Emergency Fund

I know Suze Orman says you should have about 8 months of an emergency fund (savings) when owning a home. I think it is 8 months but i could b completely wrong. I'm assuming that means your mortgage, taxes, insurance, and all other bills that come with a house. Therefore, that's a whole lot of money!!!!

I'm in the processing of selling my coop and I'm lookin only to put 10% down on a house, so I have a lot of extra money left over to feel secure. I'm sure there will be things when we find our home that will need to get done. When you purchased your home, did you have a lot of money left over?? or were u just making it with a little bit of savings?? this whole finding a house and not feeling house poor is scaring me!!!

Re: Emergency Fund

when we first bought the house we had little money left over.

now we have over 10 months of mortgage payments saved for emergencies

Re: Emergency Fund

We had four months when we closed (Nov 2007) and now we have 7 months. That will change in a few weeks when have our new patio put in though!

We've already breathed a sigh of relief about that when we had to replace our cesspool and when my husband was laid off.

However, I don't think this is feasible for everyone, especially those with children. I take Suze Orman's advice with a grain of salt, and do what's best for our family.

Re: Emergency Fund

Maybe it's ignorant on my part but DH is a cop so there is little to no chance we would ever not get a paycheck from his job. Given that, we only have a couple months in our emergency fund. Other people's jobs are not as secure and probably put alot more in b/c of that.

Message edited 5/24/2009 5:34:20 PM.

Re: Emergency Fund

It really depends on your situation

DH is a tenured city teacher so the likelihood of him losing his job is low and we can get by on my salary alone.

I took a look at our buget and made an emergency buget - if I lost my job, we still have DH's salary, and then not putting $ into savings, lower food/spending $ deductions, etc. and came up with a $ we needed to fund from savings if I lost my job. We have about 4 months of that now, working to have 6.

eta: we don't include any other investments or savings in our emergency fund, even though they are liquid. it is totally separate account used JUST for house emergencies.

Message edited 5/25/2009 9:31:57 AM.

Re: Emergency Fund

We went on 3,000 in our savings for about 6 months after we moved in. Thank God nothing major happened where we needed to use credit cards or anything like that. Both my DH and my job's are secure but it goes beyond job security. People could get sick or injured. DH was out of work for 2 months due to a sprained ankle and thank God he got disability.

ETA: we have about 5 months emergency fund now

Message edited 5/25/2009 11:22:14 AM.

Re: Emergency Fund

We just have a set dollar amount that we never go below. I think it ends up being 3 months of expenses. DH and I both have secure jobs (healthcare) so knock on wood we won't get laid off. We've been in our house for just over 4 years and I'm currently on an unpaid extended leave of absence. So far we haven't had to ever dip into our e-fund. Although, we may have to the month before I return to work p/t.

Re: Emergency Fund

Well we had a lot more, but it's in mutual funds so it took a hit with the market (i know we should have had it in a savings but too late!). We had about 6-7 months but now it's about 2-3 months. DH has a pretty secure job and I can always find a FT job in my field if we needed it.

Re: Emergency Fund

I probably have over a year's worth of emergency funds now, not counting any retirement or investments.

I think if you have 6 months you are in good shape. I don't agree with Suze quite often, but she is pretty straight on with this.

Re: Emergency Fund

I think 6 months is a good amount of money too!! thanks everyone!! it really helps to see when calculating what im pre-approved for and what i can afford or want to afford when it comes to a house!!

Re: Emergency Fund

we had a money saved after we bought our house. DH and I saved for a very long time to make sure we would be able to have money to purchase furntiture and make repairs. It is def comforting to know that you have some money saved to fall back on

I like listening to Dave Ramsey and I believe he says you should have 3-6 months emergency fund.