Schwab Brokerage Account questions

[wasCB14]

Most have probably already heard about TD and etrade, but now Fidelity is going (mostly) commission-free.

[Janus]

I think I've pretty much decided to open an account with them. Question though. Do you have to open both brokerage and checking acounts, or can can you just open the a brokerage? I really don't want extra ccounts to manages, so I'd prefer just one. Unless there's some advantage of having both.

[MrCreditInternational]

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@Janus wrote:

I think I've pretty much decided to open an account with them. Question though. Do you have to open both brokerage and checking acounts, or can can you just open the a brokerage? I really don't want extra ccounts to manages, so I'd prefer just one. Unless there's some advantage of having both.

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Opening both accounts waives the minimum balance required for the brokerage account. Also, funds transfer almost instantaneously between the two accounts, which is very convenient.

However, since there's no minimum balance requirement for both accounts, you can open both and keep one of them at 0$ balance without any fear. I'd just keep the checking account until you decide to make it your primary checking account, which would probably happen soon

[Janus]

Oh really, what is the minimum balance required? I've looked all over and didn't read anything about that anywhere. 

[MrCreditInternational]

true, looks like they changed that so both are free now.

[Revelate]

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@Janus wrote:

I think I've pretty much decided to open an account with them. Question though. Do you have to open both brokerage and checking acounts, or can can you just open the a brokerage? I really don't want extra ccounts to manages, so I'd prefer just one. Unless there's some advantage of having both.

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When most management is done via a web interface or an app, and your brokerage account is something you might log into more frequently anyway than a traditional checking or savings account... with both of them in the same interface is this much of a concern regardless?

[M_Smart007]

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@Janus wrote:

I think I've pretty much decided to open an account with them. Question though. Do you have to open both brokerage and checking acounts, or can can you just open the a brokerage? I really don't want extra ccounts to manages, so I'd prefer just one. Unless there's some advantage of having both.

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You can have check writing and ATM debit card attached to your brokerage account, I did this for years.

I recently opened a High Yield checking at a Schwab CSR's recommendation. (daily mobile check deposit limit is $25K )

As I would get some interest on the amount of Money I was running through the account, it was quite a bit.

 I keep large amounts in SWVXX  (Value Advantage Money Fund)

that is not marked for Investing.

[Janus]

I thought about getting both, though it didn't seem that the interest was very high on the High Yield Checking. Compared to my NFCU account, so I planned to keep more there. And like I said I really didn't want another account to worry about, and have already added acouple for SUBs recently.  I thought that if just the Brokerage account covered all the bases that the checking did, I could get by without another account.

[CreditCuriosity]

You can open a brokerage account with a min. or possibly $25 without a checking account the the information above was inaccurate and there is no fee to keep it