How I Setup My Financial Accounts

06Jul08

Wells Fargo Checking – basically is a pool of money to pay off my credit card bills. I only keep as much as I need to make my monthly payments with a couple hundred dollars for cushion. I have budgeted 1/3 of my paycheck for expenses.

Wells Fargo Savings – just a backup for my checking in case I need access to funds super immediately. If I have a huge spending month my bank will overdraft from here, so that I don’t get hit with any fee’s.

ING Orange Savings – the bulk of my cash sits here accumulating interest. This is my emergency fund, though emergency funds can be debatable given your situation (according to my man, Irish). Every month I transfer 1/3 of my paycheck into here.

ING CD’s – My long-term plans for purchasing a house, or a car are locked into a CD ladder. Since I won’t be needing to touch this for a while, the higher CD rates work in my favor over ING’s regular savings interest rates.

Vanguard – I am a strict passive investor. Both my Roth IRA and taxable mutual fund accounts sit here. I allocate 1/3 of my paycheck solely for investing.

Credit Cards – I own an American Express card that I charge everything to, to get the rewards. Not all places accept American Express, so for those rare occasions I carry around a Visa. I pay off my credit cards every month.

Paying bills, and investing are done automagically. I never have to call my broker, or even go online to pay off my credit card, or throw money into an index fund. I like to relax when it comes to these things. Now that’s what I call easy.

Filed under: 401k, budgeting, credit cards, investing, roth ira, savings   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: american express, budgeting, cd, cd ladder, credit cards, emergency fund, index funds, ing direct, investing, orange, personal finance, savings, vanguard, visa