How many bank accounts should you have?

[BreakGuy]

I've been trying to work out what a good number of bank accounts to have is. At the moment I have three; a checking account, an everyday savings account and a retirement savings account.

Curious to see how many accounts people here have and what they use them for.

 

[MonkeySee....]

2. Personal account and a Joint account with my Wife for bills etc.

(both accounts should be in her name though, if you know what I mean )

 

[eternlgladiator]

I have three checking accounts, four savings accounts, a variety of loans, a 401K and a Roth IRA fund. All have or have had some purpose and come in handy often enough.

 

[eric/]

Don't really see the point of the savings account. You're just losing money if you leave anything in there.

I have a checking, IRA, an my own personal investments

 

[boss.king]

I have cheque, savings, and a joint account for my flat for bills etc. I also have a few savings accounts in countries I used to live in that I try to never touch.

 

[Queso]

4. Business, Current, and Saving in GBP. The other one is a current account in EUR.

Plus three credit cards if they count. One GBP Business, one GBP personal, one EUR personal.

 

[Nabooly]

I currently have only 1 checking account. I'm trying to evaluate what my best option is right now because it's growing too large and if it stays in there I'm going to be tempted to spend it.

What's the best safest investment? Let's say 3-10 years?

 

[basesloaded190]

I currently have only 1 checking account. I'm trying to evaluate what my best option is right now because it's growing too large and if it stays in there I'm going to be tempted to spend it.

What's the best safest investment? Let's say 3-10 years?

Mutual Funds.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

Don't really see the point of the savings account. You're just losing money if you leave anything in there.

I have a checking, IRA, an my own personal investments

Then you do not understand the point of it then.
Saving account should be something you have very quick access to and can transfer money from in 24 hours to saying your checking. 3 months min should be sitting in their but 6 months is better.

Now on top I have 4 accounts right now and will go up to 5.

That is Checking, saving, CUMMA, and a 401k from my last job. I will be adding a 2nd 401k for my current one. I do not plan on rolling over my 401k from my last job because it is in a better account than I have at my current job.

My savings account is kept low and is only used a holding so I can get a big enough transfer built up to transfer into the CUMMA which is my main savings. Mind you the interest rate on the CUMMA is still crap it better than savings and I can pull money out as needed. Only rule is 6 transfer per month at 600 bucks min.

 

[Queso]

I currently have only 1 checking account. I'm trying to evaluate what my best option is right now because it's growing too large and if it stays in there I'm going to be tempted to spend it.

What's the best safest investment? Let's say 3-10 years?

Can't speak for that distance, but AAPL before the iPhone 5 announcement is probably worth a punt.

 

[eric/]

Then you do not understand the point of it then.
Saving account should be something you have very quick access to and can transfer money from in 24 hours to saying your checking. 3 months min should be sitting in their but 6 months is better.

uh, why not just keep it in your checking account?

Unless you're somebody that has spending issues, I fail to see the point of putting money in another account

 

[Rodimus Prime]

uh, why not just keep it in your checking account?

Unless you're somebody that has spending issues, I fail to see the point of putting money in another account

Because the other accounts have a higher interest rate. They are not their to make money but if I am going to have emergency funds and padding savings I am going to make sure it does at least the best it can with in the restrictions. That is not money I will risk on anything. I have to get over the 6month marker before I start risking money.

For example my checking has a .01 my savings .1 and my CUMMA at .3 Now yeah those are crap but then again all interest rates across the board are crap.

Now for me personally my checking account is used for the monthly cash flow and I level it off every month at a what my expenses will be for the month with a little padding. Everything else is dumped into savings. Savings is built up to $600 and that is dumped into the CUMMA.
Pretty much my Checking is set up to have enough cash in it so I do not have an over draw on it.

 

[OutThere]

I've got 2 checking, a savings and a brokerage account.

One of my checking accounts is a high-yield relationship account, so I get 1% interest, and they pay back the ATM fees that other banks charge. Pretty nice perks.

 

[eric/]

Because the other accounts have a higher interest rate. They are not their to make money but if I am going to have emergency funds and padding savings I am going to make sure it does at least the best it can with in the restrictions. That is not money I will risk on anything. I have to get over the 6month marker before I start risking money.

For example my checking has a .01 my savings .1 and my CUMMA at .3 Now yeah those are crap but then again all interest rates across the board are crap.

Now for me personally my checking account is used for the monthly cash flow and I level it off every month at a what my expenses will be for the month with a little padding. Everything else is dumped into savings. Savings is built up to $600 and that is dumped into the CUMMA.
Pretty much my Checking is set up to have enough cash in it so I do not have an over draw on it.

Yeah it's really not even worth the interest rates unless you have a ton of cash in there. You should just keep your "savings" in your checking account or something and then put whatever else you want in your investments. Most checking accounts these days have interest rates that are comparable to savings, minus the fees if you dip under a certain amount of $$, and the annoyance with having to transfer money.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

Yeah it's really not even worth the interest rates unless you have a ton of cash in there. You should just keep your "savings" in your checking account or something and then put whatever else you want in your investments. Most checking accounts these days have interest rates that are comparable to savings, minus the fees if you dip under a certain amount of $$, and the annoyance with having to transfer money.

Now days yes but I have credit union. Before the crash it was .1 for checking, .5 for savings and 2% for CUMMA.

As for fees yeah the only fees I have is $5 if I close my savings and $5 if I close my CUMMA. I am required to have a savings account to have a checking account.

As for the CUMMA I made up that $5 with in a few months with the 2k min balance to have the hire rate. Drop below 2k it goes to the saving account rate.
Besides how hard is it to go online and do transfers. I have to log into my bank account at least once a week any how for one reason or another.

Also for me it makes tracking my monthly spending easier has I have a base line to compare with. It starts off at the same point every month. Same amount goes in and at the end of the month I see where I am at.

 

[eric/]

Now days yes but I have credit union. Before the crash it was .1 for checking, .5 for savings and 2% for CUMMA.

As for fees yeah the only fees I have is $5 if I close my savings and $5 if I close my CUMMA. I am required to have a savings account to have a checking account.

As for the CUMMA I made up that $5 with in a few months with the 2k min balance to have the hire rate. Drop below 2k it goes to the saving account rate.
Besides how hard is it to go online and do transfers. I have to log into my bank account at least once a week any how for one reason or another.

Every bank I've had (basically not credit unions) if I wanted a savings account it couldn't drop below $350 or something. What the hell is the point in that? Basically that means you have to have $350 in funds that you can't use or be penalized.

I guess your situation is different. I assume the CUMMA is some sort of high interest savings account? If it's not above inflation you would be better off taking that money and putting it into mutual funds or stocks. You'll definitely get a better return. It seems to me that (unless you're getting a fantastic return, which I doubt) that you're kinda getting screwed here on your CUMMA.

 

[Tsuchiya]

Depends on your needs I suppose.

I would say...2-3 to help manage everything:

1) Main account which funds pass through. Wages, expenses etc.
2) Savings account (without a debit card)

Optional 3rd) An account purely for online purchases.

I also have a trading account with my brokerage.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

Every bank I've had (basically not credit unions) if I wanted a savings account it couldn't drop below $350 or something. What the hell is the point in that? Basically that means you have to have $350 in funds that you can't use or be penalized.

I guess your situation is different. I assume the CUMMA is some sort of high interest savings account? If it's not above inflation you would be better off taking that money and putting it into mutual funds or stocks. You'll definitely get a better return. It seems to me that (unless you're getting a fantastic return, which I doubt) that you're kinda getting screwed here on your CUMMA.

Yes CUMMA is a high interest savings account. And like I said before the money is not there to earn me anything but to be a safe emergency fund. After the 6month marker then yeah moving over to something with a higher return and higher risk. Reason I choose the CUMMA is if the money is going to have to sit there any how I might as well make it earn at least something.

Remember it is 6 months of funds that is safe and can never go down with the market.

 

[0098386]

1*Personal and 1*Business.

 

[iJohnHenry]

Don't really see the point of the savings account.

When you are more mature, you will.

Risk management becomes more important over time.

 

[eric/]

When you are more mature, you will.

Risk management becomes more important over time.

Still doesn't really make sense. You don't gain anything from the interest on the account, and you have to maintain a minimum usually, which means the money is just stuck there doing nothing.

Much, much better to invest it, and if you need a cushion (which is definitely understandable) you may as well just leave it in your checking account, or something you can readily pull out.

 

[iJohnHenry]

Still doesn't really make sense. You don't gain anything from the interest on the account, and you have to maintain a minimum usually, which means the money is just stuck there doing nothing.

Much, much better to invest it, and if you need a cushion (which is definitely understandable) you may as well just leave it in your checking account, or something you can readily pull out.

Do you not have High Yield* savings accounts.

No chequing/ATM/POS privileges allowed.

OK, it doesn't usually cover Inflation, but it's not inert either.

It's something, and if not too large amount ($75,000), it's insured by the FDIC**. But then you open others, in a different institution.

*A banker's joke.
**Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

 

[Abstract]

Yeah it's really not even worth the interest rates unless you have a ton of cash in there. You should just keep your "savings" in your checking account or something and then put whatever else you want in your investments. Most checking accounts these days have interest rates that are comparable to savings, minus the fees if you dip under a certain amount of $$, and the annoyance with having to transfer money.

Yes, but my savings account pays something like 5.5% interest or something (UBank), but the government does collect income tax off of that, so really, those accounts are just keeping up with inflation!

I don't have any proper investments, but mostly because I don't know much about money. Everything seems so unstable at the moment.

I have 7 bank accounts. One is a regular savings (Visa Debit) account, while the other is a "high" interest savings account. It earns 4.0% interest per year, last time I checked. Next, I have 5 bank accounts that earn around 5.5%, and those are technically all under the same account. It's an online bank, and once I am approved for one account, I can open as many accounts as I want, free of charge.

So I split my savings into 5 accounts, which I deposit into automagically every fortnight:

1. Long-term savings.
2. Frivolous spending (i.e. for anything over $200 or $300, and for vacations).
3. Pay my debt (but it's only to my parents).
4. Annual expenses that I don't pay frequently (e.g. annual public transport ticket).
5. I forget, but it's a good idea to have.

 

[rhett7660]

Two checking, two savings (one local for emergencies and one online high yield (bank interest is horrible right now)) and then a couple of other accounts for me and the wife.

 

[eric/]

Yes, but my savings account pays something like 5.5% interest or something (UBank), but the government does collect income tax off of that, so really, those accounts are just keeping up with inflation!

I don't have any proper investments, but mostly because I don't know much about money. Everything seems so unstable at the moment.

I have 7 bank accounts. One is a regular savings (Visa Debit) account, while the other is a "high" interest savings account. It earns 4.0% interest per year, last time I checked. Next, I have 5 bank accounts that earn around 5.5%, and those are technically all under the same account. It's an online bank, and once I am approved for one account, I can open as many accounts as I want, free of charge.

So I split my savings into 5 accounts, which I deposit into automagically every fortnight:

1. Long-term savings.
2. Frivolous spending (i.e. for anything over $200 or $300, and for vacations).
3. Pay my debt (but it's only to my parents).
4. Annual expenses that I don't pay frequently (e.g. annual public transport ticket).
5. I forget, but it's a good idea to have.

I'm not "good" with money or anything myself, I just don't see how savings accounts are a good idea unless they are keeping up with inflation and the amount you have in there is for an emergency fund.

But if you have 5 accounts or whatever, why not just dump them all into one of the 5.5% accounts and make more money from the interest?