The Right Amount of Emergency Money to Keep in Cash

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Hello friends. Thanks for joining me on the money girl podcast. My name is Laura Adams and I’m a personal finance and small business author. Online educator spokesperson.

Consumer advocate. Who’s been hosting this show every week since 2008. I really think that this podcast can be your secret weapon for getting the knowledge and motivation. You need to prioritize your finances, build wealth, and just have a lot more security and less stress. When it comes to money. We cover a wide variety of topics here each week. So you can depend on learning actionable strategies and tips to take your money management to the next level. So I’m really glad you’re here. And I hope you’ll subscribe to the show that will make sure that you get every episode. We do publish every Wednesday and also participate. You might want to send me a money question or a comment. You can do that in a couple ways. You can leave me a message. 24 seven on our voicemail line. That’s at (302) 364-0308. Or you can send me an email using the [email protected]

Also don’t miss the notes for each show. We have a lot of information over in the money girl [email protected] There’s a whole archive of podcasts and a full, basically a full blog post for each podcast. That’s kind of like a companion to the show. So if there’s something I talk about or a resource I mentioned, and you just didn’t get to take advantage of it during the podcast, you can always either, well, listen to the podcast again, or you can go over to the show notes for the podcast. Again, that’s it in the money girl [email protected] in today’s episode, which is number 668, I’m going to help you understand the right amount of emergency cash to keep. This can be confusing because everyone’s situation is different. And I think not everyone is actually on the same page when it comes to what an emergency fund is, what it’s actually for.

So today’s show will answer several listener questions that I’ve received, and I hope that it will help you figure out how much your emergency funds should be the best place to keep it. And whether you should invest it, no matter if you call it an emergency fund or a cash reserve or something else or rainy day fund, whatever you call it, the idea is that we all need extra money set aside to stay safe from the unexpected, not having enough cash on hand to pay for an emergency is why a lot of people get into financial trouble. Having that financial safety net protects you, and it gives you a lot of peace of mind. So let’s talk about why this is so important and what an emergency fund is. And you know, at, at, at the basics, it’s just a cash account. You know, it’s something that you have earmarked to pay for only emergencies.

And these are the inevitable and unforeseen emergencies in life. Things like your car, won’t start your computer crashes, your refrigerator quits, you get sick, you lose your job or business income life happens and it usually costs money. So that’s what the emergency fund is for. When you’ve got a large unexpected expense or your income dries up, for whatever reason, you need a cash cushion to fall back on in order to stay healthy and safe. Otherwise you have to make some pretty serious sacrifices or you end up racking up debt on a credit card. So I compare an emergency fund to emote that surrounds a Fort or a castle, kind of picture this in your mind. You know, it’s that ring around the structure that protects it from invaders and emergency fund helps you stay safe from harmful problems that could invade your financial house. If you don’t have that moat, that barrier of protection, you’re very, very vulnerable.

Since emergencies happen in a split second, you need cash in an account that you can tap immediately. That’s why it’s cash in general. You need to keep emergency savings in an FDI C insured bank account. The problem with not having it in a bank account is that emergencies do not wait for a CD or a bond to mature for you to sell a valuable asset or sell a home that you might need to raise cash. I know that keeping a lot of money in a low or a no interest savings account can seem counterintuitive or feel frustrating. I get a lot of questions about this. Recently, a podcast listener named Tina, Jay says I have a 401k and $30,000 in a savings, not making any interest. I know that I need to put this money somewhere to invest for retirement. What’s your advice, Tina, thank you so much for your question.

I recommend that you think about your emergency savings and your retirement investments as two completely separate buckets of money because they have completely different purposes. Even though we tend to use the terms saving and investing interchangeably, they’re not the same. The difference has to do with taking financial risk. So you need emergency savings that are kept safe and entirely free from risk. So that it’s there. The moment that you need it. When that split second emergency happens, you don’t have time to wait to raise cash or sell something. You need money that is there. It’s liquid. Now the purpose of investing is very different. It’s to put your money at some level of risk in exchange for future growth, and it’s not to be tapped. That’s not the purpose. The purpose is to let them grow for decades until you need to withdraw money in retirement.

So remember that there’s always a trade off between financial risk and return investing money means that you could get relatively high returns, but you could also lose some or all of it. If your emergency money is invested rather than saved, it’s subject to volatility, which means the value could plummet the moment that you need it. Having cash in a bank savings, or even a money market deposit account means that it’s safe no matter what happens in the financial markets, but you’re not going to earn much on it. And that’s okay. You’ve got to really just understand that the purpose of that bucket of money is not to grow. Even though savings accounts are paying very little interest right now, that’s just the price of keeping money, completely safe. Again, remember the purpose of those funds is not to grow, but to be your safety net, Tina makes sure you always have enough cash on hand to protect yourself from an emergency.

So I recommend that you maintain a minimum of three to six months worth of your living expenses in your bank account, in cash at all times and alike that you’re also thinking about retirement, but make it a separate goal. It’s better to make regular contributions to your 401k and max it out when possible than to empty your savings, tapping a retirement account for a potential emergency. Isn’t always possible. And if you do take an early withdrawal, that’s when you’re younger than age 59 and a half, you have to pay taxes on any traditional accounts, plus a 10% penalty, which is just expensive. You don’t want to get into that situation now to calculate the right amount of emergency savings. What you’re going to do is tally up your living expenses. These are just the basics, your housing, groceries, medicine, transportation, any existing loan payments. You know, just the things that you have to have every month, not necessarily a full replacement of your income.

For instance, if you could get by on $3,000 per month, if you lost all your income, then always keep a minimum of $9,000 in reserve. That would be $3,000 times, three months. But if you’ve got a six month reserve or even more than that, that’s certainly better since finding a job could take that long. You just never know how long it may take you to get back to that level of income that you previously had. Now, when you have extra money or you’ve gotten more than a healthy minimum cash reserve, you might consider investing amounts above that minimum threshold, but it’s critical to evaluate the cash reserve that you need based on various factors, such as the number of breadwinners in your family, your job stability, your marketability, your ongoing expenses and your financial goals. We’re all different. So if you are, for instance, a single person, you’re the only breadwinner in your family. And you’ve got a job. That’s not that stable. You probably need much more than three months worth of living expenses in your emergency fund.

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I received another question from Vivian w who asks another question about investing emergency money. She says I’m 28 years old and currently save about $20,000 per year. I live with my retired mother who is 66 and didn’t save enough for her retirement. We both have $113,000 in a high yield savings and a CD, but want to invest part of it. However, I’m not sure how much cash we should keep in the bank for emergencies also, should I be maxing out my Roth IRA every year? Thanks for your question. Vivian, as I previously mentioned, my recommendation is to keep a range of at least three to six months worth of your living expenses in savings. And you could consider investing the excess. If you’ve got more than that, your cash reserve is like having an insurance policy for you and your mother’s safety Vivian, everyone should be investing for their retirement.

In addition to maintaining a healthy emergency fund, a good rule of thumb is to invest at least 10% up to 15% or even more. If you can have your gross income in a workplace retirement account or an IRA. So yes, the maxing out your Roth every year is, is very important. The maximum annual IRA contribution for 2020 and 2021 is $6,000 or 7,000. If you’re over age 50 and Vivian, since you said you can save $20,000 per year, I would definitely use that. Uh, part of that to max out your Roth. Another common question is whether you should use emergency savings as a down payment on a home. And C says I’m 21 years old and will graduate from college in may with a full-time job that starts in 2022 in a large city where I’ve never lived. I have enough in savings to make a $20,000 down payment on a home.

It seems like spending a thousand dollars or more per month on rent would be a waste and make it harder to save for a home. Do you think I should own or rent? And thank you for your question and congratulations on your upcoming graduation relocation and new job. That’s a lot to celebrate. If spending $20,000 on a home would leave you with no cash, you cannot afford to become a homeowner yet. Buying a home is not an emergency. You always need to maintain a healthy cash reserve, no matter if you own or rent a home. Additionally, becoming a homeowner comes with lots of additional expenses on top of your mortgage payment, such as insurance, property taxes, homeowners, association, fees, furnishings, repairs, maintenance. I can go on and on now don’t get me wrong. I am a huge proponent of being a homeowner and investing in real estate when you can afford it.

And another issue that comes to mind is that since you’ve never lived in the city where you’re going for your new job, I would recommend renting for several reasons. One is that you need time to get to know a new city and see where you want to be relative to your office. Renting gives you time to understand what the traffic is like, whether public transportation is an option for commuting, where you like to spend time when you’re not working the state of the real estate market there and so on. So I don’t recommend buying a home unless you are sure that you will live in it for at least three to five years. What happens if you start your new job and you don’t like it, you might need to sell a home that you just bought to relocate to another part of town or even a new city.

And that may not be a problem, but it is a bit risky. And I’m talking from experience here because I’ve made several cross-country relocations to big cities, and I’ve always rented first to get to know the new landscape and my employer that gives you plenty of time to figure out the parts of town you like and what fits into your budget. Renting also gives you a whole lot more mobility and freedom when you’re in uncertain situations. Also in many big cities, it’s less expensive to rent than to buy a comparable property when considering the total costs of ownership. So I want you to take the time to evaluate your options carefully.

Another question that comes up is should I keep money at home? And I do think that there’s, there’s nothing wrong with keeping a small percentage of your emergency money in a safe place at home. You know, don’t step in under the mattress, but it might be a fireproof safe. Um, you know, just someplace that that is going to be safe.

Uh, it could be helpful in a situation like a natural disaster when you kind of have to grab some things and go, you know, or maybe if there are widespread power outages and you can’t get to a bank or get to an ATM. However, I want you to be aware that typical homeowners or renters insurance does not cover cash. So if you have a lot of money at home and it gets stolen, lost, or destroyed in a fire or a storm, you don’t have any recourse that money is gone.

So, you know, think carefully about how much you want to keep at home. If you keep any at home and, and where you have it, make sure that it is definitely locked away. And ideally in some kind of a fireproof situation, if you’re listening and you’re thinking Laura, I don’t have any money for an emergency fund, I haven’t even started yet. I don’t want you to freak out. I don’t want you to stress out about it, but accumulating several months worth of living expenses can seem daunting. And depending on your income and your financial situation, it could take years to achieve. And that’s okay.

The idea is just get started by taking a few small steps every month. And if the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that we never know what’s around the corner. Your emergency savings should be a moving target that you reevaluate every year, kind of think about, okay, you know, has my situation changed? Maybe you have a second breadwinner in the family, or maybe you’ve gone from two breadwinners down to one. Those types of things are, you know, having, uh, an additional child in the family. All of those things are going to change how you think about the right amount of emergency money.

The first step is to accurately figure your monthly living expenses. As I mentioned, these include things like housing, utilities, insurance, food, loan, payments, transportation, et cetera. You want to add up all of your current financial needs and obligations for yourself, your family, and third-parties that you could not, or would not want to cut if your income was significantly reduced. So you know that internet bill, the phone plan that you’ve got, all those things that you would not want to sacrifice. The second step is to estimate how long you could potentially need your emergency money. I recommend saving no less than three months worth of living expenses, but as said, your unique situation might call for considerably more. So here’s some tips to help you determine how much money you should set aside.

Consider your income stability. Do you or a spouse work in an industry with volatile consumer demand or one that’s already seen massive declines. If so, this should prompt you to consider saving more than six months of living expenses factor in any potential large expenses. So let’s say if you’ve got additional cost to cover such as a child’s college or a new car that you know, you’re going to need to buy in a year or two, you might want to consider adding 10% to your calculated monthly expense.

Another tip is: Don’t count on selling stuff. When times get tough, it can be challenging to sell possessions quickly to raise cash. So even if you’ve got a valuable collection of stamps, jewelry, cars, or artwork, whatever you think, Oh wow, that’s, you know, that’s going to be my ticket right there. I’m going to sell this thing, raise all this cash, and I’ll be fine. I don’t want you to consider that your emergency fund, you still need cash in the bank to fall back on. And if you can sell that other item, fantastic, that’s gravy, but don’t count on it being your entire emergency fund.

If you’re not a disciplined saver, try automating your emergency savings. One tip I always give is to ask your employer to split your paycheck between your regular checking account and your emergency savings account. If you get a paper check or you’re self-employed, you can set up an automatic, monthly or weekly transfer from your checking into your emergency fund.

An emergency fund is one of the most critical financial must have. It should be large enough to get you through a crisis, easily accessible. And in cash to ensure its safety and liquidity, no matter what’s happening in the financial markets.

So there’s no time to spare and getting started. Once you’ve got a safety net in place, even if it’s a small one, you will feel a fantastic sense of security and peace that no matter what happens in your financial life, you’re prepared to tackle it.

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