how much do you keep in no interest checking?

[copyright1997reloaded]

Right now, about $1500 in a local credit union account that pays next to no interest. Usually try to keep less, but have some end of month/beginning of next month bills to pay.

I ACH to/from on-line "high" interest accounts a couple times a month.

 

[GravitySucks]

0

I use a cash management account with Billpay tied to my brokerage account at Fido. Cash earns 1.82% right now. Trying to make every penny work for me.

Have you been happy with the Fido cash management service? Any issues with the service?

 

[aboatguy]

Right now under 400 dollars. My wife gave me her number ($$) for June yesterday evening and on Thursday evening I deposit that into checking.
The rest of our cash is in interest bearing accounts that range from 1.6% to 3.15%. Of course all of the 3% and higher accounts are maxed.

 

[Hermit]

The minimum daily balance for my local bank's checking account is $1,500. I keep at least $2,000 in the account with the extra $500 as a buffer, or cushion, to cover any small, unforeseen expenses. It's my first-tier emergency fund....

Am I correct that your bank requires a $2k minimum balance for a very low or no interest account?

 

[hesperus]

about 35K in checking.

 

[Dash man]

At the beginning of each month I add money to my checking to bring it up to a $20,000 balance. I consider $5,000 a cushion and $15,000 available for spending. This includes property taxes on four properties and quarterly state and federal taxes. We usually don’t spend $15,000, but that is our max spending in our plan for each month. Beginning in June our health insurance goes up to $2,406/mo, an $800 increase, which will be included in our spending plan.

 

[W2R]

Usually in the $10K-$20K range. As interests rates get higher, I'll manage it better, but when MM rates were well below 1% it just wasn't at all worth it.

+1
Same here.

It's nice to have enough in checking that I don't have to watch it like a hawk in order to make sure the balance doesn't approach zero.

 

[scrabbler1]

Am I correct that your bank requires a $2k minimum balance for a very low or no interest account?

To avoid monthly fees, it's $1,500 unless I make an automatic deposit of at least $250 each month (which I do). So, in theory, I could go below $1,500 as long as the $250 automatic deposit remains intact. But one time, a few years ago, I accidentally reinvested that big monthly dividend instead of taking it via ACH. I caught it in time to keep the minimum balance above $1,500 and avoid bouncing any checks, so that's why I seek the $1,500 minimum no matter what.

 

[Sue J]

We keep one months worth of bills plus $100. Our PayPal account draws from this checking account and the $100 covers most purchases outside of our regular bills. Anything more than that I transfer from the savings to cover.

DH's pension check gets deposited to the checking account. I leave enough for the upcoming month of bills and transfer the rest to the savings. Sometimes it gets used, sometimes not, so it accumulates. This savings pays .02% so it's just for keeping cash handy. Both the checking and the savings have no fees and no minimum balance requirements.

Anything beyond that goes to Discoverbank which pays 1.6%.

DH gets his next COLA on June 1st. He's been retired for 8 years so those COLAs have really added up. That's a nice additional amount for savings every month.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Up until today...…. I know.... Transferring to Vanguard MM.... $200k....

 

[NW-Bound]

Usually less than $10K, unless we have a big check getting to clear.

With just a few mouse clicks, I can transfer any amount from my Merrill Edge brokerage account to my B of A checking, and the money is transferred instantaneously as I lift my finger from the mouse button.

For transferring from my Schwab account to the same checking account at BoA, it takes a day or two, I don't recall.

The transfer from any Schwab account to my Schwab banking account is also instantaneous as between Merrill Edge and BoA, but I do not use the Schwab banking account much.

 

[Doribe]

One month's expenses. Everything else is funneled to a HY savings account.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

+1

 

[FIREd]

I keep $1K in my checking account, as a buffer. Money comes in automatically from Vanguard at the beginning of the month to cover the bills, then the balance drops back down to $1K by the end of the month.

 

[big-papa]

What I want: Maybe $20-$25K
What I have: North of $100K. For the remodel/new roof/etc. that we have yet to schedule even after talking about it for a couple of years now.

 

[kimcdougc]

Keep around $20k in credit union checking for sleeps sake. Automatically have our total monthly bills automatically transferred over to the checking account via the mm account. When mm account gets low, transfer $ from Capital One high interest on line savings to fill bucket again.

 

[Walt34]

Generally just enough to pay the expected expenses for the month.

 

[foxfirev5]

Although we no longer have a minimum we still keep at least $2500 in our local bank. Every few years I screw something up and write a check for $1500 for something like the water bill, instead of $150. Or occasionally one of our auto pays goes off the rails and either bills way too much or too little (local power company usually). An extra thousand or so has helped while it gets straightened out.

 

[Huston55]

0

I use a cash management account with Billpay tied to my brokerage account at Fido. Cash earns 1.82% right now. Trying to make every penny work for me.

^^^This.

Have you been happy with the Fido cash management service? Any issues with the service?

Yes, it automatically transfers into our checking account so, it earns until it’s spent. Only caveat is that you need $100k to start (FZDXX) but, the balance can get as low as $10k before you have to recharge to retain the (now) 1.82%.

 

[Dtail]

^^^This.



Yes, it automatically transfers into our checking account so, it earns until it’s spent. Only caveat is that you need $100k to start (FZDXX) but, the balance can get as low as $10k before you have to recharge to retain the (now) 1.82%.

+2
I just finished a conversation with my FIDO rep. I will move my 200k balances from Ally into FIDO instead FZDXX, not to mention their 9mo/1yr CD's are 10 bps higher than Ally, which I will trigger next for a portion of the cash.

 

[corn18]

^^^This.



Yes, it automatically transfers into our checking account so, it earns until it’s spent. Only caveat is that you need $100k to start (FZDXX) but, the balance can get as low as $10k before you have to recharge to retain the (now) 1.82%.

I did not know that FZDXX was $100k to open and $10k to retain. I just moved my $100k of cash from FMOXX Fidelity® Tax-Exempt Money Market Fund to FZDXX. FZDXX has lower fees and a better return even after tax.

Thanks for the tip!

 

[Dtail]

I did not know that FZDXX was $100k to open and $10k to retain. I just moved my $100k of cash from FMOXX Fidelity® Tax-Exempt Money Market Fund to FZDXX. FZDXX has lower fees and a better return even after tax.

Thanks for the tip!

Just found out recently of the 10k retention from a blog over at Bogleheads. Fidelity confirmed it today. I don't believe they throw this fact out there without being asked.

 

[badatmath]

Up until today...…. I know.... Transferring to Vanguard MM.... $200k....

OMG. I guess I won't mention the tiny amount I moved. . . I might move some more tomorrow . . . but not like that.

 

[dvalley]

2 months of living expenses + 6 mos of mortgage. I guess the latter is to make sure if something happens to me and it takes a while for people to find me at the least the house doesn't go into foreclosure lol I'm joking but when I was traveling abroad that was my thought process.

 

[RetireAge50]

Although I keep next to nothing in checking I’m sure the average balance is fairly high. It is a pass through account for every dollar we spend.
Comes in from pensions/savings/brokerage then out again within 30 days.

 

[Rustic23]

I like to start the year with about $10,000 give or take a little. If there is more than that at the end of the year I will move some over to a MM.