Banking Recommendations:
I recommend maximizing savings using multiple banks for checking and savings. I also recommend avoiding all fees if time-effective for you based on how much time things take versus how much you make per hour or minute, etc. I personally bank with multiple institutions that serve various functions.
Here are my recommendations on savings & checking accounts:
1 or more Bricks & Mortar bank: I use Wells Fargo, Bank of America, & Langley Federal Credit Union.
Bank of America offers strong relationship incentives for anyone with >$20k in combined personal accounts including in my case, a Merrill Edge investment account for stock & a Roth IRA. I don't keep much $ in the banking or savings account with BoA because the rates are low.
Because I've had an account with Synchrony Bank for more than 5 years, I have unlimited ATM fee reimbursements on my debit card and 3 free wire transfers per statement cycle as well as other perks.
With Langley Federal, they have a 10-cent per transaction debit card, which is a viable option for purchases under $2 and sometimes greater than that if I don't have a better credit card for the purchase.
Online banks for higher interest & otherwise: Marcus by Goldman Sachs (>2% interest in November 2018) or some of the other top banks listed here for savings and here for banks with both checking and savings. Keep in mind that the rates for many of these banks go up and down. It's best to find how long the high rate has been going and look at rate trends for that individual bank before banking with it so that you don't have to keep going from bank to bank, unless that's effective based on the worth of your time and the amount in banks. As of 4/20/23, my account with CFG Bank is my top-earning bank account by APY for higher-limit savings accounts (5.02% APY as of 4/20/23), with a minimum $1k to earn the APY.
Dave Ramsey's first baby step is to establish a $1,000 emergency fund. I recommend establishing that with DCU with a >6% interest rate in November 2018-April 2023 for amounts from $5-$1,000. It may be a hassle to establish initially, but a little hassle, in my opinion, is worth between double and triple the prevailing interest rates for accounts without a similar $1k cap especially when rates are low, and when the best savings rates are high (i.e. 5%), it's still higher.
Here are some of the top rates I found on 4/20/23 on the link for top banks above:
Checking Recommendations:
1 or more Bricks & Mortar bank:
Wells Fargo is the biggest with the most branches. The checking account I have with them, which I get for free with a minimum $1k/month total in direct deposits, provides free cashiers checks upon request as well as free next-business-day transfers to other banks/credit unions that I have, the fastest free transfers I have with any bank to other institutions excluding the free 3 wires/statement I have with Synchrony.
Online banks:
Discoverbank for 1% cashback debit card purchases up to $3k. Great for those that are anti-credit card and when locations have too high of credit card fees or don't accept credit cards.
Also you might research high interest checking accounts, especially for larger checking accounts. An example review of such checking accounts is listed here.
After setting up good banking and checking accounts that will remain competitive, even if not the best, I recommend devoting more time to education and primary income investment as well as other sources of supplemental income through investments. The percentages are just too low with banks right now to spend too much time on it. I work with investors if you want to consider real estate investing in your investment portfolio.
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