Comments on: How Much Money Is In Your Checking Account?

By: Alana

Alana — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 14:49:02 +0000

My strategy is very similar to yours. In my checking account, I keep the equivalent of 1 month’s living expenses plus a $500 cushion. First, it eliminates the stress of overdraft. Second, when a one-time unbudgeted expense comes up (an emergency or, in my case, finding out I have to buy a $155 bridesmaid dress) I can pay for it without having to frantically transfer money from savings. It’s working out well so far.

By: Susan Frampton

Susan Frampton — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 22:51:53 +0000

I keep a substantial amount in my checking account because my husband and I have no debt. We didn’t have a mortgage for more than one year when we built our house in 1988-89 with our own hands. After saving for 12 years to build our house and budgeting we had a $30,000 MORTGAGE THAT WAS PAID IN FULL WITHIN A YEAR. We never buy a car(new or used) unless we can pay cash. Our children’s college expenses were paid by cash or they received scholarships etc… We pay off our credit cards monthly. If I can’t afford it in my monthly expenses I don’t buy it but like to have a safety for emergency car or expenses. Both my husband and I have always had seperate checking, savings etc.. We are each responsible for certain bills. NO DEBT…so important! Sue

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 14:40:28 +0000

I used to keep a small amount of money in my checking account (about one month of expenses), but always ran into trouble when a large purchase came up. I always ended up withdrawing money from my savings which was difficult. I felt like I was forcing money into savings. Now, I keep three months of expenses in my checking account and put whatever is left over into my savings accounts. This way, I know my savings can actually be saved; I won’t be withdrawing it all. I have two savings account I put the leftover money in. One is six months worth of expenses. Once that account is at six months, I put the rest into another savings account that is specifically for my next car purchase. I’ve been doing this strategy for some time and I absolutely love it.

By: Ana Maloney

Ana Maloney — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 01:33:08 +0000

How much money should be kept in my checking before I have to claim it on my taxes.

By: Sean

Sean — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 17:38:46 +0000

I keep enough in my checking for that month’s expenses plus about $500. The other day I was at a convenience store and someone left their ATM receipt, and their checking account balance was $210,000.

By: KD

KD — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 01:16:28 +0000

I keep all of my liquid funds in my checking account as I have a rewards checking account.

By: M. Wanzer

M. Wanzer — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 22:42:55 +0000

I generally have a set amount of money that I try to put in my online savings account every month. Most of the money that I keep in the checking account is usually just enough to allow me to pay my bills throughout the month and have a few hundred for spending throughout the month. I definitely think that moving money into my savings account early one does two things: one it ensures that I save every month, and two, it doesnt tempt me to spend the extra money that is left over after I cover expenses.

By: BT

BT — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 21:36:22 +0000

I keep one whole paycheck in my checking at all times and the rest in savings. The other day at the airport, I went to the ATM and somebody had left their receipt hanging at the machine. It was one those ATMs that print your balance on the receipt. I glanced down at it and the balance on the receipt was like over $31,000. That’s a lot of money in a checking account.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 12:13:18 +0000

After seeing the numbers here, I guess I keep a large amount of money in my checking for my age (29). I try to keep things simple with my accounts, so I only have 3: one checking and 2 savings. The checking and one savings account at one institution actually have the same (paltry) interest rate, so I really only have a savings account because they told me I needed one to open a checking account. The other savings is an ING account, and I keep at least 8 months of expenses there.

I always kept at least enough for the “worst month’s” expenses plus a $1000 cushion. I am self employed now, so those “worst months” are now estimated tax time and cost me about $9000 more than they used to. Add in an expensive area to live in plus owning a home, and that amount really swells. To me, its not worth the headache of transferring money back and forth just to get an extra percent for a couple months. That may change if ING’s rates go considerably higher in the future. For now, I’d rather have the peace of mind that the money is there when the taxman comes. Especially when I do get at least a little interest in my checking account.

I have been thinking about getting a second checking account at another institution because of the recent bank failures. Basically I just want to be able to access money until the FDIC or NCUA gets the situation straightened out after a failure. I’m shopping for a good interest rate checking plan to park some money in currently for that reason.

By: Grant

Grant — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 23:28:13 +0000

My monthly paycheck goes directly into checking.
Every month, I:
– automatically put 15% in my savings account and transfer $(contribution limit/12) to a Roth IRA.
– put most purchases/bills on a credit card to earn cash back.
– have automatically withdrawn things like the mortgage and other bills that can’t go on the credit card.
– automatically pay off the credit card when it’s due.
– take anything that is left over at the end of the month and either transfer it to savings, spend it on something I don’t really need, or, most recently, put it into an online brokerage account where I’ll try my hand at speculative investing.

So, essentially, my checking account is used as central storage for transfer to other places. The balance starts high at the beginning of the month (when I’m paid), and ends the month very low. I suppose I could have an additional buffer, but I watch my account very closely and always know what my balance is, so I’m not too concerned about overdrafting.