I Will Teach You to Be Rich: No Guilt. No Excuses. No B.S. Just a 6-Week Program That Works.

by Ramit Sethi

week two 1 Open a checking account or assess the one you already have (one hour). Find an account that works for you, call the bank (or go in), and open the account. If you’ve already got one, make absolutely sure it is a no-fee, no-minimum account. How? Open up your last bank statement or, if you don’t have that, call your bank and say, “I’d like to confirm that my bank account has no fees and no minimums whatsoever. Can you confirm that?” If you discover you’ve been paying fees, use the negotiating tactic to get your account switched to a no-fee, no-minimum account. Be aggressive in threatening to leave if they don’t switch you. 2 Open an online high-interest savings account (three hours). You’ll earn higher interest, and it’s psychologically powerful to have your savings account separate from your checking: You’ll be much less likely to dip into your savings if it's not immediately reachable through your normal banking. Spend a couple of hours looking over the banks I recommended. To see a more comprehensive list, compare banks at bankrate.com or check my website to see what my blog readers think of different bank accounts. 2a Optional: Open an online checking account (two hours). This isn’t absolutely necessary, but if you’re ready to be more advanced about your checking and earn a higher interest rate, go ahead and open up an online checking account. Remember, the main benefits of an online checking account are a high interest rate and fewer tricky fees. If you don’t ...