Each month, I write an accountability post that tracks my income and expenses. I’ve been doing this for 10 and a half years and I think this tracking is possibly the main habit I’ve developed that helps keep things on track – especially when things are tight.

I thought today, I’d share the companies I use in each category and a few thoughts on how my experience has been with them.

Checking Accounts

Ally

I’ve been with Ally a long time. I’m pretty sure I opened my account there circa 2008. There were on of the earliest online banking options. I’ve been really happy with this bank for everything except cashing physical checks because for some reason the scanner on the Ally app has never worked for me – I’ve never really heard of others having this problem. The ATM refunds, though the number of times you can get the refund per month has dropped since I first joined, has never been an issue. ATM refunds exist because Ally doesn’t have their own ATMs. They just refund you the service fee to use any ATM. I also find it feels like they don’t hold my money as long when I deposit a large check before clearing it into my account.

Overall, I’ve had a very positive experience.

TD Bank

I opened my TD Bank account when the issues started with scanning my checks on my Ally account.

This has been a pretty good bank. I mostly use it for the occasional check and physical cash deposit. However, the real winner here has been their currency exchange service which has a small flat fee and then transfers at really good rate. As someone who has returned home with large sums of local currency per diems, this has been a really useful tool.

I will say that one thing I don’t like is every time I deposit a check over like $1,000, TD holds it for as long as possible before releasing the funds.

Wise

This was my starter account when I moved to England because it made transferring money between US and UK accounts so easy and the rates are fine. They aren’t the best rates – which often seem to come from physically going to a bank – but they are really good for the convenience factor.

And convenience factor is incredible and not to be understated, especially if you’re moving or travel between countries a lot. It takes a few seconds to open up a new currency account. I wish I’d found it years ago traveling. 10/10 recommend and use all the time.

If you don’t currently have a Wise account and you’re considering one, you can use my referral link here and get a fee-free transfer up to $600 and I might get a referral fee.

HSBC UK

HSBC is the bank I use in the UK because it’s impossible to open any kind of phone account or utility account without one. I used HSBC when I lived in Sheffield from 2010-2011 because it was the first bank I happened to walk into. I actually tried to open a Barclays account this time but had so many issues I just wound up at HSBC instead.

Savings Accounts

CapitalOne

Many moons ago, this bank had one of the best savings rates. This is definitely no longer true and I should probably move this account to another bank, but I am lazy and so it sits here. This is my emergency fund. It’s separate from any other savings account so I mostly forget it exists.

Barclays

This savings account has a pretty good interest rate, though there are plenty of banks that also have a higher one. As someone too lazy to constantly chase that high interest savings account rate, this bank will do.

I have enjoyed how easy it is to open sub accounts to save for specific goals. This account is where I save for a contacts and my car insurance each year, where I put extra savings that eventually may go into retirement accounts but I’m not 100% sure what the year is looking like yet, and my two biggest savings accounts outside my emergency fund – my new car account and my tuition/someday house down payment accounts.

I don’t like that it takes forever for the money to actually clear into the account when I transfer it.

Digital Wallet

Venmo

I wasn’t sure how to list Venmo, because I definitely use, but I don’t hold cash there long, it’s just an easy way to move money between friends. I have no issues here and use it all the time when I’m in the States.

PayPal

I use this very similarly and the main way I get paid for blogging things. I do wish they had an easier way to connect bank accounts in multiple currencies rather than forcing you to only have one countries bank account connected at a time. Or is this a thing and I don’t know how to do it? I assume it can’t be done because PayPal wants the fees for transferring between currencies.

Stocks

eTrade

I opened this account in college when my cousin got me a gift certificate and I thought I should use this to buy some stock. That stock plummeted and I didn’t touch stocks for years because I was scared of them.

Once I got over that unfortunate fear, I have eTrade has been super easy to use and I have had no issues. Very happy with it.

ComputerShare

ComputerShare is connected to an account my grandparents opened for me as a child. They would buy me a share of Exxon every year since my grandfather worked there for most of his career on birthday and Christmas. This seemed like a terrible gift to child me but adult me thinks they were the best (they were the best for many reasons, solid gifting skills aside).

I don’t find the website very friendly to navigate though I will say closing my mom’s account there when she died and just transferring it into mine was very easy.

Health Savings Account

UMB

Honestly, I picked my first HSA account because I wanted one that has access to both a savings and an invest option. And that company has now sold our accounts at least twice and they have landed here at UMB currently.

Now I’m charged $3 a month service fee if I don’t keep $3,000 in savings the balance (which, fun fact, I ran that math and on average that same amount has been making reliably at least $130 a year invested, so sometimes it’s better to pay the small fee than leave the money just sitting there) and the previous place hosting the HSAs didn’t do that.

Also, I just tried to figure out how to invest for the first time since switching to this bank and it was wildly confusing – so definitely not the most friendly user interface.

It also appears like you have to keep at least $1,000 in the savings account at this bank, which is kind of B.S. Even when you figure out how to buy the investments, as you type in the numbers, the amount you have available to invest changes, which is wildly pointless. I’m literally looking at the number telling me my available amount to invest to type in and as I type 2, it drops $2, and then as I type 20, it drops $20, and as I type 208, it drops $208. Also very user unfriendly.

Retirement Accounts

Fidelity

Fidelity was my first retirement account where I opened a Roth IRA. They have been nothing but fantastic from excellent customer service, easy to use web interfaces and plenty of investment options.

They are so good, after years of self-employment and finally making some decent money, I opened a self employed 401k with them. This process was more complicated – because it is just more paperwork and regulations with any SEP 401k – but their customer service was again very helpful.

10/10 recommend Fidelity any day.

Empower

This is a 401K account from a former employer. The account is fine. If I had a current work 401k, I would possibly try to roll it over as I have no strong feelings either way about Empower. Someday I may get around to rolling it into my SEP 401k.

Equitable

This a 403b from my brief stint teaching at a university. No complaints here other than that I wish there was an easier way to just roll all these things together once you leave jobs. It feels like these systems are still built with the thought that people pick a job and stay there forever.

Current Credit Cards

CapitalOne

I don’t even know what to call this CapitalOne card – it’s my oldest credit card. I opened it the first week of college during orientation. It has no rewards. It does have a very low interest rate and exactly one thing gets charged to it a month to keep it active.

Hilton Honors American Express

I have the version of this with no annual fee, so I kept it open after intending to use it to pay tuition last year only to realize the school portal doesn’t use American Express. It was fine – it was able to put all my regular expenses on it and hit the spend in time to amass the points. I can’t say I’ve found their reward redemption portal very user friendly.

Barclaycard Cash Forward

I’ve had this card for years.  Basic cash back rewards and no annual fee. It is my go-to backup card and the one I keep on most of my internet log ins since it doesn’t change every few months like whatever card I’m churning at a given time.

Chase Mileage Plus Explorer

This card is excellent and has tons of perks and cash back on various things that have made the fee worth it to me. For how often I fly United between London and New Jersey, the annual fee is worth it in checked bags alone.

What companies do you use to manage your money? Are you happy with them? Any that should be avoided at all costs?