How many accounts do you have?
- jennypenny
- Posts: 6861
- Joined: Sun Jul 03, 2011 2:20 pm
I'm writing the quarterly doomsday letter for my DH in case something happens to me. I list all of our accounts, what the money's for, how to invest it, yada yada (he wouldn't even know how to pay the water bill). Now that I've figured out a plan for the HSA, I can finish the letter. It struck me this morning that we have a lot of different accounts now. Is this normal? Does everyone have this many? Is this just the result of getting older?
We have:
401K
403B
DH's IRA
my IRA
i bond accounts
brokerage account
HSA (and soon to be two HSAs)
checking account
2 savings accounts
This doesn't include the kids' accounts, paper bonds, and all of the various insurance accounts. I've moved all I can to Vanguard to simplify things, but it's still seems excessive to me.
edit: I don't want to come across as "hey look at all the accounts I have." It's just that we've ended up with less money in several accounts instead of all of it in one or two accounts. The tax code seems to drive this more than anything.
We have:
401K
403B
DH's IRA
my IRA
i bond accounts
brokerage account
HSA (and soon to be two HSAs)
checking account
2 savings accounts
This doesn't include the kids' accounts, paper bonds, and all of the various insurance accounts. I've moved all I can to Vanguard to simplify things, but it's still seems excessive to me.
edit: I don't want to come across as "hey look at all the accounts I have." It's just that we've ended up with less money in several accounts instead of all of it in one or two accounts. The tax code seems to drive this more than anything.
4 brokerage (2 IRA, 2 Family Taxable)
3 mortgage
3 checking (I include ING Direct)
3 savings (Multiple ING labels)
3 Insurance though some with same agency (2 term life, 1 auto, 7 homeowners)
4 credit card accounts
(I'm not even touching our business related accounts or the accounts we don't use anymore but that haven't been closed)
Yep...way too complicated.
3 mortgage
3 checking (I include ING Direct)
3 savings (Multiple ING labels)
3 Insurance though some with same agency (2 term life, 1 auto, 7 homeowners)
4 credit card accounts
(I'm not even touching our business related accounts or the accounts we don't use anymore but that haven't been closed)
Yep...way too complicated.
I have a 457 plan and Roth IRA, but that is down from 4 retirement accounts and 2 Roth IRAs two years ago, so that's a plus.
2 brokerage accounts (though I will be closing one in a month or so)
3 insurance (home / car / umbrella)
15 credit cards (only use two, the others were for sign up bonuses - very lucrative)
3 online savings accounts (ING / HSBC / FNBO)
3 credit union savings accounts
1 checking account (only 1? Go figure)
I have savings bonds, but no online account (they're from the 80's and all paper)
I know multiple accounts can be a pain, but I look at it that if you have everything in one place, you basically have a single point of failure. If something happens to your one big account, you're farked. I had a major account frozen for a month in 2009, and the other accounts made life liveable until I could get the situation resolved - I'll never consider having just one account after that experience.
2 brokerage accounts (though I will be closing one in a month or so)
3 insurance (home / car / umbrella)
15 credit cards (only use two, the others were for sign up bonuses - very lucrative)
3 online savings accounts (ING / HSBC / FNBO)
3 credit union savings accounts
1 checking account (only 1? Go figure)
I have savings bonds, but no online account (they're from the 80's and all paper)
I know multiple accounts can be a pain, but I look at it that if you have everything in one place, you basically have a single point of failure. If something happens to your one big account, you're farked. I had a major account frozen for a month in 2009, and the other accounts made life liveable until I could get the situation resolved - I'll never consider having just one account after that experience.
Well I thought I had an abnormal amount; guess not!
1 Roth
2 Merrill Lynch (one is a pledge account for our mortgage)
1 Vanguard
1 ING (but that has two: checking and savings)
1 401k with Valic
It is a pain, and if some have yearly fees (like my Merrill accounts) I'd recommend dumping them (I'm working on it). But I like that it makes checking my overall net worth difficult, as otherwise I would check that several times a day, which is not healthy or helpful, investingwise. (If course, you can use Mint or something but I'm too paranoid to hand over all my passwords.)
What would a better number be? I'd like to aim for
HSA with ? (haven't researched these yet)
ING checking for auto bill-paying
ING savings for cash flow and emergency fund
1 regular brokerage account with Vanguard
1 Roth with Vanguard
401k with Valic (will probably leave there for not-all-eggs-in-one-basket reason)
1 Roth
2 Merrill Lynch (one is a pledge account for our mortgage)
1 Vanguard
1 ING (but that has two: checking and savings)
1 401k with Valic
It is a pain, and if some have yearly fees (like my Merrill accounts) I'd recommend dumping them (I'm working on it). But I like that it makes checking my overall net worth difficult, as otherwise I would check that several times a day, which is not healthy or helpful, investingwise. (If course, you can use Mint or something but I'm too paranoid to hand over all my passwords.)
What would a better number be? I'd like to aim for
HSA with ? (haven't researched these yet)
ING checking for auto bill-paying
ING savings for cash flow and emergency fund
1 regular brokerage account with Vanguard
1 Roth with Vanguard
401k with Valic (will probably leave there for not-all-eggs-in-one-basket reason)
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- Posts: 510
- Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2011 6:40 pm
I guess I am sort of middle of the pack.
1 TSP (401K equivalent)
1 Roth IRA
2 Brokerage accounts
1 HSA
6 Checking accounts that I have opened for various reasons (2 are credit union accounts with reputations for top notch loan rates and wanted to get those accounts open before I was no longer eligible for membership, 2 are main checking accounts, 1 online checking account functions as a savings account b/c it is high yield chekcing, 1 used to have high rates but not so much anymore, but I keep it around with $0 b/c I like the ability to save for certain goals with it, maybe I'll use it again someday)
2 Savings Accounts
At least 4 credit cards, if I have more I am unaware of what they are. I guess I should check my credit report sometime.
1 TSP (401K equivalent)
1 Roth IRA
2 Brokerage accounts
1 HSA
6 Checking accounts that I have opened for various reasons (2 are credit union accounts with reputations for top notch loan rates and wanted to get those accounts open before I was no longer eligible for membership, 2 are main checking accounts, 1 online checking account functions as a savings account b/c it is high yield chekcing, 1 used to have high rates but not so much anymore, but I keep it around with $0 b/c I like the ability to save for certain goals with it, maybe I'll use it again someday)
2 Savings Accounts
At least 4 credit cards, if I have more I am unaware of what they are. I guess I should check my credit report sometime.
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- Posts: 5406
- Joined: Wed Jul 28, 2010 3:28 am
- Location: Wettest corner of Orygun
Investment-wise, one gathers accounts as they age in the workplace. Used to be worse for everybody in the "old days", when IRA rollovers had to be kept in separate accounts.
What I have:
IRA
Roth IRA
Taxable (normal)
Taxable (leverage experiment)
I-Bonds (paper)
I-Bonds (Treasury Direct)
Savings account
Government retirement (in 2 accounts due to changes in law)
My wife has:
IRA 1
IRA 2
Roth IRA
Savings account
We have:
joint checking account
What I have:
IRA
Roth IRA
Taxable (normal)
Taxable (leverage experiment)
I-Bonds (paper)
I-Bonds (Treasury Direct)
Savings account
Government retirement (in 2 accounts due to changes in law)
My wife has:
IRA 1
IRA 2
Roth IRA
Savings account
We have:
joint checking account
Funny this came up today as I was working on closing our Merrill Lynch accounts (3) this morning. Simplicity, security and zero-fees are our most important concerns. As someone pointed out above, having all the eggs in one basket is a bad idea - but- having too many baskets can make one a basket-case.
Me:
401k
403b
457
Roth
Another retirement account (I honestly don't know what to call it-- a state optional retirement program account, it's what you get when you work for the state but are excluded from the state pension system)
2 Checking
1 Savings
1 Brokerage
Jointly:
HSA
2 Checking
2 Savings
2 Credit Cards
Wife:
401k
403b
Roth
Checking
Incidentally, we started using mint.com recently. It does a good job of tallying up the net-worth figure so we can see how we're doing month-to-month.
401k
403b
457
Roth
Another retirement account (I honestly don't know what to call it-- a state optional retirement program account, it's what you get when you work for the state but are excluded from the state pension system)
2 Checking
1 Savings
1 Brokerage
Jointly:
HSA
2 Checking
2 Savings
2 Credit Cards
Wife:
401k
403b
Roth
Checking
Incidentally, we started using mint.com recently. It does a good job of tallying up the net-worth figure so we can see how we're doing month-to-month.
I've got tons... tons (ie: 13 credit cards! but all but 2 auto-pay
But, everything I own is in a spreadsheet that updates it self with stock quotes, has notes on the item (ie: in retirement acct). I look at this every day (way too much)...
Other than that, I go my primary bank (Schwab) and broker (IB) website maybe once or twice a week.
Once a month I go through every account (when I'm adding my previous months expenses up) to make sure everything is as should be and there are no mystery charges/fees, meltdowns, etc.
Really doesn't feel overly complex or oppressive.
But, everything I own is in a spreadsheet that updates it self with stock quotes, has notes on the item (ie: in retirement acct). I look at this every day (way too much)...
Other than that, I go my primary bank (Schwab) and broker (IB) website maybe once or twice a week.
Once a month I go through every account (when I'm adding my previous months expenses up) to make sure everything is as should be and there are no mystery charges/fees, meltdowns, etc.
Really doesn't feel overly complex or oppressive.
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- Posts: 603
- Joined: Mon Jan 31, 2011 2:07 am
I had ridiculous account sprawl, which I've been actively working to remedy. I currently have:
- One checking account, with a linked debit card.
- 401k, IRA's, muni bonds, brokerage with Vanguard.
- Bank CD ladder which I'm transitioning to brokered CD's at Vanguard, so this will be gone in a few years.
- One credit card.
- One checking account, with a linked debit card.
- 401k, IRA's, muni bonds, brokerage with Vanguard.
- Bank CD ladder which I'm transitioning to brokered CD's at Vanguard, so this will be gone in a few years.
- One credit card.