SURVEY: Where Do You Stash Your Emergency Fund

[Cassius King]

I have several and they're spread out. I have a $2k buffer I keep in my checking account. I also keep about $150-200 in cash in the house for emergencies. Then I have a ING account where the bulk of my EF resides.

This seems to work well for me and I'm comfortable with it.

[myrdale]

I keep my EF in a simple money market account at my local bank. At some point I will look into purchasing three or four CDs and space them out by 3 months each or so.

I am slowly building up my 401k, while I hope I never have to touch that, it does offer some additional comfort.

Other than that I keep about $2k in my checking account for living expenses and about $100 in my glove box for an emergency.

[snafu]

We keep $200. cash in the house because in a local emergency [like fires in Reno] they turn off electricity and bank machines are either non functioning or out of money; credit cards can't be accessed either. The buffer in our chequing account gives us free services but could be accessed PDQ if necessary. There can be up to $ 7,000. in a linked saving account in anticipation of a planned major purchase, investment, or bill like Income tax.

A funeral required a flight and ticket were charged to CC. I was able to pay it when due so didn't use EF. [does anyone use cash for airline tickets] I have an ETF Index a/c I would use if needed in emergency. We can access investment funds in 2 business days. I can't visualize an emergency that would need huge, liquid sums in less than two business days.

[feh]

Originally Posted by feh

our entire EF is in an online savings acct - about 8 months worth of living expenses.

Update - was chatting (electronically) w/ my financial adviser today and this topic came up. He let me know that given the cash position of our investment accounts and other assets (ie. municipal bond fund) that could be easily and quickly liquidated, it didn't make any sense for us to have a separate emergency fund.

Thus, I'll shortly be one of those folks that uses an investment account as a source of emergency funds.

[dawnwes]

We have a Fidelity Brokerage account for our EF. We have several other accounts (IRAs and such), but this is accessible immediately should we need it. We also have some in our savings account at the bank for a 2nd EF.

Dawn

[Gina23]

I have about $2k in my checking available immediately.
20K is in a MMMF.
10K is in an intermediate term bond fund.

The 10K I like to play around with a bit depending on the market. It is my "car fund" that I hope to just make a bit on each year until I pay cash for a car when mine goes to Pontiac heaven.

[mrpaseo]

Like has already been said, there isn't any "Savings" vehicles that are paying much more than 1%. We keep most of our EF in our primary Savings account. That said, if an emergency arises, the CC is the first thing that is pulled out. By the end of the month I transfer enough to pay off the CC in the event anything is charged.

That said, since we just fully funded our EF, it's time to start doing some research on better savings vehicles. I like the idea of having some in a savings account and the rest in a better percentage fund (Like a brokerage account).

Ray

[maat55]

I keep 15k in a checking account that pays 3.01% and a few k cash around the house.

[PMMM]

Originally Posted by maat55

I keep 15k in a checking account that pays 3.01% and a few k cash around the house.

Please share the name of the bank with us. I know of no checking accounts anywhere that pays that rate. I'm sure there are many people on this board, myself included, that would like to take advantage of that rate and the bank would love a flood of deposits!

I keep a month of expenses in my interest bearing checking account and then the rest in CD's.

[kork13]

Originally Posted by PMMM

Please share the name of the bank with us. I know of no checking accounts anywhere that pays that rate. I'm sure there are many people on this board, myself included, that would like to take advantage of that rate and the bank would love a flood of deposits!

Consumers Credit Union (in Illinois) offers 4.01% on balances up to $10k, though it's got all of the (now-) standard transaction and other requirements. I don't use them, but saw reference to them recently.

ETA: Just because I was curious (and I'm addicted to numbers), I did some quick math... If you were to hold $30k in their checking account (and assuming you consistently meet all of their requirements), you'd end up with an effective rate of 1.67% APY...with $25k, effective rate of 1.94%; 20k = 2.34%; $15k = 3.0%. (Isn't math FUN?!? lol )

[fe2o3ez]

Originally Posted by disneysteve

My feeling is that nothing would ever happen that would necessitate me having instant access to 6 months worth of expenses all at once. The main "emergency" that I feel our EF prepares us for is me losing my job. ... As long as I had some readily accessible money for day to day stuff, I'd have plenty of time to cash in an I bond or make a withdrawal from my brokerage account or whatever else I needed to do to keep the money flowing.

I totally agree, which is why I have the following strategy:

1. about $1000 remains in our regular savings to cover absolute emergencies, and the deductible for any immediate insurance needs.
2. one month of emergency fund are in a 2-year CD.
3. 4-5 additional months of EF are in a 4-year CD.

I just started using Ally Bank's Raise Your Rate CDs. There is only a 60-day interest penalty, no matter when early withdrawal would be, so the most I would pay to get my money is $40-50, which is likely the least of my worries, if I get into a situation that I need the money that bad. I found the yield to be similar or better than any high-yield savings vehicle I could find, especially with the option to raise your rate once (twice in the case of the 4-year) prior to maturity. I may be giving up a few bucks vs. the average yield in a savings account over that time, but I don't feel like spending my time juggling my EF from place to place. I just want to know where it is when I need it!

[PMMM]

While that rate is good at Consumers Credit Union it's only good through June 2012. It's basically just a teaser rate. By the time you get everything set up and working the rate will revert to .05 % or so. You have to watch out for the fine print that's for sure. Not worth the hassle for a few months at that rate.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

3-4 months in online savings and the rest in a taxable account.