hi y'all,
so my parents opened a wells fargo account for me when i was a teen, and I've been with them ever sent. i'm now in my 20s, have about 16k in savings, and want to put my money into a high yield savings account. i don't own property (not even a car) and don't have any debt – basically, money just comes in from my job and flows out with my purchases.
from what i understand, WF is kinda terrible, and i think my money is just losing value sitting there. but i've been too intimidated by the process of moving banks — i'm thinking of all the accounts i have currently tied to my credit card, how my jobs have my bank account attached to them, etc.
can anyone offer advice for someone looking to transfer banks? and where should i be looking to put my savings for the highest returns? i just want an account, i'm not interested in investing it anywhere quite yet.
thank you!!
** as much as is possible, i want to look for an ** ethical ** bank.
advice for moving savings from wells fargo from someone who's only ever used wells fargo?
byu/Accomplished_Two_690 inpersonalfinance
Posted by Accomplished_Two_690
6 Comments
Look for a local credit union.
Otherwise… Ally, SoFi, AmEx, Capital1, Fidelity CMA. Don’t chase rates, just pick which is convenient for you. HYSA rates are around 3.5-4%
You should have a checking and a savings.
The checking keeps around 1-2months expenses. All your paychecks go in, bills go out.
Savings is your HYSA. Keep around 6months expenses here.
You should absolutely start investing. The earlier you start the more it’ll pay off.
Open a Roth IRA and start contributing. The limit is $7500, but as much as you can helps.
You’ll kick yourself later for not starting younger!
Consider high yield savings acct for better interest on your $. Capital One, Amex, Marcus, Ally are most recommended HYSA. None of these have any minimum balance requirements.
Join a local credit union and let them walk you through it. Better rates and more helpful than banks.
Open a HYSA with whatever bank you want. Then link the new bank acct to your WF acct. Hit transfer and put in the amount. Done.
Don’t close your WF acct. No reason to close accts unless you’re being charged a monthly fee. I have over 10 savings/checking accounts. Some with less than $1 in them.
Why I do this? If I want to go on vacation to Canada next month, I’ll transfer money from my main (Chase) account into my TD Bank acct. Tons of TD banks in Canada.
If I want to vacation in Thailand, Malaysia and Hong Kong around December, I’ll transfer money from Chase to HSBC because there’s are tons of HSBC banks in those 3 countries.
If I’m visiting SF and there’s a Citi bank across the street from my hotel I’ll move cash into my Citi account for that trip so it’ll be convenient if I need to withdraw cash.
Check out doctor of credit or AI so that you can also get an incentive for opening an account. And definitely check out bogleheads here on Reddit. You should be investing in an index fund at this young age. That will be much more beneficial in the long run than a HYSA.
Take it step by step. you don’t have to do it all at once.
* Open a new truly free spending account. Look at credit unions local to you for that.
* Change your direct deposit so that all new money goes into the new account.
* Change any bill pays that come out of your WF account to your new account.
* Transfer all money from WF to this new account.
* Close your WF bank accounts.
* Open a HYSA at an online bank.
* Transfer some money from your new spending account to the HYSA.
* Open a new CC.
* Transfer any auto-pays and subscriptions from your WF CC to the new CC.
* Don’t close your WF credit card for now. It is probably your oldest account, and it is good for your credit score to keep your old accounts. You don’t have to use it. Keep it for a back-up credit card.