Comments on: Do you have an 8 month savings cushion?

By: Melanie Nelson

Melanie Nelson — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 20:02:51 +0000

The call was amazing! Thanks for sharing your recap and linking up. I’m loving getting all the info from the different callers. Can you believe I was so busy I forgot to download the will info? duh. I can’t believe I was on the call, excited about the link, then didn’t do it. Gah.

By: Whitney

Whitney — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 15:37:24 +0000

I’m afraid our emergency fund would not last 8 months! We did put our entire income tax check in there though, so we are pushing towards it!

By: AmyL

AmyL — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 02:31:51 +0000

Ouch….8 months? We’ve done Dave Ramsey too and paid everything off except the house, and we’ve got the small emergency fund. But it seems like the bills are never-ending. Our van is 11 years old and the mechanic said it’s not worth putting money into, so we’ll drive it till it dies. But I wasn’t planning on replacing it until next year so that’s scary. Appliances in this house are getting old and we’re noticing problems so we’re nursing those along as well as we can. We fixed the dishwasher for $25 instead of a $200 repair bill a few weeks ago!

Thanks SO much for the will and trust kit! That’s on our list of things to do this year and this will be helpful. And the savings? Gonna have to keep working on that….

By: Lisa

Lisa — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 23:07:01 +0000

We have been through Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University and had our emergency fund built up to about 2 months of savings. Then my hubby was laid off for a few months from one of his two jobs and I lost my main job and extra job at the same time. I am so glad that we had done FPU, paid off our credit card debt, and had the EF set up. We have paid off (and CANCELLED) 3 credit cards and 1 of 2 cars. We also used our savings to survive until April, when we have a little money coming back in. We are down to basics so that we can build that EF back up and eventually get 6-9 months banked. Our goal is debt free by 2020 (HOUSE and ALL!).

By: Susan

Susan — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 18:25:46 +0000

I had always heard a 6 month cushion, but with job security being what it is, it’s nice to know we have a bigger buffer. We have been slacking in the will department and I feel guilty every time I think about it. I know we need one because we have 2 kids now so this is perfect timing!

By: Michelle

Michelle — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 14:50:51 +0000

Ok, so we score in the “will & trust” category–that came as a compliment from the attorney who finalized our kids’ adoptions, which was nice. Sort of morbid, but necessary.

As for the savings cushion, we are working on it!!

By: Faerylandmom

Faerylandmom — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 21:50:07 +0000

We have about 2 months of savings currently, but that’s because we saved up over the last two tax returns to pay off our van. We are now debt-free, aside from the mortgage, and are working to build up a 3-6 month cushion with what used to be our car payment.

I think the 8 month figure is pretty arbitrary. Realistically, I think it makes more sense to hammer out with your husband to figure out what level of savings you feel comfortable with, and I think 3 months is the minimum. Also, make sure that whoever feels comfortable saving less should probably give in a bit more to the one who wants to have a larger savings. It’s just a nice thing to do, I think.

Either way, having that emergency fund tucked away is a MUST. And no, we don’t have cable.

By: Abby

Abby — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 20:18:22 +0000

What a great deal! Thanks!

By: Alicia

Alicia — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 19:58:34 +0000

This is great. I’ve already signed up. Thank you!

By: susan

susan — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 19:47:56 +0000

Thank you so much for this code! I have a little one now so it is so important to get our “affairs in order”.