Emergency Fund Savings

[Anonymous]

Without sounding too nosey, what is your average emergency fund balance?

A.  < $1000

B. $1,000-$5,000

C. $5000-7000

D. $10,000-$25,000

E. $25,000+

[Anonymous]

My emergency fund would be in the D category and thats between 6-12 months of my expenses.

I think a better question is has anyone ever had to use their emergency fund? I would like to hear some success stories with having an emergency fund.

[haulingthescoreup]

I suppose I'd be C and a half, because so far, I'm between $7K and $10K, but growing rapidly.Dang, just remembered my CD's --OK, they put me into the $10K+ level.

I have an easy to get to emergency savings account, and the rest is in a Roth IRA, which makes a great emergency savings fund. No penalty if you have to withdraw any of the principal; the only thing that's off-limits is the earnings.

These are personal emergency savings, not the family emergency savings.

Message Edited by haulingthescoreup on 01-22-2009 11:54 AM

[fused]

We are in the D range.

[Anonymous]

E and it is in a Money Market account.  Vicki

[MattH]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Without sounding too nosey, what is your average emergency fund balance?

A.  < $1000

B. $1,000-$5,000

C. $5000-7000

D. $10,000-$25,000

E. $25,000+

---

E, about half of it in my name and about half of it in my wife's name.  Also I've been with my current employers long enough that in the event I got laid off I would get about seven months of severance, so between savings, severance, and my wife's salary we'd be OK for quite a while.  When she started her current job three years ago we decided not to make any major lifestyle changes so we have been able to save a good chunk of her income (though not all of her after tax income went into savings, because some expenses went up when she started working).

So far the biggest item we've paid out of our emergency fund was a new furnace in 2008, and it was great to be able to do that without incurring any debt.  When we bought our condo in 2002 we put most of what we had into the downpayment so when the A/C compressor died in 2003 we had to take out an installment loan to pay for a new one.

Message Edited by MattH on 01-22-2009 08:31 PM

[Anonymous]

Wow, you all impress me so much!  I have about $4K sitting in a checking account right now, but just under $3K of that is to pay off my last credit card, and the rest of it is for a down payment for a house.  Don't get me wrong, though, if I were to lose my job, I'd use it all to feed myself and pay my car payment.  The credit card/down payment could waite.  

I do have a $600 CD, but Suze Orman said that your Emergency Fund has to be liquid, and I don't think that counts CD's, does it?

One day I'll be in the $25K+ range.  One day in the far, far future.

[haulingthescoreup]

---

woopah wrote:

I do have a $600 CD, but Suze Orman said that your Emergency Fund has to be liquid, and I don't think that counts CD's, does it?

---

Well, I have varying levels of liquidity. First the cash, then the Roth, then the CD's. (The last two might swap out.)

I don't see any need to keep $25K in cash. Keep $5K if you have that much in cash, and the rest in something that's working for you, however pitiful that might be these days.

I'm trying hard to imagine a situation where I'd have to come up with $25K RIGHT NOW, and every scenario seems to involve the Mafia.

[laz98]

at the moment, $0.

[Anonymous]

When it comes to your emergency fund you do want it to be liquid. I also agree with HTSU about not needing the entire emergency fund available, but you will certainly need a good chunk available in case of job loss, major car repairs, or worse a death to a loved one or whatever else may occur.

Im sure some of you have heard of it before but you can do whats called the cd ladder strategy. Every month put a portion of your savings in a 1 yr cd.....after a few months or even a year you should have a portion of money available through maturing cd's. The fall back is of course you may need more then whats availavle in the cd thats mature that month but again you should still keep some money completely liquid.

I still think its personally best to keep all of it in an online savings account. EX: ingdirect emigrentdirect hsbcdirect etc..