How much should you be saving in an emergency fund?

Depends on your field of unemployment and how fast you can find a new job. 6 months living expenses should be the minimum.

>>1582461
Enough for 1 month

>>1582468
This is correct.
>>1582480
This is not.

3-6 months of expenses

>>1582468
Not really, 6 months is pretty good but for example as a student who still has parents who could help 6 months is way too much.

As a freelancer and in an industry that is not so secure even a year is not enough.

>>1582662
I'm not a baby.

I keep a year of business expenses in my business account before I transfer uncounted for profits to my personal account and I keep 6 months living expenses in a money market that gets an interest rate and current inflation (albeit the banks "calculation" of inflation)

>>1582461

3 years worth of living expenses.

>>1582662
If its like that, 6 months for the student is now 10-16.
Its even better.

$0 dont leave money just lying there when you could be investing it

>>1582654
1 month is fine if you live in a 1st world

you can never have enough money

>>1582461
I keep a couple months salary, but a year's living expenses.

Trying to get to a couple years' living expenses.

>>1582461
I save 3 months expenses in cash

>>1582771
>1 month is fine if you live in a 1st world
No. Just stop, idiot.

Your emergency fund should relate to the amount of time it would take you to replace your primary income (usually salary/wage), modified by your risk tolerance. It makes NO FUCKING DIFFERENCE where you live.

>Stick to the memecoin threads kid. You don't know a thing about personal finance.

>>1582810
>
Yeah 3 months expenses is usually the go to. The idea is that you will hopefully find another job within 3 months. If you're not marketable I would save more than that. However, having the ability to be liquid in other savings channels is good too.

I have a money market savings account, 401k, IRA, and Permanant life insurance policy --all of which I can access quickly and easily if needed.

>>1583002
Emergency fund should be liquid. 401k/IRA is not an emergency fund

ITT:
>unemployment fund

You know there are other kinds of emergencies, right?

>>1583002
>Permanant life insurance policy
Um, not only are you wrong about using your 401k as an emergency fund (stupid) but you also fell for the whole life insurance scam.

Son, your failing at personal finance right now. Get your shit together.

>>1583184
>You know there are other kinds of emergencies, right?
The other major personal expense is medical, either for yourself or of a family member. Now hopefully you have insurance to defray the out-of-pocket costs. If not, you're 100% fucked so health insurance is really part and parcel of having an emergency fund in the first place.

That just leaves missed time, either due to your own disability or the need to care for a loved one. Very hard to predict the duration of that, however. Could be anything from short term to lifelong. You can't really set aside enough money to protect against something so unpredictable; you just have to hope what you have is enough. So while you're right to raise the issue, it doesn't really change the advice.

>>1583002
>I have a money market savings account, 401k, IRA, and Permanant life insurance policy --all of which I can access quickly and easily if needed.

Wrong. These can sometimes take days to divest, and it's not always at a convenient time. A 401k is supposed to be a vehicle for long-term savings- using it as an emergency piggy bank is simply the wrong usage.

>>1583206
Well, I say it because most people don't have a buffer account, which would account for all the "small" emergencies in our life.

I find that shit has a tendency to break all at once, so I'd rather be prepared for that too, instead of having to take a consumer loan to fix my fucking car and fridge

>>1583206

One of the major things people forget is that an emergency fund should have all of your deductibles added into.

So many only think about the x months of expenses, but they forget that your deductibles are just as much of an emergency

>>1583301

can you elaborate?

Minimum 8 years of living expenses + possible funeral costs.

>>1582461
$0. You can always take funds out of a brokerage account. Having a significant amount of cash parked in a shitty bank account with 0.00001% interest is fucking retarded.

>>1583327

>Brokerage accounts aren't insured.
>Stocks aren't guaranteed
>Interest on cash in brokerage accounts isn't any better than a savings account

>>1583327
Bond funds? You can get the money out of there in a day or two, can't you?

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Anyone else trying to set up CD accounts every month that auto-renew every year?

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>>1582461
all of it, duh

>>1583335
Because all my investments will surely suddenly hit $0 as soon as I lose my job right?

If you dont own property as much as possible, if you own property then zero is ok.

>>1583315

Say you have a 5k deductible on your house insurance, 1k deductible on your car insurance, or a 5k insurance deductible on your health insurance.

I keep deductibles in my emergency fund as well as living and business expenses

>>1583338
>Bond funds? You can get the money out of there in a day or two, can't you?
The average bond fund DECREASES in value in about 15% of years, looking historically, sometimes dropping as much as 8%. Bonds are fairly stable and fairly reliable, but they still have risk. And if you try to make them safer (by going for short term), you drop your yield to savings account levels anyway.

Maybe I could see putting a percentage of your emergency fund into bonds. Like if you have a 6 month fund, you could put the of the last two months into bonds, and the keep the first four in cash. Maybe. But there's still a risk that whatever amount to put aside to save your ass won't all be there when you need it.

>>1583350
>Because all my investments will surely suddenly hit $0 as soon as I lose my job right?
Economic downturn and job loss do often go hand in hand. Ever heard of a recession? I know we haven't had one in a long time, but its still a thing.

>>1583355
>if you own property then zero is ok.
Can you expand on this?

>>1582957
>get unemployed
>next month recieve 75% of my wage via my union
>can do this for 6 months

Yeah it dosnt matter where you live kek

>>1583838
>Yeah it dosnt matter where you live kek
Jesus you're stupid. Most unions have some form of income assistance. You think that's unique for your second-world country?

Stop being an stupid attention-whore.

I have 2 years expenses saved. Feels good to be in a better financial position than your boss.

>>1582662
You never have too much in an emergency fund if you can afford it

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>>1582461
Baby step 2, faggot

>>1582752
i'm with this guy

>>1583587
You can always sell your house and car to pay for emergency flu shots :^)

>>1582658

/thread

If you don't have at least 3 months expenses in an account, then you are really living on the edge. One fucked up event and you are pawning your car title and shit like that.

But really just save as much as you can. Decide what you need to live a comfy life, then save every dollar after that.

I need about $2,500 a month to live the life I want. I make about $3,500 a month. So every month I put $1k into savings.

>>1583838
what union are you with?