Make the 80k and 4k after tax :) "$40K in savings with an average life is highly preferable to $3K in savings with an average life." Your comparison is meanin

Make the 80k and 4k after tax :) "$40K in savings with an average life is highly preferable to $3K in savings with an average life." Your comparison is meaningless, unless they are in the same country with the same cost of living. "You could very quickly find $3k/year of savings obliterated if that $1K goes to $4K. It's a lot harder for a $40K cost of living to go to $60K or $80K." Again, meaningless, unless they are in the same country with the same cost of living. That's what PPP is for.