Comments on: Dedicate 7 Hours For Healthier Finances – Hour 5

By: Travis @ CMM

Travis @ CMM — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 15:36:18 +0000

My emergency fund sits between $1000-$2000 at the moment. We will always have the $1000 in there but like to keep extra just in case. But we allow ourselves to use part of it in order to pay off debts faster.

By: DB Cooper

DB Cooper — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 01:05:21 +0000

We have two EFs set up. Our “regular” emergency fund has a maintained balance of $1000. This fund is for true emergencies that come up for which we might not otherwise be budgeted: car repairs, washing machine goes, etc. Our other fund is called our “income security fund” – the goal of this is to offset the loss of income of either my wife or I, and (when fully funded!) will pay our expenses for about 6 months (~$10,000). While our regular emergency fund is fully funded, our income security fund is slowly growing, and should be fully funded in a couple years.

I’m a BIG FAN of multiple savings accounts. We currently fund 10 separate accounts.

By: Sky or Virgin Media

Sky or Virgin Media — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 23:01:22 +0000

Not really an hour a day subject… to get finances in order needs constant change and control, trying to solve finance issues in an hour is like going in a diet… short term gain.. long term you stay the same..

By: NCN

NCN — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 02:05:57 +0000

I think it depends… For us, 2k was enough… Sure, if we had a “major” emergency, then we would have had to use our credit cards… but, the trade off between having more for debt reduction and less in our e fund was worth it..

By: frugalcpa

frugalcpa — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 00:14:54 +0000

I’m a big fan of emergency/short-term savings. It makes sense to have money ready to address any unexpected things life throws at you. But for some reason I don’t feel comfortable with less than at least $4000 or $5000, even when paying off debt.

Is $2000 really enough to ensure you don’t have to use credit when an emergency happens?