Comments on: Variety of Savings Accounts: Where I Keep My Cash

By: SavingEverything

SavingEverything — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 19:19:05 +0000

oops, I think i may have forgotten that you must have a Wachovia Custom Business Banking relationship…and that lets you get Crown, Crown Classic or Crown Select Banking for free…as long as you have $5,000 in qualifying business deposit balances or $50k in a combo of qualifying business deposits and outstanding loan balances. I do see you do get a few perks: (with the Personal Crown Banking Relationship), the free Premium savings account (rate=0.05%), free iincoming domestic wire;outgoing $25; free Wachovia line of credit (with Wachovia credit card) (but $10 fee per transaction charged to credit wachovia card treated as cash advance; and credit card will have cash advance fees), 2 free withdrawals at non-Wachovia ATMs (but no reimbursement of machine’s owner fee), free official checks, money orders, traveler’s checks and notary services, and free tiny safe deposit box.

By: SavingEverything

SavingEverything — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 19:03:42 +0000

I, too, would suggest consolidation!!! Wachovia Personal Savings?!? and personal Checking?!? TD Bank Personal Checking, too!?! Why do you love Personal Crown Banking Relationship with Wachovia that requires $4000 in checking, savings and/or mma with diirect deposit; $5000 without; or, $10,000 among CD’s, deposit IRAs, certain credit/loan line? Does having your business at Wachovia help avoid fees for personal and business relationships? I know TD Bank has no fees, as long as you have $100 balance in your checking. The rest can be consolidated into you high yielding, fast money-moving in/out, accounts! Yes, for simplicity!

By: Eric

Eric — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 03:15:07 +0000

Whew…yes simplify Flexo!

By: Lisa

Lisa — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 01:34:11 +0000

I always like to have between 4-6 months’ worth of expenses saved up in an “emergency fund” account I can tap into at any given moment. When interest rates were 6%+, it was worth it to transfer my money to whichever high-yield account offered me the highest rate. Now, as you said above, it’s simply not worth it for a mere few dollars.

To add to simplicity, my payroll is setup to direct deposit into my savings accounts and my credit cards automatically pull payment as well. Once interest rates start improving again, I suspect we’ll see a few banks pull ahead of the rest, just as we saw a few years ago. When that happens, I’ll likely move my emergency fund to take advantage of the higher rate.

By: Financial Samurai

Financial Samurai — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 08:28:48 +0000

That’s sure a heck of a lot of accounts flexo!

Why not just lock some savings up in a 4% yielding 5-yr CD and roll with it? Use the “DVD Method To CD Investing” where you can maximize your yield.

Or, are we talking about different pools of money for you?

By: Flexo

Flexo — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 06:55:11 +0000

One thing I didn’t mention in the article was my use of “sub-accounts.” I split my deposits at Ally Bank between two separate accounts to try their multi-account feature, and I have about ten different accounts within my ING Direct savings account, and most of them are titled based on a savings category like vacations or emergencies.

By: Shawanda

Shawanda — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 04:42:45 +0000

I’ll take simplicity over diversification. I almost opened an Ally account, but they wanted me to physically sign a form and return it to them. That’s too much work. I currently have the bulk of my savings in an ING Direct Orange Savings Account. Day to day cash is kept in a Charles Schwab High Yield Investor Checking account. I have small amounts of cash in Wachovia and JPMorgan Chase. Eventually I’ll need to close these accounts. I just haven’t gotten around to it.

I’ve been with ING so long, I actually trust them. They don’t pay the highest interest, but I feel pretty confident they won’t try to get me with a gotcha fee.

By: Single Guy Money

Single Guy Money — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:23:43 +0000

I used to be a rate chaser and would move my money around to different banks to get the best rates. I’m now all about keeping it simple and have the majority of my money (90%) in my local credit union. I also keep a little bit of money in a Schwab checking account (10%) too.

Like Rainy Day Saver said above, I prefer to keep my money easily accessible.

By: RainyDaySaver

RainyDaySaver — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:42:53 +0000

Right now, since we’ve bought a new home a few months ago, we prefer our cash to be easily accessible. Therefore, we only have one checking and one savings account at a local brick-and-mortar institution (community bank, not one of those mega-banks). Once we get our tax refund, I plan to open an online account (savings or CD) with ING or Ally to get a bit more interest.

By: ken

ken — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:35:30 +0000

My wife and I each have a ING account.

By: wayne

wayne — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:56:43 +0000

I too have several accts but have condensed it. ING for discretionary fund, Ally for efund and HSBC for our joint/house fund. Do have Etrade and Emigrant accts but they have small amount in each. Used them when rate was good but not anymore and transferred $ to ones listed above.

By: Kyle

Kyle — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:57:38 +0000

Mine cash is getting about as spread out as yours at this point my cash is spread out amongst 8 different accounts at 6 different institutions. I could definitely optimize but once you get used to doing things a certain way it is hard to change.

By: SteveDH

SteveDH — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:35:15 +0000

Simplification for sure. If fact, A as a retiree I have to include the cash component of my investment accounts to even have a chart. ;-)
Local Credit Union 62% of Cash 095% APY
Investment Accounts 38% of Cash, .05% APY