Comments on: Reader Poll: Short-Term Savings

By: Reader Poll - Just How Much Is 6 Months Worth Of Expenses?

Reader Poll - Just How Much Is 6 Months Worth Of Expenses? — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 03:06:34 +0000

[...] Posts – Building An Emergency Fund – Where Do I Keep It? Reader Poll – Short Term Savings Updating My Non-Retirement Savings [...]

By: Jilse

Jilse — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 20:34:24 +0000

As of today we have 519.00 in our short term savings also known as our emergency fund. We are trying to get it up to 1,000 so it can pay for any of those little emergencies that seem to come out of nowhere. Which is why we have less than 1,000 right now, those darn unexpected emergencies!!!

By: SJean

SJean — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 20:00:33 +0000

Perhaps this survey could be redone with a more specific question.

I would *like* to keep 10k in an e fund (currently around 7k). Then I would assume I’d have other savings for things like vacations and a new car, which would be revolving and not “kept” in short term savings, but saved up for a goal, then emptied.

And I keep less than 300 in checking.

By: eden

eden — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 17:42:40 +0000

Hmm – I counted money that is not for Retirement (long-term) and in the stock market (mid-long term), and also not what’s in our checking acct since it’s earmarked for spending. That leaves about $10K in our emergency fund, and other short term saving funds (honeymoon, kitchen remodel, local income tax).

By: Reader Poll: The Results (How Much Money Do You Keep In Short-Term Savings?)

Reader Poll: The Results (How Much Money Do You Keep In Short-Term Savings?) — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 15:01:32 +0000

[...] while another 20% have less than $1000. But, before you read anything into those numbers, read the poll comments. The real issue seems to be – How Do You Define Short-Term Savings? For now, I’m going to [...]

By: Ursula

Ursula — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 03:26:42 +0000

I checked the $500-1000 box. I only counted my ING balance for this poll. I also have about $1700 in Treasury bills, but I look at that as more medium-term.

Although I have no credit card debt, I do have a mortgage (not bad!) and a line of credit (bad! I bought a car on it, in addition to home improvements) which take about $2400 each month to service. I do fully fund my Roth IRA and my 401(k). However, I am really bad at general savings. I really need to work on an emergency fund!

By: Erin

Erin — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 02:22:01 +0000

I have my small emergency fund in a savings account. I won’t be accumulating anymore savings until after we pay off the debt.

By: Sam

Sam — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 15:22:14 +0000

I define my short term savings as the money
sitting in my Wachovia savings account that
serves as overdraft protection and all around
cushion for our checking accounts. I’ve got
about $800 in the account, it makes little to
no interest and its only real purpose is over-
draft protection.
My ING accounts are my mid-long term savings
which includes sub accounts for our emergency
fund, savings for a nused car, savings for
travel/vacation, and our escrow accounts for
taxes and insurance for our various properties.

By: Demeter

Demeter — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 17:42:55 +0000

Right now, my short term savings is only about $115. When my husband got a new job 3 months ago, I would have done the $1000 first thing if it weren’t for a couple of items:

1. We had one credit card that was about $350 over the limit and getting worse all the time because of the over the limit fees. I had to throw as much money at that as I could afford each week to get it below the limit and get it low enough that adding on the finance charges don’t put it back over the limit. I’ve finally succeeded!

2. We’re going to be moving soon because of the new job, which means we’ll be buying a new home. Because of this, I desperately wanted to get a handle on my credit before even attempting a new mortgage. So, I got that one card down below the limit, and have now paid off two smaller cards. The other cards are all on time, as well as every other bill I’ve paid in the last three months. This will make us look much more reliable and worthy of a mortgage when it comes time to buy than if I had concentrated on saving up $1000 for an emergency fund.

As soon as we get moved and have a month or two to get used to new expenses (changes in power bill, car gas, etc.) then I will start funding my emergency fund.

By: Fabulously Broke

Fabulously Broke — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 16:46:55 +0000

$1004.23, and possibly up to $2000 to cover a used car we may have to buy this winter.

I tend not to keep any more than $1000 though, because I put it all towards debt instead.