Not a "stupid question".
A few things to consider:
1) From a pure "safety" standpoint, as long as you are using a "strong" password, your account is probably as safe as that as your bank's online account. (Definite preference to banks that use 2-factor authentication though.) I would recommend using a password management service such as 1password (
https://1password.com) to manage your passwords (don't use the same password across accounts, don't use "weak" passwords).
2) Also from a "safety" standpoint, most US customer balances in PayPal are not FDIC issued, but it seems like they are in beta testing to have some balances using pass-through FDIC insurance. (
https://www.paypal.com/us/smarthelp/...verage-faq3588)
You might discount the importance of PayPal offering FDIC insurance right this minute, as it is a $100B market cap public company...but as we know, there's always some probability of things not working out the way you thought.
3) From a maximizing perspective, leaving a balance in PayPal is probably just leaving money on the table. You don't earn interest on that PayPal balance. You can connect your PayPal account to a savings account and easily transfer money into an interest bearing account. (Or connect to a checking account and then shuttle money from that checking account into a savings account. As mentioned, sending money to someone else via PayPal will directly draw from that connected account, so you need not leave a balance in PayPal in order to immediately pay someone.) If you are holding cash assets, then you should probably be earning at least 1.85% interest on that balance (as of 9/5) if you're talking about a savings or money market account. (Yeah, there's a wide range, but google it, but there are many FDIC-insured accounts that provide competitive rates.)
As always, do your own research and fact-check me...don't just blindly trust me.
Cheers,
Steve
09-05-2018, 05:45 PM
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