While nearly everyone agrees it’s a good idea to have a financial cushion in case of emergencies, even the experts don’t agree on the particulars of building an emergency fund. Here’s a realistic approach from HelloWallet, which takes into account costs of different kinds of emergencies.
The budgeting service outlines three categories or levels of emergencies: minor emergency (a flat tire or minor plumbing repair), major emergency (replacing a car part or paying the out-of-pocket maximum on a health policy), and job loss.
For each category, HelloWallet looked at its users’ reported spending to come up with recommended savings amounts that would cover the worst-case scenarios. For example, in the major emergency category, data showed users’ most expensive car repair was $3,800, so that’s the recommendation for individuals with cars, while a roof replacement could set you back $10,000, so that’s the recommendation for homeowners. For job loss, HelloWallet recommends saving 12 months’ worth of expenses—minus contributions from unemployment insurance and income from your spouse or partner—since finding a new job could take a year.
The oft-repeated “three to six month’s” (or eight to twelve month’s) of expenses recommendation is simpler and works as well, but if amassing that huge amount of money seems daunting, it might be encouraging to see that you may already be well on your way to covering at least minor and major emergencies.
Check out the site’s calculator below that will crunch the numbers for you, once you enter your income and other basic information. Or read more about their emergency savings findings in their whitepaper.
Emergency Savings Calculator | HelloWallet via Forbes