I am just curious as I am putting together a plan for an emergency fund.

I guess the relevant information is as follows.

-I make $85-95K a depending on bonuses. My wife makes $50K. We live in Texas.
-My average expenses a month $5,800. $3.4K that is tied to what I would call fixed expenses (house, car payment, ca rinsurance, student loan, bills-yes it includes cell phones, cable, water, electricity....I could obviouisly cut the cable and Verizon if it really came to it). The rest is tied to groceries, gas, and just random misc. expenses.
-My wife gets $500 for child support, so the net money needed to meet epenses would be $5.3K.
-With tinkering around the unemployment website it looks like I would get $454 every week, which I guess is the max? Wife would get the same....$454/week. Is that correct?

I am just trying to put together a plan for my emergency fund. I have it up to almost $32K which I think is enough. That alone is almost 6 months with no unemployment at all. Anything else I should consider? Any expenses I would have to take on in addition to what I have now?

I am at the point now where I just want to pay more on my house every month (have a 15 year mortgage and want it done in 10 years) as well as be more liberal with my spending on fun shite every month. I've lived very cheaply in order to get my emegency fund in order after paying for a wedding.

I am thinking having $30K in an emergency fund is plenty good.....is that the case?

This post was edited on 11/12/13 at 1:29 pm

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Posted by Ace Midnight

Between sanity and madness

Member since Dec 2006

89480 posts

Posted on 11/12/13 at 1:57 pm to tylercsbn9

quote:
I am thinking having $30K in an emergency fund is plenty good.....is that the case?

Honestly, that looks good based on what you published - I'm at about $15K, myself, and I'm confident that a significant layoff would reduce my expenses as well (gasoline, outside food, etc.)

quote:
I would call fixed expenses (house, car payment, ca rinsurance, student loan, bills-yes it includes cell phones, cable, water, electricity....I could obviouisly cut the cable and Verizon if it really came to it).

Since you're obviously fairly flush right now, have you given thought to paying off the car loan/student loan? That can reduce these "so-called" fixed expenses. Imagine if your "fixed expenses" was all this money going into income generating investments, rather than finance charges to somebody else?

Then, your choice would be - not to invest in them in months you had trouble, rather than have them come and take your stuff or do bad things to you.

Just a thought...

This post was edited on 11/12/13 at 1:58 pm

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Posted by tylercsbn9

Cypress, TX

Member since Feb 2004

65876 posts

Posted on 11/12/13 at 2:08 pm to Ace Midnight

The car payment interest rate is really low, got a great deal through my credit union at work, so I am not too worried about it......also has like 20K on it. I get a better return via my 401K. I will proboably put the emegency fund in a high yield savings account. I want it to be liquid rather than a CD or bond which is a little more risky.

I don't have student loans, but my wife does. She gets them forgiven after 10 years of "service" (she's a teacher). She also gets $5 grand knocked off after the 13-14 school year for teaching 5 years at a Title 1 school.

This post was edited on 11/12/13 at 2:16 pm

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Posted by Ace Midnight

Between sanity and madness

Member since Dec 2006

89480 posts

Posted on 11/12/13 at 2:27 pm to tylercsbn9

quote:
I don't have student loans, but my wife does. She gets them forgiven after 10 years of "service" (she's a teacher). She also gets $5 grand knocked off after the 13-14 school year for teaching 5 years at a Title 1 school.

That's similar to my situation. I would still pay the car off for peace of mind (rather than a pure a/b analysis of the net) - you don't need as much of an emergency fund to just pay car insurance and gas - when you have the full nut of the payment, that makes it dicey.

Anyway, it does sound like you're ahead of 95% of your peers in the emergency fund and general financial situation. Make your money work for you.

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Posted by pottymouth

Hell

Member since Jul 2011

89 posts

Posted on 11/12/13 at 10:50 pm to tylercsbn9

Don't forget to budget for health insurance. Say you each are covered separately through your employers' plans. If one loses a job, you would have to pay full freight thru cobra until open enrollment to be added to the other's plan.

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