Magic NumBer*

blessed81 · March 2015

what is that Magic number that you would like to see in your

emergency fund

saving account

When you get to that number, would you continue to contribute to those accounts monthly?

vlagrl29 · March 2015

10k - after that we would put money in other accounts for other goals like home updates and more $$ in retirement.

jessica490 · March 2015

Our E-fund currently has 10K in it which I am happy with, once we get a house I would like to have 15-20K in there.

Once we hit our goal we wouldn't contribute more into it unless we had to borrow from it and would pay it back.

dragonstarjk · March 2015

We have $1000 in our e-fund which we are happy with. I know I'm in the minority on this board, but I'm okay not having a huge e-fund. I'd like to get it up to $5K eventually but I'm not in a hurry to do so.

Savings--we don't have a magic number because we save for specific things, then spend, then save, etc. So right now, our magic number for our vacation fund is $3,000 because that's how much our vacation is going to cost. Then we'll empty it out to pay for the trip, then start over. Same with our home improvement fund.

We have auto contributions so we will just leave those in place indefinitely, regardless of how much is in each savings account.

als1982 · March 2015

I'm with @dragonstarjk. At this point in our lives, we're fine with only $1,000 as our solely dedicated e-fund. Once we get pregnant, we will reevaluate, but at this point retirement savings and completely eliminating our student loans are top priority.

Xstatic3333 · March 2015

I'd love to have $15,000. After that I'd focus on paying down the house and retirement, and only save for specific goals.

hoffse · March 2015

E-fund: $5,000 now. Probably $10,000 with kids. Someday if/when we're flush with cash, I'll do 6-12 months of expenses, but I'll probably do a CD ladder or something because it will drive me nuts to keep that much fully liquid.

Savings: Entirely depends on what we're working toward. We fund it and drain it on an as-needed basis. I think this will be less aggressive for us once we have kids and can't travel as often.

Once we hit our numbers we don't keep contributing. We divert our funds elsewhere.

simplyelise · March 2015

We're hanging out at 3k in the efund right now while in debt-payoff mode.

After that is done, we'll probably beef it up to 6 months of expenses before we start saving for a down payment.

We are also saving $100/month towards a car fund. Whenever husband's car goes kaput, we hope to have enough in that fund that together with that month's money we can cash flow a $5000 used car.

cbee817 · March 2015

We have a pretty massive savings account- $30K in a CD, $27K in savings, and $7K in a vacation fund (if we needed that $ too). $11K will go to our Roths this year, $10K will go to the girls' 529 plans. We save about $1,500/month and usually add to our Roth 2x a year and the 529 will probably be split into 2 deposits too. I'm a bit crazy because DH tends to get laid off every June due to budget cuts and is usually rehired by September (he's a teacher in our city school district) and we also have 2 kids. If one or both of us was to lose our job(s) I don't want their lives to change much so I make sure we have about 10 months of expenses on hand.

formerlyGDaisy09 · March 2015

we hover around $2000 in our general savings account, I won't let it drop below $1000, that serves as our e-fund. Once SLs are paid off our goal is $10,000.

we have othe accounts ear-marked for cars, home improvements, travel, and electronics/appliances, we contribute to those according to what our goals are. right now theres another $8,000 we could draw on in an emergency.

bmo88 · March 2015

We currently have $11,000 in our emergency fund/general savings. Our goal is to have six months of expenses, which would be $18,000. We should have that in about 4 months.

After we get to our goal, we will start paying down more of our student loan debt faster. Then when the debt is gone, we will increase retirement/general savings and focus on paying down the mortgage.

Our e-fund savings doesn't include our vacation or retirement savings.

mana8503 · March 2015

I like having 3K in the savings attached to our checking that can be quickly transferred. We are working towards 24K total (anything over 3K is in our Capital one 360).

We recently opened up 2 mutual funds. Mine is to help the kids with college, H has one for a play toy (boat, classic car, etc). We are contributing $50/mon each for now. Once our efund reaches 24K, I'll start adding more to my mutual fund for the kids. We will sit down and talk about how much, etc. H can contribute more via his monthly spending or bonuses.

KAdams767 · March 2015

Specific e-fund is $10k in a regular savings account. Once it hit $10k a few years ago, I stopped adding money to it, and I won't add to it in the future unless we actually took money out of the account and it needed to be replenished. There is no value to me in keeping more than that amount in traditional savings vehicles at today's interest rates. Any other long-term savings are invested in the market.

Savings in general, I have two pots. One is short-term savings, for things like planned home repairs and maintenance, taxes, vacations, etc. The other is the investment account, which is meant to be long-term savings for us. If there was a true emergency and we needed cash above and beyond the $10k e-fund AND whatever is in short-term savings, we could pull from here. But seeing as how we have never even touched the $10k since it's been there, I am not comfortable leaving even more money sit around earning 1%. And of course I still contribute to general savings. My goal isn't to spend all of my money once I have X in savings, I am trying to build future wealth and keep my options open for the future.

For me, retirement is completely separate from general savings like this.

lifeonthehill · March 2015

In one account we have $10k for our E-Fund.

Two other accounts are used for a variety of goals. Right now they are "New Car Fund" and "Fall Semester." Once the money is saved for those goals, 10k and 3k respectively, we drain it and start the next one.

Right now we save for retirement but don't use any other long term investments.

Wulfgar · March 2015

emergency fund: Considering that we are mainly in debt repayment/ home repair mode I am happy with a floating E-fund of at least $1000

saving account: Our main savings account that includes our emergency fund, I try to keep this above $2000 and in the spring I like to keep it even higher since we have a lot of expenses in the October through December time frame including the last two years a ton of medical bills.

When you get to that number, would you continue to contribute to those accounts monthly? I would love to increase my retirement fund more and contribute to my children's 529 accounts but we will be sending them to private school it will be a while before we have a ton of extra money that is not already allocated.

JoanE2012 · March 2015

blessed81 said:
what is that Magic number that you would like to see in your
emergency fund
saving account
When you get to that number, would you continue to contribute to those accounts monthly?

What's YOUR magic number?

Mustard76 · March 2015

Our e-fund never falls below $10k. We're working on our move money account now, which needs roughly $15-20k more than we have now. Vacation account goals change depending on the trip we're planning at the time.

blessed81 · March 2015

JoanE2012 said:

blessed81 said:
what is that Magic number that you would like to see in your
emergency fund
saving account
When you get to that number, would you continue to contribute to those accounts monthly?
What's YOUR magic number?

Right now we are at 17,000 in our emergency fund. Once we hit 20,000 i will be ok with that

CrazeRIRunner · March 2015

Emergency Fund is currently at $500 and regular savings is at $200 (I used a good chunk of regular savings to help pay down some credit cards. Going to save and pay off at the same time. Would love to get E fund to $15k which would be a year. I am planning on paying for my bachelor's degree and masters in cash so I need at least a semester or two in the bank before school starts next fall.

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