Goals

New Savings Goal Attained Plus Emergency Fund Poll and Discussion

I sent in another 2300 dollars this month, for a total of 10, 800 dollars. I will not post this as my official update over at the NCN Network site, just yet. I might have to take a few of these dollars back if a current work program sputters a bit. Either Way, I am at 54 percent of my goal of 20K. I am saving roughly 2600 dollars per month for the year of 2006. Our take-home pay in that same period has been roughly 5200 dollars, give or take a few hundred bucks. So, roughly 1 half of our paychecks go into savings. Yay!!! Once we get the emergency savings taken care of, putting aside 15 to 30 percent for retirement and college funding will be a breeze.

Quick comments driven poll:
Side notes: We bring home roughly 60-70 K. We own two 3 paid-for autos, all of which have over 100,000 miles on them. We do not want to borrow money. We send 5 percent to retirement already. We have 2 small kids, and live in a home provided to me by my job.

How much of an emergency fund should we have?
1. No emergency fund. Just use your credit card if you get in a bind. (Obviously, not my
particular favorite!!)
2. 1000 – 5000 dollars. Just a simple, easy to get to cash cushion is enough. Anything bigger,
and you can borrow to help out. Invest the rest and make more money!!!
3. 5000 – 15000 dollars. Come on, you have a wife and 2 kids. Stuff happens, and you want a pretty big cushion to protect you. This is a good amount for all “normal” life emergencies. (Car breakdown, washing machine breaks, etc.)
4. 15000 – 25000 dollars. Because you have no home of your own, you need to be ready to provide shelter for your family, and you don’t want to get taken in a bad real estate deal. This amount of money buys you time and relieves you from panic and worry. (This is my current plan.)
5 25000 – 100000 dollars. Listen, if you really want to avoid using credit, ever, you need a big, big, big, big, big cash cushion. Low risk, 4 to 8 percent returns are find. This money needs to be SAFE.

Thanks for any and all input.
NCN