.
And if the majority of your assets are in cash, then I respectfully disagree with that as a good idea. Equity and bond markets are volatile as all knows. Take feb market reaction to China's comment about trying to cool the economy. So that's why you need assets with low correlation to the market. Obviously you need some cash, but if the bulk of it is a savings account, your money isn't even keeping up with inflation. So when this recession finally hits, you won't be much better off than the people invested, unless of course their portfolio is nicely diversified and are still achieving target returns