I'm New- How many is too much

momof3plus2 · June 2015

Hi Guys, new to this board and I was wondering how many bank accounts is Just too many. I read an article saying you should have 7 accounts! gee.. right now we have one checking and one savings. Simple is great for me but somedays I think I need more to save for different things!

how many checking/savings accounts do you all have

what do you use them for

momof3plus2 · June 2015

we have one checking account that we use for EVERYTHING under the sun and we transfer 100.00 each pay period to our savings.

AprilZ81 · June 2015

As long as you aren't being charged to have multiple accounts then it is completely up to you and how you like to do things.

We have multiple checking/savings accounts to help us keep our finances straight, but some people don't need to do this. I like knowing what we have in savings vs checking vs vacation vs retirement etc.

simplyelise · June 2015

We have one joint checking account and two joint savings accounts. I totally understand doing more than one savings, but I don't know what I would need multiple checking accounts for.

als1982 · June 2015

Edited for privacy.

brij2006 · June 2015

At 1 bank we have a checking account and savings account. Our credit union allows you to open up to 3 additional "special" accounts off your checking. It's pretty much under your checking account, but you can re-name them different things to help categorize your money.

Then we have a checking at a different bank that I use for my business, and a savings account for DD.

However, we have money in a "special" account and that is all earmarked money for different sinking funds (annual insurance, property taxes, annual renewals, etc). We just keep track of that on a spreadsheet so we know how much of the money in that account goes toward which item.

abrewer5 · June 2015

We have 1 joint checking and savings. I have an allotment from my paycheck and so does H that goes in to pay all of our bills including our mortgage. This is also where we put joint money.

H has 2 checking/savings. One for regular checking/savings and the other is where our insurance money goes for the car/boat that is on auto pay as well. I guess we could technically move this account to our joint, but it's not a big deal.

I have 2 checking/savings. One for my auto-pay student loan and one that is my regular checking.

Mustard76 · June 2015

At one bank we have one joint checking. At another we have two joint checking accounts and a joint savings. We also each have individual checking and savings. Each account serves a purpose and it has made it easy for us to track our goals. If/when we move, we will close one of the checking accounts, but for now it's handy.

hoffse · June 2015

I do better when I see everything separately, so we have:

2 checking

1 savings

2 joint accounts with my dad

5 brokerage accounts

Everything is done through just two banks. So they all show up on the same page when I log in. It's not hard to keep track of it.

I have one brokerage account where we are investing, but the others I pretty much use as a savings account for designated items. I find them particularly useful to line up our reimbursable expenses with our cash flow, because some items get reimbursed months after we incur the expenses (like my LLM tuition). Literally, I had a $2300 expense back in December get reimbursed at the very end of April. I am scheduled to have another $2300 expense from March be reimbursed this Friday. I have to keep that money separate so I can see it move in and out independent of the account we pay bills from.

That's just what works for us though. Everybody is different. There's no "magic number" of accounts you need.

EDIT: I would prefer to do everything with one bank, but my preferred bank has a physical location in town that's only open M-F. It's kind of hard to get there during the week, and H gets physical checks for reimbursements. So we need a bank where we can take physical checks if/when the mobile deposit doesn't work (about 50% of the time). Our second bank has a branch less than 1 block from both of our offices, so it's very convenient. They just have more criteria we have to meet to keep accounts free. If H's firm ever starts reimbursing by direct deposit (like my firm does), we'll probably switch everything over to our preferred bank.

lifeonthehill · June 2015

We have 4 all with the same bank.

One checking

Three savings that we re-name based on our current goals. Today they are labeled Emergency Fund, Baby Savings, Fall Semester Savings.

Erikan73 · June 2015

Joint checking
Joint Savings
His Checking account which is where his "whatever money" goes since he prefers to use a debt card (he had this account pre-marriage)
My checking account which is where my "whatever money" goes (I had this account pre-marriage)
My savings account (had premarriage - if I'm working to save up for a big item like a girls trip I'll move money from my checking into saving)

jessica490 · June 2015

Bank of America

1 joint checking account

1 savings account

Capital One 360

1 savings account broken up into subcategories

a. Vacation fund

b. E-fund

c. house fund

vlagrl29 · June 2015

joint checking

e fund

annual bill savings

home improvement savings

minor savings

my business checking and savings

DH's business checking

DH separate checking

KatieCutie05 · June 2015

1 joint checking and 1 joint savings.

Way too complicated for me to have more then one. Plus you actually have to have money to put in the other accounts for it to work. lol

dragonstarjk · June 2015

I don't think there's such a thing as 'too many' if it works for you. If it's confusing or complicated, then simplify until you have the right formula. Not counting retirement accounts, we have:

Checking 1--H's account

Checking 2--My account

Checking 3--Shopping fund for gifts, larger purchases, etc. We fund this like a savings account.

Savings 1--Home improvement savings

Savings 2--Vacation savings

Savings 3--10th anniversary trip. This is a new account that we are using especially to save for our 10th anniversary trip that we want to take. We will probably either close it or use it differently afterwards.

Savings 4--HSA account

Certificate of Deposit--Emergency fund

cbee817 · June 2015

Checking accounts - 2 (one for me, one for DH) at a bank that also holds our mortgage

Savings account - tied to our checking accounts, can easily transfer. Account is with the same bank as checking accounts.

Starter savings account - 2 (one for DD#1, one for DD#2). Accounts are with the same bank as checking/savings account.

Vacation Savings account - at a credit union- has a good interest rate and we only make deposits 2-3 times a year.

CD - at the same credit union- also had a good interest rate. Will most likely be creating a CD ladder when it's up in August.

Total = 7

CuriousKiddosMama · June 2015

We have 1 checking account. And 3 savings. Emergency fund, general savings, and a savings account for our son. So we have 4 accounts at the bank. I use a spreadsheet to keep track of what the money in the general savings is earmarked for.

Wulfgar · June 2015

I think my family is one of the more complex.

MW:
Checking account
Savings account that can be separated into different catagories

Myself:
Checking account
Savings account

Joint Accounts:
3 checking (2 part of PNC wallet)
3 savings accounts (1 part of PNC wallet)
2 mom/ LOs savings accounts

I do all of my tracking with an excel spreadsheet and don't look at balances in my accounts as accurate. MW tracks her budget with her excel spreadsheet but does the old register for her transactions. She goes off of her register balance instead of her account balance.

blondie42107 · June 2015

We have:
Joint checking (credit union)
Joint savings (credit union)
Joint checking (bank) which is used more as savings because we rarely pull from it.

Maggie1202 · June 2015

My H and I have the following:

1 checking account for bills and various automatic payments.

1 checking account for fun money, out of which we each take a weekly allowance.

1 savings account for short term savings that we keep a relatively small amount of money in.

1 savings account for long term savings which is where we are working on saving up 6 months worth of expenses.

I like keeping everything seperate. It creates a lot more accountability for us.

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