I was doing some money stuff tonight, and it occured to me my financial life is very complicated. It turns out I have 9 separate bank/brokerage accounts across the US and Thailand.

In Thailand, I only have two bank accounts, both savings accounts at different banks.

But in the US, I have seven more accounts,

three bank checking accounts

one money market type account (ING)

two brokerage accounts

one retirement IRA brokerage account

All of them except the Thai ones are linked in some way or another, and from two of the US bank accounts and one of the brokerage accounts, I can wire money to Thailand.

How did this ever get so complicated? I am just a humble retiree here. Is this typical?

No, not typical, you should have more!!!

I have 14 different accounts and am always looking to open others (1 more in the pipework will make 15) while I am still earning money.

Diversification it's called, don't want to many basques in one exit in case the bank burns down.

I have 11 accounts across 4 countries with 4 different banks. It's not actually planned that way, it's just that you open accounts for some reason and never seem to get them closed as they usually somehting connected to them. Diversification in this environment is not a bad thing though. Putting all cash into one bank could be asking for trouble - best to spread it around a bit.