22:20 here - forgot HHI. $100K-ish plus child support and about $8K in rental income.

Typically about $8-$10K, though I might get down to $5K during some months when the credit card payment and the mortgage payment go out a few days before I get paid.

I keep a $5K cushion in there, and pretend it's not there. I do this because I'm a single mom, and if something happened to my ex, there might be a lag between child support payments and insurance kicking in.

What's the interest rate of your checking account?
If it's less than 0.5%, put in smart pig! ally,etc?

Are you maxed out in 401k? That's a lot of cash on hand unless you have medium risk job.

Anonymous wrote:Where are people keeping their emergency funds if not in a checking account? We keep 60,000 in our checking acct as the emergency fund, which is about 4 months of expenses for us. Where else should we put it? Savings accounts pretty much earn no interest now.

Anonymous wrote:No doofus, that's how people who actually developed a budget describe and account for money.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$1.5k = $1500 these days? Are you trying to disguise the $1500?

I thought the same thing. Must be the new cool money lingo.

Or we could all just call it shortened scientific notation and not cool money lingo.

Where are people keeping their emergency funds if not in a checking account? We keep 60,000 in our checking acct as the emergency fund, which is about 4 months of expenses for us. Where else should we put it? Savings accounts pretty much earn no interest now.

Per month we normally keep about $10k in checking (enough to pay the bills plus around $1k buffer). Everything else goes into savings.

Our income fluctuates year-to-year but it's approximately $200K. Have $30K in checking. DH freaks if it gets below $20K.

No doofus, that's how people who actually developed a budget describe and account for money.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$1.5k = $1500 these days? Are you trying to disguise the $1500?

I thought the same thing. Must be the new cool money lingo.

Anonymous wrote:I only keep what I am planning to spend until payday in there. Whatever is left at the end of the pay period goes to savings, so essentially start the new pay period with $0. Pay the bills, transfer whatever is going into savings, and then everything else in the checking account is for spending. Then the cycle continues. If payday comes and I didn't spend it all, that goes into savings and I start fresh with $0.

That is a great approach! Wish I had thought of it decades ago!

$300k

Usually about $15k. Sometimes $10, sometimes $20.

I generally don't like it below $10k cause it means I might have to actually pay attention to what's outstanding. Over $10k I don't have to think about it.

HHI of 95k
Our checking typically has a balance between $500 and $3k.
We have $70k in savings accounts and $120k in a brokerage account that is easily accessible, plus an unused HELOC line of $120k and about $200k of available credit on credit cards.

We can come up with a lot of cash easily.

I agree with this 100%.

If your job is reasonably stable, I think it is possible to be 'too' liquid.

Now, if you are trying to time a market drop, that is one reason to have a bunch of cash, but generally I think the emergency fund is a little overcooked on this forum. Not that it is a bad idea but there are a lot of ways to achieve security beyond just having a pile of cash in the bank

I just don't see a situation where you need to be very liquid in less than 24 hours.

And like PP said, my CC limit will let me charge to cover most emergencies.

HHI $180K

At any given time, I have about $100 more than I need to pay my monthly bills and cash expenditures in a given month. So right now, about $300.

I've got about $100K in brokerage accounts that are liquid funds, plus credit cards of course. (and in a real emergency could pull from 401K and 529 accounts).

This thread makes me wonder though - is there any rational reason I need to be more liquid than this?

My view is that god forbid I have some emergency requiring me to come up with $10,000 in 24 hours I can put it on the credit card - and if it takes me 3-5 days to withdraw funds from the brokerage, that is OK.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$113k

$35k in checking

Unless you're planning on buying a car next week, this is insane.

Why? We have 25K in our checking count and probably 150K in our savings account. I'm waiting for the market to tank then I'll throw some more money into stocks. It's not like there are many low risk investments with decent returns now.