I might quibble with one of the points: > Put six months’ expenses in a money market account. This is presumably supposed to be the "oh crap" emergency fund .

I might quibble with one of the points: > Put six months’ expenses in a money market account. This is presumably supposed to be the "oh crap" emergency fund ... i.e., for major, unexpected expenses which can't or shouldn't be covered by credit card. Putting this in a money market account can make it just a little bit too inconvenient to withdraw for emergencies, and it's subject to market fluctuations. My equivalent account currently has several hundred less dollars than I've paid in to it. I know it'll be better later on, but if I needed it right now, that would be a loss I'd hate to take. You can now get 2.25% APY on savings accounts at legit banks (example: https://www.mymoneyblog.com/cit-bank-savings-builder-account-review.html https://www.mymoneyblog.com/cit-bank-savings-builder-account...). Two and a quarter sucks way worse than a healthy market, but it's about on pace with inflation and it's a lot better than a crappy market. It's also a lot more liquid: if I needed the cash right now, I could do it with a bank-to-bank transfer and I should have the funds in my checking account pretty quickly. If I wanted to liquidate my market account, there's a couple-day waiting period while things are sold and transferred around. I've found it helpful to break things down into: - cash-on-hand: what I could walk into any business and spend right now; - emergency fund: a modest stash that I could access in about one business day; - near-term investments: market accounts and the like; - long-term investments: IRA. But as other folks have pointed out, if you're saving anything at all then you're doing better than most Americans.