How much do you keep in your checking account - compared with monthly expenses?

[Anonymous]

$20k-24K. Checking account looks like an inverted bell curve throughout the month. 29th-31st we usually have around $24K. By mid month....$18K and usually back to $22-23K by month end again.

[Anonymous]

We spend about $10K a month and like to keep about $10K in it. A lot of it is cash flow timing frankly, the first week of the month might have $15K in it and then we pay all the bills and boom we are down to $8K or something.

I keep another $50-70K cash on hand in liquid savings accounts in case of 'oh shits'.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My cushion is my savings account that is attached to my checking - the bank will pull whatever is needed to cover an unexpected overage, without charge to me.

I have direct deposit twice a month, and I have structured my expenses so I have enough to cover expenses (the rest is automatically transferred to savings). I look at my account twice a month, and if I have a very large expense, I'll transfer money in to cover it (essentially, this usually means to cover the higher credit card bill). So I've almost never had to rely on the bank transferring from the back-up savings.

+1

[Anonymous]

We keep 15k in our checking, problem is, it after expenses it just stays at that level. In other words, we are currently paycheck to paycheck, with a cushion of 15k.

[Anonymous]

Well, compared with monthly expenses, we only keep $1k in. So, at the beginning of the month, we get about $15k. We have expenses and automatic deposits to savings (IRA, 529, etc). Then, anything over $1k at the end of the month goes into my "funny money" account (which is likely going to be used to pay for a new car in a few years). So, really, the account ebbs and flows all month and I get it back to $1000 in time for the next paycheck.