How to Put Your Money to Work

What does it mean to put one's money to work? Basically, when you have money, 99% of the time it is sitting in a checking account. Most people that have their money in a checking have it in a non-interest bearing checking account. There are many reasons why this could be. First, the account minimum for an interest bearing checking account is almost always higher than for a regular checking account, and you may not have the additional necessary funds. Second, you may not know whether your bank offers an interest bearing checking account and, therefore, have never inquired about such. Last, you may not care.

Let me clear something up before we move on. Interest bearing checking accounts are not going to make you rich, however, why would you pass up free money? Additionally, this article is intended for your normal money supply (normal money supply means the money you use to pay bills, buy groceries, and use for all of your other living expenses), not money that you have set aside for investment. It would not be practical for you to move all of this money to a savings account, because savings accounts usually do not come with check writing privileges or debit card options. Therefore, you would have to constantly move money between your savings and checking accounts in order to pay bills. What is the solution? The solution is to find a bank that offers a decent interest rate and a low enough minimum balance for you to take advantage of interest bearing checking. Note that you may have to look beyond the "major" banks in order to find something like this.