@Jason&William…Have you ever heard the expression,”Hope for the Best,but expect the worst”? That’s Gails point. If you live in the UNITED STATES you know that OLD rule of 6-8 months emergency fund dead and gone thanks THE GREAT RECESSION. The NEW rule is 1-2years emergency fund,but beyond that, when this recession ends…..are gonna go back to partying like it’s 1999? i would “Hope” people would see the lesson of this recession and plan and govern your finances so you won’t be stressed when you ..a) LOSE YOUR JOB. b)Get sick and lose your Healthcare and have to pay for your medicine OUT OF POCKET c)Have new bills pop up unexpectedly. You MUST be smarter and wiser. and save save save.
Those same “Friends” your planning to lean on and even Family will greatly let u down if you think they are gonna come to your financial rescue. It’s about being PROACTIVE and not REACTIVE!

I got married while making a good salary and having a decent middle class life. Three weeks later I got sick and life has never been the same. 8 years later I’m tired of the grind and really wish I had saved MUCH more so that these days would not be so hard financially.

I guess I look at life from a much different prespective than you. I’m glad that you have the plenty to live and enjoy life. Many of us do not have that plenty, but it sure would be nice to have it.

You’re confusing skepticism about endless savings, with recklessness. Again, what I’m saying is your money should be active, not passive. What I’m also saying is no need for self-denial. No need for compromising on quality (cut quantity before quality). What I’m saying is there’s more to money than how large your savings account is.

I’m saying you have to balance “weathering an emergency” and LIVING your life and enjoying life. I’m also saying it’s better to have an attitude of abundance, rather than one of scarcity.

Jason can correct me, but when we refer to “living poor” I don’t think we mean literally that they’re poor in terms of money in the bank, but more in terms of the lifestyle they choose to live. Coupon cutting, penny pinching, etc. Yes they’ve chosen that, but I don’t think that’s ideal for everyone.

Again some of this veers outside of finances into philosophical world view, but why live your life assuming a major catastrophe WILL happen? At some point c’est la vie.

I say be able to handle minor/medium disturbances, then LIVE. Make your money active rather than passive. The goal of life is not to “have piles and piles of money in the bank”. By active I mean if I got 10,000 right now, as an example, $1,000 I donate to my grandmothers church, I’ll take my wife out to dinner, I’ll buy more people gifts this holiday season, use some to fund my business endeavour, take some language classes or dancing classes (i.e. learn a skill), and go over for a few days to the Aztec ruins in Mexico. Probably I’ll save at most $1,000 of that if I already have the 6 months living expense.

I absolutely woulnd’t just bank 8,000 automatically, but that’s about different values I guess.

Probably the same worry you get from not having enough in the bank right now to cover a MAJOR catastrophe, is the same worry I have that I’m boxing myself in, and that life will be dull and monotonous.

I beleive I live my life in good faith, make friends, network, have an attitude of gratitude and abundance, that the problems will take care of themselves.

The whole point of this website and the postings is Saving Advice, NOT Spending Advice. Sadie’s posts are inspiring.

I also find it interesting that many of you think that a rare disaster might not happen and if it did you would only need the 3-6 living expenses tucked away. Obviously you have never had a major health care crisis that has sucked the life out of you. If your health care problems continue past your short term disability (if you were smart enough to have it) and you have no long term disability, you will find yourself quickly between a rock and a hard place. You no longer can work, so your health benefits have ended unless you have the money to pay $400-900+ a month for Cobra benefits and the co-pays for your meds, etc. Without COBRA you face paying all medical bills yourself. If you can manage to get yourself declared disabled for Social Security purposes you can not get Medicare until 2 years from the time you are disabled. Then you have to pay endless MC premiums, supplements and drug benefit premiums along with co-pays. In the meantime who is going to pay for your health care? Not welfare in most cases because if you own your own home and have a car or two you will be considered to have too many assets.

Having your bills paid off, a paid for home, and a healthy bank account is a great way to fend off disaster. Too many people think it won’t happened to them, but statstics point otherwise. Look at the ones that say most Americans can’t survive without their next paycheck. We need more debtfree lifestyles in our world and not less.

Example: You might think spending money on a dinner outside is a waste,or hosting friends is a waste. But in a time of need, a strong social circle can come through for you. That’s what I’m getting at, it’s nto as simple as save save save save. that’s a scarcity mentality towards money and towards life. Why not approach it with an attitude of abundance?

Lets say you save save save save. Ok, you have 15 K in the bank. A disaster happens. The disaster is a “30 K” hit. Vs. the person that has 7K in the bank, there’s really not that much difference. This is assuming calamity or worst case scenario.

I’m not against saving. It’s good for teaching kids and young people good habits, and yes, you should pay yourself first. However, I’m against endless saving beyond a certain point. Saving forever and ever for no reason other than saving itself, or to “prepare for disaster”. You just need 3-6 months basic liquid savings and that’s it pretty much. Money used on resources like fun, developing friends, charities, businesses or investing, personal development, etc is not a waste.

*if you’re genuinely poor, it’s a different story, but even then if that poverty is endless that’s a red flag pointing out to other problems about you that need to be fixed)