Emergency fund amount

**Russ** · 05-24-2011, 09:01 AM

After reading this article, I gave our efund some thought and based on things that *could* go wrong, I think we have a good amount.
I thought about car repairs, hospital deductibles, appliance death, etc.

We have a $3k emergency fund and are comfy with that.

Anybody keep a higher amount and if so, what's your thinking?

**craftypam** · 05-24-2011, 09:11 AM

Dh has a seasonal job so I have always had a very large emergency fund (never called it that; just call it a savings account)
I NEVER wanted to have to rely on anyone else to pay my bills.

**Brat** · 05-24-2011, 09:15 AM

I always try to keep the amount of 3 years salary..It takes that long to get SS thought some times.

**Ashley01** · 05-24-2011, 09:16 AM

I have about 5600 in my efs and am really comfortable with that. I rent so if anything major breaks I don't have to cover it and I have a separate savings for car maintaince so the 5600 would definitely cover anything beyond that. But just because I'm comfortable doesn't mean I'm going to stop saving lol

**Telephus44** · 05-24-2011, 11:55 AM

We're at about 3K now, but aiming for 5K. I can't think of any realistic emergency situation (for us) that would require more cash than that immediately. And if I'm spending more than that, I want to be able to think carefully about where to get it.

**ErikM02** · 05-24-2011, 12:02 PM

No emergency fund here... Way too far into debt for that

**krbshappy71** · 05-24-2011, 12:13 PM

Originally Posted by ErikM02

No emergency fund here... Way too far into debt for that

Hugs, ErickM02, but an emergency fund can actually help ward off the debt in the long run. Its already bailed me out a few times with items that would have gone to a credit card. I'm struggling to build mine back up again but once you see the benefit, being bailed out by it, its hard to imagine not having one.

Russ, someday I want a 1 year one because a friend of mine said that's how long it took him to get disability checks after an emergency. A year!! He ended up taking out a home-equity loan until then.

**frugal is fun** · 05-24-2011, 01:28 PM

well I do have more in my ef but I admit, I am extremely paranoid about money in general. I have almost $6,000 in my credit union which I can get to within 24hrs if something happened.

I have almost $20,000 in investments (separate from retirement), which I really try to forget about. If I lost my source of income this would be my true EF if I needed it. My local $6,000 is for the "every day" emergencies like new tires, car repairs, appliances, etc.

Honestly I'm not comfortable with these amounts. My job is as secure as any job can be. I try not to take my job security for granted and realize that anything can happen any day. however, I think its this line of thinking that has me so paranoid and not comfortable with the amount of money I have.

My current goal is to get the amount in my credit union to $10,000.This is just a number, there is no rhyme or reason behind it. I hope then my paranoia will ease and I can start to save for things like new furniture which I've been dying to buy but have been putting off.

Money is such a personal thing.

**MomToTwoBoys** · 05-24-2011, 03:04 PM

I just started ours back up after we moved and bought the new house. I put $100 in there each month because that's about what I feel comfortable putting in there. I have almost $500 in it now. I'll be putting $1k in there in total and then I'll start another fund for education/retirement. We'll have a 3 month EF once we pay off the inlaws (in the form of an open LOC) and with the economy here, that's more than sufficient.

Any money I make from the sale of my book(s) will go into a TFSA. I know a lot of people stop at having one BEF and one larger EF, but I like having lots in savings to help in case anything major does happen (that's not likely around here, but it's going in there regardless). This September is also the start of our education and retirement savings plans, so we'll be fully prepared. If anything, I'd sell the house and rent if it came down to us needing more than an EF/BEF to pay for something.

**nuisance26** · 05-24-2011, 03:26 PM

~We have a year's expenses. I don't think we need that much. I was very comfortable with 3 months of expenses. But we're a one income family so all financial logic points to having a large fund in case something happens to DH's job.
We've actually never had to use an EF for emergencies like car repairs, appliances, home repairs, etc. We've had those situations but I've always had enough in the budget to cover them without dipping into the fund. ~

**MomToTwoBoys** · 05-24-2011, 06:50 PM

Originally Posted by nuisance26

~We have a year's expenses. I don't think we need that much. I was very comfortable with 3 months of expenses. But we're a one income family so all financial logic points to having a large fund in case something happens to DH's job.
We've actually never had to use an EF for emergencies like car repairs, appliances, home repairs, etc. We've had those situations but I've always had enough in the budget to cover them without dipping into the fund. ~

Is that figure just using bare essential expenses? I'd love to be able to have one year's expenses, being that we're an income-and-a-half household.

**mndtrp** · 05-25-2011, 02:12 AM

I currently have about 1 year's worth of take home pay in a savings account. This could probably be stretched out to 2 year's worth of bills, but that would be tough. At the end of the year, though, my wife and I are going on our honeymoon (only a year and a half after our marriage), which will wipe out half of that account. We both feel safe with the amount left over, and will keep that amount separate from any future non-emergency expenditures.

**nuisance26** · 05-25-2011, 09:24 AM

Originally Posted by MomToTwoBoys

Is that figure just using bare essential expenses? I'd love to be able to have one year's expenses, being that we're an income-and-a-half household.

~Bare but not completely bare. It's housing(mortgage, utilities including our pay-as-you-go cells and internet, taxes, water and taxes), food, clothes($20 month, just basics that are truly needed), gas and insurance for one car, medical(just $100 a a month, if we are uninsured it probably won't be enough) and birthday money(we don't do holidays so I thought this was important).
My DH has always been ok living close to the edge and a bit in debt. But when I told him about saving a year's expenses he was very interested. When it was done he was very very happy. It really brings him a feeling of security so it's worth it for that!~

**wanderlusting** · 05-25-2011, 03:46 PM

We have $8k socked away in our emergency fund. However we may moved 4k into our savings account to buy some land.

**mom2three** · 05-27-2011, 07:25 AM

We have a baby EF of 2500 which we are rebuilding after car repairs (unplanned -planned expenses came from another account). Eventually I'd like to have another 20K in easy to get to investments for our 6 mos emergency fund. It will be a challenge to build though unless hubby gets totally on board.