Do you have an emergency fund?

Sure! It is a MUST.
We bought a house this summer. We have two (equally paying) jobs, but we can make payments and live long time on one salary. Yes, we have savings that would be enough to keep normal living for more than a year without any salary at all. How else you can buy a house and keep a peace of your mind?

Everyone should have at least 3 months, and ideally 6 months, of their average monthly expenses saved in an emergency fund.

Not doing that is foolhardy. If you can't afford to save that money, you are, by definition, living beyond your means.

Sadly, I'm sure that's true of most americans, (though it didn't used to be) which is why things could get very ugly.

If anyone buys a home without (AT LEAST) 6-12 months cash to cover basic living expenses in the event of a life change, then they deserve to lose their home, and likely whats left of their sanity!

My husband and I both come from families where "spend less than you earn" was preached AND practiced. We've also realized that "they way you spend your few dollars is the same way you're going to spend your thousands of dollars."

Living on a budget takes discipline, but it's certainly a better option than incurring debt and losing your home. We've been able to save 20-30% of our take-home each month--and that's AFTER maxing out our Roth IRA, 401K, etc. This has allowed us to both stay out of debt and save up at LEAST 1 year of living expenses in case of an emergency.

This is a big, big issue for me. I think (worry) about it all the time. Yes, we have an emergency fund. But is it big enough? For someone like me the possible scenarios can drive you crazy.

I own my home and a rental property, so my risks are amplified. The biggest concerns are losing my job, followed by my tenants not paying rent. But that's just a starting point in the thinking:

I lose my job. How much unemployment insurance provide? How long will my wife's salary, plus the combination of unemployment and savings pay my bills? Let's say it's six months. In a deep recession could I really find another job at a similar salary before then? What happens if I can't?

If the tenants stop paying rent how much will that cost me in mortgage payments and lawyer fees for the eviction? Even if my emergency fund can sustain that hit, I'll have little left. Then what if I lose my job?

This is ceiling-staring stuff, I'm telling you.

But no use sitting there paralysed, so the Plan, if the worst happens, is that I liquidate in this order, as needed:

1. Savings (currently in FDIC insured money market)
2. Investments (small amount in mutual funds)
3. Wife's Roth IRA
4. My 401K

The thought of liquidating your retirement money is terrible, what with the tax hits and the hit to retirement, but you do what you have to. It's survival.

I know a couple of people with $100 or $200 thousand in the bank. God I envy them and, should I pass through this storm unscathed, I will strive to be them I swear. I also have a colleague who, on a whim, just spent his family's last $1,000 of savings buying stock. These are testing times my friends, testing times.

Type your comment here...Yes, have an emergency fund. We rent, have stable middle-class employment, but are always asking ourselves "what if".

If you've ever bought any luxury item such as a flat screen TV, a new car, vacation, or furniture and don't have an emergency fund that covers basic living expenses of a year, I personally think you're dumb as dirt. Double that if you have kids. What boggles my mind in reading about the foreclosure problem is the number of individuals losing a home that lost a job. Did they not ask themselves "what if"? What if I get sick? What if I get in a car wreck? What if I lose my job? What if I have to replace the roof? What if one of my kids is injured needs me to stay home full time? Praying for the best but planing for the worst would have done a large number of people some good. Much more than a $50,000 SUV or an extra "bonus room" or granite counter tops purchased on a HELOC.

Of course, since I have an emergency fund instead of foolishly spending more than I earn, I'll now be asked to help out people that lived the high life and now can't afford basic living because they spent every dime they earned. Don't forget to say thanks...

We have enoughed 'saved' to cover our current lifestyle for 2 years and not touch our retirement. I don't see it as 'saving' we just don't feel that everyones life should be financed. If you are living hand to mouth and scrimp an emergency fund together, then you are living beyond your means.

My husband and I are in our ealtry 30's , have 2 kids and have experienced major medical issues and job losses. We made it through those things financially intact because we understand that life happens.

I have enough to keep me going for a year in savings, longer if I cut out gym membership, etc. Then there's that 10% down payment that I won't be using anytime soon. Personally I think you have no business buying a house if you don't have an emergency fund first. If you have no savings and rent, you can always move in with friends or relatives. If you have no savings and own a house, you are stuck with that mortgage payment. I sometimes hear the argument that some people can't afford to have an emergency fund. To which I say: How can you afford NOT to?

Yes -- as a first time homebuyer, we didn't know what we were to expect if one of us lost our job since we needed 2 incomes to pay the mortgage and daycare for 2 children (that's $50-60k/year of expenses right there for those 2 items. So in addition to the $80k down payment (20% down), we had to save another $30k or so to cover basic expenses for a few months in case one of us lost our job. So that was really saving $120k just to buy our $360k starter 3/1 ranch... very tough for a couple of not-yet-30-yr olds! i.e. if we made $100k/year before taxes, we had to live off only $45k/year and save $30k/year for 4 years before buying! Keep in mind our emergency funds are designed for the scenario of 1 of us losing our jobs. I think it's highly unlikely that both spouses will lose their job at the same time if they are in different industries unless the unemployment rate skyrockets to 25% like during the Great Depression.

My wife and I are 27 and we currently rent. We have saved in Roth IRA's and 401(k) plans for the past 4 years and have about 50k in those accounts and have $15k in an ING for "Emergency $" I make 60 she makes 48. We are saving her entire take-home salary in the ING which is about 1,200 every 2 weeks and after putting 5% in the 401. So we figure if we do that for another year that would be another $32k for a total of $47k in an ING account. The only way we could do this is by renting. We are so thankful we didnt buy that $345,000 cape this spring... Our rent is $1200/mo and to own that house would have pushed our housing expense up to about $2,800/mo. Again we wouldnt be able to save and we would be stressing about the Money every month and all the time. We are going to startt a family in a few years and we couldnt have her stay home if we owned. We are gonna keep our head down and save save save.

We are in the early to mid 30's and have 2 kids. We both work. I must admit, we are not a financial discipline couples. We are kind of like 'spend first, think later' and not the other way around. We don't have budget; we just spend (not by credit, but by debit) and then preach savings. We streamline $600/month for the kids' college savings; but for our main savings some months we have zero savings and some months we have $1k+ savings. We do have an emergency fund that lasts us at least a year. If we are on budget, we could potentially able to save $24000/year; and if we are on strict tight budget we could push that savings to around $36000/year. We are losing a battle against the urge to spend.