Watched my emergency fund hit 6 months of expenses and realized I'd been undersaving

I've been putting money into savings for about 3 years now, just a little from each paycheck. Last month I finally sat down and added up everything I had. Turns out I had enough to cover 8 months of living costs, not the 6 I was aiming for. It hit me that I was being too cautious with my numbers and actually had more breathing room than I thought. Has anyone else miscalculated their own savings goal and found they were ahead of schedule?

3 comments

3 Comments

victor_jones9922d ago

The real issue might be that you were underselling your own ability to save. A lot of people set a goal and then never bother to check if they're lowballing themselves. Being ahead on savings is a good problem to have, but it also means you could have been investing that extra money earlier instead of letting it sit in a low interest account. Maybe it's time to rethink what "enough" really means for your specific situation.

joseph_ellis8522d ago

Man I did the exact same thing. Stashed away way more than I ever planned to in a basic savings account earning nothing. Finally moved most of it into a index fund last year. Kicking myself for all that lost time.

joseph_ellis8511d ago

@victor_jones99 makes a solid point, yall. Is that "enough" number actually moving?