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Emergency fund amount

2K views 16 replies 14 participants last post by  frugalwarrior2 
#1 ·
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?
 
#4 ·
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
 
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#5 ·
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.
 
#7 ·
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. :(
 
#8 ·
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.
 
#9 ·
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.
 
#10 ·
~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. ~
 
#12 ·
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.
 
#15 ·
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.
 
#16 ·
Our typical EF account has roughly 6 months of expenses in it. I rund everything off for it including what our monthly expenses are. I don't include all the bigger extras like say kids summer camps or the car repair we paid cash for but I do include the fairly routine extras like soccer fees. Since DH and I both make fairly close to the same amount without overtime by doing it this way either one of us could be out of work for a year or both of us for 6 months before we really had to start looking at more desperate forms of paying bills like pulling from retirement.

For a long time both of us have felt we were in very secure jobs, even when the economy was REALLY bad. I have always worried about how I would replace my current position pay wise though as I've worked my way up with just under 20 years in but with out the "paper" I would need somewhere else. While I'm not likely to get canned depending on the rotating chain of command over me there may come a time when I choose to walk as it's come close a couple of times. Having an EF of that size gives me the ability to be able to do that with time to find something good. That piece of mind, makes things SO MUCH less stressfull.

With DH we didn't think there would be a problem with him finding a replacement position at the same or more money but that it would be a physical issue/injury that may put him out for awhile as we have been down the year out due to injury before path.

......Can I just say :relieved:..... and let me repeat that :relieved: as we just went through DH being out of work for just under 6 months with NO real warning. Him and his boss had a disagreement in early Dec., work returns to the norm for the next week. DH takes his 2 weeks unpaid for the holidays and returns to..... you no longer have a job....At that point it's the slow season in his field and no one is hiring. We didn't even have to stress for the next few months. Did I anyway....no but we were careful. At the end of Feb. he started putting feelers out as hiring generally starts in March. By the end of March he was REALLY looking. (i was starting to stress a bit as he should have been able to walk in anywhere in his field and be hired on the spot but his previous boss has been known to blackball people he cans.) He didn't get a real hit till the begining of this month.

Anyhow, did we go through the whole or half of the EF? No. We cut back some but still enjoyed some extras. Dh did do some odd/side jobs and save us from pulling some from the EF as well. However, we did use money from it AND if anything would have happened like our 14 year old car blowing up, or if it would have taken as long as it's taken a lot of other people to find jobs, we would have needed it. It was such a relief to not argue and fight and be in constant anxiety over getting things paid like we did when DH was out injured several years back I wouldn't ever do it any other way from here on out.


Sorry to be so long winded for such a simple question but having been there, done that, I would most DEFINATELY recommend a minimum of 6 months worth of expenses.
 
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#17 ·
I always thought 3 months worth of savings would be enough but now DH has lost his section w/in the company. Many sections want him but there is a hiring freeze. We are sending our youngest to college and I was just in the hosp. w/ diabetes.
No one thinks things will line up this way.
We have $5000. E-fund,$10,000 come from taxes, 2 paid for cars and less debt then ever. BUT I wish we had a years worth.
How much you need-never enough would be my new opinion.
 
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