4 ms·

While it's true that the financial discipline needed to protect an emergency fund isn't as prevalent as it should be, it's important to remember that an emergen

While it's true that the financial discipline needed to protect an emergency fund isn't as prevalent as it should be, it's important to remember that an emergency fund only lasts if you don't experience an emergency. From 2017-2022 we had a pandemic that caused an enormous number of personal emergencies; between layoffs, inflation, disease, death, and all of the associated costs it's safe to say that a lot of people may have wiped out their emergency fund just trying to survive.

nradov 3y ago
It would be more accurate to say that government mismanagement of and irrational overreaction to the pandemic caused most of the financial emergencies.
bcrosby95 3y ago
Our emergency fund is more of a "shit happens" fund. Shit happens every year. $2k to fix the car. $10k to fix the leaky roof. $4k in emergency dental work. And that was just this year.
- cableshaft 3y ago
  Yeah. ~$10k in costs and repairs after a flooded basement on January 1st this year, ~$5k to get a new roof (I'm guessing, we were going to do that after the flooded basement is done, and that's still in progress). >$15k for implants/new bridge I've been saving up for for two years (while my uncovered teeth have been slowly decaying over there), and now I discovered I might have to get my other bridge replaced if there's any issues with a root canal I'm getting tomorrow, so possibly another sudden $5k+ I didn't expect. Also we somehow owed over $6000 in taxes this year despite me increasing how much money was set aside each paycheck by $250 per paycheck after the same thing happened the previous year. We still have an emergency savings, but wow is life working hard to keep depleting it. There's a chance I might have to liquidate some investments to pay for everything this year.
  - bcrosby95 3y ago
    You mentioned a basement so I assume you don't live in California. My neighbor here had his roof replaced with among the lowest quality options and it costed him $25k - around here $5k wouldn't get you much.
    - cableshaft 3y ago
      I'm hoping insurance covers a decent amount of it. We've had a lot of strong storms in the area the past couple of years. I know neighbors on my street that haven't paid that much to get their roof replaced. And yeah, I'm in the Midwest, not California. If insurance doesn't cover it, I'm expecting to pay over $10k for the roof.
  - DANmode 3y ago
    Couldn't pay me a million dollars per year to live in a home with water damage - especially in the basement. Doubly so if the HVAC system's intake is down there.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
    - cableshaft 3y ago
      It only flooded because the floater sensor in the sump pump got stuck one time, so it didn't realize it needed to suck up the water, it wouldn't have flooded otherwise. We rented a dumpster and tossed most of what was in the basement (various things were on shelves or in the elevated crawlspace and didn't need to be tossed, like my old NES games), ripped out the carpet, and hired a mold remediation company that ripped out the bottom two feet of our drywall. And we will replace the sump pump soonish, although it hasn't had a problem since. It's fine down there now. Wasn't cheap to get it to that point, though. Especially since our insurance company doesn't cover sump pump failures unless you have a specific rider, which apparently we didn't have. Still might not be good enough for you, and that's fine. But I suspect you wouldn't notice if you went down there and didn't know it had once flooded beforehand. About the only telltale thing down there is a bump here and there where the seam of the bottom two feet of the new drywall is.

nradov 3y ago

It would be more accurate to say that government mismanagement of and irrational overreaction to the pandemic caused most of the financial emergencies.

bcrosby95 3y ago

Our emergency fund is more of a "shit happens" fund. Shit happens every year. $2k to fix the car. $10k to fix the leaky roof. $4k in emergency dental work. And that was just this year.

cableshaft 3y ago
Yeah. ~$10k in costs and repairs after a flooded basement on January 1st this year, ~$5k to get a new roof (I'm guessing, we were going to do that after the flooded basement is done, and that's still in progress). >$15k for implants/new bridge I've been saving up for for two years (while my uncovered teeth have been slowly decaying over there), and now I discovered I might have to get my other bridge replaced if there's any issues with a root canal I'm getting tomorrow, so possibly another sudden $5k+ I didn't expect. Also we somehow owed over $6000 in taxes this year despite me increasing how much money was set aside each paycheck by $250 per paycheck after the same thing happened the previous year. We still have an emergency savings, but wow is life working hard to keep depleting it. There's a chance I might have to liquidate some investments to pay for everything this year.
- bcrosby95 3y ago
  You mentioned a basement so I assume you don't live in California. My neighbor here had his roof replaced with among the lowest quality options and it costed him $25k - around here $5k wouldn't get you much.
  - cableshaft 3y ago
    I'm hoping insurance covers a decent amount of it. We've had a lot of strong storms in the area the past couple of years. I know neighbors on my street that haven't paid that much to get their roof replaced. And yeah, I'm in the Midwest, not California. If insurance doesn't cover it, I'm expecting to pay over $10k for the roof.
- DANmode 3y ago
  Couldn't pay me a million dollars per year to live in a home with water damage - especially in the basement. Doubly so if the HVAC system's intake is down there.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - cableshaft 3y ago
    It only flooded because the floater sensor in the sump pump got stuck one time, so it didn't realize it needed to suck up the water, it wouldn't have flooded otherwise. We rented a dumpster and tossed most of what was in the basement (various things were on shelves or in the elevated crawlspace and didn't need to be tossed, like my old NES games), ripped out the carpet, and hired a mold remediation company that ripped out the bottom two feet of our drywall. And we will replace the sump pump soonish, although it hasn't had a problem since. It's fine down there now. Wasn't cheap to get it to that point, though. Especially since our insurance company doesn't cover sump pump failures unless you have a specific rider, which apparently we didn't have. Still might not be good enough for you, and that's fine. But I suspect you wouldn't notice if you went down there and didn't know it had once flooded beforehand. About the only telltale thing down there is a bump here and there where the seam of the bottom two feet of the new drywall is.