to characterize for 2022, you need to have it done by april 18.

for 2023, the sooner you get it all in, the sooner you'll be earning on that money.

the only proven tool with investing is time, so...you know.

If you have the money, do it now. The whole time in market thing.

You're just starting out, and your limit is tiny. It's pretty easy to get a $50,000 credit limit spread over several credit cards, at which point even $5,000 of spending per month is only 10% utilization.

With that being said, the reasons for using the card have nothing to do with credit score. They have to do with convenience, security, and earning cash back or other perks.

In the meantime, you can pay off your card every week to keep your utilization low, if you need to goose your score. But your score only matters if you're applying for more credit (e.g. getting a mortgage), so if that's not the case you don't need to worry about it and can let your score increase naturally.

Actually, it sounds like your score is already fine. Don't worry about it. 5-10 point changes are just normal fluctuations.

You don't get penalized for high credit utilization.

I just got penalized for having too low of credit utilization. Don’t you know there’s a secret recipe for success that no one will tell you?

Do they even track this (utilization amounts) if it's always paid before due date?

Looks like you're right: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/is-a-money-market-account-insured-en-1007/#:~:text=Yes.,however%2C%20are%20not%20federally%20insured.

I was thinking of my money market account with Fidelity (my "core account"), which is probably not FDIC insured. But I don't expect my "investment" money to be insured, and it may lose value, so I'm OK with that.

No penalty CDs don't lock you in (and their rate actually just dropped 0.4%. Still higher than their HYSA rate)

It takes a few seconds to move money from a HYSA to a no penalty CD and you get a better rate. This is a no brainer.

MMDAs are usually FDIC insured.

That's unfortunate. Glad I got 4k in there on friday.

This sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. Try door dash on the weekends to convert free time into cash.

I think you’re right, I saw somewhere on the website about the fees being lower for target date funds. That’s what I’m going to do. Keep those fees off my profit.

A HYSA (High Yield Savings Account) is exactly that, a savings account. If that's what you are wanting, just the generic 'Ally Savings' account at 3.75% is what you want. This will be the perfect set it and forget it option. If you're interested in CD's which uncharacteristically have better rates, the you can choose one of the CD's listed. Others here have good advice on which to choose.

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I believe that typical "money market" accounts are not FDIC insured, while I know that the Ally savings account is. Given the state of the banking sector, and Ally's financial state in particular, I'm willing to sacrifice 0.25% for the knowledge that the FDIC is insuring all of my deposits.

EDIT: My assumption was incorrect; money market accounts by Ally are FDIC insured, so I'm also not seeing a substantive difference between the Ally savings and Ally money market account.

You are spending way too much time and energy obsessing over your credit score. You're likely also over-spending because you have the ability to charge. You "spent a little extra" because it was easy and convenient because you had the headroom on your credit to do it. Had you had the cash on hand, you might have decided not to spend it.

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Thank you for that information. Glad I initiated my deposit Monday. They have that 10 day best rate guarantee.

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A good credit score is only worth it if you’re using it. Continue to use your card as your are and don’t worry about the temporary decreases.

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Savings account has a limit of 6 by law are money market accounts less than that? It didn’t seem that way

Probably just the limited amount of transactions per statement