6 out of 10 Americans have less than $500 in their savings account; how about you?f

[Truefan31]

Breh, I've been grappling with this as I think of my investment strategy and where to place my cash. Why have 6-8k cash sitting somewhere not earning interest. Maybe if you're lucky you get 1% in a high yielding savings.

Why not sit like $1,200-$1,500 in the high yielding savings or brick and mortar and invest the rest? Even to cover for losses you can add a 20-30% buffer.

My thing is can anyone point to a time when they were in a emergency and literally needed cash that second and the amount was over $1,000. better yet they couldn't swipe the credit card in the process. If you have a 5 figure credit card and $1,500 in the bank for "emergency" I think that's more than enough.

I get that emergency are unpredictable and sudden but I can't think of one where I would need $5,000 or even $2000 in a short time period.

6 months of expenses is a smooth $21,000 I'm not sitting that in a savings account. Not even half of that.

I think maybe keeping $1,500 in cash in a brick and mortar (high yeilding savings takes too long to clear and transfer if you need it fast) . And then sit the rest in a ETF if something. But I would add 20-30% to cover for losses but over the long term there shouldn't be losses based on historical returns.



What do you think of this strategy?

Personally, I don't want a credit card becoming an emergency fund, you start blurring the lines of what purpose the emergency fund is for.

An emergency fund is just that, for emergencies. You're right, you can't think of any situations right now, hence why you should have an emergency fund, at the very least 3 months imo. I have about 9-10 months (i know, a lil much honestly).

If you're living relatively debt free, saving up 6 months or even 3 months of funds shouldn't take long breh. Once you do that, then do investing with the rest. Get the basics straight, then when investing you're free to explore because you know you're set up with a good foundation.

You maxing out a matching 401k breh? Fully funding a roth ira? Those should be basics too.

 

[BrehWyatt]

Gahhdamn it feels weird to say but I'm back in this group


Had to make a major car repair, then immediately drop money on a trip for my dad's birthday.

The trip was fun, but my savings stash is down to a couple hundred bucks

I have a good job, I'm not great at saving, now it's almost all gone. I gotta get my stash back up

Breh ... my whole summer was me dropping money on car repair after car repair after car repair. Got to the point where I had no choice but to get another car.

Destroyed my savings. Now I gotta rebuild.

But having seen expenses and budget, it'll take a minute but I can do it. I hope. Gonna have to cut an expense, probably though. Likely cable.

 

[phcitywarrior]

Got a question for you brehs that are good with money.

Just got out of college not too long ago with pretty much no debt. I have $3k I owe my school from a few winter classes I took to graduate early. Other than that, no debt (not even CC debt, no CC yet). My job pays 60k, I'm on the East coast but my rent is well about 50% below the average of $1.2k around my parts. Got lucky there.

Right now I have a few financial goals and I'm looking on how to make the best out it.

1. Build up an emergency savings fund of like $5k and cap it. That would do me about 3-4 months in an emergency.
2. Apply for a CC (would have to be secured as I have no credit history)
3. Build a 'savings' account for big purchases (I like to travel quite a bit and my family is overseas so I have to visit at least once a year)
4. Begin saving for a small home. My rent is cheap but I think it'd be better to pay a mortgage so at least I build equity.
5. Pay off my remaining $3k debt to the school
6. Upgrade my car. I've had my 2007 Toyota for 5 year and this past summer I spent close to $2k in repairs. That depleted a lot of my savings. I don't want to finance or lease a car. I like living a life with very little debt.
7. Start investing my money

No sure which to tackle first but any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Hahahaha]

Got a question for you brehs that are good with money.

Just got out of college not too long ago with pretty much no debt. I have $3k I owe my school from a few winter classes I took to graduate early. Other than that, no debt (not even CC debt, no CC yet). My job pays 60k, I'm on the East coast but my rent is well about 50% below the average of $1.2k around my parts. Got lucky there.

Right now I have a few financial goals and I'm looking on how to make the best out it.

1. Build up an emergency savings fund of like $5k and cap it. That would do me about 3-4 months in an emergency.
2. Apply for a CC (would have to be secured as I have no credit history)
3. Build a 'savings' account for big purchases (I like to travel quite a bit and my family is overseas so I have to visit at least once a year)
4. Begin saving for a small home. My rent is cheap but I think it'd be better to pay a mortgage so at least I build equity.
5. Pay off my remaining $3k debt to the school
6. Upgrade my car. I've had my 2007 Toyota for 5 year and this past summer I spent close to $2k in repairs. That depleted a lot of my savings. I don't want to finance or lease a car. I like living a life with very little debt.
7. Start investing my money

No sure which to tackle first but any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Max out your retirement funds and build an emergency fund you're comfortable with. After that, do whatever is most important to you.

 

[Panther]

Got a question for you brehs that are good with money.

Just got out of college not too long ago with pretty much no debt. I have $3k I owe my school from a few winter classes I took to graduate early. Other than that, no debt (not even CC debt, no CC yet). My job pays 60k, I'm on the East coast but my rent is well about 50% below the average of $1.2k around my parts. Got lucky there.

Right now I have a few financial goals and I'm looking on how to make the best out it.

1. Build up an emergency savings fund of like $5k and cap it. That would do me about 3-4 months in an emergency.
2. Apply for a CC (would have to be secured as I have no credit history)
3. Build a 'savings' account for big purchases (I like to travel quite a bit and my family is overseas so I have to visit at least once a year)
4. Begin saving for a small home. My rent is cheap but I think it'd be better to pay a mortgage so at least I build equity.
5. Pay off my remaining $3k debt to the school
6. Upgrade my car. I've had my 2007 Toyota for 5 year and this past summer I spent close to $2k in repairs. That depleted a lot of my savings. I don't want to finance or lease a car. I like living a life with very little debt.
7. Start investing my money

No sure which to tackle first but any advice would be greatly appreciated.

1. Do you currently have anything in emergency fund savings? DO THAT 1ST
2. Knock out the 3k in school loans (this would also help build your credit)
3. Save for the next car
4. You could then do the rest of the items you listed in order of importance.

 

[beenz]

Btw it's beievable where I live the average rent is 1,400 a month a bus pass is 150, food will cost you like 300 a month that's nearly 2,000

Yet the average income is like 40k

That means u gotta get a partner who's earning decent also just to survive.

 

[beenz]

-160.45 savings
54.00 checking
22.00 available credit on cc
bank of America



-546.00 money market account
Amoco credit union


getting married September 30th,honey moon October 1-4

Dog, man I wouldn't be prioritizing a wedding with those kinda numbers.

 

[mamba]

Dog, man I wouldn't be prioritizing a wedding with those kinda numbers.

Breh mentioned he only has $22 in available credit on his CC.

I wonder what that CC debt figure is looking like?

 

[beenz]

Breh mentioned he only has $22 in available credit on his CC.

I wonder what that CC debt figure is looking like?

Yea that shyt is crazy.

 

[mamba]

Yea that shyt is crazy.

I hate to say it, but most marriages fail due to finances.

They are already entering marriage on the wrong foot.

 

[acri1]

I actually (not bragging) have too much money sitting in my savings account losing value due to inflation.

Been putting it off for a long time but I really need to figure out how to invest in a mutual fund. I'm great with computers but pretty lacking in knowledge when it comes to finance

 

[mamba]

I actually (not bragging) have too much money sitting in my savings account losing value due to inflation.

Been putting it off for a long time but I really need to figure out how to invest in a mutual fund. I'm great with computers but pretty lacking in knowledge when it comes to finance

PM me, breh. I can give you some tips.

 

[Camile.Bidan]

You should build up an emergency savings fund before investing, breh.

If you're constantly selling your ETFs, the caital gains taxes and commissions are going to cut into your gains.

Build up 3-6 months of living expenses into an online savings account (they tend to pay more in interest than a brick-n-mortar chain's account).

Once you get that established, then start investing the excess into ETFs. Only time you should be selling ETFs is when you need to rebalance and buy better ETFs.

I think you can buy and sell ETFs in your IRA or 401k an infinite amount of times and not get taxed.

 

[mamba]

I think you can buy and sell ETFs in your IRA or 401k an infinite amount of times and not get taxed.

That's true. Yes. That's just rebalancing inside your retirement account.

I wasn't referring to retirement accounts.

 

[Serious]