Current Events > Any parents here who are good at budgeting? How many financial accounts do you

(+) Yeah! (+)

have?

I've always had my own checking and savings at one bank and a checking and savings shared with my wife at another bank. But now we have a kid. I also have my own 403b and a state pension type of account. She has a 401k.

But I should also have a health savings account and I should make an investment account for my 1 year old and start putting money in there and investing in index funds so that when he's 18 it can pay for his college? I'm moving to california in a year or 2 so their ESAs don't really save any on taxes.

I'm also reading about how people keep accounts just for budgeting purposes like, "home repair account" "Emergency fund account" "monthly bills account" and people end up having like 10+ accounts or are they just arbitrarily budgeting out of 1 account?

Im reading a few books right now on finances, but these are just some new questions I had which I figured I might ask you guys

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i don't do anything close to any of this
look into a 529 account for college though

i keep the majority of my money in my investments, some in savings probably like a 70-30 split
my wife and i have 1 checking and 1 savings account

an HSA account is a great bet, money doesn't die at the end of the year AFAIK and it's pre-tax money so it's free health $$$
good for your kid situation

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oh also here's some great financial advice: don't move to california!

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So I'm looking into 529 again. When I first looked at it, my contributions were not tax deductible, either state or fed, in California specifically. But I just realized that those investments in 529 are tax free and don't count towards income tax when withdrawn. Assuming all my other tax advantaged accounts are maxed out, it does make sense to contribute to this because its essentially tax-free earnings. And if I end up having too much, it can always be transferred to grandchildren.

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