How Many Bank Accounts Should I Have?

Yusra3

VIP Contributor
A lot of people have a hard time deciding how many bank accounts they should have. After all, you want to make sure that you're maximizing your personal and financial security. However, the answer to this question depends on a lot of things.

If you're looking for a place to put money for short-term purposes (like a vacation), having less than five accounts is probably fine. On the other hand, if you're looking for something that can grow over time and help pay for your long-term goals, having more than five accounts is probably better.

But what's this "long term" thing? How do you know when it's long enough? And what exactly does "long term" mean anyway? Here are some clues:

Long-Term Goals: If your goal is to retire early or put some money away for college tuition or retirement, then having multiple accounts isn't necessarily a bad thing! However, if your goal is something like buying a new car or house in three years' time, then having too many bank accounts could be problematic because it will take longer than expected before reaching those goals (and longer still before reaching them all).
 
Top