Emergency Funds

[sailor]

30k sitting around making nothing??? I’d much rather have that money making me 10% in stocks.

And what stocks, would that be ?

[HogHunter34]

Like said above typically 3-6 months living expenses. In some cases during recession times where hiring decreases some will say up to 9 months maybe better. They’re designed to be easy access & not focused as much on growth or yield. Growth & higher yield is more focused toward retirement investments

[be12hunt]

And what stocks, would that be ?

You pick them, point is there are safe investments that are going to return a lot more than having that much money sitting in a savings account earning nearly nothing.

[lunatic'hunter]

3 months in a savings account for emergency money.
Then invest regularly into your retirement fund as much as you are able. Save for some future purchase you might desire separate from these. And return some to the Lord God every month who has blessed you with health life and a good job. that's it.

[Soclose]

Follow the Dave Ramsey Advice. My suggestion is that once you get your Emergency fund, you set your paycheck so that as much as possible continues to go into a savings account. You will be surprised how little a man can live on. The problem with most, is that they try to keep up with their friends who always buy new but fail to realize their debt! It is a lot easier to leave a bad job/boss when you have money in the bank. I also know you probably aren’t thinking about retiring at this point.... but the sooner you put a plan together, the sooner you can set those goals. It is all about making plans and working towards them. You’d be surprised at how many in their 50s and 60s don’t know how much they have for retirement. I’m 33 and meet annually to do a financial health check with my financial plannner. It doesn’t matter much now, but what I do now, will matter a lot in 20-30 years.

[RR 314]

You pick them, point is there are safe investments that are going to return a lot more than having that much money sitting in a savings account earning nearly nothing.

2008-2009 just called. She wants to talk to you. :-)

Earning nothing is better than losing 30+ percent. The “emergency fund” is more likely to be needed in global slowdowns than boom times (all other things remaining constant).

[WItoTX]

Track every single expense for a month. Truck payment, mortgage, gas, electric, spending money, literally every single dime. Then take that amount and multiply it by whatever months cushion you want in emergency savings. I'd do at least 6 months but if it helps you sleep better at night to do more then by all means sock it away.

This. Food gets expensive fast, its our third biggest cost in our household.

[CTR0022]

That seems a little excessive for most people.


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Maybe, to me a true emergency fund is not for losing your job. If you lose your job you should be able to collect unemployemmet, go get a job paying $10-15 an hour, sell some toys or basically bring in some income while you get back to your normally pay.

Emergency funds are if you get the C word and cant work as you go through surgeries, radiation, chemo. Or a bad car accident, a hurricane Harvey situation, your house catches fire, a WWIII situation, or something were you have mounting medical bills and are unable to work while you fight for your life or to get your life back in order.

It may take 3-5 years or maybe even 6-8 years to get the emergency fund satisfactory, but that's just my recommendations.

[AZST_bowhunter]

Dave Ramsey always says 3-6 months of your living expenses is good for an emergency fund. You want this cash available if needed, so a regular saving account is fine. If you feel like you need more, then no issue with putting more.

Going through the course as we speak!

[HogHunter34]

You pick them, point is there are safe investments that are going to return a lot more than having that much money sitting in a savings account earning nearly nothing.

Typically this is not advised for emergency fund. It’s for quick access to a stack of $ to help in times of unexpected expenses. Savings beyond that for retirement or long term investing is geared more for growth & better yields. Not saying you can’t have emergency fund in a higher yield savings account but just take caution on investments that can flex with losses like stocks, mutual funds, etc

[be12hunt]

2008-2009 just called. She wants to talk to you. :-)

Earning nothing is better than losing 30+ percent. The “emergency fund” is more likely to be needed in global slowdowns than boom times (all other things remaining constant).

Lol I get what you are saying and know that there is some inherent risk. However, look at the last 10 years. How much would you have made if you had 30k invested in the market? My only point is there are downsides to holding that much capital making you nothing.

Typically this is not advised for emergency fund. It’s for quick access to a stack of $ to help in times of unexpected expenses. Savings beyond that for retirement or long term investing is geared more for growth & better yields. Not saying you can’t have emergency fund in a higher yield savings account but just take caution on investments that can flex with losses like stocks, mutual funds, etc

I’m not arguing that there is a risk, my point is that holding too much in a low yield savings can be a waste of earning potential.

[Twipper333]

Dave Ramsey says shed all debt, the only exception being a mortgage. Don't have more than $1000 cash on hand until you pay off your truck. We just paid my wife's tahoe off in 1.5 years on a 6 year note. Then you have basically a brand new vehicle and all of the money you would be paying for a truck payment goes straight into your emergency fund.

He also says don't even contribute to any IRA/401k/Life Insurance, etc until you have gotten rid of ALL debt except mortgage and then have 3-6 months in liquid cash sitting in the bank.

Once you have all of those first steps complete, then you start stacking away money into your retirement investment instruments to catch them up.

This method has worked well for us and we are light years ahead of most others around our age group.

[Acameron52]

Thanks for the input fellas. I’m trying to set myself up well. I work for a city that doubles our amount into our pension so that’s getting maxed out. I’m also maxing out a Roth IRA as well as putting some money into a 457 account. My dad has always preached the “pay yourself first” way of thinking.

I had a slight lapse in judgement and bought a new truck in October, but it is in no way putting a bind on me. I have decided though that I will no longer finanace vehicles or toys if I can avoid it. I really want a Harley but that’s going to have to wait until I can save up some cash for a used one.

My last thing to do is an emergency fund. I don’t know why it’s taken me this long but it has. I’m going to do some research this afternoon on some different high yield savings accounts and see where it goes.

Do y’all think it would be smart to pull some cash out of my savings and fund my emergency fund right away or just start slowly putting money into it as I can?

[antonlsu]

Dave Ramsey says shed all debt, the only exception being a mortgage. Don't have more than $1000 cash on hand until you pay off your truck. We just paid my wife's tahoe off in 1.5 years on a 6 year note. Then you have basically a brand new vehicle and all of the money you would be paying for a truck payment goes straight into your emergency fund.

He also says don't even contribute to any IRA/401k/Life Insurance, etc until you have gotten rid of ALL debt except mortgage and then have 3-6 months in liquid cash sitting in the bank.

Once you have all of those first steps complete, then you start stacking away money into your retirement investment instruments to catch them up.

This method has worked well for us and we are light years ahead of most others around our age group.

Don't contribute at all to any 401k/IRA until all your debt is paid off? I think that's too broad of a statement. For example, I still owe on my 2016 RAM, however its at less than 1% interest, why would i pay that off when I can earn more than 1% on my money?

Also, if your company matches your IRA/401K investment, you're just throwing away free money not to atleast invest up to the % that they match.

[be12hunt]

Thanks for the input fellas. I’m trying to set myself up well. I work for a city that doubles our amount into our pension so that’s getting maxed out. I’m also maxing out a Roth IRA as well as putting some money into a 457 account. My dad has always preached the “pay yourself first” way of thinking.

I had a slight lapse in judgement and bought a new truck in October, but it is in no way putting a bind on me. I have decided though that I will no longer finanace vehicles or toys if I can avoid it. I really want a Harley but that’s going to have to wait until I can save up some cash for a used one.

My last thing to do is an emergency fund. I don’t know why it’s taken me this long but it has. I’m going to do some research this afternoon on some different high yield savings accounts and see where it goes.

Do y’all think it would be smart to pull some cash out of my savings and fund my emergency fund right away or just start slowly putting money into it as I can?

By savings do you mean IRA or 457 accounts? If so then no I would not do that. Just start adding to it moving forward.