If you are retired & receiving SS Income, Annuities, Pensions already, that meets your basic needs - how much cash do you carry in checking?

[Al18]

Those of you writing numbers in a check register, should consider switching to a spreadsheet. A spreadsheet makes it easy to search for terms such as charity or a specific item you purchased.

 

[skipro33]

I keep at least $35k in checking, currently at $38k. I also keep $50K in cash in my tIRA and $50K in the same Fidelity institution in after-tax dollars, a transfer from my checking account when it hit $50K and I want to reduce it to $35K I mentioned earlier. When all three exceed their set points, I either donate to a charity or gift to a family member who could use it.

 

[jazz4cash]

It’s just incredible to see how much folks are keeping in regular checking accounts. The lack of interest is foremost for me but the lack of security is really the biggest issue potentially. The handyman or hairdresser gets the routing and account number and anything could happen but I can’t even convince DW it’s a bad idea.

 

[RetiredHappy]

It’s just incredible to see how much folks are keeping in regular checking accounts. The lack of interest is foremost for me but the lack of security is really the biggest issue potentially. The handyman or hairdresser gets the routing and account number and anything could happen but I can’t even convince DW it’s a bad idea.

Our monthly bills are about $20K a month, some months are even higher because of lumpy expenses. We don't want to stress over lack of ready cash.

 

[imjustawarrior]

The lack of interest is foremost for me

I agree. It is easy to earn an interest rate that beats inflation. It hasn't always been that way, but it has been for years.

 

[sakowitzm]

Ahh... makes me feel a little better seeing some of these fairly high figures. I'm not yet on my own SocSec; receiving a modest amount of survivor benefits via my late wife. So that goes into checking and checking has to cover pretty much 100% of my expenses. When checking goes below around $15K I get itchy and bump it back up to $50K or a bit more. The plus-up comes out of equity accounts where I have some Treasuries.

 

[Steelpony]

So my DW and I will be getting our Social Security checks at the beginning of next year 2026.
We also have a monthly annuity income and CDs. No mortgage and No car loans.
And this income is more than we need for our basic needs (home expenses, groceries, bills),
healthcare premiums, and some vacation money.

My question is for retirees who already have a steady monthly paycheck in retirement,
and you're able to withdraw from your 401k or IRA in 1-2 days ....
how much CASH do you have in your checking account for emergencies to feel Safe,
in spite of all your monthly cashflow coming in at the beginning of each month?
$30K, $40K, $50K, $100K, $200K ...
Before receiving SS, I try having $35K - $50K in my online checking account earning 3.4%+.
My monthly basic expenses is usually below $3K/month.
So now that we receive SS next year, I'm thinking of carrying less cash? How about you?

5-10% of portfolio value, a total guess. Half is in SGOV placed manually.now and then. Basically for transportation or spontaneous trips and purchases.

 

[akck]

I average between a couple of hundreds to just over $1,000 in any of my checking accounts. I worry too much about someone gaining access and draining the account. I also have several checking accounts, but really only have one as the main account. That way, if I’ve ever need to close the main account, I can switch over to one of the others.

 

[old medic]

You still use a checking account register to keep track of your balance? My heavens!

Makes it easy.... all 3 checks get direct deposited and can go online to move money around. Have several regular bills on autopay on our bank card, pay it off when the SS deposits. Only check we write is for the power bill.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

We keep a record in the checkbook of checks written (Carbon Paper), but not a total tally. I DL into MoneyDance regularly. This allows me to keep a regular eye on the checking account for possible anomalies.

 

[mrfeh]

We need to do better and work down the checking account as we always seem to have $20-40K in checking. Considering we keep that much in the MM at Vanguard too, it's just laziness since checking earns 0.01% interest and we could write any larger check from the MM account or transfer money in a couple of days if something unexpected came up.

At current rates, that's about $1000/year left on the table in interest.

 

[Ronstar]

About $3k. Dw has about $14k in her checking acct if I run into a snag.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

For those noting that $50k in a checking account is losing interest, a lot of folks here do not notice or care about a $2k loss (That is at 4%) over the year, it is worth the peace of mind. Personally I do not lose that much as I put most of our spare cash in MM, but the point is that it is minor and for most irrelevant.

 

[YellowSubmarine]

Altogether I keep about 2 years worth of expenses as very liquid.
6 weeks in checking just to cover a blip in overall spending in one month.
4.5 months in savings at the same bank for quickly moving funds into checking
18 months in other savings paying higher rates (internet savings, CDs money market funds, etc.)
All cash dividends in brokerage accounts is regularly moved to money market accounts, so that when it's time to rebalance I have cash to help realign investments to my asset allocation plan. This last part will be especially important if you have 401k or Traditional IRAs and need to do an annual RMD. It reduces the sales you might need to do in other investments to make the RMD requirement.

You can always do an in-kind transfer to a brokerage account and meet RMD; and not sell anything.

 

[Surewhitey]

We have 10 yrs expenses in the 5 yr CD ladder averaging 4.43% and ~$75k in MM as we have some lumpy stuff coming up in Q1 2026 (property tax and SEP 401K profit portion). Also $5k in house cash. Overkill but setting it up this way makes DW more likely to understand that things are ready for us when she decides to quit.

Otherwise we have $5-6k + small biz income coming in which more than covers our expenses.

 

[aja8888]

Keep $3 - 5 K in a local checking account (SS auto deposit)
Have $25 K in Ally MM to pay CC charges, lumpy bills. Refill as needed.
Can transfer funds from Schwab to either of the above accounts in 1 -2 days.

 

[Flyfish1]

The lack of interest is foremost for me but the lack of security is really the biggest issue potentially. The handyman or hairdresser gets the routing and account number and anything could happen but I can’t even convince DW it’s a bad idea.

I'm sure that " could" happen but it seems a bit far fetched to me. Using your debit card at a gas station seems much higher risk to me.

 

[aja8888]

I'm sure that " could" happen but it seems a bit far fetched to me. Using your debit card at a gas station seems much higher risk to me.

Have to agree with this.

 

[RetireBy90]

Our expenses are covered by pensions, rental, and DW SS. I start SS Jan so plan to cover wants with that. I normally keep $8-10K in a separate account readily available. (We have 3 checking accounts, one for rental, one for pensions, and I move to third for paying bills and daily spend. Just worked out this way and it works for me)

 

[RetireBy90]

Those of you writing numbers in a check register, should consider switching to a spreadsheet. A spreadsheet makes it easy to search for terms such as charity or a specific item you purchased.

Haha, I do both, paper register and spreadsheet

 

[jebmke]

I try to keep a buffer of $1K in my checking. Balance moves around during the month as money comes in and goes out.

 

[Car-Guy]

Between the DW and I, we have three checking accounts at two different banks. The totals vary a lot based on "how things are going" with my hobbies ... Probably low of the three combined never drop below 25k. Highs get into the lower 6 digits at times.

Haven't felt the need to keep a check register in decades. If I want to know my balances I just log-on.

 

[Teacher Terry]

I keep an extra 2K in my checking account. I have an online savings account that gets 3.4% interest and I can transfer from there and it only takes four days for the money to hit my checking account. I also use a notebook as my paper check register.

 

[SlinkyPete]

I only keep enough in my checking account(near 0% interest) to pay the next bill that needs to be paid by check. That's typically 1-2 bills each month.
My checking account balance currently is about $75.

 

[TheWizard]

That's what we do. Is that "wrong?"

Not wrong, just unnecessary work...