They say everyone should have three-to-six months’ worth of expenses in an emergency fund.
Unfortunately, if you follow this rule you probably have quite a bit of cash earning almost nothing in interest, and losing money to inflation. Where you save your money can be just as important as how much you have saved.
Here’s what you need to know about where you should be stashing your rainy day money.
Table of Contents
Should You Keep Cash at Home?
Anyone who has lived through a major natural disaster understands there’s a reason for keeping some amount of actual cash in your home.
Having cash available to purchase supplies is an important part of disaster preparedness. If you live in an area where tornadoes, hurricanes or other major weather outages can cause havoc for several days or a week at at time, sometimes longer.
But even without a large-scale disaster, you may face some sort of personal emergency that would make it impossible to use your credit or debit cards. Electricity going out could render all types of electronic payment inaccessible.
Of course, there’s a reason why “keeping money under your mattress” is short-hand for poor financial management. It may be smart to have some cash available at home in case of emergency, but it should hardly be the only place you stash emergency money.
Not only is cash vulnerable to theft, but any money you have lying around is also losing value to inflation. Instead of earning you interest, cash at home is actually being eaten away by inflation.
So, while it may be smart to have a little on hand, it shouldn’t be much.
Considering how vulnerable cash is to both theft and inflation, you probably shouldn’t keep more than a couple hundred dollars in cash at home. That amount should be sufficient to get you through the worst parts of an emergency without tying up too much of your emergency fund.
As for where you should keep your cash emergency fund, plan on getting a safe to use at home. Look for fireproof and waterproof safes which are either too heavy to carry or that can be bolted in place.
What About Your Checking Account?
Keeping a cushion of extra money in a checking account can prevent overdrawing your account. It can also provide you with peace of mind; the money is readily available in an emergency.
In addition, checking accounts (along with savings accounts, money market deposit accounts, and CDs) are FDIC insured up to $250,000, which means your money is protected by the U.S. Government even in the event of a bank failure.
There are a number of problems with keeping a big chunk of your emergency fund in your checking account, however.
- The majority of checking accounts offer no interest whatsoever. This means any money left in there is losing value to inflation, just like your cash at home.
- Ease of access is also a potential problem with keeping emergency funds in checking. It can be difficult for many account holders to maintain the emergency cushion in their checking account without accidentally spending it.
If you keep careful track of your finances, then you can afford to have a smaller buffer, usually between $250 and $1,000. However, if you don’t necessarily track every penny, you may want to keep a larger cushion.
Just remember, every extra dollar you keep in your checking account is losing value to inflation.
Resource: Free Online Checking Accounts – Stop Paying Bank Fees!
Okay, So What About Your Savings Account?
Savings accounts are the most commonplace to set aside money for an emergency fund. Not only do you earn a little bit of interest, they are also FDIC insured.
In addition, putting your money in a savings account keeps it out of sight, which means you are much less likely to spend it accidentally. But savings accounts are also relatively easy to access in the event of an emergency, so they offer the best combination of security and access.
However, the interest on savings accounts can vary, and none are currently very high. In some cases, the interest rate is so low that it doesn’t offset inflation which means savings accounts are not the end-all, be-all of emergency fund placement.
There are a number of different ways to put your money into a savings account, each with their own pros and cons.
Brick and Mortar Savings Accounts
Every traditional bank and credit union offers some sort of savings account to customers.
These accounts are convenient, and it is very easy to access your money from them. You can often withdraw funds from such savings accounts via your bank’s ATM, and you can generally transfer money to your checking account instantly.
The downside of these types of accounts are their low interest rates and potential fees. Most brick and mortar savings accounts offer the lowest rates of any type of savings accounts and traditional accounts are most likely to charge fees.
If you choose this route, be sure to know the hoops to jump through to avoid the fees.
Online Savings Accounts
Because online banks do not have to maintain physical branches, they have lower overhead than their traditional counterparts and the savings shows up in their higher interest rates and lower fees. This makes them better than brick and mortar banks.
Keep in mind, it can take up to three business days to access money from an online savings account. This means you cannot count on these funds in the case of a sudden emergency.
But, if you are able to pay for such an emergency with a credit card, you can use money from your online savings account to pay it off.
Money Market Account
Money market accounts (MMAs) are a savings product which doubles as a checking account and their interest rates are much more generous compared to those of traditional savings accounts. You can find MMAs at both traditional banks and online banks.
Because these accounts work a little like checking accounts, your money is easily accessible in case of an emergency while still earning you a relatively high-yield.
FinTech Apps
Savings and investing apps can offer you a fully 21st-century method of amassing an emergency fund. The options run the gamut from automatic savings to behavioral change. The benefits and drawbacks for each specific app also vary widely.
In general, apps are the best option for any saver who wants to productively ignore their money while it grows. There are often more lucrative options for anyone who is more hands-on with their money.
How Much Should You Set Aside in Your Savings Account?
Even the best high-yield money market accounts currently offer an annual interest rate of 0.5% or less.
Inflation is currently 8.5%, which means your money is only losing value if it’s not keeping up with the inflation rate.
The national average savings account rate is as low as 0.01%–which means inflation will eat away at your emergency fund with every passing year.
So how much is the right amount of money to keep in a savings account?
It’s important to have some cash which is easily accessible so you can get to that money quickly, just in case. But above a certain emergency fund threshold, you’ll find your money is collecting dust (and losing value) in a savings account when it could be working for you, instead.
The threshold will depend on the saver. Some people feel anxious without a fat savings account in case of an emergency, and it is reasonable to work within your money psychology, provided you have a handle on retirement savings and other investment accounts.
If you are following the rule of thumb that you need 3 to 6 months’ worth of expenses set aside for an emergency, then having 1 to 2 months’ worth of expenses in a savings account can provide you with the funds you need without damaging your ability to let your money grow.
Let’s Talk Investments
If you have successfully put aside 3 to 6 months’ worth of expenses, then you’re probably looking at a too robust cash cache.
Having a large emergency fund in anything other than an appreciating asset or investment means your money is losing value. If you invest it wisely, however, your emergency fund can grow through the magical power of compound interest, making it worth far more than what you initially set aside.
On the other hand, investing your money also exposes it to the volatility of the market, which means it could potentially lose value.
In addition, any money you have invested will often be difficult to access quickly, especially if it’s going to have taxable events for moving in and out of an investment.
Check out: Empower vs Mint: Which is Better?
How Much Should You Invest?
If you have cash at home, a cushion of money in your checking account, and up to two months worth of expenses set aside in your savings account, then you are in a great position to invest the rest of your emergency fund.
Your cash on hand will get you through two or three months’ worth of expenses. This buffer will allow the remaining invested money to overcome any temporary dips in the market if you need to keep accessing your emergency fund.
PT’s take:
I’m a fan of keeping some of your emergency fund invested. We usually have a lot of cash sitting in checking accounts for short-term goals like taxes, Christmas gifts, and vacations. Therefore, we actually don’t feel like we need to have any of our emergency fund cash in our savings account. It’s all in Betterment. To make this happen automatically, I use Betterment’s SmartDeposit feature to automatically move money from my savings account to my Betterment taxable investing account after it reaches a certain threshold. That way I never keep too much money in cash at any one time and we don’t have to remember to move it.
Related: The Best Robo Advisors
Are Bonds A Good Idea?
First, what are bonds? Bonds are basically IOU’s.
You’re purchasing someone’s debt (the government, a business, etc.) by loaning money to them while getting your money back plus interest at a point in time in the future (called the maturity date). Bonds have fixed terms, usually between one and 30 years.
If you want to invest, but are conservative, bonds may offer more security than stocks. They won’t yield as big a return most likely, but it’s a good way to slowly get started with investing.
How much cash should I have in bonds?
If you’re saving 3 to 6 months, investments like bonds should be the last part of your emergency fund which get touched.
This is because your investment accounts are going to have the highest yield return if you don’t touch them.
You can usually cash out bonds before the end of your term, but you’ll lose out on a bigger return.
What types of bonds are there?
There are several types of bonds you can purchase.
Some of the more common ones include:
- U.S. Government bonds: Bonds issued by the federal government are also referred to as Treasury’s. They are backed by the US government and are considered the safest bond investment. are considered the safest investment.
- Municipal bonds: Issued by state and local governments, they help fund public projects. That can include school constructions and public parks. are not subject to federal taxes.
- Corporate bonds: Bond issued by corporations are called corporate bonds. Often these bonds go to raise financing to expand business or fund ongoing operations.
High-Yield bonds
Investors looking for better returns than offered on government bonds have turned to high-yield bonds.
These are bonds issued by companies who don’t qualify for investment-grade ratings from credit rating agencies like S&P and Moody. Corporate bonds fall in this category.
Companies have to pay higher interest rates to attract investors because of this additional risk. High-Yield bonds are still considered a low-risk investment, but are riskier than other types of bonds.
How do you invest in bonds?
Bonds can be purchased in multiple ways depending on the type of bond.
- Government bonds can be purchased directly through the Treasury Direct website.
- Sometimes municipal bonds can be bought directly from municipalities.
- Bonds can also be purchased from brokers and banks.
- You can also invest in bonds through bond exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Be sure to do your research before choosing to invest in any bonds.
Getting Started in Bonds with Worthy Bonds
A great way to invest in high-yield bonds is through Worthy Bonds. They make loans to small businesses using money from bonds and then pass on some of the interest to investors. Worthy’s small business loans help companies build inventory and purchase financing.
Investors earn 5% annually on their money with Worthy Bonds. This isn’t going to fund your retirement, but it’s a greater return than savings accounts.
You can start your investing for as little as $10. But if you were to throw $5,000 into Worthy Bonds, you would make $250 annually in passive income. You won’t come close to that with a savings account at your local bank.
Check out Worthy Bonds here.
Worthy Bonds utilize round up spending to fund bonds. To set this up, you’ll connect a monitoring account. This could be a credit or debit card. Worthy Bonds tracks your transactions on that account and rounds up your purchases to the nearest dollar.
For example, if you bought a latte for $3.75, Worthy Bonds would track the 25 cents it would take to round up the purchase to $4. Once you hit $10 in rounded up spare change, Worthy Bonds would purchase a bond for you using a linked payment account
The bonds have a 36-month term, but you can cash out your money at any time. This is why this is a good option for part of your emergency fund. Your money is still accessible.
There is a $100,000 limit on investments for accredited investors. Non-accredited investors can purchase bonds up to 10% of an individual’s annual income.
Another plus by investing in Worthy Bonds is that you are also helping small businesses grow.
Ultimately, it’s the return on your investment that matters most, but it’s nice to know that your participation is helping entrepreneurs grow their businesses.
How Much to Set Aside (and When)
It can be tough to know where to start building your emergency fund.
Here are some good rules of thumb for getting to a fully-funded emergency fund:
- Create a Plan B budget. The primary reason for setting aside several months’ worth of expenses is to protect yourself against a job loss. It’s a good idea to figure out what the least amount you can live on is. But be reasonable, if you are unemployed you’ll still want your Netflix account. This information will allow you to keep less in savings.
- Make contributions to your emergency fund a consistent line item in your budget. It’s easy to think of saving up for an emergency fund as a once-and-done activity. However, it should be a consistent part of your budget. You should also plan on adjusting the amount you set aside in your savings account as your expenses change.
- Rebalance regularly. If you are consistently sending money to your emergency fund, then you will regularly see your low-interest accounts grow bigger than they need to be. Make sure you move money from savings to investing whenever your emergency fund outgrows your threshold.
How much you should have in savings and where you should keep it is a personal decision. Typically, it’s a good idea to have a few hundred dollars in cash in your home and two month’s worth of expenses in an easily accessible account.
After that, you may want to look into investing the balance of your emergency fund to avoid losing out to inflation.
Do you invest any of your emergency fund?
