Back to the $1k e-fund discussion...

MommyLiberty5013 · September 2013

Why $1k isn't enough.

One night in the hospital...2 CT scans, antibiotics, surgery consult, etc. A car accident needing a deductible paid. And, a garage door opener breaking. In less than one month! Exactly why a $1k e-fund isn't enough. It's a great starting place, but get to 3 months saved before a debt snowball. Just MHO.

HoneyBee973 · September 2013

Hope you are OK after the car accident!

And yes, $1000 in an e-fund is just too low for any emergency, IMO.

mana8503 · September 2013

I think it depends on if you own house or not. If you do, no 1K isn't enough, but it is better than nothing.

lifeonthehill · September 2013

We have 2500 and H has been pushing to stop our snowball and make it 10 but I know we won't need that much. We have also agreed that if we have to stop our snowball for a few months because something major comes up we are okay with it.

anssett · September 2013

to OP. Don't you have health insurance? If you don't have health insurance, reasonable car deductibles, etc, then of course not. If that's the case, you also chose to put yourself at such high risk.

Ducktale · September 2013

anssett said:

to OP. Don't you have health insurance? If you don't have health insurance, reasonable car deductibles, etc, then of course not. If that's the case, you also chose to put yourself at such high risk.

Meh, I have both and I would have been over the $1k if all that happened to me as well.

I do think there is no one-size-fits all amount for the efund before snowball. I would never be comfortable without my deductible for both health insurance and car insurance + enough to cover a basic repair on something with the house or car. I would never feel comfortable with onlly $1k.

vlagrl29 · September 2013

Totally agree! I want us to get to 6k before we pay more on my student loans and retirement.

vlagrl29 · September 2013

anssett said:

to OP. Don't you have health insurance? If you don't have health insurance, reasonable car deductibles, etc, then of course not. If that's the case, you also chose to put yourself at such high risk.

Even with Health insurance it will still cost quite a bit of money because usually you have to meet your deductible, etc. everything tends to add up when shit hits the fan so to speak

MommyLiberty5013 · September 2013

anssett said:

to OP. Don't you have health insurance? If you don't have health insurance, reasonable car deductibles, etc, then of course not. If that's the case, you also chose to put yourself at such high risk.

Yes. We do. Good health insurance for a whole family. But hospital stuff is pricey even with it.

MommyLiberty5013 · September 2013

MommyLiberty5013 said:

anssett said:

to OP. Don't you have health insurance? If you don't have health insurance, reasonable car deductibles, etc, then of course not. If that's the case, you also chose to put yourself at such high risk.

Yes. We do. Good health insurance for a whole family. But hospital stuff is pricey even with it.
And anyway the point of my OP was that when all these things happen at ONCE $1k is not enough in an e-fund. Even if people have $500 deductibles, $1k is not enough.

Ducktale · September 2013

Yes, that is a lot in one month. Hope you're okay!

CuriousKiddosMama · September 2013

ouch! Hope you are okay! That is a brutal month.

Mom987 · September 2013

It's not about wherever you have health insurance or not. My company offers plans with $2,500 and $5,000 deductibles. That's it. Not all companies offer great benefits.

MommyLiberty5013 · September 2013

Mom987 said:

It's not about wherever you have health insurance or not. My company offers plans with $2,500 and $5,000 deductibles. That's it. Not all companies offer great benefits.

Exactly! This too.

Things are just so expensive now...$1k doesn't go very far. That's the main point of my OP. If you have a bad month, and only have $1k, what's the point of a debt snowball at that point if you have to use your debts to pay for the repair/deductible, etc. that go beyond the $1k?

I understand DR's point and $1k is a nice, round easily attainable figure, but I think it leaves a false sense of security.

vlagrl29 · September 2013

i agree with you ML. we buy our own insurance and have a 5K deductible.

short+sassy · September 2013

An auto insurance benefit I recommend buying is health/emergency care (it is called something like that). What it basically covers is the medical expenses for you and/or your passengers in the event of a car accident...specifically for if the accident is your fault or if the other driver does not have coverage. It only adds $2-$3/month to my insurance but covers 100% of the medical bills from an accident up to (I think) $25K. I've used that benefit ONCE in my life (so far) for a minor injury I had in an accident, and it already paid for a lifetime of an extra $36/year for that insurance, lol! I paid zero for the ambulance ride and zero for the emergency room visit. With no muss, no fuss, no hassle. It was just all part of the same claim.

SURFERxGIRL · September 2013

Hope you're doing Ok, OP. It certainly does seem like things always hit at once, doesn't it? My BIL recently went through about 2k from his e fund (pretty much the whole thing) because of some stuff that came up within a month's time. He makes just a few dollars more than minimum wage and I know it took him awhile to save that money.

DH was talking about this with his coworkers the other day and said he couldn't believe that most of the guys he works with have maybe 1k saved for an emergency. In my mind I know that we've got enough to cover us for a few months should H lose his job or something come up, but I'm still paranoid and think we need more.

Wulfgar · September 2013

If you have proper insurance a $1000 emergency fund is usually enough to handle one or two emergencies at once. If you have a bunch piled on then it might not be enough. Currently MW and I have about $2000 in our emergency fund and we will see it drop because of testing and surgeries that we are undergoing. As Dave Ramsey says, we will have to rebuild ours once we find out how much we owe. If you don't have enough insurance to cover your car and hospital then even having 3 to 6 months of your pay may not cover a major hospital stay let alone a bunch of things hitting all at once.

chicagobride_07 · September 2013

Hospital bills can be very high- even with great insurance. We have a 90/10 plan with a $500 deductible. 10% of a $300K NICU bill can be alot of money. Luckily, most good insurance plans cap your out of pocket expenses (ours was $6K).

I'd definitely look into what that number is for your plan and have an emergency fund for that.

Also, being a homeowner, $1K would definitely be too low of an emergency fund for us, but everyone has a different situation.

Back to the $1k e-fund discussion...

Re: Back to the $1k e-fund discussion...

Choose Another Board

Search Boards