The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: sol on September 13, 2012, 10:48:52 PM
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How much money do you keep readily accessible in your checking account for weekly cashflow?
I went to the ATM today to pull out my customary wad of pocket money for the month, and the girl in front of me left before her receipt popped out. Looking at it while I waited for my stack of twenties, she had withdrawn $20 leaving a balance of $11.46 in her account.
$11.46! I was dumbfounded. If I only had $11.46 in my checking account I think I would have a heart attack. I've got so many auto-pay bills and deductions, money coming in and out every week, that I feel like I need to maintain enough of a buffer there to not get nailed with overdraft charges if one of my deposits gets hung up for some reason.
On the one hand I recognize that every dollar I keep in checking is not invested and working for me somewhere else. On the other hand, $11.46 just feels like an invitation to disaster, to me.
What's your minimum threshold for your working accounts?
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About 2k.
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$0.00
I take out my fortnightly expenses in cash, and then transfer the rest into my savings account (5%)(which I can't withdraw from without hassle). If I need something, I have to wait until the next fortnight :P
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$1000 is my account "zero".
Agreed that keeping somewhere close to actual $0.00 would cause a great deal of stress and overdrafting in case of things coming up that you didn't plan for.
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$1000 is my account "zero".
This.
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$11.51 (has been as low as $1.50 ish)
No direct debits, and no cheque facility. I keep a careful calendar of when bills are due, and mark the preceding (business) day as well to remind me to move the appropriate sum from my ING account, currently earning 3.75%. Likewise for cash (ATM) withdrawals, I decide the previous day how much I'm going to need before I'm next in the vicinity of the ATM (twice a week) and move only that much cash.
When I go away I set it all up in advance: the transfers from ING one (business) day ahead of when I've programmed a payment to go out. Variable bills such as utilities and a few regular charity donations go on the credit card, which is always paid off in full each month. To be sure of paying off the credit card balance in full from the bank account I may have to make an estimate based on the information available to me just before my departure, erring on the generous side.
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About 20k.
Now, before people freak, that includes my emergancy fund. My checking gets ~2% interest (up to 30k, & higher % in the past) and I have pretty much no problems with impulse spending, so it's not a temptation to have it sitting there.
If I could find a better interest rate, I'd move it, but I'm not to concerned about it.
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Usually $2-5k. I've been as high as $50k (earlier this year, making impulse stock buys harder) and as low as $110 recently (after buying a bunch of stocks).
I'm glad I tend keep a big buffer because I had to write a $4k check recently to get my AC unit replaced. Without an adequate balance in my account, the check would have bounced!
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$1k here as well, although sometimes it dips below depending on what time of the month it is. I think the highest it's ever been is $4k.
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In the Dark Ages, when I got my first job and was learning how to save money for the first time, I only had one bank account. Just one. It functioned as payroll/checking/savings/emergency fund account all in one. I made damn well sure I took the ATM receipts each and every time :)
I eventually wised up and moved most of my stash into a higher-yielding savings account/investment vehicles. Now I just leave the equivalent of 500 USD in my checking account. It's working well so far.
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About $25k-$30k. This includes a partially-filled emergency fund and a soon-to-be-spent fund for unpaid parental leave (we plan to have a kid in the next couple of years).
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3k. It is a highly variable account since I also have many auto-pays coming out of my checking account. I square up the amount over the 3k threshold to a savings account once or so a month (after the main outflows are accounted for that month). Although I get paid biweekly and since that means there are 2 months every year where I get 3 paychecks, I like to have the checking account a little higher then so I can zap more student loan debt than normal that month.
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1K is my zero, as well. I get paid on the last day of the month, and all of my regular bills are autopaid from that account. So I try to leave around $3K in there. Anything over that gets moved to investments.
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I too use 1k as my zero. Generally I keep 2k to 4k in the account and move the excess to savings when it gets much higher than that. The emergency fund is kept in a money market account and CDs.
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Put me in the $11 column. I keep careful track of expenses (most of which are electronic/direct/automatic) and don't have a lot of deposits (mostly just my once-monthly paycheck, which is direct deposited). I keep money in my higher-interest (ha! not by much, but it's a long habit) savings account. I have overdraft protection through that, for which my CU charges me $.50 if it gets used and $0 otherwise. I'd say I might (?) use it as often as once a year ...
I probably should, however, write a "what to do if ..." note to DH in case I am incapacitated; this stuff is easy to implement and follow (or override), but only if one's aware it needs to be done.
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About $25k-$30k. This includes a partially-filled emergency fund and a soon-to-be-spent fund for unpaid parental leave (we plan to have a kid in the next couple of years).
Funny that "the next couple of years" is "soon-to-be-spent". You realize you'll have 9 months warning to transfer that money from another account before you need it, right?
Right this instant, I have $6,485.19. I like to leave at least a mortgage payment in there, since they are auto-debited from my account each month.
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Between $1k and $3k depending on the time of month (EOM has more, in prep for the mortgages that come out on the 1st).
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My main checking account I normally try to have around $2k at the beginning of the month, and just refill each month to that amount. I auto debit for utility bills (electric and internet), but always pay my credit cards electronically on my own just because I like to confirm there are no errors before they take my money. I micromanage that part of my finances a little too much probably.
Right now though I have a large amount in a rewards checking account (get around 2.5%) because I should be making a down payment on a house in the near future (next few months). Once that is taken care of I will move the majority of my savings into the market.
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Anywhere between $50 and $5000, sometimes more. Basically I get paid by direct deposit into the checking account, and anything left after monthly payments gets moved, either to savings or mutual fund accounts.
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$1,000 is my zero, usually it varies between $3k and $9k as money flows through to savings accounts and auto payments.
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About 20k.
Now, before people freak, that includes my emergancy fund. My checking gets ~2% interest (up to 30k, & higher % in the past) and I have pretty much no problems with impulse spending, so it's not a temptation to have it sitting there.
If I could find a better interest rate, I'd move it, but I'm not to concerned about it.
Which bank are you using? 2% interest is such a good deal.
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Since I get paid by-weekly, I keep approximately 1 paycheck in checking.
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About 20k.
Now, before people freak, that includes my emergancy fund. My checking gets ~2% interest (up to 30k, & higher % in the past) and I have pretty much no problems with impulse spending, so it's not a temptation to have it sitting there.
If I could find a better interest rate, I'd move it, but I'm not to concerned about it.
Which bank are you using? 2% interest is such a good deal.
It's a local credit union, Tinker FCU. To be a member you have to fit into one of the elegibility criteria, like be in the military stationed at one of the Oklahoma bases, work for specific local governments, or at specified companies.
I have to jump through hoops to get the rate, which is currently 2.23% for $ up to 30k and for anything else above is 0.35%, but most of the things I would do anyway, like pay bills and direct deposit my paycheck. Using my debit card 10 times a month is the only thing that can get me (what, go shopping 10 times in a single month?!), but I keep track of that in my checkbook, and I've only missed once. When you don't hit all the criteria, you get a lower rate, which is 0.15% right now. There are no fees & no minimum balance requirements.
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No direct debits, and no cheque facility. I keep a careful calendar of when bills are due, and mark the preceding (business) day as well to remind me to move the appropriate sum from my ING account, currently earning 3.75%. Likewise for cash (ATM) withdrawals, I decide the previous day how much I'm going to need before I'm next in the vicinity of the ATM (twice a week) and move only that much cash.
Which ING account earns 3.5%?
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No direct debits, and no cheque facility. I keep a careful calendar of when bills are due, and mark the preceding (business) day as well to remind me to move the appropriate sum from my ING account, currently earning 3.75%. Likewise for cash (ATM) withdrawals, I decide the previous day how much I'm going to need before I'm next in the vicinity of the ATM (twice a week) and move only that much cash.
Which ING account earns 3.5%?
He's in Australia.
My checking fluctuates between 3-5k. I probably should look into bringing that down a bit more.
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My account usually hovers around $5,000, when it goes above that I transfer to investments. $2,000 is a comfortable minimum because I don't really pay attention to when bills or the mortgage are due and I wouldn't want to overdraw. We usually find it keeps increasing unless we shovel extra out every month (the lovely benefit of living far below one's means, which I'm sure everyone here is familiar with)
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move the appropriate sum from my ING account, currently earning 3.75%.
Wow. I guess I should move to Australia. My ING accounts are paying a whopping 0.80%! Whooopeeee! :-(
To answer the OP, I keep my checking between $500 and $700, but I don't use it for any automatic transfers/debits/bill pay. My checking account is for cash withdrawals, and the odd expense for which credit cards aren't accepted.
Automatic transfers and debits come out of my ING savings account, but there aren't that many since I put almost everything on my CC, which gets paid in full automatically each month from savings.
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$1000 is my account "zero".
+1 for this!
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I went to the ATM today to pull out my customary wad of pocket money for the month, and the girl in front of me left before her receipt popped out. Looking at it while I waited for my stack of twenties, she had withdrawn $20 leaving a balance of $11.46 in her account.
She may not even have $11.46 in there. That number is based on the transactions the bank knows about. If she's written any checks that haven't been presented yet, she could be in negative territory. A lot of people who live paycheck to paycheck simply check with the bank's computer to see how much is available and then are shocked to find the overdraft fees piling up when "forgotten" checks show up on the statement.
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I keep mine around 15k, which earns 3%. We plan to buy a house within the next year with this money. However once we buy a house I'm sure we'll still have a good chunk of money sitting in there for emergencies...it's hard to pass up the 3%.
If my credit union didn't offer such a good rate I would feel absolutely comfortable with $1,000 in checking.
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Before I started learning about personal finances, I was in the same boat Adventine was... my checking account held all of my money that I'd ever made!
Now I keep about $1,000 in there, much like everyone else, it looks like.
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$13K in my regular checking. We have way too much in cash (I know, I know - it should be invested). I have been burned with timing of large investments in the market the last couple years and with me not working at the moment, I like the comfort of having cash. I am not going to mention how much is in my money market account at Schwab. It could pay off most of my mortgage but I am keeping it liquid to make some real estate investments shortly. My mortgage is only 2.125% (LIBOR-based variable rate).
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We keep about $6K in checking. It's too much--$3K would be ideal, since that's about a month's spending--but the buffer is so comforting!
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1K is my zero too.
Its offset on the mortgage, so whatever's in there reduces the mortgage interest.
(Cash rate in Australia can be up to 5% currently, but before you decide to move here, remember mortgage rates are around 6% and houses are expensive!).
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About 20k.
Now, before people freak, that includes my emergancy fund. My checking gets ~2% interest (up to 30k, & higher % in the past) and I have pretty much no problems with impulse spending, so it's not a temptation to have it sitting there.
If I could find a better interest rate, I'd move it, but I'm not to concerned about it.
~$35k, same boat as the above. I get 3% up to $25k in one savings and 2% up to $10k in another. I'm working on convincing the wife that this is counter productive but that's been an uphill battle.
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One meeeeelion dollars! ;)
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I keep a 1k buffer in the joint account and a 5k buffer in my account. Like others here, it gives me a level of comfort which I know makes no sense.
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2k, or about one month's base income (not including second job). I like being able to pay any and all bills without worrying if that might overdraw or having to transfer from savings, plus a 1k cushion for emergencies.
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I do "surplus transfers" on about a monthly basis. This is when we've gone through a full cycle of monthly bills, and I know we won't be doing any shopping between that time and payday, so I move everything left in checking to savings. So our minimum is $0. But this is only possible because I've got our monthly expenses tracked down to the penny and NB and I communicate so regularly about money.
If I wanted to do a surplus transfer, but I also needed cash for whatever reason, I would probably leave only that amount in there. So sol could have very well watched someone like me withdraw my "last" $20 ;-) Haha, you never know...
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I have a rewards checking account, so my goal is to keep about $10k in my checking account as my buffer/"zero" and then above that is my normal checking account. If I didn't have a rewards checking account, I would probably keep $500-1,000 in the account as a buffer from overdrafts.
I could never imagine keeping only $11 in my checking account.
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NT$60,000 (around $2050, or two months' cut-to-the-bone expenses). Anything over that number plus this month's planned outgoings gets stashed, someplace where it's hard to get at.
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$3000 at 0% interest
I was laid off four months ago and, though I got a new job in less than a month, I still have stress issues. Therefore the balance is higher than it need be.
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Look at this guy. $200 in his checking account and over $7 million in gold bars/coins in his garage.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/17/walter-samasko-recluse-dead-7-million-gold-coins_n_1891067.html
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When i lived a life before fiscal awareness i was often percolating above overdrawn.
I have a system of having my "pocket money" stop when it is gone, adigital envelope if you will. I have no overdraft to make me aware when i'm spending more than i think i am. I have another account with card that has $150 just in case i'm rejected and need something. Most recently due to expired card.
When creating my controls over my spending, i needed to create "a stop spending now" function to get my attention so i could make corrections before making mistakes. I'm pretty sure i don't need it anymore, but it's a good system; i think i'll keep it.
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5k + any monies that are already spoken for until the end of the month.
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1k-5k as I got rid of all my credit cards years ago. I keep enough that if I have some sort of car tragedy i wont have to go to the bank but can just swipe my debit to get it fixed. I have a separate savings account with my emergency fund in it that is not coupled with my checking so someone cant empty me out if my debit card gets stolen.
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I also keep $1K as my zero balance. It's my buffer, since I get paid monthly and transfer 72% of my take home pay out of my checking account as soon as I get paid. I live on the rest and don't dip into the buffer, but it gives me peace of mind.
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Some people have more than one checking account. For example, I have an Ally account that I use for ATM transactions, with near-zero balance. I transfer money into it before a withdrawal.
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I guess I'm at the low end - if it gets below $150 I throw in a little padding from savings.
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Being in college, I make nearly all of my money in the summer and then work just enough during the school year to scrape by until next summer. My lowest account balance is always right before my first big internship/co-op paycheck. Last year, that was $1.41, this year it was $35.63. I'm entirely comfortable in the tens, single digits less so. At least $10 will buy a week of food, if I'm careful with what I buy and how I eat it. It's pretty hard to eat on less than that though.
By the end of the current internship rotation I'll have several thousand dollars, all in the checking account because I can't risk it in investments. I could put it in a high-yield account or CDs or something, but that's quite a bit of work for what will net me a little over $10 before I need to take it back out again.
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Call me paranoid, but we keep about 7k in our checking account.
We mostly pay for everything on an awards credit card, mortgage is on auto-pay from the checking account, and post-tax investments come from that checking account. Our non-mortgage expenses are only $3k/mo these days at worst, but I grew up in a family where my Father would overdraw the checking account on a regular basis (also, my brother is terrible at finances and does this often) and I have it in the back of my head that I will never ever do that.
Occasionally if our expenses are low for a particular few months, I'll see it creep toward the 10k mark and make sure to send more to our post-tax investment account.
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I'm a wuss. My account balance is <current credit card balance> plus $2000 or so.
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I like to live on the edge and see how close I can get to overdrafting. ;)
But seriously, I usually have a $300 zero point.
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We keep a £300 buffer.
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Zero balance for us is about $2,000 but it has been falling.
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$8K
However, it earns 3%.
Also, it represents a 4.5 month emergency fund.
I also have $300 at Chase (saving account minimum), which helps with various transfers/conveniences. Also, they give free coffee ($.75/month for 2 cups of coffee, nearby ATM for cash deposits, and free transfers to all accounts... worth it).
Generally, my investment choices are:
3% - cash
5.5% - mortgage
10% (assumed) - stock market
10-14% (assumed) - risky investment
I balance this as 8K (4.5 months expenses) in cash, 25*% invested in mortgage, 60*% invested in the market (various funds**), 15*% in high risk investments.
* of additional capital
** until market > mortgage
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I've got a little under $800 right now. Probably by the end of the year that'll be close to nothing-- I pretty much follow Russ's pattern of being a college student, except that I'm uncomfortable with less than a couple hundred in the account.
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This is an interesting topic for me. For the last year or so I've been keeping a lot of money in checking accounts, primarily because I want to keep potential house downpayment funds liquid yet safe. I have two credit union checking accounts that pay (relatively) high interest (2.0% up to 50k in one, 3.0% up to 10k in the other) provided that I make a certain number of debit card transactions each month. Recently, though, I've run into a couple of snags:
1) Meeting the transaction requirements is a hassle. One account requires 12 a month and the other 10. I have some automatic payments set up that knock that down to 8 and 10, but I'd still rather not have to manage my purchases to meet the requirements. I'd rather just use cash for more things.
2) One of my debit cards (or rather the number and related information) was stolen recently. I have fraud protection so I won't lose money and I can just use the other account for the time being, but it has been a hassle and does point out the risk of making numerous small transactions all over town.
I'd like to simplify this arrangement a little. The obvious choice is to give up a little return and just use the 2% up to 50k account. But I still don't fancy the idea of having that much of my cash "exposed". I wish I could find a good high yield savings account and just use the 3.0% of up 10k card for purchases at my "regular" stores. In that case I'd keep my balance under that limit. But I just haven't found the rate account. Does anyone know of a better option than Ally's online savings (0.95% last I looked)?
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I use $3000 as my zero. I'm surprised so many people feel almost ashamed about having a few extra thousand dollar buffer- there is no "right" answer to this question. It's all about your tolerance to risk and what allows you to sleep at night without worrying about it. Since you are here on MMM, you are likely savings minded anyways and keeping a few extra thousand in a checking account really won't make that much of a difference- especially when one overdraft charge or one minimum account balance violation (if you have those) will wipe out a good deal of the average profits you would make in a month of investing a couple thousand dollars.
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$10k or so -- I use $3k as "zero" + $20k in Ibonds as an emergency fund.
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$10,000 is my target. I don't call it a zero, as it frequently falls below that--for instance, it's below that now, and will likely stay below that through the rest of the year. If my projected end-of-month balance in Quicken is over $10,000, then the surplus goes into a taxable mutual fund at Vanguard.
Edited to add: $1,000 is the drop-dead minimum on the account. If I fall below that, I incur service charges for the checking account.
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I keep a substantial amount in checking as well, but I really ought to check with out Postal CU and see if they pay better significantly better interest than our big bank, which pays almost nothing. But I do have four separate accounts for various reasons and there are no charges on any of them either.
Switching banks for me would be a major headache, but if the price were right I'd do it.
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Interesting topic. I have a line of credit attached to my chequing account, so if my balance goes below 0 I only pay 5% interest on the negative balance, calculated daily.
So, it fluctuates between -2k and 4k. I use Microsoft Money's cash flow projection tool to make sure I won't be below 0 for more than one paycheque, but I'm comfortable going red in order to send a big even chunk off to the investment account.
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Since I "save" in my checking account for future expenses, I have about a $1-7K buffer. One could argue it's not really a buffer if I intend to spend it, but the amounts will be spent at various times and are always being "refilled." I track it all with YNAB. I use the YNAB balance to budget and ignore the higher bank account balance.
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Interesting topic. I have a line of credit attached to my chequing account, so if my balance goes below 0 I only pay 5% interest on the negative balance, calculated daily.
So, it fluctuates between -2k and 4k. I use Microsoft Money's cash flow projection tool to make sure I won't be below 0 for more than one paycheque, but I'm comfortable going red in order to send a big even chunk off to the investment account.
So, it's like a credit card with no grace period? That sounds like a terrible idea! Waste of money. (If I misunderstood, and there IS a grace period, then I rescind my comment.)
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Up until recently I was close to the >10k region for various reasons, most mental but one concrete in I'm saving for a house. I've talked to current roommates and found that they're willing to rent with me while they get their financials in order. That opened my window for the house savings so I transferred 8k into my investment account. So now I'm living with 2k-4k in the bank and investing the surplus. I'll pull from there or my Roth IRA for my down payment. If the market tanks when I'm ready to buy then I'll just keep renting until it recovers.
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$1500 is my "zero", and it's also the point at which fees are waived, which saves me ~$40 a month (I wouldn't have this account if I actually had to pay the fees, but it's nice to have now).
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Its over $2000 almost always.
Fluctuates up and down probably close to $1500 up and down.
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$1000 is my account "zero".
Agreed that keeping somewhere close to actual $0.00 would cause a great deal of stress and overdrafting in case of things coming up that you didn't plan for.
Ditto
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About 3K at the beginning of the month, growing to 7-9K during the month, and emptied in different saving and investment accounts at the end of it.
This, mind you, is because my husband manages our shared checking account. I was more of the "$100 or so" persuasion when I managed my own checking, but I guess his style is different--he's less of a micro-manager than I am, and low amounts would lead to occasional overdrafts.
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I drain it every month to pay off debt. So, it depends on what day of the month it is.
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I went to the ATM today. My balance is now ONE DOLLAR. $1.00.
I have multiple checking accounts. Those that pay for actual expenses like bills and may have undeposited checks have much more than a dollar. This account also has free overdraft protection linked to a MM account with much more than a dollar in it.
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about $4k is our zero
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No Bank account atm i mostly use cash and a no fee pre-paid CC to pay bills online. When i did have a Checking Account I liked to keep about $500 in there to prevent overdraft fees and i kept the rest in an high interest saving account. Alas for the days when i needed to spend almost nothing.
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I don't actually 'keep' any money in my cheque account. The balance varies between $2K and zero, depending upon how far away from my fortnightly payday it is. I can't see why people freak over a low balance. I have a spreadsheet that goes about 3 years in advance (literally), I know what's coming out and when, and everything is budgeted for, with extra money transferred across to the mortgage at the end of each fortnight. If an unexpected bill crops up then I could tweak the budget or just transfer a smaller extra payment to the mortgage. If it was a true emergency I guess I could use a credit card, or transfer some of the extra back from the mortgage. It seems a waste to have that money sitting around doing nothing (bear in mind interest rates on housing loans here in NZ are a LOT higher than in the States)
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$1500 is my zero, but I usually keep much more than that handy for paying bills. Most bills are paid on my account-linked rewards credit card and then I transfer funds to cover it. So far this year, I've earned over $600 in cashback for necessities I was going to need to buy anyway and I get a bonus on the cashback for having the checking account.
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Joint checking account at a credit union -- usually $3k - $4k because all of our regular expenses are set up to be paid automatically (either through ET or a check sent directly from the bank) so I don't want us to be caught short. We have accounts at another credit union where we have our current mortgage, so a portion of my husband's paycheck goes directly there and the mortgage gets paid automatically through that account. (Used to be my paycheck until I left my full-time job this month.) Our main savings account is with ING, and I set up an automatic payment to that as well. I occasionally have to move money from there back to the checking account if we have an extra expense, but it only takes a couple of days for the funds to be available so it hasn't been a problem. The ING account is our emergency/life happens fund, varies from 6 months' to 1 year's expenses.
If the amount in the checking account gets bigger than about $4k, I move the excess over to the savings account so it at least earns a little interest.
I also recently set up a Vanguard after-tax investment (just started with the $3k minimum) and have some money transferred automatically to that every month as well. (So far, it's lost $75 ... sigh ...)
(My credit card also earns cash back -- 1% -- but I haven't gotten into counting on that in any way. Just look at it as a little bonus.)
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Generally we keep about $200-400, but I would be more dumbfounded if the person in from had like $2 million or something :) earning a measly 1% or whatever the pathetic savings rate is.
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I have about $7K right now, but I plan on buying a house in the next few weeks. I need to transfer some more in when I purchase; that's not all my liquid assets.
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$1 or less..
As a college student, I do not have terribly much spare cash. Therefore, I like to keep as much of my money invested as possible, or at least in a savings account earning double the interest of my checking account.
I track all of my finances in Gnucash, where I also account for all future bills coming out of any particular account. I also have free overdraft protection, though I have never needed to use it. Lastly, I put all of my irregular (non-bill) expenses on a rewards credit card that I always pay off by the end of the month. This means that when I say it is at $1, it could easily mean $1+Rent+Utilities, but $1 will be the final value when all the bills go through.
Since I micromanage my accounts effectively, I feel safe with between $0.10 and $1 in any particular checking account. However, as I continue to work I will likely be moving my zero balance upwards, first to $10, and eventually likely up to $200 or so. However, I believe that with my temperament I will never see a need for a particularly large checking type account balance outside of a temporary event such as buying a house.
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Interesting topic. I have a line of credit attached to my chequing account, so if my balance goes below 0 I only pay 5% interest on the negative balance, calculated daily.
So, it fluctuates between -2k and 4k. I use Microsoft Money's cash flow projection tool to make sure I won't be below 0 for more than one paycheque, but I'm comfortable going red in order to send a big even chunk off to the investment account.
So, it's like a credit card with no grace period? That sounds like a terrible idea! Waste of money. (If I misunderstood, and there IS a grace period, then I rescind my comment.)
Yes, it's like a credit card with no grace period, and the interest rate is only 5%, which is less than I expect to make long term in index funds.
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I keep as close to $0 as possible. Account is connected to my personal line of credit, so everytime a check or amount is withdrawn I get an email notice showing the automatic Overdraft Protection Notice with amount. Wife gets the same, which give her pause on spending money. 100% of paychecks go directly to payoff line of credit and HELOC. So my savings account is earning the rate of my HELOC, which is 4.24%. Personal line is typically at $0 unless we make a large investment.
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Usually $1500-2000, mostly b/c our landlord can be really lazy about cashing the rent check.
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Well, in my direct-deposit mortgage account, the balance is 200 right after the mortgage payment is withdrawn, then each paycheck auto deposts 1/2 the mortgage payment plus $20. Ususally I need the pad to balance my escrow.
My main checking account (gas+groceries) is between 225 and 0 each payperiod.
My discretionary account is between $200 and zero each pay period.
The bills account typically goes no less than $500, but I cleaned it out to kill off a student loan, so it's near 0 right now.
semi-annual car insurance payments, and a defered $100/month in maint costs, plus $100 a month for safety net, goes into my smarty pig savings account.... so I have those cash buffers. I also have about $5K I could get access to in a few days if I really needed it, from the company stock purchase program.
I check my balances compulsively, so i never worry about over-drawing.
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I have three checking accounts:
Local #1 - primary local account used to deposit miscellaneous checks and cash - "zero" is $1500 spread between checking and savings to avoid monthly maintenance fee. Excess is periodically scraped into account #3.
Local #2 - secondary local account opened to get $150 bonus. Will close in a few months once the clawback period expires. "Zero" is $500, but I guess could be lower. Excess is periodically scraped into account #3.
Main #3 - main central checking account where paychecks are deposited and all bills are paid. "Zero" is $1000, could be lower I guess. Excess is periodically scraped into savings account paying 0.80%.
I've thought about the reward checking accounts before but just been too lazy to set them up. I've got bigger budget fish to fry before doing them, also.
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Usually it's under $40.00
All of my items are budget for so it's a non issue.
I have 2 checking and 2 savings
1 Fun Checking (40 per week allowed)
1 Monthly Expenses Checking (Bills go here)
1 Long Term Savings (employer matching and stuff)
1 Emergency Savings (anything left over goes here)
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I had $500 as my "zero" when I started uni - my expenses are low and I haven't had anything unexpected so I keep $200 as "0" now.
I do have $2-10k in my higher interest account.
Having a nice stash makes me feel more secure.
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I'm going from 3000€ the day I get paid (which is monthly) to like 72€ at end of month. I know my expenses and when they are due, and even if I forget one, there is no overdraft fee.
I also have more cash in a higher yielding account, which can be transferred in 3 days.
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These days it usually has an extra 1-2k in the account. When I was paying off student loans, I used to transfer it out as soon as it built up, but now I leave a little extra in it because I get my auto insurance deducted automatically twice a year, and it's nice not to have to think about whether or not there will be enough in the account to cover it.
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My low balance in checking this month was $1400, high balance $3850. It's usually around $2000. I probably should keep less in checking and more in savings as my bank allows immediate on-line transfers as long as you don't exceed 5 transfers/month.
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At the moment it's about $9k, and it was as high as $20k recently for no good reason other than that I'm keeping a large amount of money liquid and my savings account options aren't really that much better than my interest checking account. We're saving for a down-payment in the 2 year timeframe, possibly in SoCal, so we're liquid to the tune of $100k right now (and growing) and the benefits of moving into stocks or a bond fund seem not worth the risk to me.
If anyone has a facepunch and an option that I should be considering, I'm all ears. I know I'm incurring significant opportunity costs and inflation risk, but I don't know what else to do.
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I had about $10k in there today and it's been as high as $20k. It's just extra cash that accumulates from the paychecks that is eventually invested.
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I keep about $15K in my checking acount (equivalent to one year worth of living expense) plus $28.5K in Travel/Fun saving account.
Before someone offers face punches for keeping that much for fun account, I want to raise that I accumulated it over several years without touching my base pay nor bonus (with net of tax saving rate of 80-90%). The source of funds are: pay out of my unused PTOs, dividends from my company stocks bought at a discount, and credit card bonus / cash backs. The accumulation means that I was only able to take occassional vacations and in some cases travel cheaply by combining it with work travel (resulting in company paid airfaire).
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I like about a 10K buffer. Our outflows can be big, so this helps if we get a big bill ($6K for the year of preschool, or whatever).
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Normally in the 2-3k range. The mortgage and condo fees normally go out before the pay comes in so I need that 1500$ there for the second half of the month. Then I like some buffer on that so I can pay 'small' bills as they come in. I would still have to think and maybe wait on larger work-travel cc bills. But that amount seems to work for my situation. I guess I could get aggressive and move things around with a higher yielding savings account but does not seem worth it for the time involved or worry.
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$107 at the moment, and I only have this much because I over budgeted my electricity for the month. I'm pretty anal about my budget and know exactly which bills will be due when, and since I don't have discretionary (bullshit) expenses anymore, every single $ in excess of bills due for the period go into debt repayment or some other net-worth increasing endeavor. I have to note that due to a severance agreement with my employer, I have no need for an emergency stash - If this were different I would probably have 3 months of bare-bone expenses in some liquid cash account somewhere
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About 20k.
Now, before people freak, that includes my emergancy fund. My checking gets ~2% interest (up to 30k, & higher % in the past) and I have pretty much no problems with impulse spending, so it's not a temptation to have it sitting there.
If I could find a better interest rate, I'd move it, but I'm not to concerned about it.
I do the same, keeping between 10 and 20k pushing any excess to my brokerage account.
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Currently $180. And it's driving me nuts. I hate having money sitting in an account. I ride the line pretty close. I'm comfortable with about $75-$100 being my balance. When I get $100 over that I send $100 to the student loan. If I don't get it out of there I'm too tempted to spend it.
I recently opened a savings account with a pathetic interest rate, but I wanted an account separate from my checking. Unfortunately, I got it with the same bank, so when I log on to track my checking account, there is the savings balance starring at me. I didn't want that. I wanted to put money somewhere and never see it until I had a $1,000 emergency fund and then my first $1,000 to invest. At this point they are both moot because I'm sending everything like gangbusters to the student loan. I'm hoping to have it paid off by December 2014, and then attack these other two goals.
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2k is my zero and my account usually fluctuates between 3k and 5k. Everything above 5k is quickly invested.
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My extremely nervous balance is $250, but my usual cushion is $500; linked savings accounts hold six months of expenses and that much more in sinking funds, so I'm never actually close to the edge. I budget down to between $500-$700, though, and not worry much if groceries run a little high or we have small unexpected things come up that bring us down into the $300-$500 range.
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I usually spend down to about $150 in one account, that one has a minimum balance of $100. I also spend down to about $50 in my other account. I generally check my accounts twice a day and know when all my ins/outs are because I have a calendar.
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Between 5-7k. Would be much less but I need access to fast cash sometimes if there is a juicy live poker game.
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$200 max. I'd rather keep my money in investments, and I don't use cash or debit unless I absolutely have to - offhand, I can only think of one store I go to that doesn't take credit cards. It's not unusual for the balance to be below $100.
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I'm probably the girl with $11.00 left!
Direct debits come out of my credit card. On pay day I pay off the credit cards, pay any bills and transfer some money to a high interest account. Then whatever remains in the account is for spending.
I'm rethinking this strategy though as it might be costing me money (for example not able to stock up on things that are on special if it's close the payday) and causes a bit too much stress. I want to make $100 the new zero.
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$3k, aka one month worth of expenses.
At the end of the month we drop the checking accounts down to $3,000 and send the rest to savings/retirement.
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$2K is my zero.
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Hmmm, you all are making me think. We currently have about 20k in our checking. We use YNAB and have a full buffer, several sinking categories, and a 5k e-fund included there. Our account was getting 1.5% until a couple months ago but the bank dropped it to .5%. All other savings is tied up in retirement and 529 accounts.
Do others keep e-fund money in brokerage accounts? I have a Vanguard account for my IRA but haven't really explored other options.
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Everyone here is so much braver than me!
For a few years both my wife and I were paid at the start of the month, but our primary credit cards, loan payments and rent were all in the last 5 days of the month. So we kept a large balance in the checking as a buffer because there's no adjusting till the next payday. I currently keep about $8k in the account. I should rethink my strategy though as I changed jobs 6 months ago and get paid twice a month now so I shouldn't need as big of a buffer.
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$2,500 is my zero. It is the minimum to eliminate my fees (saves me $8/mth). I think this minimum is ridiculous, given that it's at a CU.
I have this account linked to my ING account and use ING for pretty much everything. I keep the damage deposits for our rentals in my CU account as that money sits idle anyway. I'm not sure that's a proper use of DDs, but it's been working for me.
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Mine is tied to my home equity line, so I can run it thin and have a buffer if I make a mistake. It goes between $4,000 and $350.
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Honestly, I keep very little in my checking account (Usually >$500). I use my credit card for pretty much all purchases that accept it (free 1.25% back!) and make sure I have enough in my account when I make a purchase with e-check or direct transfer. When I get my paycheck all money is already allocated (and sometimes 2 or three or four checks out!) into my vacation account, savings/to be invested account, and other bills such as mortgage, utilities, etc. that need to be paid. I have a set number I like to sock away each month into my 'vacation' account and my 'to be invested' accounts and once I reach that and pay all my bills for that month, I start paying bills for the next month. I run a pretty tight ship so I don't usually have too much excess beyond that. If I do, I pay down the loan that I made to myself (out of my 'to be invested' account) along with the interest that I'm charging myself beyond the normal savings amounts.
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Right now I am much higher than I would like to be for the checking account, but I am in limbo waiting to close on a house. I plan on keeping around 5k in the checking (3% interest on a balance up to 15k).
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Reviving this.
$2,500 is my zero. Why? The bank will charge me a $9 fee if my balance dips below that at any time during the month. Going below that is like an overdraft fee!
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Wow, my heart jumped just reading that.
I have so many automatic withdrawals I get nervous if it starts going below 3k. I get extra bank charges if it goes below 1k.
Typically I try to keep it between 4k and 10k, but once I get up to 10k I throw 4-5k into investments.
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I actually try to keep chequing at $0.
I have a line of credit linked, so that I can dip below $0 and I only pay 5% interest on the daily closing balance if it's negative. I usually pay about $1/month or so because the credit card doesn't line up with paycheques, or I get excited and sweep $5k off to the brokerage account a few days early. I figure it's probably offset by the extra investment income I might get.
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Meh. I usually try to keep more like $50, but it wouldn't be that unusual for me to get down to the $11 range.
I also do a ton a automatic transfers, but I have everything scheduled so that transfers only go out after adequate money goes in. I don't keep more because I've yet to have a reason to.
If anything comes up that's unexpected I just use a cc and then either transfer in from the few k I have in savings or put less in savings to pay it off.
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Instead of keeping a $1k buffer in my checking account, I use Capital One 360 for primary checking and it has a $1k credit limit built into the account -- if I dip below zero, I pay a few pennies at the end of the month, that's all (interest on the amount below zero for the number of days).
This way I can make sure every dollar is invested, but if I miscalculate something and it goes below zero before a deposit hits, it's no big deal.
I know of overdraft fees (and this avoids them permanently), but I've never gotten one of those accounts that has a minimum balance and charges you fees for going below -- that seems crazy, that's like even worse than an overdraft fee! An overdraft with the bar set higher. I couldn't imagine signing up for that. What does it get you, like an extra 0.5% interest on your account? Psshh.
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$1500 is my zero. I'd like to do less than that, but I get so nervous, I just can't! However, it used to be $2000, so I've improved a little bit! (The reason I want it low is so that I'm saving/investing my excess $$).
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We don't have a checking account as such. Part of our mortgage is a "Flexi-payment account", which operates like a giant (and I mean giant) overdraft, with interest charged at mortgage lending rates (6.15% at the moment for this part of the world)
We track end of month totals and are comfortable if the balance shifts more than $1k towards $0 each month, but try and aim for $2k.
This arrangement means that we can fast-track mortgage repayment (which makes sense at those interest rates) without financial penalty, so long as we have the discipline to keep heading in the right direction.
Also means we don't need an emergency fund - we can just spend the money and it goes on the mortgage, without needing to refinance, or even talk to the bank at all, because we are a long way from our limit in that account (deliberately set up that way as we anticipate some major repair work this year on the house).
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I am self employed, so I pay myself $1000 every Friday. By Saturday, investments come out ($300), mortgage ($87), travel/fun savings ($100) and emergency/house repair fund ($100). The rest just hangs out. Right now I have $456 in there. All our regular spending (groceries and whatnot) go on our air miles master card. If we make a large purchase, that gives me enough time to transfer out of our ING accounts, in time to pay the CC bill. My husband gets paid on weird dates, like 4 days after our CC bill is due, and on the 1st of the month from his other job. So, sometimes we have $0 or a small negative balance between the 5th and the 10th of the month. I check the account balance almost every day, so I can easily transfer some cash out of our LOC to get the balance above 0 before we actually pay any overdraft interest (which is only at 7% anyway, so some months we might pay $1-2 in overdraft interest). Then on random days of the month, the automatic payments come out (utilities, vehicle insurance, house insurance, life insurance, student loan payments, all of which are $250 or less). We have $2500 or $5000 in overdraft protection (I can't remember) so we've never bounced a payment, even the few times that I've forgotten to do my own payroll until Monday instead of Friday.
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$2,500 is my zero. It is the minimum to eliminate my fees (saves me $8/mth). I think this minimum is ridiculous, given that it's at a CU.
I have this account linked to my ING account and use ING for pretty much everything. I keep the damage deposits for our rentals in my CU account as that money sits idle anyway. I'm not sure that's a proper use of DDs, but it's been working for me.
Reviving this.
$2,500 is my zero. Why? The bank will charge me a $9 fee if my balance dips below that at any time during the month. Going below that is like an overdraft fee!
You guys need new bank accounts. Plenty of online only checking accounts have no fees. And they usually have ATM fee reimbursals, so you can get your cash from any ATM, not just your bank's ATM. Some good ones are Ally, Charles Schwab, Capital One 360, etc.
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I keep one month of expenses in my checking. 2-3k. Everything else goes to debt. In the future , every 1k of extra will buy funds. My balance rarely goes under 1k any more as I run all expenses through rewards cards, pay off balances as I go.
Use YNAB to keep track of it all.
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The answer is WAY TOO MUCH. I'm now using some advice I learned on here and checking the balance on the same day each month (the 15th, in my case) since paychecks and payments come and go throughout the month.
My floor is $10K. I'm trying to get through a whole year of not dipping below $10K in checking. Then maybe I'll see about moving some of it up and out, even if it's just into a CD with a higher interest rate.
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The answer is WAY TOO MUCH. I'm now some advice I learned on here and checking the balance on the same day each month (the 15th, in my case) since paychecks and payments come and go throughout the month.
My floor is $10K. I'm trying to get through a whole year of not dipping below $10K in checking. Then maybe I'll see about moving some of it up and out, even if it's just into a CD with a higher interest rate.
10k is probably WAY TO MUCH unless you have some special things going on. Unless you count that as the cash percent of an investment account. I use to keep this much around too, was really just a safety blanket. 10k at 7% for five years becomes 14k without any more deposits; 10k at 0.5% comes to 10.2k after five years.
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The answer is WAY TOO MUCH. I'm now some advice I learned on here and checking the balance on the same day each month (the 15th, in my case) since paychecks and payments come and go throughout the month.
My floor is $10K. I'm trying to get through a whole year of not dipping below $10K in checking. Then maybe I'll see about moving some of it up and out, even if it's just into a CD with a higher interest rate.
10k is probably WAY TO MUCH unless you have some special things going on. Unless you count that as the cash percent of an investment account. I use to keep this much around too, was really just a safety blanket. 10k at 7% for five years becomes 14k without any more deposits; 10k at 0.5% comes to 10.2k after five years.
It is absolutely a security blanket, AlanStache. I also have a year's expenses (including private school tuition) in a MMA earning graham cracker crumbs. And as the market continues to rise, all I want to do is scrape off some of that excess and put it somewhere "safe". It's a really hard impulse to tamp down. I'm good about NOT selling in a downturn, but I still seem to want to cull off the top in an uptick. I've never done it, but I WANT TO.
For us, the liquid stash is a bulwark against job loss (which in our case would also mean house loss - we live in housing provided by his employer). I'm keeping my eye out for CD rates over 1% for 1-2 years - PenFed just dropped theirs to .8%. :(
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Count me among the $1-2k crowd. I currently keep another $1-2k in a savings account as kind of a secondary backup, but sometimes I'm tempted to just throw all of that into one of my retirement accounts or use it to help pay off my (low-interest) debt earlier.
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I've enjoyed reading this, and everyone'e viewpoints.
Now: We have 1 checking account and 1/2 month expenses ($4,000) is our zero. We automatically transfer 1 month's expenses from savings to checking every month - paychecks are auto-deposited into savings. We don't keep close tabs on things; everything is auto-paid. The buffer is for big spending months. We true up every month or two. We have 1 checking (local credit union) and 2 savings accounts (local credit union with low return but easy access, and a CapitalOne 360 for the majority).
Before: He kept a full month's expenses as his zero in the checking. I was the $11 girl and preferred actual zero. I arranged all of my accounts to be billed on or near the same day so once/month I could transfer over the correct amount. We had 3 checking accounts and 3 savings accounts (his, hers, and ours).
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between $500 and $3k, depending on whether it's the beginning or end of the month.
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between $500 and $3k depending on whether it's the beginning or end of the month.
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Wow, this thread is way more interesting than I expected. Such simple people we are, dazzled by checking account balances.
We usually have $3k-6k. I use the YNAB method, so I always have this month's expenses + next month's expenses. That includes lumpy expenses that we save for each month, so right now we have $6,500 and we're about to drop $2,000 of that on tuition.
I'm a SUPER nervous person, so I rest (and invest) much easier with a month's buffer.
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£20K to £25K because my "zero" is £20K and that is because my chequing account currently pays 3% on balances up to £20K
It only hits the £25K on pay-day at the end of the month.
Next day (1st of the month) all the regular monthly bills are automatically paid.
Then any "excess" beyond anticipated cash and known credit card spending is swept into another savings account.
When I get any cash out of the bank I write the date of withdrawal on each note in pencil.
I currently have 2 x £20, both dated 20-Sep-2014 which is the last date I withdrew any cash.
Sadly, I can remember all the details associated with both debit and credit cards so I actually need no access to any of them or cash to be able to spend money on the web which is why I rarely carry a wallet.
And I have automatic alerts when chequing account goes outside these thresholds or my credit card balance goes into *any* debit balance.
P.S. Basic annual spend is £25K so this is nearly 1 year's "emergency fund"
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I have two checking accounts, one is an online Schwab (for free ATM withdrawals) and then another brick and mortar which I do my normal bill pays out of.
My Schwab regularly is below $100 because I usually transfer in $200 and then ATM withdraw from it until its below $20...then I transfer in anther $200. I prefer to have a brick and mortar bank for my regular banking needs (even though I go there maybe three or four times a year max).
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It depends on the time of the month(I think). Almost all my bills are due at the beginning of the month and I also make transfers for savings at the beginning of the month. All bills are automatically drafted from the account so I make sure there is enough to cover almost all bills. DW and I budget a months worth of spending before every month begins (Dave Ramsey style) and then track, via a spreadsheet, spending throughout the month. Any money not spent from the budget gets transferred out at the beginning of the following month. All that to say... I have no clue where my balance is most of the time. I know that I spend slightly less than what I put in to the account every month and so the balance creeps up slowly and I haven't had to worry about the balance in years.
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I used to cut things much closer, with $500 in my checking and everything else in savings. I wasn't earning much from my job though, so even then, I was only ever able to amass about $4K in total. Still, I loved to play games to see how much I could transfer to my savings and just how low I could let my checking account get. ($1.15 is my personal best.)
Now, I tend to keep much, much more. Until I moved some of it into investments, I had well over $10K combined in all of my checking/savings accounts (it basically sat there for all of November). I'm trying to talk myself into keeping something closer to $4-5K, but it's hard for me to feel comfortable with that, given how much I've had to help my mom/parents the last year or two.
I had barely started my much-higher-paying tutoring gig when mom's chronic illness decided to really wreak havoc. Eventually, she was out of work for over 10 months with NO income whatsoever -- I ended up making several mortgage payments for my parents and paying for food, doctors' copays, prescriptions, etc.
Luckily, they didn't run out of savings and need me to step in until the super-busy "Spring Testing Season", so I was able to cash flow most of the expenses. BUT if they'd needed my help in, say, June through August...well...let's not think about that. Even with the big cash flow, it depleted my savings to less than $2K for a while.
So I now tend to err on the side of huge, heaping helpings of caution, even though I'd be fine with $500 or so if I only had myself to worry about.
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Around 500. If I'm over 1K, that's a signal that it's time to transfer money into index funds.
I also have a close to zero balance HELOC I can charge stuff to, write checks off of, or even grab cash from out of an ATM if that's what I need -- and it's very rare that I have to do this. The more convenient your fallback options are, the less need there is for much money to be in your primary checking IMO.
I use CCs for most day to day transactions anyway.
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I am very bad at investing and making my money work, so I sheepishly admit that I usually keep between $5 and $7 K in my two bank accounts, just to avoid paying bank fees. Even after cleaning out all our cash savings to buy a small acreage a couple of weeks ago, we are again at about $10K, and more at the end of the week when our paycheques will be deposited. Being frugal and being able to save more than 50% of our income is one thing, but not knowing sqat about investing is a weakness I really need to address. I got to start reading up.
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I try to keep $2-4K, and invest everything else. With my rent, credit card and other auto bill pays, I just want to be safe, though it kills me to not have everything in the market. But right now I'm doing a fast buildup to ~$15K for year-end, as I intend to:
- Max out my 2015 Roth IRA starting the first of the year
- Front-load max out my 2015 401(k) starting the 1st of the year, living off savings
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$500.
The checking account pays a nominal interest rate for any balance over $500, with no fee for going below and pays as long as there is $500 by months end. So if something happens or we need cash we can get it, otherwise we see $.01 added to the account at the end of the month. We rarely use cash. After payday and expenses (on cards), the account is lowered to $500 and the pennies make their way to the savings account, which makes it's way to Vanguard to start making more pennies.
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My average balance is between 1 and 2k. I have been as low as 11. on the rare occasion, usually the day before my pay hits, but I have my electronic payments scheduled very carefully.
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5.5k.
Part of the reason is I'm planning a move and need about that much accessible. But mainly, I have about 500 in average expenses each month and 5k is my standard "emergency" I worked out on the last budget.
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30 days worth. I have overdraft, so I could go lower, but it is just how I have always done it.
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I direct deposit only the amount I budget for the month into checking, so it goes in and then goes back out, either via rent check or credit card payment. The current balance is about $300 something, but I often go under $100. The only time it's over $600 is waiting for a check or payment to clear through. All my direct debits go to the credit card, so there's no danger of anything hitting that I wasn't planning for. I have 6 months of expenses in a savings account that can easily be transferred in an emergency, but I keep a very low checking account balance.
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between $500 and $3k depending on whether it's the beginning or end of the month.
To elaborate, this is just my balance in checking at any given time. I have a money market backing up my checking acct that currently has too much cash, about $30k. The first check or two of the month tops the account back up, pays the mortgage, then I sweep the rest into money market throughout the month as it comes in. I'm planning to invest a good portion at the beginning of '15 but will leave $10k in the money mkt as a buffer. I also have a line of credit and CC's w/ $25k available and a zero balance... probably way too much safety margin. But I'm admittedly a wuss in this area & I sleep well on my big cash mattress.
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I keep between $500 and $1000 in checking, with $500 being the "zero."
I've arranged my auto pays (utilities, rent, etc.) for the first week or so of the month, so that by the 10th I know how much I can move over to savings (and then eagerly run over to my spreadsheet to calculate my savings rate for the month - I'll be at 45% for 2014 - go me!)
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1k is my "zero" as well, although I might dip slightly below it in a high expense month (like when a once-yearly bill comes due) but never ever under $500. Typically I have 2-3k in my checking depending where we are in the month, when it gets higher than that it's time to transfer some.
That's just checking though, I keep one month's expenses in the corresponding bank savings account and 5 months at Capital One 360. It feels silly large sometimes but it's a very cozy security blanket since my job isn't the most stable.
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Look at this guy. $200 in his checking account and over $7 million in gold bars/coins in his garage.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/17/walter-samasko-recluse-dead-7-million-gold-coins_n_1891067.html
oh... the irony of an anti-government recluse having his $millions carted off in wheelbarrows by the Carson City police to be officially categorized, dutifully reported to the IRS and then transfered to a first cousin whom he appears to have had little-to-no contact with. I do wonder how someone gets $7M in a non-appreciating asset like gold without working for four decades.
hey! he's the Precursor MMM!
EDIT: Oh, to answer the OP's question - $100 is my floor, since below that I start to incur fees. My balance is usually a few hundred, and anytime it drifts into four-digit territory I move some into my index fund.
BTW, anyone else give pause when some random guy on the internet (Sol in this case) asks for your checking account balance? Next he'll start a thread asking for your mother's maiden name (j/k)
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I do wonder how someone gets $7M in a non-appreciating asset like gold without working for four decades.
Do you mean non-compounding? Because gold does tend to appreciate. I'm sure it wasn't $7MM real when he bought it.
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I do wonder how someone gets $7M in a non-appreciating asset like gold without working for four decades.
Do you mean non-compounding? Because gold does tend to appreciate. I'm sure it wasn't $7MM real when he bought it.
yes, point taken. I meant non-compounding. Gold prices jump all over the friggen place but over time they tend to appreciate about as much as inflation.
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1k-5k as I got rid of all my credit cards years ago. I keep enough that if I have some sort of car tragedy i wont have to go to the bank but can just swipe my debit to get it fixed. I have a separate savings account with my emergency fund in it that is not coupled with my checking so someone cant empty me out if my debit card gets stolen.
+1
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I keep enough in our checking account to pay this month and next month's bills, according to our YNAB budget (Rule 4). This is generally about $7,000.
Anything in excess of that goes toward extra student loan payments.
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$10.95 and pay day is a week away!
All money is in a savings account (4.02%) and every direct debit/bill/spend is done on a rewards credit card which is paid in full every statement due date to maximise my balance in savings. Have no payments at all on my current account it is simply the route through which my salary transitions to savings.
Works perfectly for me.
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I actually keep quite a high number, varies between 5-15k USD. Like others, this includes a level of emergency fund. Above 15 and I would look to add to long term savings, 5k is the floor
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We just went to 2 chequing accounts. I wish I had done it years ago!
Monthly non-fixed spending (groceries, gas, personal, clothing, household, pets, date night) varies, but depending on month is about $500-750 budgeted for that month's needs, then deposited the start of each month. When it's gone it's gone, or surplus at end.
Monthly fixed expenses automatically come off a second account - at te start of each month we leave enough in there for all bills, plus then paychecks get deposited so there's always extra money. We just check to see what still has to come off before moving the paycheck money around.
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Up until Monday, I use to keep $9k in my checking... just for peace of mind. I realized there's no way I need that much in checking especially since it's drawing zero interest :-/ I now keep it at $5k. Maybe I'll convince myself to drop it to $3k one day although right now the thought of that scares me.
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$475.
Will go down to $50 by next Monday.
Usually the range is $5 to $1,500.
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DH and I keep $1000 - $4000 in our Bill Paying account. I keep less than $2000 in my personal spending account. If it gets to be more than that, I will look for a place to put it that earns interest. But I think it really depends on your monthly budget doesn't it? I feel like having one month's expenses readily available in checking would be reasonable and convenient.
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Currently I have 5.5k in my joint checking. We're in the process of moving banks and we have two old checking accounts at the old bank with 1k in each. My plan is to try and keep 5k in the main checking. I used to keep 10k and 1k as the base in mine/wifes checking accounts respectively. I've switched my wife over to using a credit card for most things, and I'm consolidating down to one shared account. So far, it's working well.
We use YNAB to track our expenses. Everything that's "On-Budget" is either a checking account, savings account (Ally), or CD (Ally). I've currently got a net positive 14k between all of our "On-Budget" accounts. A lot of that is my buffer (1 month expenses), irregular bill accumulations, sinking funds (car repairs, gifting, home maintenance, vacation), and a $1000 emergency fund. If you're not familiar with YNAB, the way I do it is divide an annual expense by 12 and allot that number to the expense monthly. The result is that when a big bill comes, I've got the money to pay for it already saved up. Other funds are things like "Vacation Funds" where I add $100 to it each month. The net result is that my fund grows and grows until we go on a vacation. All of that money that's in the budget has to physically be somewhere, and I choose to keep most of it in my checking account or an Ally savings account. It really doesn't matter where, but it should be liquid(ish). I move long term savings to a brokerage or IRA.
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Food for thought:
http://livingstingy.blogspot.com/2014/12/starving-your-wallet.html?m=1
I may have to rethink keeping more money than necessary in my checking account. I did seem to spend less money when I kept very little in the account.
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Food for thought:
http://livingstingy.blogspot.com/2014/12/starving-your-wallet.html?m=1
I may have to rethink keeping more money than necessary in my checking account. I did seem to spend less money when I kept very little in the account.
This happens to me for sure. Very noticeably. As soon as I get below about 3k in my account I go into panic do not spend any money mode (even before I found this blog/forum). As soon as I build it back up to 10k I'm feeling pretty comfortable and more inclined to spend. So much so, that I rarely went very far about 10k. But after sitting at 10k awhile I'd put 5k in my investment accounts, then build my checking account back up to 10k pretty quickly because I was spending less. Now, knowing my habits, I put that money in my investment accounts right away if I reach 10k so I don't start wasting money.
In theory I could try to keep it at 3k so that I'm always in panic do not spend any money mode. But baby steps!
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1k$ is my "zero" as well.
Anywhere between 1k and 5k is normal because so many in-out, 3k swings are usuals. Over 5k, I dump in TFSA, RRSP or mortgage. My annual average is about 2,5k but it's only 0.0025% of our net worth and we don't have an emergency fund. Prefer a springly debt (150k available anytime)
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I used to try to keep it close to zero, but then I accidentally overdrafted so now $1k is my zero. Actually with my current checking account, I would keep my whole $10k emergency fund in there if I didn't think it would confuse me/cause me to spend more money, because it's my highest interest rate (2%). Hmm... maybe I should just do that and figure out how to deal with it.
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1K is also our zero and I hate having money above that sitting there unless it is allocated to an upcoming bill. We use rewards credit cards (always paid in full) for everything except mortgage, gas/electric, and my student loan payment. I don't really understand why people would need more than that as a cushion unless your monthly expenses are highly variable. A transfer from my high yield savings account takes a couple of days if we actually needed it. I can't think of time when I needed to immediately come up with cash in excess of 1K (or any amount really).
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If I go below a $1k balance in a given month, I get dinged with a $10 service fee, so that's out of the question. As I think I posted before, a $10k projected balance at the end of the month was my old target. Since I keep pretty good track of my balance and I have a HELOC to rely upon if I'm running low, I'm going to go for $4k instead, and may go a little lower if that works out well. Here goes nothing!
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0-1k depending on the time of the month with 2k waiting in savings.