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Personally I'd focus more on making a layoff less of a traumatic event than playing ultra safe with a low salary in a low risk company. For most software engin
by nightski 4y ago
Personally I'd focus more on making a layoff less of a traumatic event than playing ultra safe with a low salary in a low risk company.
For most software engineers it's not hard to build up a significant emergency fund. I'd advocate for 6 figures. Feel free to invest 80% of that as well in something liquid. Keep at least 3 months in cash.
- _rs 4y agoAny recommendations on what type of accounts to use or what might be decent investments? I certainly wouldn’t put anything I’d call an “emergency fund” in stocks right now
- multifasciatus 4y agoHigh Yield Savings Accounts (HYSA) like Marcus by Goldman Sachs can be a good place to keep the 3 month cash reserves.
- lotsofpulp 4y agoMarcus has lagged its competitors by 0.7% or more for all of 2022. I suspect Goldman Sachs is having problems dumping money into Marcus given its losses. I would go with CIT Savings Connect, they have historically been near the top and they have a nice website. https://www.doctorofcredit.com/high-interest-savings-to-get/ https://www.doctorofcredit.com/high-interest-savings-to-get/
- nightski 4y agoYeah risk tolerance is up to you. Personally I went stocks and it worked out great, but I am not advising as such. If you go into a more risky asset it's really only a problem until growth provides enough of a buffer to handle the risk. I wouldn't really want a full 6 figures in a HYSA though when it could be earning a lot more.
- lotsofpulp 4y agoEmergency funds in FDIC insured savings accounts. HSA accounts serve as the best tax advantaged backup that you can invest in a broad market ETF like VOO since they are triple tax advantaged, although ideally you never have to withdraw from here until retirement.
- nightski 4y agoI consider retirement & HSA accounts separate from emergency fund. Max HSA, max 401(k) then build up emergency fund in liquid assets.
- lotsofpulp 4y agoI do too, but HSA is a nice backup emergency because you can withdraw up to all of your accumulated healthcare expenses tax and penalty free. So pay for all your healthcare expenses with non HSA funds, keep track of the expenses, and eventually, you probably will have accumulated $10k or $20k of healthcare expenses you can reimburse yourself for IF you exhaust your regular emergency fund.
- Apocryphon 4y agoIt’s not just the money. Losing health insurance is pretty bad, especially if there are others on one’s insurance.
- snowpid 4y ago[flagged]
- aaomidi 4y agoYou’re on an American website, and talking with people who are statistically likely to be American. So yes.
- snowpid 4y agoSo I thought Hackernews is an international website where everybody assume we are spread across the globe. Looks like some people are very narrow minded.
- ROTMetro 4y agoI'd argue it's the low empathy, low effort 'America problem' comment spawning responses worthy of it versus narrow mindedness.
- snowpid 4y agoand I am annoied that people assume American problem = everywhere problem. One could write "in America people could lose their health insurance" . Also low effort.
- darth_avocado 4y ago> You’re on an American website Is there a country ownership when it comes to websites if people all over the world use it? Only about 36% of the traffic comes from within US, so you’re not wrong in the statistical significance, but you also need to be congnizant of the global participation on this site. https://www.similarweb.com/website/news.ycombinator.com/#traffic https://www.similarweb.com/website/news.ycombinator.com/#tra...