Personal Finance and Money Stack Exchange
Personal Finance and Money Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [emergency-fund]

to be used for any question related to emergency, "rainy day", or reserve funds for an individual or family. The question can be related to calculating, creating, managing or understanding the need for emergency funds.

An emergency fund is personal money set aside and saved as a safety net in case of unexpected expenses. The goal of an emergency fund is to protect the owner in case of financial trouble, and to prevent them from having to sell other assets or go into debt to cover a sudden expense.

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What emergencies could justify a highly liquid emergency fund?

I've seen several questions (e.g. here) that challenge the need for complete liquidity in an emergency fund. Answers often focus not just on the potential for market downturns to affect your ability to liquidate assets, but even the 2-3 day delay…
Nicholas
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Why do I need an emergency fund if I already have investments?

A lot of financial advisers say you should have an emergency fund, in addition to whatever else you're doing. I don't really see the benefit, but let me be more specific. I definitely see that it's good to "have money available" so that you don't…
Stephen
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Buffer/emergency fund - correlation with age and wealth

I am getting out of debt and looking into setting up a small buffer for any possible emergencies before I start investing into stocks etc. Is there any guideline as to how much of a buffer one should keep, relative to their age and wealth status? I…
Katie H
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Using a cash accumulation fund as emergency savings

My employer offers a cash accumulation fund alongside my group life insurance, with monthly contributions of up to $300. The interest rate is above most regular savings accounts, and like all cash accumulation funds, it is tax deferred and pretty…
MisterStrickland
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I have a 3 month emergency fund. What should I aim to increase it to?

I have 3 months of basic expense saved. I am reading the expense needs to be atleast 3-9 months. Should I increase the size of this expense to 9-12 months as my next goal since I am thinking emergencies other than loss of job like parent's or my…
user4884
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Big e-fund or little e-fund?

YNAB makes this point about emergencies: " When you’re budgeting each month for inevitable car repairs, the bill from the mechanic six months from now won’t be an emergency at all." So... have multiple smaller funds, each for a large, but…
RonJohn
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