Tell me about your emergency fund

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't have one. I live paycheck to paycheck - I set aside money from one month's checks to pay the next month's bills. If I had the money, I'd be setting it aside for an emergency fund, but I can barely pay my bills and eat most months. If I lost my job, I'd be screwed. However, I'm also young, rent an apartment month-to-month, and don't have kids. I would like to think that once I've graduated and have a decent paying job, I'll have a better handle on things.

I don't have one either, and am getting kind of depressed reading about people with emergency funds that are more than I make in a year. But I'm only 25. It will get better, right?

I do put a little bit aside each month but it's in my 401K, not cash. I thought, given compound interest etc., that would be a better move. Worse comes to worst, I'll move back with my parents.

when i was 25, i made about 30k. it will get better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't have one. I live paycheck to paycheck - I set aside money from one month's checks to pay the next month's bills. If I had the money, I'd be setting it aside for an emergency fund, but I can barely pay my bills and eat most months. If I lost my job, I'd be screwed. However, I'm also young, rent an apartment month-to-month, and don't have kids. I would like to think that once I've graduated and have a decent paying job, I'll have a better handle on things.

Dont feel bad. We dont have an emergency fund. And I am currently without a full time job and struggling right now. How I wish things were different but made many sacrifices for the kids. I am paying for it now

[Anonymous]

I have $1,000 in my EF. It's more than I've had for a long time, so while it's tiny compared to others, I'm proud of myself to have gotten this far. I'm working on paying off debts, then I will increase my EF.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't have one. I live paycheck to paycheck - I set aside money from one month's checks to pay the next month's bills. If I had the money, I'd be setting it aside for an emergency fund, but I can barely pay my bills and eat most months. If I lost my job, I'd be screwed. However, I'm also young, rent an apartment month-to-month, and don't have kids. I would like to think that once I've graduated and have a decent paying job, I'll have a better handle on things.

Don't feel bad! Pay your bills, graduate, get a good job, then start worrying about it. It's really to cover really big expenses like childcare and mortgage, but if you are young and don't have those to worry about, I wouldn't stress it yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't have one. I live paycheck to paycheck - I set aside money from one month's checks to pay the next month's bills. If I had the money, I'd be setting it aside for an emergency fund, but I can barely pay my bills and eat most months. If I lost my job, I'd be screwed. However, I'm also young, rent an apartment month-to-month, and don't have kids. I would like to think that once I've graduated and have a decent paying job, I'll have a better handle on things.

I don't have one either, and am getting kind of depressed reading about people with emergency funds that are more than I make in a year. But I'm only 25. It will get better, right?

I do put a little bit aside each month but it's in my 401K, not cash. I thought, given compound interest etc., that would be a better move. Worse comes to worst, I'll move back with my parents.

When I was 25, I was paying for school, not yet earning a thing. It sounds very smart that you are already contributing to a 401(k). You are right - the power of compounding interest by starting at your age is amazing. I'm trying to convince younger relatives of this whom I see spending all their $. And especially if you have a support system in place to help you through a rocky time, I wouldn't stress too much at this point.

[Anonymous]

Do you have one?
- Yes

How much is in it - both from an actual dollar perspective, and from a months-of-expenses perspective?
- $30k in one easy to access account, $20k in two harder-to-access account. It's about 9-10 months of spending at a reduced rate, not cutting things like cell phone, cable, etc.

Where do you keep it?
- Money market account, municipal bond account, Treasury direct account

What is it intended for, i.e., how do you define an "emergency"?
- If I lost my job or had unexpected mid-sized expenses. I will replenish it some when tax refund time comes, but I'm somewhat worried what I'll do if unexpected expenses come fast and furious. I suppose I could always move but I don't want to do it and DW is particular about the sort of place we will live in. I am too but in different ways, so I guess it balances out. She'll get upset if a vacation is canceled 2+ years in a row but would probably be ok with 2-4 day trips. DW will have trouble balancing 2 kids AND working, she has admitted it, and apologizes in advance to the sisterhood for failing them.

Do you have a separate fund for unplanned yet expected expenses, like big home repairs, or do you lump it all together?
- No, it's all lumped together.

Have you ever used it? What for?
- Not yet.

[Anonymous]

Do you have one?
- Yes

How much is in it - both from an actual dollar perspective, and from a months-of-expenses perspective?
- $15k. That's about 6 months of mortgage payments. We have two stable incomes, so worst case we'd expect is to be on one income for a sustained period. We are still trying to grow this fund, however. We just wiped out a lot to buy a home.

Where do you keep it?
- Liquid savings account. Once we hit about $20k on hand, we'll start putting some of it into a vanguard account.

What is it intended for, i.e., how do you define an "emergency"?
- Job loss, medical emergency, major unexpected repair on home/car. Things of that sort.

Do you have a separate fund for unplanned yet expected expenses, like big home repairs, or do you lump it all together?
- Sorta. We have a rolling budget of $500/mo for home repairs and whatnot every month. The additional gets added to the fund, so this accumulates over time.

Have you ever used it? What for?
- We dipped into it for a down payment, but made sure to leave sufficient buffer as to be comfortable.

Not ideal, but not bad.
We're 25 for reference.

[Anonymous]

Yes, we have about $20,000 in a regular savings account at the moment, which would be enough to cover 3 months of expenses in the highly unlikely event that both of us lost our jobs at the same time.

[Anonymous]

Yes, about $70k in a high-interest savings. Enough to cover us for about a year.

[Anonymous]

Do you have one?
- Yes

How much is in it - both from an actual dollar perspective, and from a months-of-expenses perspective?
- $35k, but it will be 40K soon with my upcoming bonus. The 40K would cover 10 months of basic expenses (mortgage/PITI, food, utilities), assuming I'm collecting unemployment. I'd like to get it up to at least 50K, with another 50K in bonds or CDs.

Where do you keep it?
- money market earning very little.

What is it intended for, i.e., how do you define an "emergency"?
- For a true and extreme emergency - Job loss, uncovered medical care, emergency travel, or major home repair that can't be covered by a HELOC or what is in my short term savings.

Do you have a separate fund for unplanned yet expected expenses, like big home repairs, or do you lump it all together?
- Yes, I have $11K in my short term savings account, which I funnel about 10K/year into via reimbursements from my employer, health care and child care savings accounts, etc. I like to keep at least $5-8K in there for major and unexpected car or home repairs, and the rest is more murky - I may pull the trigger on some home repairs/maintenance, or a nice trip, or for a downpayment on a new car. Haven't decided yet.

Have you ever used it? What for?
- No

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have ~100k in an online savings account. It is from an inheritance. It would cover at least 12 months of no income coming in at all. Other than that emergency cushion, we live pretty much paycheck to paycheck. God, we need to stop spending so much on stupid shit.

+1. Our 100k is not from an inheritance but partly from taking some of the cash value from a very large insurance policy. We felt we needed to fortify our savings in the event of a financial crisis and light of the recent government shutdown. We also paid off substantial credit card debt which prevented us from saving more. Even with the 100K in savings, I still don't feel secure because life is so unpredictable but at least we have a cushion and I am grateful and sleep better at night. We upgraded all our appliances and HVAC system a few years to alleviate any unexpected household expenses given the fact that we are paying private school tuition for our kids.

[Anonymous]

I have about 56k in a savings account and 20k in investments that I could access if I had to. It could last me a long time as I'm single with no dependents.

[Anonymous]

Yes. $30K, we created it when we were 28 but have not touched it. I don't really know the kind of fund it is, our financial planner set it up. It woud cover about 3 months if both of us were out of work 6 months if 1 of us were out of work.

We also have a fund we created for "therapy" for my son. That is just in savings and we hope the $30K that we pulled out of our mortgage will slowly dwindle until he no longer needs help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't have one. I live paycheck to paycheck - I set aside money from one month's checks to pay the next month's bills. If I had the money, I'd be setting it aside for an emergency fund, but I can barely pay my bills and eat most months. If I lost my job, I'd be screwed. However, I'm also young, rent an apartment month-to-month, and don't have kids. I would like to think that once I've graduated and have a decent paying job, I'll have a better handle on things.

I don't have one either, and am getting kind of depressed reading about people with emergency funds that are more than I make in a year. But I'm only 25. It will get better, right?

I do put a little bit aside each month but it's in my 401K, not cash. I thought, given compound interest etc., that would be a better move. Worse comes to worst, I'll move back with my parents.

Be appreciative of what you have. I have very little in an emergency fund right now, less than $300. I am rebuilding it now. As long as you are healthy, you have a chance to start anew and that's worth plenty.

[Anonymous]

Our now defunct rainy day / emergency fund was more than 150K in money market accounts (HHI at the time was 85K a year).
We started using it for extensive renovations to our newly-bought fixer-upper, then DH was laid off for more than a year and we spent every last penny of it. I was glad we had accumulated so much!

Rebuilding it now.