how many different accounts do you have?

[Fizgig]

I have 3.

Long term savings/EF
House account for taxes, insurance, repairs
Splurge fund for vacations and bigger ticket fun

I agree that ultimately all just money, but breaking it up helps me feel like everything is taken care of. I know my EF is funded, that I'll be able to pay my taxes at the end of the year, and the splurge fund gives me permission to play around a little.

[Radiance]

I have a checking account and a savings account.
I keep "envelops" separate on my xpenses online.
So, in reality, when I check my balance I do it in xpenser and not via my bank.

I do check my bank account once daily to ensure I "recognize" every transaction coming in.

[am_vanquish]

For me, it's not as simple as I have x for my car and x for vacation. I have x.

Not to get too technical ... but it looks to me like you have 2*x !

[JustDave]

I'm a big fan of the sub-accounts on ING. The 'money is money' argument makes sense, but having multiple accounts works better for us.

Take the example of a non-essential expense like a vacation. By having this separate account, we can allocate money as needed to this fund, and then when the time comes just withdraw it from that. If there's no money in it, we don't use it. By having money in one account, there is the temptation to spend money that's allocated for other purposes on a vacation before the vacation is fully funded.

Yes, it's all coming from the same place, and yes we could just keep a spreadsheet of how much is in each imaginary fund, but this way is just easier for us.

And to answer the question, we have a traditional bank account for our normal checkwriting, one for larger savings (ING), and one for investing (Vanguard).

[xpirtdesign]

wait isnt a emergency car, house, and medical just insurance??? you pay the insurance companies in case something happens to your car, house, or medical i think thats the best emergency fund or i dont know what else but for vacation fund yeah i guess you could put money in seperate accounts

[disneysteve]

wait isnt a emergency car, house, and medical just insurance??? you pay the insurance companies in case something happens to your car, house, or medical

There are lots of things that can happen to car, medical or house that have nothing to do with insurance. If your car breaks, your auto insurance doesn't pay the repair bill. Lots of people also have savings for their next car purchase. Medical insurance doesn't pay prescription or office visit copays. It doesn't pay for OTC drugs or supplies. Some plans don't cover eyeglasses. And home insurance doesn't cover much of anything. Our toilet was leaking last week. We had to pay the plumber. Our family room roof is leaking. We will need to pay a couple thousands to fix that.

Even for bills covered by insurance, there are deductibles and copays. You need to set aside money for all those types of things.

[MonkeyMama]

The biggest emergency that most people save for is job loss. There are plenty of other emergencies that insurance does not cover.

I don't even save for car, medical and house stuff in my emergency fund. I KNOW those things are going to happen and I can generally estimate those expenses. But for catastrophic things, which the emergency fund is for.

[disneysteve]

I don't even save for car, medical and house stuff in my emergency fund. I KNOW those things are going to happen and I can generally estimate those expenses. But for catastrophic things, which the emergency fund is for.

Good point, as we've said before. Most of the things people call "emergencies" really aren't. Your car needing repairs is predictable and should be budgeted for. Home maintenance is known. A certain amount of medical expenses can be anticipated each year. The EF is for the catastrophic stuff and job loss.

[Alex_Adviser]

I have 4 accounts currently, which are as follows
* Inflows (salary, interest, dividend, gifts, rental income or lottery)
* Outflows (loan payments, credit card payments, lifestyle expenses, gifts, investments, and insurance payments)
* 2 Savings Account (1 Short Term and 1 Long Term)

[feh]

To me, money is money. It doesn't matter which account it is in or what I choose to call it. It is all just one big pot and gets drawn from as needed (the exceptions being retirement and college savings). So I do not have a car fund and a house fund and a vacation fund and a medical fund. I just have savings. The money is spread out in different places but that is for investment reasons, not for reasons of compartmentalizing which money is for which purpose.

I guess this is the same mindset that has my wife and I consider all money to be joint money. We don't have MY money and HER money. It all goes into the same pot.

We approach things the same way. Not including retirement/investment, we only have 3 accounts: savings/checking at local credit union and online savings. The local savings account balance is near zero because the interest rate stinks; we keep our savings in the online account.

The online account serves multiple purposes: emergency, savings for big purchases (car, home projects, etc), real estate taxes, etc.

[Alex_MoneyWise]

I have a total of 4 different account:

- 1 checking account, where my income is transferred to and for daily expenses.
- 1 investment account, to buy shares, etc.
- 1 savings account for short-term expenses (clothing, holiday, etc)
- 1 emergency account, which I use as an additional retirement account as well.

I am quite happy with this structure, it keeps me very flexible.

BR

[reptile411]

I of course know that a lot of you have the emergency fund, but how do you handle your other savings, say for a vacation, a new car, etc? Do you have seperate emergency accounts for seperate emergencies? Say one for medical, car, house and so on.
I'm trying to get some ideas on howI want to handle things.
Thanks!

4 savings
2 checking
2 CC
1 brokerage
2 retirement

We don't set aside money for emergencies or vacation. Lucky for us we make enough to cover those thing.

[disneysteve]

We don't set aside money for emergencies or vacation. Lucky for us we make enough to cover those thing.

I understand not saving for vacations. We really don't either. We can cover that out of current income. What about emergencies, though. The main "emergency" I save for is loss of job. The last time I was out of work in 2000, we spent about $18,000 of savings before I got back to work. What would you do in that case? Do you keep enough in savings and checking to cover an extended period of unemployment?

[creditcardchaser]

As long as you have a budget/goal of some kind and an easy way to track it then there is no need to keep separate accounts. I personally just use Mint.com to track things and then try to stick to my written goals. I don't really see a need for me to save in multiple accounts that are segregated strictly for the reason of different savings goals but that is me.