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Bags can cost a lot and there's no reason to have multiple thousands in your checking account. I'm very well off financially and most of the time my checking account has less than $500 in it.
Believe it or not, not everyone's life is like yours.
Believe it or not, not everyone's life is like yours.
Yeah and not to mention I cannot imagine much more idiotic financial planning than having a checking account with $500 in it unless you're, what, writing checks for everything? In what world -- certainly not 2018 -- is this a good idea?! My smallest credit cards autopay a few hundred bucks a month, the largest a few thousand, and why would I bother to check or even care at all about what day of the month they pay?! Now I want to go check my banking app every day and make sure it has funds, and check that against my various credit cards? No, of course not. I know roughly what I spend her month and my checking should have a minimum of 3-4 months of cash in there.
If you're going to leave $200,000 in checking for long periods of time, I might say you could find better uses for it, but that also depends on your lifestyle. I know a few people where $200K for them is a few months of living expenses, and that's a reasonable amount for them to keep in their checking accounts, because that's what counts as petty cash for them. Different lifestyles.
Yeah and not to mention I cannot imagine much more idiotic financial planning than having a checking account with $500 in it unless you're, what, writing checks for everything? In what world -- certainly not 2018 -- is this a good idea?! My smallest credit cards autopay a few hundred bucks a month, the largest a few thousand, and why would I bother to check or even care at all about what day of the month they pay?! Now I want to go check my banking app every day and make sure it has funds, and check that against my various credit cards? No, of course not. I know roughly what I spend her month and my checking should have a minimum of 3-4 months of cash in there.
A portion of our emergency fund is in checking and I try to maintain it at a low 5 figure level. The idea is if we need to suddenly buy airline tickets (for something terrible like an illness or death in the family) or cover a catastrophic repair to the car or condo then of course we could -would- charge it, but I'd want to pay the expenses off within the billing period. I guess I could pull the funds from a savings account (which we have), but a losing out on a little interest by keeping a limited amount of extremely liquid funds isn't something I fret over.
Than I'm doubly glad this snafu happened, now I know.
I was simply laughing at myself for a stupid mistake. Relax I won't taint your perfection
I was simply laughing at myself for being absentminded.
Cause and affect that embarrassed you to your favourite youngster... This could have been avoided had your asked a simple question... "How much $ is this bag ???" tomato sure had the funds to cover it.. But,you never mentioned it to her..so assumed it was a few bucks.
Glad you could LOL about it ..because some folks could get penalized severally credit-wise! But, your fav. was no doubt embarrassed and YOU knew it. I'd bet, she learned a valuable lesson after that experience.. Next promise.. will require CASH!!
In the last 30+ yrs. I used the debit card once (and that was something like 25 yrs. ago when on vacation and needed some cash) - I don't carry it and if someone found it in my house - they could offer me a million dollars or my life or whatever and I couldn't tell you the PIN. I try to be judicious in my purchases and use my credit card which I pay off in full every month. I honestly don't even know if I'd know how to use a debit card......
A portion of our emergency fund is in checking and I try to maintain it at a low 5 figure level. The idea is if we need to suddenly buy airline tickets (for something terrible like an illness or death in the family) or cover a catastrophic repair to the car or condo then of course we could -would- charge it, but I'd want to pay the expenses off within the billing period. I guess I could pull the funds from a savings account (which we have), but a losing out on a little interest by keeping a limited amount of extremely liquid funds isn't something I fret over.
I can completely understand your position of being prepared for sudden unknown expenses. There are myriad ways to accomplish this without giving up interest and still being able to pay your bills in a cycle, even if you pay no bills online. However, I respect your choice.
I will offer alternatives for those who might be open to it:
1) Find a bank that will instantly credit "pull ACH" transfer transactions. My primary checking is USAA and they will do this for up to $5,000 per day. Keep your emergency savings in an online account that actually makes some money. The bank instantly credits and your funds are instantly available even though the transfer hasn't actually completed yet. This requires a bank willing to do this, and sometimes will take some relationship building. USAA pays hardly any interest on their checking, but the instant ACH credit from transfers is the primary reason I still use this account as my primary. If you need to write a paper check for a bill then as well, you can do so knowing the balance is already available.
2) Find a bank that offers a high-interest checking account. There are multiples out there paying over 2% for balances between $10-25k. I have 2 checking accounts with one bank (one in wife's one in mine) at 3.01% up to $25k each, and one checking that pays 4.5% on balances up to $10,000. Simple google searches can find these products.
3) Set up payments on your credit card (or any other bill for that matter) online (using the provider's website) to come from multiple places - your primary checking AND your "savings" (whether that be a traditional "set it and forget it" savings or a high interest checking that you use as a savings like I do), so that you can pull money from wherever you need in an emergency to pay a particular bill. Just keep in mind that traditional savings accounts can only have 6 fee-free transactions per month. This is why I prefer the high interest checking accounts over a traditional savings account online. You get a higher rate in exchange for a little bit of work - you have to use your debit card 10-12 times per month at a minimum, sign up for e-statements and then have a direct deposit at one point in the month as well. Easy peasy for most people.
Than I'm doubly glad this snafu happened, now I know.
I was simply laughing at myself for a stupid mistake. Relax I won't taint your perfection
I was simply laughing at myself for being absentminded.
The difference here, for the most part, between yourself and others.. You're owning up to it and admitting it.
I actually had to pay a couple of bucks in interest a month or so ago.. I had purchased a few things on my Home Depot card.. I usually pay as soon as it posts.. I did so this time, but it was a transaction that was like $26.79 and instead of clicking 'pay balance', I apparently left it at pay minimum, which is $25.. So, that $1.69 carried over.. I got whatever the minimum finance charge was.
Cause and affect that embarrassed you to your favourite youngster... This could have been avoided had your asked a simple question... "How much $ is this bag ???" tomato sure had the funds to cover it.. But,you never mentioned it to her..so assumed it was a few bucks.
Glad you could LOL about it ..because some folks could get penalized severally credit-wise! But, your fav. was no doubt embarrassed and YOU knew it. I'd bet, she learned a valuable lesson after that experience.. Next promise.. will require CASH!!
I actually did, she told me when she returned my card. I promptly forgot, and you are absolutely right, I'm usually a gift card gal so this entire enterprise was a fiasco from day one.
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