Right now, they are with the same institution. And it's very convenient: we get one statement with everything, we can access everything with one online account, and our MMA acts as both our sweep account for checking and as the settlement account for our brokerage, so we don't have to do an inter-institution transfer all the time. So that convenience is one of the things I'm hoping to not give up.
Having said that, if there's an online broker whose MMA/settlement account can also be used to write checks on, I don't particularly feel the need to have a separate "bank" account.
Hmm don't really have much experience with a combined one since I use ETrade for indiv stocks, Vanguard for MMA and retirement/mutual funds, and just a regular checking account at a local bank. Would the MMA with checkwriting privileges need to have no minimum on it (unlike say Vangaurd which won't let you write checks under $250)?
Given how easy e-transfers are, I opted to bag my Schwab account (which was giving me about 3% on my MMA and had an expense ratio of more than 0.5% on my index fund) and now have my money in three places:
For checks & ATM access, I use Wainwright, which is a few blocks from my house & supports a lot of local business. No interest on money in there, but no fees, and I don't keep much in there beyond what I need for bills & spending money each month
For my liquid funds, everything's at Orange ING, I can transfer easily between them & Wainwright, and they're paying 4.5% on my savings account, and 5% on my CD ladder
For my brokerage and retirement accounts, I'm at Vanguard, because they have the lowest expense ratios, under 0.2% for the accounts I'm interested in
I have my paycheck direct deposited into Wainwright, and have autotransfers each month into Orange & Vanguard, so it's no more trouble than having all three at the same place. Well, yeah, quarterly I do a transfer out of Orange into Wainwright to cover expenses like property taxes, water bill, etc, but I think the 5 minutes I spend online every three months is worth the noticeable amount it's adding to my bottom line compared to having everything at the same place.
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Date: 2007-04-12 03:28 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-12 03:59 pm (UTC)Having said that, if there's an online broker whose MMA/settlement account can also be used to write checks on, I don't particularly feel the need to have a separate "bank" account.
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Date: 2007-04-12 04:24 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-14 12:20 pm (UTC)- For checks & ATM access, I use Wainwright, which is a few blocks from my house & supports a lot of local business. No interest on money in there, but no fees, and I don't keep much in there beyond what I need for bills & spending money each month
- For my liquid funds, everything's at Orange ING, I can transfer easily between them & Wainwright, and they're paying 4.5% on my savings account, and 5% on my CD ladder
- For my brokerage and retirement accounts, I'm at Vanguard, because they have the lowest expense ratios, under 0.2% for the accounts I'm interested in
I have my paycheck direct deposited into Wainwright, and have autotransfers each month into Orange & Vanguard, so it's no more trouble than having all three at the same place. Well, yeah, quarterly I do a transfer out of Orange into Wainwright to cover expenses like property taxes, water bill, etc, but I think the 5 minutes I spend online every three months is worth the noticeable amount it's adding to my bottom line compared to having everything at the same place.