Savings in the Bank

[Georgiana Daniels]

Though we've all heard the recommendation to have 3-6 months savings in the bank, how many families actually do?

 

Since we moved, we don't have as much as we used to and I find that an uncomfortable place to be. Just wondering if I'm in the majority/minority, and how the Hive feels about savings.

 

ETA: money doesn't have to be in a bank, per-se. Just....available.

[Julie Smith]

We don't. We have savings in other places that have better interest. We do have a pre-approved line of credit for emergencies And if the emergency is costly enough that we can't pay it off in a reasonable amount of time we can then get the money from our other various savings. we do have a wee bit so can miss a pay check. But that is just because we don't budget closely - so we don't have to even think about if the next pay check is coming in before the next big expense. Money above and beyond that is automatically put into savings. If the amount that is automatically put into savings is to big or little we chance said amount.

[Georgiana Daniels]

Good point--wasn't thinking about other places money can be stashed.

[Mom in High Heels]

We have enough liquid assets that we could probably live for a year at least at our current comfort level. We could probably last another 6-12 months over that year if we lived below our comfort level, which we absolutely could. The money is in stocks, bonds, and savings. I hope it doesn't ever come to that though!

[NicksMama-Zack's Mama Too]

I'm a saver and I married a saver. After 23 years, some would probably call us money hoarders. We could probably live a couple of years on our emergency savings. Like a previous poster, I wouldn't want to!

[SKL]

I have a nest egg from before I had kids. I had a job that paid well while I lived pretty frugally. Thankfully I kept it all in "money market" so I didn't lose principal when bad stuff happened in the stock market. If I had to live off my savings, it could last me until my retirement payouts start, or at least, I hope it would.

[Mama Geek]

We have a good deal more than 6 months assuming, it doesn't get eaten up by inflation.

[nukeswife]

I voted monkeys are cool. We have a small amount in savings, but not anywhere near a months worth of income. We do have a card that is only for our Ford Dealership just in case my truck needs repairs. We also have a care credit card for any vet emergencies.

 

Right now we're working on building up to a $1000 emergency fund (have about half) and working toward paying off our debts and getting to the live on last months income step of the you need a budget program.

 

I don't really feel uncomfortable, but mostly that's because I consider dh's job very secure and don't see anything in our near future that would cause us to lose that income.

[Crimson Wife]

I couldn't vote. My DH works in an industry where job security isn't great even during boom times and has been a total mess since fall '07. Last time he was between permanent positions it took him 7 months to land a new one. He did contract work to avoid a gap on his resume, but that paid less than the forgone unemployment benefits :( The only thing that kept me from having to put the kids into a B&M school and resume FT employment was our savings. That was 2 years ago, and we're still working on building it back up to where we'd like it to be (12 months' worth not including the cash we've got set aside for when our 10 y.o. car with 190k mi needs replacement).

[Laura Corin]

We have an offset mortgage - I think they don't exist in the US. We only pay interest on our mortgage for the difference between our savings amount and the amount of our loan. We could use that money to pay down the mortgage, but by keeping it in the offset we maintain flexibility. It's a cushion but our mortgage would go up a lot if we spent it.

 

Laura

[goldberry]

All I know is that when my husband got laid off, we had about a year of expenses saved. I was kind of obsessive about having money saved, and when we didn't or couldn't, it really bothered me. He was unemployed for TWO years. :glare:

 

So yes, we were pretty bad off by the time he found a job again. I'm not saying don't save, because obviously it could have been worse, but I guess I don't worry about it as much now, because I realize you just do the best you can and then deal with whatever happens.

[stripe]

Though we've all heard the recommendation to have 3-6 months savings in the bank, how many families actually do?

Given that many people lost their job and took way more than 3-6 months to find a new one, if they even have, I think that number is more useful in the realm of "advisors" who give pep talks on TV.

 

(Reading "Pound Foolish" right now. I recommend it.)

[Georgiana Daniels]

We have a good deal more than 6 months assuming, it doesn't get eaten up by inflation.

 

Inflation is definitely a concern.

[Luanne]

Monkeys are cool, because my daughter is finally working, but has only received one paycheck so far (gets paid tomorrow again) and we are at the bottom of a barrel really. I think monkeys like barrels.

[Mnemosyne]

We only have about 2 months set aside specifically for emergency funds, we have about 4 months total in cash. Not too bad for a family a year out of university, but we're definitely working towards increasing our savings... quickly. I quite honestly don't feel safe with less than a year's expenses in an emergency fund.

[MeaganS]

Voted monkies are cool. We have no savings and are living off student loans. I don't love it, but that's where we are at this season in life.

[speedmom4]

 

Given that many people lost their job and took way more than 3-6 months to find a new one, if they even have, I think that number is more useful in the realm of "advisors" who give pep talks on TV.

 

(Reading "Pound Foolish" right now. I recommend it.)

 

 

Suze Orman recommends an eight month emergency fund.

 

Elise in Nc

[lil' maids in a row]

We have a little in savings (getting bigger though), but not a full months worth of cash. We had some financial problems and an unexpected, medically difficult pregnancy during our first year of marriage. We have sort of been trying to keep our nose above water since then, now we have gotten to the point that our chin is out of the water too :thumbup1: .

[Guest]

Dh is self-employed and I consider it crucial to be able to carry on without a paycheck for a while. Good thing; it has happened.

[Tutor]

We have mostly liquid assets. We have a small cushion for small emergencies (car breaks down, small house repair, etc.). Beyond that, no not really. For sure traditional bank accounts don't pay squat for interest and even sometimes cost a person money. I closed our traditional savings and just keep money in the checking.

 

Not saying it's for lack of trying to be responsible and have some emergency money, but something always comes up that makes me have no choice but to spend the money.

 

 

This is us as well.

 

We used to have a larger saving account, but over the summer dh transitioned from being a full-time student with various part-time jobs to a full-time job and we lived off of our savings for almost 4 months. Now we're back to a small emergancy fund.

[Jerico]

We just got our tax return, thank God. Before that we just scraped by when our house finally sold. Hopefully our taxes will help get us through this year because we are not pulling enough in monthly plus all of those extra things like car registration. So I expect to have less than 1 month in savings by the beginning of next year. :/ we don't have any other assets either.

[Parrothead]

We are back to the paycheck-to-paycheck mode. We had some rather large expenses that depleted our funds. I hope we can get that back up to a decent level soon. But since we are going to be building this spring I doubt it will happen.

[Dandelion]

I wanted to vote "monkeys are cool" (because they are!) but to make your poll as useful as possible, I didn't. ;)

 

I voted "as long as necessary". We only keep a small amount in our savings account since the interest doesn't make it worthwhile - most of our money is in stocks and bonds.

[Halcyon]

We have about 2 months in cash, but dh gets paid in chunks (self employed) so at any given time we might have a year's woth of money or much less. Non-liquid assets we have a LOT but they are very illiquid at this time so i dont ever count them.

[UrbanSue]

Our savings could last us 4 months in an emergency. But it was a gift to us when we bought our first house. We are working like crazy to kill off all our debt (mostly "good debt", but still) and it is such a comfort to know that is there.

[KrissiK]

I'm assuming that you don't just mean "the bank" but rather easily liquidatable assets. We are not rich, but we live frugally and have saved pretty well,, so if we had to.... We could live as long as we need to.

[MissKNG]

I estimate 8-12 months worth of liquid assets available if we had zero income. Though I would be a nervous wreck the whole time!

[dbmamaz]

i'm lucky in that i inherited some money from my grandmother and managed to put it away and pretty much not touch it. But i was a single mom for a while and dh has been out of work a few times - we havent increased our worth since i started homeschooling (and he took a pay cut soon after that). we have more than a years worth, tho. we are also in our late 40s, so we need to start getting serious about retirement. i really need to get back to work.

 

i had one friend ask why we carried a mortgage even tho we have enough in the bank to pay it off - well, soon after my husband got in a really toxic work situation, and he was able to walk away without a job lined up. i think we didnt even dip in to my money for that - it just used up everything he'd saved. (and the next job was a 20% paycut) He didnt have savings before we met because his gf was going through a divorce and then got cancer - he lent her money for the lawyers and covered a lot of out-of-pocket medical expenses. when i met him, he still thought she would repay the 'loan' . . . mm, no.

[melmichigan]

This year is the first year that we have the emergency fund in the bank ($1000), and are building up a long term savings account. I just paid all my insurance for the next six months up front so we only have a little over a month of zero income in the bank right now. This year I am working hard on building and maintaining a pantry like my grandparents did (but for a family of seven) and putting money away. To me the pantry is just as important. This is also the first year we are working from a budget.

 

If times were desperate we could dip into retirement, but I don't count that.

[Georgiana Daniels]

Suze Orman recommends an eight month emergency fund.

 

Elise in Nc

 

I wonder if that is the "standard" now? Seems kind of high for most people--or at least the people I know in real life.

[Georgiana Daniels]

This year is the first year that we have the emergency fund in the bank ($1000), and are building up a long term savings account. I just paid all my insurance for the next six months up front so we only have a little over a month of zero income in the bank right now. This year I am working hard on building and maintaining a pantry like my grandparents did (but for a family of seven) and putting money away. To me the pantry is just as important. This is also the first year we are working from a budget.

 

If times were desperate we could dip into retirement, but I don't count that.

 

YES! I totally agree on the pantry thing. We're rebuilding ours now too.

[dbmamaz]

wait, you mean savings separate from retirement? lol . . i cant get dh to participate in 401ks and he switches jobs every 2-3 years . . .

[speedmom4]

 

 

I wonder if that is the "standard" now? Seems kind of high for most people--or at least the people I know in real life.

 

 

Suze has said on her show that it now takes an average of eight months to find a job compared to a few years ago. Scary.

 

Elise in NC

[NotSoObvious]

We could live for about a year on cash. I suppose if we were desperate, we have other liquid assets we could cash in, but things would have to be really bad- like, living with family and no shoes on our kids bad.

[Georgiana Daniels]

wait, you mean savings separate from retirement? lol . . i cant get dh to participate in 401ks and he switches jobs every 2-3 years . . .

 

 

Yes, I was thinking of savings separate from retirement, but thst would also be a good backup.

[Georgiana Daniels]

 

 

Suze has said on her show that it now takes an average of eight months to find a job compared to a few years ago. Scary.

 

Elise in NC

 

 

That really is scary. I had no idea it took that long.

[Tap]

Just using savings, ( not tapping into retirement funds, long term investments etc).

 

If either my husband or I lost our jobs we could make some minor adjustments and last easily 4-6mths. In extreme budget mode, we could last a year maybe more before touching longer term funds/investments.

 

Dh makes more money than I do. His job would cost us more to lose, but he has opprotunity for with a friend so he can make some of it back. I don't have this option.

 

If we both lost our jobs, we could still last 3-4mths

[Laura Corin]

That really is scary. I had no idea it took that long.

 

 

It took me seven months and Husband has been out of work for almost two years.

 

Laura

[Georgiana Daniels]

It took me seven months and Husband has been out of work for almost two years.

 

Laura

 

 

That is unbelievable. Must've included lots of ups and downs, and it sure takes a strong mama to handle it all.

[justamouse]

We're set. But, we've planned like that since before we were married, and always made sure we had an emergency fund. So, 18+ years of marriage...always living below our means...

 

Here's the thing, though, in this economy? Even though only something like 40? % of the people are now saving, I think the rest are just not even able to consider it because their paychecks aren't even covering their living expenses or they have no paycheck at all.

[DawnM]

We have in just regular savings, enough to live on for about 6-8 months as we live now.

 

However, if we were to sell our house and dip into some other more secure funds we have, we could survive longer.

 

We haven't always lived this way. We used to make MORE money (when I worked too) and we lived without a whole lot of savings......sad, I know. We didn't overspend as in having debt, but we now wish we had saved a lot more back then.

 

Dawn

[justamouse]

This year is the first year that we have the emergency fund in the bank ($1000), and are building up a long term savings account. I just paid all my insurance for the next six months up front so we only have a little over a month of zero income in the bank right now. This year I am working hard on building and maintaining a pantry like my grandparents did (but for a family of seven) and putting money away. To me the pantry is just as important. This is also the first year we are working from a budget.

 

If times were desperate we could dip into retirement, but I don't count that.

 

The pantry is SUPER important. People think that's the fluff stuff, but it's not. It's one of the basics that make the rest doable,

[DawnM]

That would stress me out!

 

wait, you mean savings separate from retirement? lol . . i cant get dh to participate in 401ks and he switches jobs every 2-3 years . . .

[kewb]

There was a time when I had a nice nest egg to get through hard times. Then the hard times came and lasted much longer then we thought they could. We are back to square one to building up our nest egg again. It is painfully slow and I hope and pray the hard times do not return before we get it built up again.

[Georgiana Daniels]

I wish we had always lived below our means, especially when we were both working. During the summer we save but the winter is different since my hubby's job swings with the seasons. That's probably what's making me nutty.

[Georgiana Daniels]

There was a time when I had a nice nest egg to get through hard times. Then the hard times came and lasted much longer then we thought they could. We are back to square one to building up our nest egg again. It is painfully slow and I hope and pray the hard times do not return before we get it built up again.

 

Glad you are starting to build again. Hopefully you will gain momentum soon.

[Upward Journey]

I had to vote none :( In fact, at the moment we don't even have a savings acct. Sad but true.

 

That wasn't always the case, but the economy hit us with a long stint of underemployment and then unemployment, and now our savings is gone. I hope that someday we can get back to it but right now everything that comes in the door is used, and we live frugally. If we get hit again we'll be out of luck.

[Upward Journey]

 

 

YES! I totally agree on the pantry thing. We're rebuilding ours now too.

 

 

Agreeing, too. I also had an extensive pantry before the job loss. I do stress about not having that anymore, but I have to remind myself (about the savings and the pantry) that that is WHY we had them, so that we could USE them if we need to. We needed to and I'm glad they were there. The bummer is having them depleted and not knowing when or if we'll ever be able to build them up again, for the next time.

[Dory]

I voted for 4-6 months as I know that's how long we could live at our current lifestyle, but I also know that if I trimmed us down to what we used to be and sold off a few things that we would be fine for a couple years. If we sold the business we would be ok for a couple more years from that, and if I planned our farm a little better we would probably be able to stretch all that out for 10 years instead of 4.

[dm379]

Right now we live paycheck-to-paycheck and we have about 3 months in savings. Once our house sells, we are golden. Paying two mortgages is NOT fun!