For most people, they can work with a single bank and one or two bank accounts. The two accounts are usually a checking and a savings account. With all I have going on, I currently work with four different banks and have a combination of 13 savings and checking accounts. Yes, I am a glutton for punishment, but these accounts help to keep all of our personal and business activities from cross-contaminating each other.
One Bank and Three Accounts for My Mother's Affairs:
My mother is retired and is currently on hospice. I have the responsibility to pay her bills, track her finances and keep her home expenses in check. My mother receives a direct deposit social security check as well as a state retirement check. These come in at the end and first of every month. So that my brother can pay for groceries and other household expenses, I transfer the bill paying portion into my checking account at the same bank. This way, when he checks the balance at the bank, he does not have to wonder if there are any outstanding checks. I also have a savings account for my mother at this same bank. Everything having to do with my mother's finances are at this one bank.
One Bank and Six Accounts for Our Businesses and Personal Affairs:
My husband and I each own a business as well as having the ranch. At a different bank, we have our ranch account, my business account, his business account, his business savings account, as well as our personal account and a joint savings account. With my daughter staying at the ranch so that I can travel with my husband, we gave her a debit card for the ranch account. I can go online and transfer funds when necessary. We can also transfer funds from our business accounts to our personal account as needed. By keeping different accounts for each of our businesses, it is a snap to call up information when it is tax time. It also helps us to get a better picture of how each business is doing and what we need to focus on for future growth.
A Credit Union ad Two Accounts for Personal Loans
We also joined a credit union and opened a savings and checking account with them. By being members, we were able to refinance my husband truck at a substantially lower interest rate saving us over a hundred dollars a month. We also bought and financed an energy efficient car through the credit union to save money on our weekly commute. Between the two car loans and the economical car, we are able to put over three hundred a month that would have been spent on fuel and the higher truck payment it our savings account at the credit union. We still have enough left over on the savings to make the car payment. It was definitely a wise move on our part.
A National Bank with Two Accounts for Travel Purposes
Most of our banks are local; therefore we also keep a checking account at a national bank for when we travel. Though seldom used, it has actually saved us when we were out-of-state and needed to cash a check or withdraw funds from one of our smaller banks. This saves us a lot in bank and ATM fees. The bank recently started charging a monthly fee for having the account. However, if we opened a savings account with them, they would waive the fee. Cool, we opened a savings account and have automatic transfer into our savings. There is no minimum balance, so, if we want, we can transfer the money back into our checking immediately.
It takes me several banks and multiple accounts to keep everything straight. It works for me to use this method and is very effective when it comes to income tax time. By using accounting software on my computer, it is a snap to keep all of my account balanced and updated. Everyone has the information they need and I enjoy the satisfaction of knowing our finances are secure.
More from this Contributor:
7 Tips to Beat the Monday Morning Blues
