Personal Banking/Investing Help Needed
Hey everyone,
First-gen college student/corporate professional here. I am currently in my second year of study and banking with Chase using the Sapphire Preferred card and Business card for a business I started a few years back. Not sure if I should stay with Chase, work up the card ladder and personally invest with Chase wealth management with them as I get into my first job (realistically first-year analyst) out of undergrad or go bank somewhere else. I just looking for a good credit card/bank/place to invest in the future. Done tons of research but still at a loss for where to go as all options seem valid. Any advice?
IMO in the beginning, put away into your 401k with your first job, and build up your emergency fund (3-6 months of expenses) before moving into investing. My first was a fintech like Betterment, but if you don't have any savings yet, wait for that before starting the spend hundreds of dollars a year on a card when you can get other for free and build credit.
Chase is great in terms of credit cards. For investing, would stick to traditional brokerages like TD/Charles Schwab, Fidelity, E*TRADE, etc. While some people will recommend more tech-savvy brokerages (M1 Finance, webull, betterment, sofi), if you do end up as a first year analyst at a large financial institution, chances are you will need to move your assets over to an approved firm, which none of these newer players are.
I’m a huge fan of American Express. Been a card holder for years. I think their app is really easy to navigate and use. Both of my Amex cards Ive had got pretty big point sign on bonuses. If you like to travel the delta gold or platinum is nice.
And I started with the delta gold, had it for a handful of years and was reached out to for an upgrade to platinum and got another big point bonus for upgrading
You can also look into credit unions, if you want a more personal experience they're good. Otherwise, something like Capital One/Wells/Bofa/etc. have a good physical branch and ATM footprint. Additionally, Capital One and Fidelity Cash Mgmt offer no fee ATM withdrawals in domestic/international ATMs so opening accounts there would be worth it if you travel.
Schwab/Fidelity/Vanguard for the most part are good for IRAs, could make sense to just one broker for various accounts (e.g. IRA and regular brokerage with Fidelity along with their Cash Mgmt account, or something similar with Schwab, etc.).
Really appreciate this, I opened an IRA account with Fidelity with around $5k and I currently holding around $10k in savings. Once I get my first real job I will look into Fidelity Cash Mgmt.
From the previous posts I think I'll hold out on investing for a bit and save enough to be out of work for a few months, max out my 401k, then look into getting the fancy amex and credit card benefits :P
For banking, stick with who has the most branches in your area. And separate your banking and credit cards. For example, as someone who lives in NYC, I bank with chase but I have my credit card (yes just one) with amex in the platinum. I'm sure people can come at me with how I'm not gaming credit cards properly etc etc but I think what I have works well for me. In terms of investing in the future, I wouldn't necessarily judge who you bank with for that if I'm understanding correctly. If you end up making above a certain amount, all the premium offerings in terms of wealth mgmt or financial advisory for banks will open up to you. You're not really subject to "working your way up" just because you've banked with them since you just had a wee checkings account.
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