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Economists say this is the minimum amount of money you need in an emergency fund
- Thread starter Sqrt
- Start date
If your cashflow and savings don't dictate that you can just buy something outright then don't buy it.
There is ton of things you can save up for, your kids college, new car, vacations, unforeseen events.
I have a long term emergency fund in case I lose my job (10k) and I'm currently building a smaller emergency fund for things like car issues and the like. It'll max out at 1.5k. Both are in online savings accounts with interest around 2%. I have some other savings accounts for things like vacation, house savings, etc.
If you have a monthly recreation budget of $100, and want something worth $1000, saving most of your recreation budget for a year to buy that thing is a very very normal and responsible thing to do.
That feels like too much. I have about 50 K and I already feel that I have too much and should start shoving it in a ROTH account or bonds/index funds.
Shouldn't it be?
Otherwise it's "emergency, but not that emergency" fund.
It's not only cancer really, it's pretty much any serious medical expense, I was using cancer as an example of something you can't just bankrupt your way out of.
Except a serious medical expense like that could bankrupt someone and/or be life-altering at most income brackets. It's unreasonable to expect a low income person to build up a fund to that level.
I'm living paycheck to paycheck. Wheeeeeee~
Funny enough, each of my paycheck is just shy of that amount every couple of weeks. But they all vanish due to medical bills. Wheeeeeeee~
Funny enough, each of my paycheck is just shy of that amount every couple of weeks. But they all vanish due to medical bills. Wheeeeeeee~
i am confused. 2500 does that include rent and food? if so, how does that help you after 1 month?
That's why people have insurance. No reasonable emergency fund is going to cover super expensive medical treatment. An emergency fund is savings for normal emergencies, like if you need to go to urgent care or something, a car breaks down, or you have other normal unexpected expenses.
I swear to god 90% of the posters in here didn't go beyond the thread title/OP.
I was talking about people with insurance. A lot of people don't have great insurance in this country and a lot people will have to pay way more out of pocket than $2,467 in case of a serious medical emergency.
I don't know, maybe we're working on a different definition of the word "emergency". Seem weird to talk about emergency fund and exclude the number one reason people go bankrupt in the US.
If I was giving people advice about an emergency fund, I would say you need to try to save at least as much as your annual deducatables. I fully understand that this is totally out of reach of a ton of Americans, and that sucks, but the solution is not to pretend that 2 and half grands in fine.
You are gambling that you won't get sick.
1.5 to 2 years of cash funds and another 2-3 years of money I can take out of a RIRA without any fees or taxes. And that's with buying a new car at the beginning of this year. Definitely doing good. I'll put some of that cash into real estate eventually, but I'm in no rush with this housing market, and I don't have a strong desire to take on the costs and responsibilities of home ownership right now as a bachelor.
I have no clue if you "reset to zero" because your salary and expenses demands it, but if not, you should really consider putting money into a retirement plan (ESPECIALLY if you have any matching provision, and doubly so if you are on the younger side of retirement).
I find this sort of interesting because, depending on your age, $250,000 is not a lot of money if you have no other sources of savings or retirement funds.
I have no clue if you "reset to zero" because your salary and expenses demands it, but if not, you should really consider putting money into a retirement plan (ESPECIALLY if you have any matching provision, and doubly so if you are on the younger side of retirement).
LOL what the fuck does this mean? I will soon have 6 months saved up and I'm far from being upper-middle class.
Now that's some upper-middle class shit.
yup.
there's a threshold where you can buy most of the things you really care to have and everything else is such an extraneous afterthought that you figure you'd rather just not spend the money than buy more stuff. that's when most people tend to save.
you caaaan save a lot of money even on a lower salary with the right circumstances, but i don't think people really feel comfortable saving decent amounts until they're around 60-80k a year depending on where they live, and that's well above the median for the US.
I feel like this is unrealistic bullshit....or specifically centred around the United States with its rubbish healthcare system.
Me and my girlfriend have about a year, but in Fort Green/Downtown Brooklyn in a new building it's a fucking lot. We're looking to eventually use our emergency fund to buy a condo.
I have about 10k short of my yearly salary in my savings account, but I could definitely subsist on that for a year if I had to.
I have a decent amount in a high yield money market (2+ percent return) so I probably have a few years worth.
Uhh..... not sure how old you are or you living expenses but 250k isn't enough to retire on and you are missing out on compound interest by not saving now.
Uhh..... not sure how old you are or you living expenses but 250k isn't enough to retire on and you are missing out on compound interest by not saving now.
Your mortgage is almost my entire monthly take home salary. Reading this thread has been a real eye opener on just how rich some people are here, I can only dream of being wealthy enough to worry that only 16k isn't enough for savings...
