Ask the Readers: How Many Bank Accounts Do You Have?

by Jason Unger

As part of the Automatic Finances system, it’s necessary to have a number of different bank/investing accounts for your money.

In order to better save for goals, every account you have needs a name: from your main checking account to your short-term savings to your long-term investment and retirement accounts.

Sometimes, however, it’s easy to get carried away with having too many accounts. If you’re a rate chaser always looking for the best high-yield online savings account, you might have more accounts open than you need. On the investment side, perhaps you have a few old 401(k)s that you need to roll-over into an IRA to simplify your accounts.

So, I want to know: how many bank accounts do you have? Include your Roth IRAs, short-term investing accounts, 401(k)s, etc. in your total number.

Answer in a comment.

{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

Wojciech August 6, 2009 at 12:57 pm

Too many! 🙂

I’m currently consolidating to the following:
One checking
One sweep savings account for “transactions” – Wachovia Way2Save
One investment account (that doubles as a master savings account)
Two Roth IRAs
Two 401(k)
A rollover IRA

Wow..that’s still a long list, but each has its purpose I suppose.

Jason Unger August 6, 2009 at 1:40 pm

Yeah, as long as each account has a purpose, then it makes sense (and you can track them all using an account aggregator).

I have …

Two checking accounts (one personal, one business)
Two savings accounts (one that umbrellas my different goal accounts)
A Roth IRA (and one for the wife, too)
An IRA from a rollover 401k

And I have at least one (maybe more) inactive online savings accounts floating around somewhere.

Oh, and I also have a health savings account.

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