Comments on: Are you a squirrel?

By: bluntmoney

bluntmoney — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 18:26:10 +0000

ConsciouslyFrugal, it makes no difference mathematically, if the interest rates are the same. Mine are pretty close.

By: ConsciouslyFrugal

ConsciouslyFrugal — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 05:14:50 +0000

I’ve always wondered about the impact on compounding interest of multiple accounts. At some point, I should set down and figure it out. Basically, I wonder–are you losing money by having several smaller pools of money instead of just a few large accounts? I suspect if folks who chased after $25 “bonus” deposit offers, etc. had placed all their funds in one savings account instead of several small ones, they would have made far more than the $25 in interest based on the compounding factor.

By: Shadox

Shadox — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 00:24:03 +0000

That’s way too many accounts, but we have a few ourselves:
Checking at BoA
Brokerage and IRA at eTrade
Money Market accounts at HSBC and ING
Investing at Vanguard
529 at Morgan Stanley
IRA at Vanguard
Roth IRA at Vanguard
and of course a couple of 401k’s at Fidelity…

Too many…

By: TStrump

TStrump — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 22:22:32 +0000

I try to keep my accounts at a minimum.
For me, convenience and being organized sometimes outweigh getting a better rate at another bank.

By: bluntmoney

bluntmoney — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:38:03 +0000

Katharine, I don’t have a post specifically about Zecco, but that’s a good idea. But it’s an online brokerage account. I buy stocks through there, and have my traditional IRA there.

Craig, no, it’s not difficult to keep track of the accounts through multiple institutions. I have a spreadsheet with all my accounts & stuff on it. Although it is kind of a pain to update my net worth, and to print out statements or file them when they’re mailed to me. I dislike the paperwork part of it. But that’s only once a month.

I’m not really doing it to diversify, it’s more like…I’m easily distracted. I see a good deal and think oooo let me try that! and then before I know it I have elventy billion accounts. I only keep the ones I really like or that I have a specific reason for keeping. Except now that I think of it, I have a couple more brokerage accounts that I’d like to get rid of because they aren’t the ones I like best. But in those cases I’m kind of stuck with them because there are fees to transfer the money out that pretty much outweigh the small amount of money I have in them. So I’ll just keep them.

By: MSMomsmoney

MSMomsmoney — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 17:39:28 +0000

Let’s see my accounts

I have a WAMU checking account
I WAMU sweep savings account
WAMU sweep account
WAMU CD
ING two savings accounts
FNBO Direct savings account
FNBO Direct bill pay account
PenFed CD’s two
Two US I savings bonds

I have closed some accounts as well. But I think that is all of mine.

To answer the person who asked you a question above……for my reasons…

I opened the ING account orginally and got the better interest rate and the $25 bonus…..I split it into to accounts…one for saving for a downpayment for a car , the other e-fund. I’ve kept it open, as my children have accounts tied to my accounts.

The I bonds are long term savings, that would only be broken in a true emergency

Same with the Penfed CD’s…they are earning over 6% interest…and are 3 year CD’s….

FNBOdirect is my escrow account…I transfer $ from checking each month into their, for house insurance, taxes, etc.

My CD’s and sweep account at WAMU earn over 5% interest that’s why I have them.

The online savings account with WAMU is short term emergency funds—I need the $ right away…..

By: Craig

Craig — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 17:09:03 +0000

Is it difficult to keep track of all the accounts spread out through multiple institutions? Do you worry about spreading it out too thin? I understand you want to diversify and not have it all in one place, but what’s the limit, and what’s the reason for you to go out to so many different places?