Your Typical Checkbook Balance

[TromboneAl]

If you have a standard checking account -- the kind from a local bank -- at what level do you typically keep your balance?

For example, we try to keep only about $500 in our .1% interest checking account.

 

[REWahoo]

I don't try to squeeze every penny of interest out of optimizing checking account balances. My balance averages somewhere in the area of $2k as I keep enough in the account to cover bills and expenses for the upcoming two weeks. The amount fluctuates from a low of just under $1k to as much as $7k when property taxes come due.

 

[Mysto]

I'm at 10k currently but I'm at E-trade bank a 3.25%

 

[Mavourneen]

I save the $8.00 service charge by keeping at least $1,000.00 in my checking account.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Around 20k but we use vanguards 'checking' service which lays on top of the Prime MM account. So I'm getting pretty good interest on every penny as it comes in until it goes out.

 

[Alan]

I have both a checking account and Money Market account with BofI and avoid getting it wrong by having an overdraft protection from the MM account of up to $2,000. However as the checking account has been paying 3.4% for a good while now I've been leaving a balance of $2 - $3K there as the MM account is only at 3.46%

 

[happy2bretired]

I get "paid" twice a month. First of the month, my pension and from my investments on the 15th. I keep between $1-2K in my checking account.

 

[FIREd]

After paying bills we try to keep about $100 in our checking account. Any extra gets transferred to Vanguard.

 

[Meadbh]

I have personal and corporate checking accounts. They are high traffic zones with two salary payments per month, deductions for liability insurance, gym, parking and utilities, and automated transfer to investments. In addition there are yearly payments for professional fees and property taxes. It is not unusual for both credits and debits to run up to $15,000 monthly. I manage it by keeping a minimum of $1000 and a maximum of $10,000 in the checking accounts at all times and having a high interest savings account linked to each checking account. I transfer cash there when income is greater than expenses, and use it as a buffer when I expect the big cheques to be cashed.

 

[Midpack]

Our checking account balance is very high, but it's almost all float (by design)...

 

[Khan]

I don't know how to answer.

On the first of the month, $2,111 is deposited in to the checking account. On the last business day of the month I transfer everything over $10 into the MMA.

Every now and then, I have to transfer some from the MMA to checking.

 

[ziggy29]

Until last year, I'd say about $1,500, usually varying between $500 and $3,000.

Now I keep less than $500 in that account, and much of the rest of my liquid cash is an asset management account which is where my paychecks are now direct-deposited. I do most of my regular checking and debits from the AMA now, and about half of my emergency fund is in it.

 

[OAG]

Just checked $1.66, sometimes it gets as high as $5.00. Once all the know bills are paid/scheduled, via electronic transfers, I move what ever remains to HSBC for 3.5% on the balance. Usually I would buy a CD with excess funds but rates being what they are I am saving up for the next 6.25% CD Rates (could be one big CD by then).

 

[mickeyd]

Each month I reconcile my checking account. If the balance is over $1000, I send the overage to the PMMF. If I end up below $1000, I send my checking account money from my MMF. It is not a fool proof system, but it has served me well over the last 5+ years.

 

[Meadbh]

Just checked $1.66, sometimes it gets as high as $5.00. Once all the know bills are paid/scheduled, via electronic transfers, I move what ever remains to HSBC for 3.5% on the balance. Usually I would buy a CD with excess funds but rates being what they are I am saving up for the next 6.25% CD Rates (could be one big CD by then).

Precision banking......OAG takes the prize!

 

[Walt34]

It generally starts out at about $2,500 and dwindles as the month progresses, we get the deposit on the 1st of the month. More for expenses like property taxes, etc. but I did once run it down to 2 cents.

 

[RetiredGypsy]

Right now I have $0.40 and at any given time I usually have <$1 after everything else has been transferred to pay off the rewards card or into my ING savings.

 

[Darryl]

Wow, you guys aren't leaving any crumbs on the floor. Schwab checking is rarely below $10,000 and the local BofA varies between $2,000-$5,000 if it starts to grow I do transfer out to Scwab checking or Etrade savings.

 

[Dude]

Just enough to cover the bills

 

[OldGuy]

Our checking A/C carries ~$1K for less than half of each month, then a ledger overdraft until the first of the next month from the entering (& timing) of electronic payments that can run the ledger to a sizable negative balance. Then we fill 'er back up from automated deposits from a companion TDA, which in turn is funded by a MMF that's paying ~3.5%.

 

[CybrMike]

$20k - $50k

 

[jclarksnakes]

What some of you keep in your checking account wouldn't cover a trip to the liquor store for me. Just kidding, I always use plastic at the liquor store. I checked the last block in the poll. My thinking has been that keeping money in the checking and MMA is to cover emergencies. For those of you who keep your checking account balance low what do you do if you need money in a hurry?
Jeff

 

[FIREd]

For those of you who keep your checking account balance low what do you do if you need money in a hurry?
Jeff

I use my credit card (to pay for products or services, no cash advance) or write a check from my money market fund (AKA emergency fund) at Vanguard. In case we need cash in a hurry (to do what I don't know... post bail?), we can take money out of our checking account's overdraft line of credit. But we never had to, ever...

 

[RetiredGypsy]

For those of you who keep your checking account balance low what do you do if you need money in a hurry?
Jeff

I don't even carry a checkbook with me, I have a check card, so if I ever wound up in an area where there wasn't at least an ATM I'd be screwed I guess.

 

[MyOwnTime]

My landlord routinely cashes my rent checks three weeks after I've handed them over, so my checking account generally has a balance at least equal to a month's rent. I'd leave the balance smaller for the first few weeks, but once every six months or so he remembers to cash them on time. Since it's not really "my" money once I've handed the check over, I don't feel all that bad about the lost interest.