How to select a bank based on availability in two areas?
Asking a bank for which ATM/branch network it belongs to and where those networks are would be your best bet.
why not ask a fee only financial adviser? Contact a local adviser and ask how much they will charge to work through the process.  The options aren't as complex as they seem. The general idea is to first figure out what you can afford each month. This is a generally straight forward calculation.  Then figure out the costs that are specific to your area, e.g property taxes.  Figure out how much of a down payment /closing costs you can gather.  Then start with your local bank or credit union. The number of options for mortgages will not be as complex if you already know how much you can afford and how much cash you can bring to the transaction. A simple table can be easily created based on what you can afford each month, how much cash you have, and the rates currently available. The bank will have a way to estimate the costs of each option as part of the required disclosures. Another source of good info can be a highly regarded local real estate agent. Focus on one that will represent you as a purchaser. They want you to be able to buy a house. While they do have a bias, they want a commission, most of it is eliminated if you know how much you can afford before you meet with them. They will know all the government programs that can make the monthly costs or closing costs cheaper. "You are overthinking it. Yes there is overlap between them, and you want to understand how much overlap there is so you don't end up with a concentration in one area when you were trying to avoid it. Pick two, put your money in those two; and then put your new money into those two until you want to expand into other funds. The advantage of having the money in an IRA held by a single fund family, is that moving some or all of the money from one Mutual fund/ETF to another is painless. The fact it is a retirement account means that selling a fund to move the money doesn't trigger taxes. The fact that you have about $10,000 for the IRA means that hopefully you have decades left before you need the money and that this $10,00 is just the start. You are not committed to these investment choices. With periodic re-balancing the allocations you make now will be adjusted over the decades. One potential issue. You said: ""I'm saving right not but haven't actually opened the account."" I take it to mean that you have money in a Roth TRA account but it isn't invested into a stock fund, or that you have the money ready to go in a regular bank account and will be making a 2015 contribution into the actual IRA before tax day this year, and the 2016 contribution either at the same time or soon after. If it is the second case make sure you get the money for 2015 into the IRA before the deadline." "&gt; Ms is not one of them  CO is, which is where the gay bakery incident that's going to the SCOTUS happened...  &gt;providing a service based on their bias is ok for some and not for others.   No, I think that it's okay to not provide service for any reason *except based on status in a protected class."" This really isn't a difficult concept. And yes, I think that orientation should be a protected class anywhere that it isn't yet.   Dude, this is the same as employment law and other discrimination areas like apartment rental. You can fire someone for any reason or no reason, but not for a reason of membership in a protected class. You can refuse to rent to someone for any reason except membership in a protected class.   Do you see the pattern yet?  &gt;How can you not see the similar aspects of the two  Because there are no similar aspects between non-choice biological factors and by-choice rhetoric.   &gt;You are agreeing with a company choosing to do business with whom they want to, but then you are doubling down on having another business doing the same thing   Rephrased, this says, ""You're saying that sometimes X but then trying to say that sometimes Y!"" Yes. Exactly. There are different circumstances. ""You're agreeing that a company can do business with whomever they want except but another company can't because they're refusing based on protected classes.""  Libertarian fantasy land logic doesn't work in the real world." Where do you live? I have not seen a single instance where renting is cheaper per month then purchasing a home. You are obviously doing well, so I'm not questioning the logistics just curious.   $200,000 home or less is roughly $1,300 - $1,500 a month with everything included (property taxes, etc), based on when I was looking at homes to purchase. To rent the same size home would have been about the same (or more) depending on the area. Texas and California being my main two areas of interest. The property I purchased now was being rented out for $1,100 but a 30-year fixed mortage w/ property taxes is only about $630 a month. If your end goal is IB and you can get in to a good school, then the second one.  Otherwise, an MFin from a non-target school will be a difficult sell without experience, I think.   /r/financialcareers if you haven't tried already "Some features to be aware of are: How you prioritize these features will depend on your specific circumstances.  For instance, if your credit score is poor, you may have to choose among cards you can get with that score, and not have much choice on other dimensions.  If you frequently travel abroad, a low or zero foreign transaction fee may be important; if you never do, it probably doesn't matter.  If you always pay the balance in full, interest rate is less important than it is if you carry a balance.  If you frequently travel by air, an airline card may be useful to you; if you don't, you may prefer some other kind of rewards, or cash back. Cards differ along numerous dimensions, especially in the ""extra benefits"" area, which is often the most difficult area to assess, because in many cases you can't get a full description of these extra benefits until after you get the card.  A lot of the choice depends on your personal preferences (e.g., whether you want airline miles, rewards points of some sort, or cash back).  Lower fees and interest rates are always better, but it's up to you to decide if a higher fee of some sort outweighs the accompanying benefits (e.g., a better rewards rate).  A useful site for finding good offers is NerdWallet." "I would say a lot of the answers here aren't quite right. The main issue here is that banking is a highly oligopolous industry - there are few key players (the UK, for example, has only 5 major banks operating under a variety of brands: it's all the same companies underneath) and the market is very, very hard to enter owing to the immense regulatory burden. Because the landscape is so narrow and it's possible to keep close tabs on all  your competitors, there's no incentive to spend money on shiny new things to keep up with the competition - the industry is purely reactive.  If nobody else has an awesome, feature-filled online portal, there's no need for any one bank to make one.  If everybody is reactive, and nobody proactive, then it's a short logical deduction that improvements happen at a glacial pace. Also take into account that when you've got this toxic ""bare-minimum"" form of competition, the question for these people soon turns to ""what can we get away with?"" which results in things like subpar online portals with as much information as you like delivered on paper for a hefty charge, and extortionate, price fixed administrative fees.  Furthermore your transaction history is super valuable information.  There are one or two highly profitable companies who collate international transaction data and whose sole job in life is to restrict access to that information to the highest bidders.  Your transaction history is an asset in a multibillion dollar per year industry, and as such it is not surprising that banks don't want to give it out for free." "Bank of America has been selling off their local branches to smaller banks in recent years.  Here are a few news stories related to this: Along with the branch buildings, the local customers' savings and checking accounts are sold to the new bank.  It is interesting that you were told that your savings account is being sold, but that your checking account will remain with BofA.  I guess it depends on the terms of the particular sale. Here are your options, as I see it: Let the savings account move to the new bank, and see what the new terms are like.  You might actually like the new bank.  If you don't, you can shop around and close your account at the new bank after it has been created. Close your account now, before the move.  If you have a different bank you'd like to move to, there is no need to wait. Since your checking account is apparently staying with BofA, you could move all your money from your savings account to your checking account, closing your savings account.  Then after ""mid August"" when the local branch switches to the new bank and everyone else's savings account has moved, you can call up BofA and tell them you want to move some of the money from your checking account into a new savings account. If you really have your heart set on staying with BofA, option 3 looks like a good, easy choice. To address your other concerns: Bank of America is a big credit card company, so I doubt that your credit card is being sold off.  Your credit card account should stay as-is.  Even if your savings account and checking account are at a different bank, there is no need to switch credit cards. Your savings and checking accounts have nothing to do with your credit report or score, so there is no concern there.  If you end up wanting to switch to a new credit card with a different bank, there are minor hits to your credit score involved with applying for a new card and closing your current card, but if I were you I would not worry about your credit score in this.  Switch credit cards if you want a change, and keep your credit card if you don't."