From MerrillEdge:
Sorry, cannot be published. Some quotes below:
Calculate how much you may need: "An emergency fund should be large enough to cover at least six months of living expenses. That way, if you lose your job or face unexpected expenses, particularly over an extended period, you can leave long-term investments untouched, working towards their intended goal. The amount is different for everyone. Base it on an honest account of monthly and other predictable expenses, such as upcoming home repairs or replacing a car."
Keep short-term cash risk-free and accessible: "Put at least the first three months’ worth of savings in an interest-bearing, federally insured checking account or money market savings account, so that it’s essentially cash with no withdrawal penalty. The goal is to have limited risk associated with this portion of your money and always to have the funds available. For money that you won’t need right away, look at building a “ladder” of short-term certificates of deposit. You can do this by buying individual CDs with staggered maturity dates."
Yeah, yeah, keeping six-months living expenses is the golden rule.
But that is just a guideline; nothing wrong with six months income or two years worth of expenses. This is just a rule of thumb.
Just like the (120 - age) for equity coverage, or (110 - age), now it is (100 -age) or (90 -age)...
There is no right or wrong answers; so do not forget who started this new rule:
One should save at least 9.353 months of expenses as an emergency fund according to Rhett's detailed financial analysis and statistics!:D Obvious reason #1: it takes much longer to find jobs in a bad economical climate such as this one.
Cheers,
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