I use Fidelity, Schwab, Discover and US Bank.
At Fidelity, I have their CMA, multiple brokerages I use specifically for savings, fixed income (T-Bills) and investments, as well as a personal HSA, employer 401K and their 2% cashback Visa. I use them as my primary checking and savings, because their CMA offers unlimited ATM fee reimbursement worldwide, they automatically liquidate MMFs when your cash balance is insufficient (unlike Schwab) and they have free domestic wires. I also use them for T-bill auto-rolls because unlike Schwab, they will keep your money fully invested whereas Schwab will let your T-bill mature first, then renew on the next weekly auction. Their HSA is also the only personal HSA that has no admin fee, fees to invest nor require a minimum cash balance, thus making it the best personal health savings account administrator.
At Schwab, I have their investor checking, multiple brokerages I use specifically for savings and investments, as well as a i401K, Roth IRA and employer HSA. I could consolidate and migrate most of my investment accounts to Fidelity, but I like to have redundancy in case I'm ever locked out of my Fidelity account. Furthermore, Schwab's i401K offers Roth contributions, while Fidelity's does not. Plus I'm still working, so who knows which brokerages future employer 401Ks will use, so I may have to re-open at Schwab anyways. I keep a portion of my emergency fund here and use them as my preferred travel debit card. While the Fidelity CMA offers unlimited ATM fee reimbursement worldwide, it's only for Visa and STAR ATMs. Furthermore, Schwab's debit have no foreign transaction fee and investor checking debit is through Schwab Bank, whereas the Fidelity CMA uses multiple partner banks. Based on the experience of this poster, they ended up in fraud limbo because Fidelity and the two partner banks are each pointing fingers at the other on whom should be responsible reimbursing him. This is also why I opted for a Schwab Investor checking versus having debit card and check writing enabled on the Schwab One Brokerage, though the other reasons are that only the investor checking has bill pay and is compatible with Zelle, which the FIdelity CMA is not compatible with.
At Discover, I have a checking and savings and credit card and use them as another backup. I technically don't need them because I have Schwab, but I keep them because their debit offers 1% cashback and in case interest rates favor HYSAs again, I have a place to put my cash savings. Also I already had their credit card and didn't want another separate login to manage.
Lastly as US Bank I have their checking and Cash+ card. I went with US Bank because I wanted access to a local branch so I can more easily deposit cash, wire money, get cashiers checks and have access to a safety deposit box and free notary. While any local credit union would suffice, US Bank waives the fee for their smartly checking if you also have their branded credit card. This lets me have access to a near nationwide network of bank branches and also consolidates not having to manage another login account due to already having their credit card.
At Fidelity, I have their CMA, multiple brokerages I use specifically for savings, fixed income (T-Bills) and investments, as well as a personal HSA, employer 401K and their 2% cashback Visa. I use them as my primary checking and savings, because their CMA offers unlimited ATM fee reimbursement worldwide, they automatically liquidate MMFs when your cash balance is insufficient (unlike Schwab) and they have free domestic wires. I also use them for T-bill auto-rolls because unlike Schwab, they will keep your money fully invested whereas Schwab will let your T-bill mature first, then renew on the next weekly auction. Their HSA is also the only personal HSA that has no admin fee, fees to invest nor require a minimum cash balance, thus making it the best personal health savings account administrator.
At Schwab, I have their investor checking, multiple brokerages I use specifically for savings and investments, as well as a i401K, Roth IRA and employer HSA. I could consolidate and migrate most of my investment accounts to Fidelity, but I like to have redundancy in case I'm ever locked out of my Fidelity account. Furthermore, Schwab's i401K offers Roth contributions, while Fidelity's does not. Plus I'm still working, so who knows which brokerages future employer 401Ks will use, so I may have to re-open at Schwab anyways. I keep a portion of my emergency fund here and use them as my preferred travel debit card. While the Fidelity CMA offers unlimited ATM fee reimbursement worldwide, it's only for Visa and STAR ATMs. Furthermore, Schwab's debit have no foreign transaction fee and investor checking debit is through Schwab Bank, whereas the Fidelity CMA uses multiple partner banks. Based on the experience of this poster, they ended up in fraud limbo because Fidelity and the two partner banks are each pointing fingers at the other on whom should be responsible reimbursing him. This is also why I opted for a Schwab Investor checking versus having debit card and check writing enabled on the Schwab One Brokerage, though the other reasons are that only the investor checking has bill pay and is compatible with Zelle, which the FIdelity CMA is not compatible with.
At Discover, I have a checking and savings and credit card and use them as another backup. I technically don't need them because I have Schwab, but I keep them because their debit offers 1% cashback and in case interest rates favor HYSAs again, I have a place to put my cash savings. Also I already had their credit card and didn't want another separate login to manage.
Lastly as US Bank I have their checking and Cash+ card. I went with US Bank because I wanted access to a local branch so I can more easily deposit cash, wire money, get cashiers checks and have access to a safety deposit box and free notary. While any local credit union would suffice, US Bank waives the fee for their smartly checking if you also have their branded credit card. This lets me have access to a near nationwide network of bank branches and also consolidates not having to manage another login account due to already having their credit card.
Statistics: Posted by Fubs — Mon Aug 05, 2024 4:52 pm — Replies 150 — Views 28299