Here's why you shouldn't keep all your money in a checking account (2024)

Opening a checking account is one of the very first steps you take when starting your personal financial journey.

With a checking account, your paychecks can be directly deposited into your account, your cash is safe and your funds are easily accessible for all your bill-paying and spending needs.

But before you stockpile all your income into your first-ever bank account, there are a few reasons why your checking account shouldn't hold all your money.

"Have you ever heard your grandmother say, 'Don't keep all your eggs in one basket?'" says Gordon Achtermann, a Virginia-based CFP at Your Best Path Financial Planning. "Well, that applies perfectly to a checking account."

Your checking account is the best place to keep the money you frequently need, but that's it.

"The checking account is very good at what it does," Achtermann adds. "But it is only designed to do one thing. It serves as a place to keep your money that you need to pay this month's bills, plus your allowance for spending on yourself."

Scott Cole, an Alabama-based CFP at Cole Financial Planning and Wealth Management, suggests thinking of a checking account solely as "a conduit through which money comes in and quickly goes out." For this reason, the money in your account doesn't need to be too much more than what you need to cover your planned expenditures.

A budget can provide a snapshot of your recurring cash flow. By writing out your essential costs (think rent, mortgage, utilities, insurance, transportation and food), plus noting your ancillary spending (vacations, travel, entertainment), you can see just how much money you should allocate to your checking account — and thus how much you can take out to put elsewhere.

Cole also warns that keeping too much money in your checking account tends to lead to your expenses expanding, so much so that they eventually eat up all of your income.

"When we keep too much in our checking, it invites the temptation to spend in excess for our present needs and wants and to the detriment of our longer term needs and wants," Cole says.

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A checking account is best used as storage for the money you use every day, but for all other purposes, there are better places for your cash.

Here's where to put your extra cash instead of your checking account:

In a high-yield savings account

For money you want to save for future use or emergencies, put that cash into a high-yield savings account where it can earn a bit more interest than it would sitting in a checking account. Cole points out that there are opportunity costs with keeping large checking balances, beyond just the temptation to spend. A high-yield savings makes sure that you aren't missing out on higher earnings.

"Perhaps not as much as it used to be with interest rates so low, but still, if a high-yield savings account is earning 0.50% [APY] and your checking is earning nothing, well that is something — and something is better than nothing, particularly when it comes to cash," Cole says.

The best high-yield savings accounts

In CDs

If you've already built up a few thousand dollars in emergency savings, consider putting half of those savings in CDs, suggests Achtermann. With a CD, you have a chance to earn a higher interest rate in exchange for keeping your money tied up for a certain period of time, with term lengths ranging between three months and five years. On the date that your CD matures, or when your term length is over, you get your money back, in addition to the interest earned over time.

The best CDs

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In the market

Once you have a stable amount of savings set aside and zero outstanding high-interest debt (like credit card debt), invest the rest of your surplus cash from your checking account.

Achtermann suggests investor beginners look to Vanguard, specifically the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund (VTI). This fund tracks the U.S. total market, including the large-, mid- and small-cap equity. It's passively managed and the expense ratios are a super-low .03%. "For someone in their 20s or just getting started investing, it's the one fund to start with," he adds.

An IRA or Roth IRA are also good options for those looking to invest for retirement and want to take advantage of the many tax benefits the accounts have to offer.

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While the exact amount of money consumers should keep in their checking really depends on each individual's cash inflow and outflow, Cole provides a general guideline.

For those who are more disciplined about their discretionary expenses and not prone to overdrawing their account, just keep the exact amount of money needed to cover that current month's expenses. Unless your bank requires a minimum balance, you don't need to worry about certain thresholds.

On the other hand, if you are prone to overdraft fees, then add a little cushion for yourself. Even with a cushion, Cole recommends keeping no more than two months of living expenses in your checking account.

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Information about Marcus by Goldman Sachs High Yield Online Savings has been collected independently by Select and has not been reviewed or provided by the banks prior to publication. Goldman Sachs Bank USA is a Member FDIC. Interest rate and Annual Percentage Yield (APY) are subject to change at any time without notice before and after an American Express® High Yield Savings Account is opened.

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