On Free Checking

Several weeks ago, two friends and I entered a deep conversion on the nature of checking accounts and their analogies to Irish folklore. Every facet of the topic was put under scrutiny and distilled to it's most basic element. Over the course of several minutes, a narrative began to form, which became the basis for the slide show below. Having explained the complexities of the modern banking system, I felt compelled to spread the wisdom we had uncovered. A special thanks to my friends, whose names have been altered for the sake of their anonymity.

Yes, this really happened.

So, you have your money, represented by a pot of gold.

You want someplace to safely store your gold, but also allow you to freely take gold out when you need it.

A bank is like a landowner. A checking account is like a hole in the ground on the owner’s land. The landowner offers to safely store your pot of gold in a hole in the ground, on his land.

If the checking account is free, you can freely take gold out of the hole in the ground and not have to worry about your pot of gold.

However, some banks charge fees for their holes in the ground. Fees are like leprechauns being set loose in the field, and they come and start taking some of your gold.

Many banks that have leprechauns will offer to keep the leprechauns away from your hole in the ground, but you have to do something in exchange for it.

The lesson here is, make sure there are no leprechauns before you put your pot of gold in a hole in the ground.

Also, put your gold in a credit union instead.