Your Two Cents: Do You Have an Emergency Fund?

July 24, 2008

30 Comments

I've been trying to build one, but I never get past $100. I always have to deplete it because I'll have a small paycheck, and then I'll put all my meager savings towards paying bills and medical debts. I'm going to college in a few months, and I just need a couple hundred to get me housing and books out there! Budgeting is a nightmare for me right now.

katherynn 4 years 42 weeks

beram1220, I use Dave Ramsey's advice which really works for me. If you're in debt and just starting the bugeting thing, start out with a small ("baby") emergency fund of $1000 (step 1). Then work your debt (smallest to largest) (step 2) and then when you're debt free, you can begin working on your EF again. He suggests 3-6 months of your wages /income as your EF (step 3). I've accomplished step 1 and I'm working on step 2 now!

bellaressa 4 years 42 weeks

Ski --that sounds great. The money you would spend on rent---could you just dump that in an account for your EF?

skigurl 4 years 42 weeks

it's so hard to tell i dont pay rent, and i blow tons of cash on clothes but in terms of actual payments, i guess a $6000-$7000 fund is sufficient for 6 months

bellaressa 4 years 42 weeks

skigurl --your EF should be 6 months on what it takes you to live on. You should have an EF along with your down payment fund and you shouldn't use your EF for the downpayment. What happens if you move into a house and your water boiler breaks ---you don't want to have to use credit cards to pay for it.

skigurl 4 years 42 weeks

i have the exact same question as beram1220! i am wondering if $8-10K is sufficient. and i'm assuming if i bought a house and blew all that on the down payment, it wouldn't count as an EF fund right?

chiquita29 4 years 43 weeks

I really need to do better :(

beram1220 4 years 43 weeks

Just wondering what everyone think should be a good amount to have in an emergency fund? I guess it might be different for a family but I am a single girl in my 20s...

Ryot 4 years 43 weeks

My husband and I have money saved up, both for emergencies and for our next down payment, though we're not getting the best interest rate on it, and I've been meaning to fix that. We also have a small amount of emergency evacuation cash, in the bag with the food, water, flashlight, ID docs, etc. Having both makes me feel safer, though obviously I could be doing much better with the interest rate thing...

Chica8a 4 years 43 weeks

Unfortunately i no longer have one. but thanks for the reminder to set one up once again!!

JustSomeChick 4 years 43 weeks

Unfortunately, I am a struggling single mother and have no EF. I try, but the extra money to set aside just isn't there. I am working on cutting any unnecessary expenses so I can start putting more away.

alethia037 4 years 43 weeks

Like darkangeldaria, my husband and I have a high interest savings account with INGDirect. We have about 3 months expenses saved in there, and everything above that we are investing in mutual funds and stocks until we have kids.

ilanac13 4 years 43 weeks

i used to have a bit of a cushion, but with interest rates rising and all that on other things, it's kind of hard at times to keep saving or not dip into those funds to help out at times of need. i'm really trying to work on that though. it's one of those really important things to me.

SDTransplant 4 years 43 weeks

I have a mutual fund that I can easily liquidate should I need the cash, but I need to start putting more in savings to really qualify something as a liquid emergency fund.

dcfashionista 4 years 43 weeks

I HAD and emergency fund but with temping and bills coming in fast and furiously it had dwindled. I will save slowly but surely to achieve my goals.

darkangeldaria 4 years 43 weeks

I have an EF fund that's actually a high interest orange savings account through ING. It made more sense to me to do that than have it sit in my bank's savings account with crap for interest. It's dwindling right now with the increase in gas (i'm a commuter), food, and everything else in my realm. i'm planning to move closer to work when my lease is up provided one of my current roomies makes the move with me...that will help so much!

RubyBisou 4 years 43 weeks

I don't have an EF right now, but am working towards it. I've only been in the "working world" for a month so I have to be patient :)

ayanaphil 4 years 43 weeks

I have a couple thousand put away. Hopefully I'll have a career soon where I'll be able to add to that.

chatondeneige 4 years 43 weeks

I only have about a month's expenses saved up, but I've been working for a total of 14 months, so I don't feel too bad about the whole thing.

mayara 4 years 43 weeks

Renees3, my hubby and I have an account separate from our standard checking and savings just for the emergency fund (and money for moving, which we know we'll be doing sometime in the not too distant future, but not yet). We have things set up at our bank so that we can even transfer money from our standard accounts into that account online, but not the other way around, so money goes in, but doesn't come out, making it easier for reasons similar to what you mention about your 401(k). I recommend seeing if you can set up something similar with your bank. The money going in more easily than coming out thing (we don't even have an ATM card for the emergency fund account right now) does help on the building up savings thing, as it's easy to forget you even have the money.

Renees3 4 years 43 weeks

ehadams - So Sorry about your dog!! I'm horrible about saving money so I basically have Nothing in savings. But I do put away 10% into my 401K every paycheck. So it's like if I can't ever touch it or transfer it to my checking account I'm good. Otherwise I'll just use it. I need to work on this.

sharshar 4 years 43 weeks

I have to start now.

RosaDilia 4 years 43 weeks

I have three bank accounts and haven't designated one for EF. One of my savings account is really not equipped to save me if I happened to get layed off or fall ill. I really should consider saving with more discipline and take my savings more seriously, just in case.

cubadog 4 years 43 weeks

I have started to save but it is not where it needs to be.

psychobabble 4 years 43 weeks

I use my savings account as one and only move money into checking as I need it. So I have more than I'd need for an emergency, but I'm living off student loans right now so I'm keeping it simple. Once I get a job I'd like to have a designated emergency fund account.

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