How much do you keep in your day to day bank accounts?

[NorthernDreamer]

Hubby and I each have a checking account, and a joint savings account. For some reason I always feel the need to keep at least $1000 in each of our checking accounts at all times. I don't need to in order to avoid bank fees, I'm with President's Choice. Does this seem a bit excessive? I have been thinking I need to drop it down to $500-$700 each but it makes me seize up thinking about that.

We both have extremely stable jobs, I have a side gig bringing in $0-$500/month, but for some reason I need that buffer (plus another $2000-$4000 in the savings account). And we have credit cards (paid off in full each month) with $7500 limits. And an empty $30,000 home line of credit. And TFSAs. Yeah I play it safe.

Just curious how much others tend to keep on (virtual) hand.

[secondcor521]

I have two checking accounts and a savings account.  One of the checking accounts is with an online bank and is my central hub account; the other is with a local bank and I mainly use it just for depositing checks and the occasional $20 or $40 cash.  I feed the hub checking account from the savings account and feed the savings account from my Roth pipeline.

I like to keep the hub checking account at or about $1000.  The local checking account I like to keep above $100.  The savings account I plan to spend down to 2 or 3 months worth of expenses and then I will refill it.

Many FIRE-type people are fairly conservative.  If it makes you happy to keep that much in your accounts, you're not really losing any interest worth mentioning these days.

[Lan Mandragoran]

Thats alot lower than most I bet.  We keep 10-20k in cash. That's enough for 3-5 months of disaster generally. We also have 2 mortgages on 15 year loans so we need a bit of a higher cash buffer.

edit: oh I see your saying checking vs savings account. Yea... doesnt really matter 2 much imo :P. We get like 7 cents a year of interest from our savings account (hyperbole).

[FireHiker]

We aim to keep 3 months in liquid savings (are currently at 2.6, but will be back at 3 months by the end of the year). We put absolutely every expense that we can on rewards credit cards, which we pay in full each month. I have an app on my phone where I track every penny in and out, so I always know where we stand with spending, but it doesn't match up with the actual checking account because the expenses are largely paid on a credit card. I also keep an eye on our checking account balance to make sure we can cover everything, check it a week before our mortgage hits and the credit card is due, and anytime we have excess I put it into our stash (at this point we're paying down 401k loans we stupidly took out when we bought our house, but another 2 years max and that excess will be going to after-tax investments).

Depending on where we are in the month, the actual account balance varies wildly. I looked back 90 days and it was anywhere between $1500 and $9300, averaging around $5000 usually. But, we are in a HCOL area and our mortgage is $4000. I can't wait to downsize and not have the clown house anymore, but it's probably going to be a few years before we pull the trigger on that...

[Bobberth]

I get nervous when our balances drop below $8k in our checking account and $25k in our online savings account. I have rental properties so I like to have cash on hand for repairs and to be able to make additional purchases should an opportunity arise.

[Mr. Green]

We currently keep 50k available in savings accounts, CDs, etc. It serves two purposes - to cover our bills during a recession, and to have available for any appealing cash deal that might come along.

[Cromacster]

$150 currently in my checking.  It will regularly sit below 50$.  I will transfer money into here if I need to withdraw cash, but who uses cash anymore?

[Hedge_87]

We keep 4k in our checking after all bills are paid for the month and a minimum of 10k in a savings account. We are probably a little too conservative but it helps me sleep at night knowing I could cover most expenses if I need to without selling any investments. We have two very stable jobs and pretty much live on the smaller of the two so this is major over kill.

[BlueMR2]

I keep a year's worth of budget.  Our expenditures seem to come in big unexpected/unplanned bursts.  It all averages out around the same each year overall, but all of a sudden I could need to spend $5-10k on a repair right away.

[Zikoris]

$100-$200 is very common. I guess I just don't see much point in keeping more. I pay for everything with credit cards.

[Khan]

Single guy, I feel most comfortable with 2-4k in my account, and get uncomfortable when my account gets <1.5k.

We're irrational animals, you do what you gotta do.

[nawhite]

Married couple with no kids and a rental house. We're currently saving for either another down payment or adoption or both so our savings account is a little more flush than usual but it still feels pretty good.

Our monthly spending is around $3-4k per month so our checking account usually stays around $5k +- 3k which is a little higher than I'd like but it means I know I ALWAYS have enough in that account to cover us even if the mortgage, automatic credit card payments and other bills all automatically get paid the day before my paycheck comes in even if we spend a little extra some month on a trip or something.

Then the savings account getting 1% has about $15k in it but like I said, that's saving for bigger upcoming things or an emergency like losing my job.

[Huskie87]

Keep 2 months of expenses in cash.  Have an 'overflow' investment account which sits in a muni-bond fund (this account is also where money sits for any expected expenses over the next 24 months).  Any additional cash gets invested in equities.

[Raenia]

In my general-use checking account, I prefer to keep at least 1 month of standard expenses, and it makes me nervous when the balance goes below that.  For me that means a balance of ~1k at all times, just in case a bill comes in a few days before I expect it, etc.  My emergency fund (currently ~4-5 months expenses, bringing it up to 6 mo) and any money waiting to go to Vanguard are in separate accounts.

[clarkfan1979]

We currently have $33,000 in checking accounts. We have 2 rental properties with a  $5000 deductible and a $2500 deductible. We are also currently shopping for a primary home.

[charis]

We generally have half a month's expenses in main checking account at any point, 1K is the buffer/bottom.  About 3-4 months of expense is split between an online high yield savings account and CD as our emergency fund.  We also have a rarely used HELOC from which we could transfer cash to a checking account in minutes.

[merlin7676]

I don't keep anything my checking. My pay goes into that and I use it to pay the bills and mortgage and fund the joint account, savings account, and index fund. Basically everything. 
At the end of the 2 week pay period if I have anything left over, usually less than $100, I'll throw the extra into the index or savings account.

My savings account currently only has $2K in it now (had a few expenses recently) but I'd like to get it up to $6K as my emergency fund.

[Chairman]

I keep a shit ton in there. With a mortgage and credit card bill to pay off in HCOL area every month, plus taxes etc I sleep much better at night knowing I have 3-6 months covered. Means I don't freak out about my effectively 100% equity portfolio.

[Imma]

You guys all keep a lot of money in your checking accounts!  We have a joint checking account for mortgage, insurance, grocery shopping etc and we each put €400 in that account every month. We have separate accounts for other expenses and at the beginning of the month there'll be about €150 in it and that will slowly decrease until I get paid again. I don't really see the point of keeping so much in my checking account. I keep about 3 months' wages in cash in my savings accounts so if I need to urgently buy something more expensive I can either transfer the money back from my savings account or put it on my credit card that I pay off every month. Both options take about 2 seconds, so I don't see the point of keeping a lot of money in a checking account. I think the risk of getting your debit card skimmed or stolen is much more of a hassle.

[Dicey]

HehHehHeh, at least a couple years worth of living expenses. We're always on the lookout for our next rental or flip, so we keep plenty o' dough liquid. If the stock market goes on sale, we're prepared to shift some of it there.

The checking account has about 3 months gross pay, the rest is in ordinary savings.

[SpareChange]

About $500 in checking. No savings account.

[Blissful Biker]

We keep around $3K split between our checking and savings accounts.   That is sufficient to make sure we never inadvertently bounce a check or an automatic withdrawal.

[GenXbiker]

I've tried to keep at least $40 Grand in checking but am cash heavy right now, although I'm transitioning more into money markets and CDs for the excess.  I'm still about 80% invested in stocks.

[Bateaux]

100k savings, 12k checking, 5k green cash.

Money to invest in a down market, buy a car or join a motor rickshaw rally across India.

[TheAnonOne]

$10,000 - in checking

This is basically my emergency fund, I spend daily out of it and at the end of every month, any money over 10k goes into investments or what-have-you.

So the account will start at 10, it may jump to 18->22k mid month and we level it out at the end. This system works well for us, and has the added benefit of never having to mess with anything more than 1 liquid account.

[Dicey]

100k savings, 12k checking, 5k green cash.

Money to invest in a down market, buy a car or join a motor rickshaw rally across India.

I like the way you think, Bateaux!

[givemesunshine]

I have about $50 in my day-to-day bank account, as soon as I get paid (fortnightly) I transfer directly to a seperate bills account (~$700 in a HISA) and everything else goes to savings. I spend on a rewards credit card and pay off each bill cycle.

I have a seperate $10K Emergency Fund in a HISA (2.87% interest - 24 hours to access) and I save up into the same HISA each quarter before transferring to buy more ETFs. I feel $10K is enough that I could cover most emergencies and also cover the wait time between the end of my sick leave (>40 days balance) and my income protection to kick in should something catastrophic happen. I also have a significant Long Service Leave Balance (>15 weeks) which helps me feel more confident that I would be well covered for illness or a job loss (I could either use it or get it paid out).

I feel more conservative the older I get - have seen some illnesses devastate people's lives and leave them scrambling. I am making my health a priority more than ever (eating better, exercising regularly etc.) and ensuring my insurances (IP and TPD) are sufficient for 'worst case'. I try to keep a balance though, I have a 6-week holiday booked for early next year which will cost ~$3K. I want to live well as well as save and am trying to  save $100 per week through limiting my grocery/toiletry purchases and fuel use which will pay for the whole trip rather than impact my savings rate.

[JohnSteed]

I typically have 5k to 10k in checking.  When it gets too high, it gets moved to the taxable investments (90k) which eventually end up as Roth IRA contributions or hopefully HSA this year.