August 2006 Weddings
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Re: NER: How much cash in bank?
Sorry, I didn't realize Pescalita already responded with the same answer.
Gypsy, we just moved 75% of our cash savings to CDs last week, on the advice of our financial advisor. We put 25% in a 6 month CD, 25% in a 9-month, and 25% in a 12-monht. We'll do another 6 month in 3 months, so that we have one "expiring" every three months (though of course, they'll auto-renew if you want). We have everything within ING, and I could not love it more! We see all of it on one screen, so you get the nice fat CD + Savings total on one page.
Our savings rate is 2.75%; our CD rates were 3.5% for the 6/9 month, and 4.0% for the 12-month. I'm *very* pleased with this.
Lol, I should read all the responses!
Yes, ladder your CDs. The "cost" of breaking a CD at ING is negligible... I think it's 3 months worth of interest. If I need that money, it's a small price to pay to get it back immediately.
Btw, I wouldn't just go with the highest rate on Bankrate. There are some risky banks who are offering high rates b/c they want your cash.
We have a year's worth of expenses saved but I don't think that's necessary. 6 months expenses is a great goal and it's what I would recommend to anyone. 3 months saved is a necessity.
The reason we have a year's expenses saved is b/c we tried really hard to pay off our debt, which we have no done except for a mortgage, and we live off of my DH's salary. We live cheap lives.
ETA: it took 4+ years to get to where we are now. it wasn't easy.
HOnestly, I feel the same way. My budget is bare bones and there is no way on this green earth that I could even foresee having a years worth of expenses saved. That is half of my yearly income. H hasn't held a "real" job in almost a year, and we are living off of one persons pay. He makes money when he can, and it certainly helps, but it is not consistent income. I have $110.41 in savings. That is it. I contribute 5% of my take home into my 401k, but right now I can't afford to put anything into an efund. We won't have an efund at the recommended MM level until retirement possibly!
my read shelf:
I wouldn't get too disheartened over anything you read on MM, however. I'm pretty much convinced that at least 50% of those people are effing liars. Judging from the state of our nation, I refuse to believe that somehow the MM board on the nest is full of the country's most textbook responsible people.
Actually it makes perfect sense to me. Think about it: would people who aren't fiscally responsible want to be on a board to give advice about how to be fiscally responsible? And those who do try, get flammed for their ignorance (if they think their advice is responsible when it isn't). Its like the old EO8. those with uneducated opinions on politics were corrected. People then either stayed around to learn something or left in a huff.