Anonymous wrote:Michelle singletary recommends an emergency fund of 6 months living expenses, and a "life happens fund" of at least $1k for car repairs, dishwasher breaks, etc.

We auto deduct monthly into a separate saving account that holds these two funds together, and we only dip in when life happens in s major way.

If you don't have at least 3 months of cash flow I would focus on that before retirement or debt payoff.

Anonymous wrote:On DCUM, it means the amount left after you have maxed out 2 retirement accounts, put $1000 into each child's retirement fund, and otherwise funded whatever other retirement saving vehicles you have (IRA, stocks, etc.).

If you're able to set aside another $3-5k per month as "savings," but have nothing left over to spend frivolously on hats, you are among the poors.

Anonymous wrote:We max out both of our 401(k)s and our nondeductible IRAs. so I don't think of those items when I say I save $X a month. But I do include them when I figure we save $170,000 a year.

Anonymous wrote:What do you mean when you say you are saving "$x" every month?

Does that usually mean pre- or post- retirement? Both

What about 529s? Yes

Does it count as "saving" if you are refilling the emergency fund. yes

or know the will go toward a specific purchase or vacation? No

Anonymous wrote:I have:

--retirement savings (automatically deducted from my paycheck into TSP plus some other stuff)
--college savings (auto payments monthly to a 529 account)
--emergency savings (a general amount I try to have safely stashed somewhere pretty accessible and that I work on rebuilding if I tap it for any reason.)
<b>--short term savings (I actually keep this in the same account as my emergency savings so it's just a mental difference. I add to it as often as possible (I used to auto-deposit but had to stop temporarily and am hoping to restart soon) and I use it to pay for stuff that isn't part of my regular budget like vacations or other large purchases.</b>