Rainy day funds: I'm going to open a new bank acct for each type

[Drekce]

You are going to be transferring money between them anyway when you need more than is available. I say this is overcomplicated. If you want to do this ING Direct is probably the best way though, as others have said.

 

[Dirigible]

It's hard to get the amount of $$ in an account just right. I want to have enough for whatever the expense is. But I don't know exactly, so I go a little over to make sure. That little extra is unutilized money. If you have a lot of accounts it'll add up.

My wife and I have:
1) Joint account for general monthly expenses.
2) High interest savings for 6 months expenses + saving for a downpayment on our next house + other big stuff. I could see having one account where 6 months expenses sits and another for saving up for big ticket items. I like having the longer term savings in a separate account so I'm not tempted to spend it. I would be tempted to spend it if I saw it in the "general monthly expenses" account.
3+4) Our individual "allowance" money accounts. We each have one and can spend our "allowance" money on whatever we want.

 

[Felisity]

My company restricts direct deposit to 2 checking accounts and 1 savings account.

primary checking - student loan, car ins., car payment, food, gas etc (use chase freedom for these and pay off immediately)
mortgage checking - every other week transfer of 1/2 monthly payment with expectation of having 1 extra payment end of the year based on extra pay checks / year (get paid weekly)
primary savings - travel funds and emergency expenses
shared checking - hubby & my account for shared CC payments

mom's checking - funds to help her with self employment taxes and car payments (my Mom's widowed)

edit: all with the same bank, including mortgage. transfers are instantaneous as are mortgage payments.

 

[Dacalo]

I have a checking account and an online savings account. Dividing your account into different categories may help organize better for some, but it's not worth it for me since you are earning less interest (lower balances thus lower compounding rate).

 

[Schfifty Five]

Originally posted by: Dacalo
I have a checking account and an online savings account. Dividing your account into different categories may help organize better for some, but it's not worth it for me since you are earning less interest (lower balances thus lower compounding rate).

Shouldn't you be making the same interest regardless of how many accounts you have? As long as they have the same interest rates / # of compounds, it doesn't matter if you put $1000 in 1 account vs $250 in 4 accounts, it all ends up the same amount total.

 

[DaWhim]

i have 3-4 checking accounts and 2 saving account.

I prefer ING, it is pain in the ass to log on there, which mean I rarely log on to it to see how much I actually have there. I set up ING to withdraw $20 biweekly from my main checking account. so everything I get on there, I am surprised and happy

 

[DaveSimmons]

One checking account, one high-interest savings account.

I use this program called "notepad" to track upcoming expenses, it creates "free-form text-based documents" that let me store amounts and information about them.

Someday if I need to store charts or pictures along with the text I might start using something called "Word" instead

 

[HannibalX]

:thumbsup:

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
One checking account, one high-interest savings account.

I use this program called "notepad" to track upcoming expenses, it creates "free-form text-based documents" that let me store amounts and information about them.

Someday if I need to store charts or pictures along with the text I might start using something called "Word" instead

 

[Dr. Detroit]

Sounds like if money is in the accoutn then you spend it.

Have some will power and don't spend it. While I have multiple CD's, those are for savings and not for spending. What goes in the Checking account I save some, spend some, and allocate some to spending.

Usually I allocate $500/month to non-essentials like a new stereo, computer piece, clothing, furniture or the like. If I spend $2K on furniture I limit myself in the following months.


I do think a seperate 6-month living expense accounti is worthwhile