Why bother having an emergency fund at all?

[Medio]

OP called it

All the potential gains missed out on as opposed to just saving is ridiculous. OP made this in 2019. If the average person would have put that 1200 dollar stimulus into a random popular invest lets say BTC they would have 10k(9830k) right now in less than a year.

If they would have saved that their buying power most likely would have dropped some within that time.

With the argument being SAVING vs INVESTING.

OP didn't call anything. it's his opinion and the way he manages him money, he is more risky than me.
I am good financially, and I still have my 10k emergency fund, and I'll never touch it. Yes, I could invest it but I'm not going to.
There are some things you can't pay with a credit card, like rents or mortgage, but if you want to do a cash advance and risk 20% interest on that with no clear future that you'll be rebounding your source of income, go ahead and do that.

Again just my opinion, just b/c the stock market hasn't crashed doesn't mean it won't, just because things have happened before doesn't mean they won't, there's infinite possibilities for the future. Just have something in case shyt hits the fan.

 

[phcitywarrior]

Again just my opinion, just b/c the stock market hasn't crashed doesn't mean it won't, just because things have happened before doesn't mean they won't, there's infinite possibilities for the future. Just have something in case shyt hits the fan.

This. The Fed is giving the market more juice but there will always be corrections and crashes.

Dapped + Repped

 

[winb83]

OP didn't call anything. it's his opinion and the way he manages him money, he is more risky than me.
I am good financially, and I still have my 10k emergency fund, and I'll never touch it. Yes, I could invest it but I'm not going to.
There are some things you can't pay with a credit card, like rents or mortgage, but if you want to do a cash advance and risk 20% interest on that with no clear future that you'll be rebounding your source of income, go ahead and do that.

Again just my opinion, just b/c the stock market hasn't crashed doesn't mean it won't, just because things have happened before doesn't mean they won't, there's infinite possibilities for the future. Just have something in case shyt hits the fan.

The stock market crashing is irrelevant if I don't lose my employment. The market crashes and recovers. I'm not worried about Apple, JP Morgan Chase, and Facebook going belly up. They'll recover.

 

[CopiousX]

I would rather mow lawns than claim unemployment

Pay into a system for decades, and be ashamed to use it while others steal from the same pot daily Brehs.

 

[Family Lives Matter]

Pay into a system for decades, and be ashamed to use it while others steal from the same pot daily Brehs.

Be broke

 

[CopiousX]

Lol, why not consolidate that $6k into one account and call it a day on the e-fund. You practically already have that..

Yah was gonna say this also. That 6k kinda is an emergency fund. While I agree with the general principle of what he’s saying (don’t overkill with savings), I think this whole thread was a lot of semantics.


If you replace the several instances of “buffer” account, “car” account , and “down payment” account in this thread with e-fund, breh has an emergency fund by another name, especially if he’s willing to jump into them as much as he’s suggesting.

 

[CopiousX]

Be broke

Do you own a home?

 

[winb83]

Yah was gonna say this also. That 6k kinda is an emergency fund. While I agree with the general principle of what he’s saying (don’t overkill with savings), I think this whole thread was a lot of semantics.


If you replace the several instances of “buffer” account, “car” account , and “down payment” account in this thread with e-fund, breh has an emergency fund by another name, especially if he’s willing to jump into them as much as he’s suggesting.

An emergency fund is a dedicated amount for emergencies. I basically keep cash in my account to not overdraft them and there's an account with $2500 in it as a car penalty for financing a car. I pay the car payment and take a second car payment putting it in a savings account so in half the time I can wipe out that car debt if I choose. Chase requires at least $1500 to get free checking so I'm building up to that. The ally accounts are for a house down-payment and starting on closing cost.

What I'm getting at is I have money in savings but it's to actually do goals or not overdraft account. It's not a 3-12 month fund sitting there to pay living expenses.

An emergency fund is deliberate and it's just for that. If you're saving for a house you don't intend your down payment money to be for emergencies.

 

[Macallik86]

A thread after OP's own heart:
https://www.thecoli.com/threads/emergency-funds-are-for-retards-coli-poster.834341/

 

[Rawtid]

An emergency fund is a dedicated amount for emergencies. I basically keep cash in my account to not overdraft them and there's an account with $2500 in it as a car penalty for financing a car. I pay the car payment and take a second car payment putting it in a savings account so in half the time I can wipe out that car debt if I choose. Chase requires at least $1500 to get free checking so I'm building up to that. The ally accounts are for a house down-payment and starting on closing cost.

What I'm getting at is I have money in savings but it's to actually do goals or not overdraft account. It's not a 3-12 month fund sitting there to pay living expenses.

An emergency fund is deliberate and it's just for that. If you're saving for a house you don't intend your down payment money to be for emergencies.

Where do you budget for maintenance expenses for your car? When you buy a house, do you plan on saving for repairs or expenses? I think the term "emergency fund" is a little outdated, but having cash or some asset that can be easily liquidated on deck is important and like mentioned, you have that, just not referring to it as an emergency fund.

 

[winb83]

Where do you budget for maintenance expenses for your car? When you buy a house, do you plan on saving for repairs or expenses? I think the term "emergency fund" is a little outdated, but having cash or some asset that can be easily liquidated on deck is important and like mentioned, you have that, just not referring to it as an emergency fund.

I don't budget for anything. I take my target mortgage payment and deduct it from my income every month That's being saved for a down payment and closing cost. I do that separate from paying my monthly rent. So living in my apartment it's like I'm paying a monthly mortgage and paying my monthly apartment rent on top of it. Next to that I take a second car payment out of my check as well.

I'm not a budgeter. I just reach my target savings and investing amounts and spent the rest of my money freely but I make sure I don't spend it all every month.

When I get a home the money that is going to my apartment rent will be free again. I could possible see having some of that to pay for home repairs or storing it in a bond EFT or S&P 500 EFT that can be made liquid easily.

 

[Rawtid]

I don't budget for anything. I take my target mortgage payment and deduct it from my income every month That's being saved for a down payment and closing cost. I do that separate from paying my monthly rent. So living in my apartment it's like I'm paying a monthly mortgage and paying my monthly apartment rent on top of it. Next to that I take a second car payment out of my check as well.

I'm not a budgeter. I just reach my target savings and investing amounts and spent the rest of my money freely but I make sure I don't spend it all every month.

When I get a home the money that is going to my apartment rent will be free again. I could possible see having some of that to pay for home repairs or storing it in a bond EFT or S&P 500 EFT that can be made liquid easily.

Having a plan and direction with your income, is a budget. You allot your money to certain categories (savings, investing, bills) and spend the discretionary amount. Some expenses are fixed such as monthly rent and car payment while others are variable. Your way just seems more complicated.

 

[winb83]

Having a plan and direction with your income, is a budget. You allot your money to certain categories (savings, investing, bills) and spend the discretionary amount. Some expenses are fixed such as monthly rent and car payment while others are variable. Your way just seems more complicated.

Definition of budget | Dictionary.com

an estimate, often itemized, of expected income and expense for a given period in the future.

What I do isn't really a budget. My paycheck direct deposits into 4 different accounts. 1 for down payment, 1 for car payment, one for savings / 2nd car payment amount, one for all the rest.

From the all the rest account I pay my rent, all my credit card payments, as well as invest some. My my bills are all auto paid on credit cards minus my rent that can't be. Beyond that paycheck distribution in the very beginning there is no real direction to anything I do.

A real budget is a written plan for what you'll do with your money. My savings and investments from my main account are even all random. My spending is random. When I feel the amount is too low I stop spending money and when the next check hits I pay credit card bills from the remaining last check.

I'm actually starting to use YNAB now to track my spending. It's not a real budget because I spend money and when it says I went over I just adjust up but I'm thinking I need to start towards a real budget.

 

[Rawtid]

Definition of budget | Dictionary.com

What I do isn't really a budget. My paycheck direct deposits into 4 different accounts. 1 for down payment, 1 for car payment, one for savings / 2nd car payment amount, one for all the rest.

From the all the rest account I pay my rent, all my credit card payments, as well as invest some. My my bills are all auto paid on credit cards minus my rent that can't be. Beyond that paycheck distribution in the very beginning there is no real direction to anything I do.

A real budget is a written plan for what you'll do with your money. My savings and investments from my main account are even all random. My spending is random. When I feel the amount is too low I stop spending money and when the next check hits I pay credit card bills from the remaining last check.

I'm actually starting to use YNAB now to track my spending. It's not a real budget because I spend money and when it says I went over I just adjust up but I'm thinking I need to start towards a real budget.

Below rest of the definition. The bold is what you're doing. You allot your funds across 4 accounts. What happens to the money within those account is up to you and you're not required to budget to that level of detail.

budget
[ buhj-it ]
See synonyms for: budget / budgeting / budgetary on Thesaurus.com
noun
an estimate, often itemized, of expected income and expense for a given period in the future.
a plan of operations based on such an estimate.
an itemized allotment of funds, time, etc., for a given period.

 

[winb83]

Below rest of the definition. The bold is what you're doing. You allot your funds across 4 accounts. What happens to the money within those account is up to you and you're not required to budget to that level of detail.

budget
[ buhj-it ]
See synonyms for: budget / budgeting / budgetary on Thesaurus.com
noun
an estimate, often itemized, of expected income and expense for a given period in the future.
a plan of operations based on such an estimate.
an itemized allotment of funds, time, etc., for a given period.

You're suggesting me saving for a down payment is a budget. I'm suggesting it's not

I can't even tell you how much a month I spend in groceries, how much I spend in entertainment, how much I spend on eating out. People on a budget can tell you their outputs. All I know is I spend less than I make because I have investments and buffers in accounts as well as a chunk for a down payment.

That's why I started using YNAB because my spending is inefficient. I should be much further ahead in terms of saving for a down payment than I am but because I spend randomly nothing past the set amount I direct deposit which is about $1000 a month gets saved for that.