Emergency Savings

I've just had 6 months off after redundancy, no need to check on my balance i know its ok, its good to have that reassurance, i think 6 months worth off expenses is minimum, having said that (and i have done a benefits/ savings thread ) if you want the state to chip in 6k is the sweet spot also the same figure for council tax benefit cut off via local council.
As regard buying gold, don't they do id checks now, i have no idea if hmrc are informed or its money laundering they are looking for
 
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I've got quite a decent chunk set aside in a S+S ISA. Should be enough to keep us going for over a year or so if I couldn't work.

Not exactly the safest place to keep it, but should still be sufficient even if it drops double digit %.

I don't have a set amount in mind. I just put a hundred or so in there each month, and it's there if I need it. Hopefully I'll never need to dip into it as I have a smaller amount in cash.

If I don't dip into it, then it'll serve as a early retirement pot that I can dip into prior to my pension.... Or blow it all on coke and hookers if it doesn't look like I'll make it :D
 
I tend to try and keep 6 months of day-to-day living savings in instant access accounts for the unlikely event that I end up jobless. This way I’m not worried about keeping a roof over the family’s heads.

I could probably stretch that out to 9 months by cutting back on luxuries, and easily make 12-18 months by either selling a couple of the cars or dipping into other savings.

Of course what that does mean is that the instant access cash I have isn’t saved elsewhere in higher interest accounts.

Hopefully I’ll be mortgage free in the next 5 years, which will dramatically change how long the savings would last us.
 
Im married and we both work so different situation obviously.

Previously we have been crap with money, we are now trying to be more sensible.

I try to keep it so I have at least 2k in my current account before my next pay comes in. We then have some in a regular saver account with decent interest and also some In premium bonds. That is where our emergency money is kept, we could replace a car or whatever with that (note we both run old cars so it's not mega money).

Currently the wife is on maternity so we may have to dip into those a little bit. We are hoping to be able to put some money into boring things soon such as pension, over pay mortgage and the like, but will have to see.
 
Perhaps not a very complete or useful answer but ... it depends. My $200k in the 'back up' fund might be your $400k or $4k* and I don't think the numbers themselves matter as much as understanding your position, risk, likelihood of things going south, opportunity cost of not investing etc.

* numbers for example only.
 
Many years back I was made redundant from a perm job and walked away with a years cash, I then got into contracting for a number of years and adopted the mindset of maintaining that backup fund incase I was ever to be out or work again. So now I try and have funds that allow at least a year without work without having to change spending habits or that can be changed to last much longer if would be needed.
 
MatsyLR said:
I have non of that also. If I'm off sick I get nothing/SSP.

Currently I have enough savings to last me roughly 2 years if needed (outgoings around £800 a month)However I do plan to pay of the rest of my mortgage in about 2 or 3 years, so the money is already reserved haha
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£800/month seems remarkably low if you are still paying a mortgage. My fixed bills, plus variable spend (mainly food and fuel) come to more than that.
 
Alibaba99 said:
£800/month seems remarkably low if you are still paying a mortgage. My fixed bills, plus variable spend (mainly food and fuel) come to more than that.
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quick and dirty one from an old spreadsheet. it's roughly the same
Screenshot-20240405-130527-Sheets.png

Mortgage has changed to £395 as I reagreed it over 7 years. Everything else is pretty much the same within a few quid.
I pay for car insurance/tax/b&c insurance annually also but factored into the overall monthly
 
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MatsyLR said:
quick and dirty one from an old spreadsheet. it's roughly the same
Screenshot-20240405-130527-Sheets.png

Mortgage has changed to £395 as I reagreed it over 7 years. Everything else is pretty much the same within a few quid.
I pay for car insurance/tax/b&c insurance annually also but factored into the overall monthly
Click to expand...
You spend 60 a month on food? That's.. Impressive?
 
Our mortgage + bills comes to £2200 a month (that's all food, elec/gas, council, water). We keep £15k in an easy access as an emergency fund. We have more in ISAs but obviously don't want to take stuff out of there.

We could be more frugal with our food spend too if I were made redundant so I see it as having ~6 months backup. It doesn't include car fuel/insurance though so maybe I need to do some more calculating. Mortgage is fixed until 2032 at 1.93%, so only food + bills can go up.
 
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Mason- said:
Our mortgage + bills comes to £2200 a month (that's all food, elec/gas, council, water). We keep £15k in an easy access as an emergency fund. We have more in ISAs but obviously don't want to take stuff out of there.

We could be more frugal with our food spend too if I were made redundant so I see it as having ~6 months backup. It doesn't include car fuel/insurance though so maybe I need to do some more calculating. Mortgage is fixed until 2032 at 1.93%, so only food + bills can go up.
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A bit less for us (2 of us) but 2000 goes in the joint account and that's just enough.
 
I like to have a couple years in reserve. It's a comforting feeling to know you could tell your employer to stick it and not rush to find a new job if needed.

I could probably go 3 years at the moment.... But of course if I was out of work, I would probably want to do things with my time!

I have a long term unemployment insurance scheme with my job that pays out for 2-3 years at 75% or something so pretty well covered on that front anyway.
 
413x said:
You spend 60 a month on food? That's.. Impressive?
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Even with some huntin', shootin', fishin' and foragin' £60 a month would be good going. I was spending £50/wk on food back in 2010.

£50 combined for gas + electric is also very good going as is the £12 for water. I'm on my own and have a meter and still use quite a bit more than that.
 
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