Set up your banking: one account for checking + savings
The traditional setup is two accounts: a checking account at a big bank that earns nothing, and a high-yield savings account somewhere else that earns a real rate. It works, but you spend your life transferring money between them — and every dollar sitting in checking earns nothing.
A Fidelity Cash Management Account (CMA) collapses the pair into one account. I use it now as my main checking + savings account. You no longer need to transfer money from checking to savings in order to earn a higher interest: the entire balance sits in the core position — I use SPAXX, Fidelity’s Government Money Market Fund — and earns money market rates. When a bill comes due, Fidelity automatically sells the core position to pay it. Checking behavior, savings yield.
Set it up
- Open the account. Open a Cash Management Account at Fidelity. The Finance Buff’s walkthrough covers the mechanics and trade-offs well; Frugal Professor has a deep guide too.
- Choose the core position. You can hold an FDIC-insured deposit sweep or a money market fund. I use SPAXX — the yield is the point of the exercise.
- Move your direct deposit. The CMA has a routing and account number like any checking account. Update your paycheck.
- Move your bills. Point autopay — credit cards, utilities, housing — at the CMA. Fidelity sells the core position automatically to cover each payment, which pairs well with automating as much as possible.
- Get the debit card. The CMA debit card reimburses ATM fees.
- Drain the old accounts. Transfer your checking and high-yield savings balances over. I still keep a legacy account at Bank of America for cash deposits — the one thing a branchless account can’t do — but I rarely go there now.
Where the emergency fund lives
Our emergency fund is the same account — cash in SPAXX, easily accessible, and not subject to market risk. For how much to hold and why, see Build your savings.