Monday, June 16th, 2008 12:01 am by
jdmacor 
Having recently been sent off on my own financially, as well as own my own living (in Dallas), it was time to form my own personal banking setup. This is exactly what I have done and I want to share with you what decision I have made and why. I have opened 1 checking account along with 2 savings accounts to form the foundation of my financial life.
Checking Account
Choosing a checking account is, in my opinion, the most important decision. It is essentially the gateway to all of your finances. It should be linked to all of your savings and investments, which are inflows, and then also linked to your bills as outflows. Either way, all of your money flows through it. With that in mind, I set up some criteria to choose a checking account:
- Has to have physical branches
- The branches and ATM’s must be conveniently nearby to me
- The bank should be a national if not international chain
- It should have an in house investment division
After considering the options (and according to my girl friend, doing quite a bit of irritating middle of the night research) I have decided to go with Chase. Now I can hear people screaming, “they hardly offer any interest at all!” But if I were interested in interest rates, I would have obviously gone with ETrade or some other kind of online banking company. However, I don’t plan on keeping a significant amount of money in the account at any one time. Like I said before, it is a gateway. There will only be enough to pay what I need to pay. When you add the fact that I like the convenience and customer service of brick and mortar locations, it becomes much more obvious why I chose it.
Savings Accounts
The first savings account I opened was a Chase money market account. The reason I chose to do this is so that I had an in house solution to draw from in case I accidentally overdrew my checking; Those fees hurt a lot more than the laughable interest rate. However, I only plan on keeping $500 or so in this account.
The second savings account I went for was an online solution: Savings Square. Now to be frank, the choice of your online savings account isn’t always that important. They all offer variable rates that are roughly the same (currently around 3%). I chose this one, basically because I thought their logo was great. All you should look out for is a FDIC insured guarantee and you should be set. The cherry on top is of course, unlimited transfers and a really high monthly dollar amount transfer limit.
So there you have it! My financial foundation is in place! It is time to start building a fortune (even if it seems like right now things are only getting smaller; I suppose landing a job will alleviate that situation). What does your foundation look like? Does it need a bit of a remodeling?
58 Responses to “ My Personal Banking Setup ”
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Congratulations. It will be a good idea to plan properly for the future. You might like to read up on the subject. I strongly recommend “Secrets of the Millionaire Mind” By T Harv Eker. I found it extremely useful.
Thanks for sharing, these were some great ideas!
For online banking, I used DCU credit union. They are great. Check them out.
Good points, but I”m not sure about the last point - in house investment plan? I prefer the pro-investment bank rather the the largest national banking service. Niche player or service usually do much better.
I use ING Direct for online savings account. However it sound like they are similar top Savings Square. I just liked ING’s international reputation.
So, did you take my advise at all?
Great comments
I am an ING Direct user as well. There interface is easy to work with and I like that you can open multiple account for different things you are saving for.
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Awesome. Very nice topic you have choosen.
Chase huh? For me, I don’t keep much money in my saving and checking accounts, so I prefer convenient over interest rate:)
Can you check all your bank accounts online? That is something I’ve found very very useful.
John
Good stuff, a good banking setup will have you ready for the future.
Amazing it is really very nice.
Nice work man..keep it up.
It is very nice.
Really very nice.
Great.
Real Estate Caribbean
i like to read and explore this kind of site.
interesting site it really learns me a lot.
thanks for the information i will apply that.
great post i really like that.
nice and easy source of income.
i really like this site thanks for sharing some ideas.
The book recommended above ”Secrets of Millionare Mind” is really worth reading.
a friend referred that book to me some time ago. just hadn’t had the chance to read it. will try to do so.
You seem to have your finances on lock down. Well done, it takes a lot of planning and self-discipline to have your finances in good order.
Great post, got some useful information.
Cool Stuff…
You should consider opening account at your broker to start investing some money in stocks and start making passive income..
i like to read and explore this kind of site.
Does everyone trust the banks with all their hard earned money??
With the economy in a mess thx to the banking setup I’m more inclined to make my savings rest elsewhere. Don’t want to see banks running away with all my money.
It would be better to diversify ur savings rather than putting everything in the bank.
Someone rightly said
“Don’t put all ur eggs in one basket”
my opinion You should consider opening account at your broker to start investing some money in stocks
whats wrong ? i dont comment on your blog.shit
I would only use 2 savings account if my 1st one has $100k in it.
That’s a HUGE safe!
Very nice information. Thanks for this.
Wow I had never thought too hard about the bank that I decided to go with, perhaps I should have thought more about it like you did… because needless to say that bank isn’t doing too well these days in the troubled economic times
Really very nice post for me.
Many thanks for this amazing post.
Good thinking to save something for future. good point. Thanks for sharing nice information.
Commercial Finance
Very big place to save money
ING Direct work fine for me for online savings account. I just liked ING’s international reputation.
Really very wonderful blog post.
Thanks for the great post …
It varies from state to state. However as a sole proprietor you typically have alot of leeway. You can generally just set up a second checking account under your own name and that will be enough.
However, if you want to set one up under a business name you will need to get a business license. Then just find a bank that doesn’t have high fees for small business accounts.
ING Direct may be your best option have you tried them?
Interesting but have you looked on the web for this?
I agree that choosing a checking account is the most important decision you have to make. Thanks for this.
Why don;t u save your money in paypal..
he..he
hello, this is my first time i visit here. I found so many interesting in your blog especially its discussion. keep up the good work.
these are very good tips thanks
Useful and excellent content, thanks for the sharing! :
And now of course none of the banks pay hardly any interest what so ever! I invested my cash in a cheap hot tub.. admitedly no interest on that lol, but a lot more peace of mind!!