Where do you keep your emergency fund?

[reedda]

I'm wondering what is the best place for my $1000 emergency fund...keeping it in my checking accounts is too dangerous for me

Online bank? Local bank? In a safe at home? Under the mattress?

Just curious what others do...thanks!

[bjl584]

Mine is in my savings account at my bank. I also have some cash in the house in my safe.

[BuckyBadger]

It's in a savings account in my bank with an automatic deposit sent to it from my checking account every two weeks. The top few thousand dollars of my emergency fund also acts as a slush fund of sorts, and whenever I get more than a few thousand extra dollars in the fund it gets sent off to taxable investment accounts.

So mine's kind of fluid.

[disneysteve]

Mine is in a variety of places, but it is also a lot more than $1,000.

Some is in my checking account so that it can be accessed immediately.
Some is in an online bank account.
Some is in money market accounts.
Some is in I bonds.
Some is in cash.

[phantom]

My emergency fund is spread across few different banks and saved in a combination of savings accounts, CDs, and municipal bond mutual funds. Some of the money can be accessed right away, and some takes a little more time to access.

For a $1000 emergency fund, I think the best place is a savings account at the same bank as and linked to your primary checking account. That way you can get money into your checking account almost instantaneously if you need it, and it's far enough out of sight that you don't think of it as money that you can freely spend.

[GREENBACK]

I keep mine in an online savings account. I also stash cash in special places at home. I do keep a heftier checking account than needed for on the spot small emergencies but I've learned over time to ignore the extra amount.

[creditcardfree]

Most of our emergency fund is in a money market account at an online bank. The remainder is in a second checking account at our primary bank. I'd go with a separate account at the same bank for your situation. Do not touch unless it is a true emergency!!!

[kork13]

Mine is in a variety of places, but it is also a lot more than $1,000.

Ditto...

I keep a $1000 buffer in my checking for minor issues that come up. The majority of my EF (~75%) is in federal I-Bonds. The rest is in an online savings account. Once I eventually buy/install a small in my home, I'll keep some cash in there for extreme circumstances as well (mostly thinking natural disasters).

Side note, this thread reminded me of the sad reality that my EF is now woefully underfunded, having recently bought a house... Previously I was perfectly comfortable with keeping 4 months' expenses (~$16k). With the added expense and inherent risk involved with a house, I'm now working to slowly build my EF up to a full 6 months. ::sigh::

[snafu]

Experience has taught me to keep several hundred dollars at home, in the safe. There are too many situations where ATMs run out of cash or go down. We have a set amount in a linked savings account which also holds sums being accumulated for anticipated expenditures like maintenance home & auto], and accumulation for annual expenditures like insurance.

With interest rates so abysmal, I've opted to DCA into a conservative Bond Fund with a small percentage of equity. It would take 2 total business days to turn that into cash in the linked checking a/c. It's done well and I know I will pay tax on the re-invested income

[UnknownXV]

Ditto...

I keep a $1000 buffer in my checking for minor issues that come up. The majority of my EF (~75%) is in federal I-Bonds. The rest is in an online savings account. Once I eventually buy/install a small in my home, I'll keep some cash in there for extreme circumstances as well (mostly thinking natural disasters).

Side note, this thread reminded me of the sad reality that my EF is now woefully underfunded, having recently bought a house... Previously I was perfectly comfortable with keeping 4 months' expenses (~$16k). With the added expense and inherent risk involved with a house, I'm now working to slowly build my EF up to a full 6 months. ::sigh::

Your 4 month emergency fund would last me two years and 3 months.

Goes to show you how relative money is.

[feh]

We no longer have an official emergency fund. The portion of our retirement accounts that is in cash serves that purpose.

[Gina23]

90% of it is in an online savings account
The rest is in a checking account that I have access to locally

[Slug]

Money market fund, CD's, and savings certificates. $36k home equity line of credit is also open in case things go totally haywire.

[siggy_freud]

Coffee cans buried in the yard. Now if only I could find that map I made . . .

[JoeP]

Credit union, basic savings account. We found that having $100 auto-deposited from our salary each pay period helps keep it well funded to offset inflation. And when we have to take money out for some reason, we're pretty quick to get that money replaced.

Then we have another emergency fund in bonds, but we're enjoying more growth there, so we'll access this one last.