Usually about $10k. We need to keep a minimum balance of $6k total in all our accounts to avoid fees. So, we make sure it never dips below that as bills are paid.

Anonymous wrote:$500 is my $0. The basic idea is I keep enough for my monthly expenses, and the extra goes into savings.

I do this too. I have a notification when it goes below 500 but that happens rarely, and it is linked to a savings account with 3-4 months expenses.

Minimum $1000, try to move anything more than that over to a money market account. 3 times a month a lot more (to pay mortgage, private school tuition, and credit card bill), anywhere from $3750 (mortgage) to $5k (private school tuition) to $8-12k (credit card bill).

$20k just as a buffer.

Anonymous wrote:10 k

What is that in 2012 dollars?

Around 20k. But that monthly bills are 10k usually, so like to have a cushion for unexpected things

Today is the day before payday and I have $19 in my checking account. I consider it a success if I have more than $50 in my account right before payday.


-a teacher

10 k

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:About $5,000. I use my credit card for everything and pay it in full each month so I like to keep enough for that plus anything that it coming out for automatic withdrawals (a few bills, mortgage, etc.)

What is the benefit of doing this?

Helps maintain a high credit score. Credit bureaus don't monitor debit card usage, so if you put all your expenses on a cc and pay off the balance monthly, rather than paying as you go via debit, you get the "credit" for being a timely bill payer with the credit bureaus.

Anonymous wrote:How much interest are people earning on their savings accounts? It sounds like most people are keeping liquid $$$ there, instead of in checking. My savings account pretty much earns nothing in interest so I don't even bother. Wondering if there are better deals out there.

I get .8 on an ING savings account and I think .25 on a Citigold checking account. I don't transfer to savings until my checking balance exceeds about $30k. The margin is small and while ING makes it easy to transfer I've gotten lazy about it - easier just to leave it in checking until I know I don't need it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:About $5,000. I use my credit card for everything and pay it in full each month so I like to keep enough for that plus anything that it coming out for automatic withdrawals (a few bills, mortgage, etc.)

What is the benefit of doing this?

Not the PP you asked, but I also put everything that possibly can be put onto a CC on and pay it off each month. In my case, Discover gives me between 1-5% cash back on my purchases. In prior years when I was part owner in a small business and put some business purchases on the card (and got reimbused), I made as much as $1000 in cash back in a year. Now, I get about $600 a year in cash back. Definitely worth it to me.

Anonymous wrote:How much interest are people earning on their savings accounts? It sounds like most people are keeping liquid $$$ there, instead of in checking. My savings account pretty much earns nothing in interest so I don't even bother. Wondering if there are better deals out there.

Not much. I get .10% on savings and .30% on my money market. Since the beginning of the year, I've earned about $3 on the savings account and about $90 on the MM. Not a lot, but even that is better that $0 if I kept the bulk of the money in my checking account. I'll take even a couple of dollars over zero.

Anonymous wrote:About $5,000. I use my credit card for everything and pay it in full each month so I like to keep enough for that plus anything that it coming out for automatic withdrawals (a few bills, mortgage, etc.)

What is the benefit of doing this?

Anonymous wrote:Usually a few hundred. I pay a few bills out of checking but other than that I use a credit card for everything. I pay it off every month.

What is the benefit of doing this?

Anonymous wrote:Overdrawn currently. Thank God for overdraft protection.

Me too.